吴定柏《美国文学大纲》笔记和考研真题详解(现代戏剧)【圣才出品】

第17章现代戏剧

17.1 复习笔记

Ⅰ. Overview

1. Beginning

2. Drama in the 19th Century

3. Drama in the 20th Century

Ⅱ. Eugene Gladstone O’Neill (1888-1953)

1. Life

2. Literary Career

3. Comment

Ⅲ. T ennessee Williams (1911-1983)

1. Life

2. Literary Career

3. Comment

Ⅳ. Arthur Miller (1915-2005)

1. Life and Career

2. Comment

Ⅴ. Theater of the Absurd

Ⅵ. Edward Albee (1928-2016)

1. Life

2. Literary Career

Ⅶ. Sam Shepard (1943-2017)

1. Life and Career

2. Comment

Ⅰ. Overview

1. Beginning

In the 18th century, native American drama began to develop. Comedy was staged. Famous playwrights included Royall Tyler and William Dunlap. The demand for Indian plays also began.

Ⅰ. 概述

1. 开端

18世纪，美国本土戏剧开始发展。喜剧登上舞台。著名剧作家包括罗耶尔·泰勒和威廉·邓拉普。印第安人戏剧的需求也开始增加。

2. Drama in the 19th Century

(1) From 1814 to 1824, along with Western expansion, there appeared some

famous playwrights, such as James Nelson Barker, Samuel Woodworth, etc. (2) Poetic plays were very popular in the first half of the 19th century. Among the

outstanding playwrights were Howard Payne, Robert Montgomery Bird and

George Henry Baker.

(3) The most significant theatrical development from the Civil War to 1900 was the

emerging of realism from domestic melodrama. The popular dramatists include James A. Herne, David Belasco, etc.

2. 19世纪的戏剧

(1) 从1814到1824年，也就是西进运动时期，出现了一些著名戏剧家，如詹姆斯·纳尔逊·巴克和伍德沃思等。

(2) 19世纪上半叶，诗剧非常流行。著名剧作家包括豪沃德·佩恩，罗伯特·蒙哥马利·伯德和

乔治·亨利·贝克。

(3) 从内战到20世纪，戏剧发展意义最重大的是从国内情节剧向现实主义戏剧的演变。著

名作家包括詹姆斯·赫恩，大卫·贝拉斯科等。

3. Drama in the 20th Century

(1) At the turn of the 20th century American drama made its attempt to place realistic plays on the American stage.

(2) The Little Theater Movement began around the beginning of World War Ⅰ. The

Great Depression greatly encouraged the development of little theaters. The most famous were the Washington Square Players and the Provincetown Players.

3. 20世纪的戏剧

(1) 20世纪初美国戏剧尝试在舞台上表演现实主义作品。

(2) 一战爆发后，小剧场运动开始。大萧条极大促进了小剧场的发展。最著名的有华盛顿广

场剧团和普罗文斯顿剧团。

Ⅱ. Eugene Gladstone O’Neill (1888-1953)

1. Life

O’Neill was born in a Broadway hotel in New York City. While doing all kinds of jobs, he came into close contact with the outcasts of society and tasted the bitterness of life. During his recovery from illness, he began drama writing.

Ⅱ. 尤金·格拉斯通·奥尼尔(1888-1953)

1. 生平

奥尼尔出生在纽约百老汇。他做过各种各样的工作，接触过社会边缘人，饱尝生活苦难。在病愈期间，他决定开始戏剧创作。

2. Literary Career

(1) O’Neill worked on a variety of one-act plays at first.

(2) Later, he began writing full-length plays, which were on various subjects and in

various styles, trying to depict the universal predicament of modern man. His writings reflected determinism and later fell into mysticism.

(3) Long Day’s Journey into Night is a semi-autobiographical play. It was awarded

a Pulitzer Prize in 1957.

2. 文学生涯

(1) 奥尼尔起初创作不同题材的独幕剧。

(2) 后来，他开始创作长剧，题材广泛，风格不一，试图反应现代人的普遍困境。他的作品

呈现宿命论特点。后来发展成了神秘主义。

(3) 《长夜漫漫路迢迢》是部半自传剧。1957年获得普利策奖。

3. Comment

O’Neill was the greatest American dramatist of the first half of the 20th century. He was the first playwright to explore serious themes in the theater and to carry out his experiments with theatrical conventions. He introduced the European realism, naturalism, and expressionism to the American stage. He made great contributions to establishing the modes of the modem American drama.

3. 评论

奥尼尔是20世纪上半叶美国最伟大的戏剧家。他是探讨戏剧深刻主题、对戏剧常规手法进行实验的第一人。他把欧洲现实主义、自然主义和表现主义引入美国舞台，对建立现代美国戏剧模式做出了巨大贡献。

Ⅲ. T ennessee Williams (1911-1983)

1. Life

Tennessee he was born in Columbus. While still in his teens, he published verse, fiction, and plays. He studied in three universities and published his plays during school years. In 1939, he changed his name to “Tennessee” from Thomas.

Ⅲ.田纳西·威廉斯(1911-1983)

1. 生平

田纳西出生于哥伦布市。当他还是青少年时，就开始发表诗歌、小说和戏剧。他在3所大

学学习过，期间发表戏剧作品。1939年，他把自己的名字托马斯改成田纳西。

2. Literary Career

(1) Tennessee’s early plays are all rooted in the southern social scene. Among

them the famous ones include The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire.

(2) In the 1960s Williams suffered from illness, opiates, and the death of his lover. But he did not stop writing.

(3) In 1969 he had a physical and mental breakdown. However, he produced some more plays later.

2. 文学生涯

(1) 田纳西早期作品都以南方社会场景为背景。著名作品包括《玻璃动物园》和《欲望号街车》。

(2) 20世纪六十年代田纳西受疾病、吸毒和情人死去的困扰，但他并未放弃戏剧创作。

(3) 1969年他的身体和精神遭到严重损伤。然而，后来他创造了更多的戏剧。

3. Comment

Tennessee’s plays portray the loneliness and isolation of people in modern times, revealing depths of frustration, sex, and violence underneath a veil of romantic politeness. His style is a combination of coarseness and poetry. His subject matters are shocking, including murder, drug addiction, etc.

3. 评论