美国文学考试资料

合集下载

美国文学简史期末复习考试资料

美国文学简史期末复习考试资料

i.The Colonial Period1.关键词: America Puritanism2.Calvinism特点: total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement,Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints3.Anne Bradstreet( P17 ): a Puritan poet be known as “The Muse”4.Thomas Paine: one of continual, unswerving fight for the rights of man.works: “Common Sense”“American Crisis”“The Rights of Man”“The Age ofReason”理性时代5.Phillip Freneau(P22): 美国文学史上的重要人物dawning nationalism 代表人物Poems: The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花first modern American & the last medieval man6.Jonathan Edwards( Calvinism )a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakeningworks: “The Freedom of the Will”《自由意志论》“The Great Doctrine ofOriginal Sin Defended”《伟哉原罪论辩》“The Nature of True Virtue”“American Dream”“Self-made”7.Benjamin Franklin(puritanism)“Poor Richard’s Almance”“autobiography”新文学形式“18th century enlightenment”ii.Romanticism1.Washington Irving(1783-1859)①titles: “the father of American literature”“the American Goldsmith”②works: The Sketch Book (marked the beginning of AmericanRomanticism and the beginning of short stories as a genre in Americanliterature)Rip Van Winkle (P47—P48)The Legend of Sleepy Hollow2.James Fenimore Cooper(1789-1851)①One of the first writer to write American Westward movement②“The Leatherstocking Tales” (novel)first is “The Pioneers”---Plot:---theme conflict between Natty Bumppo and Judge Temple----character:Natty Bumppo---innocent, simple, honest and generous, for freedom,against civilization, wilderness is goodJudge Temple---just, reasonable, for civilization and law③Writing style:intriguing plotmajestic landscape descriptionsrich imaginationwooden characterizationnot authentic dialectiii.New England Transcendentalism---the culmination of American Romanticism Beginning of the Transcendentalism---1836, Nature, Emerson (1830s –the Civil War)Features:a:emphasizing on spirit or the Over-soul;b:stressing the importance of the individual;c:offering a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God.1.Ralph Waldo Emerson:The founder of the Transcendentalist club and theeditor for a time of the journal the DialWorks:Nature --- “the Manifesto of American Transcen den talism” “the Bible ofNew England”:The Poet (from Nature)The American Scholar --- “Intellectual Declaration of Independence”2.Henry David ThoreauMasterpiece: Walden (Failure first, success in the 20th century)Content---a faithful record of his reflection in communicating with nature3.Nathaniel Hawthorne“The Scarlet Letter”Plot(P74)Theme:---(general theme) evil and sin exist in human heart and will be punishedone daymoral, emotional and psychological effect of the sin on the people in general---(specific theme) a hymn on the moral growth of the woman Hester whensinned againstsymbolism象征主义: “A”—Adultery—able—angel“pearl”—treasure4.Herman Melvilleworks: Moby Dick (1851)---little response, famous until the 20th centuryContent:---(general content) an encyclopedia of everything---(specific content) a tragedy of man fighting against overwhelmingpower in an indifferent even hostile world5.Edgar Allan PoeTheme: The death of beautySense of lossWorks:Poem--- “The Raven” “To Helen” “Annabel Lee”Writing style:MusicalRepetition of wordsParalleled structureMelancholy atmosphere(tone)Short story---The Fall of the House of UsherPlot: (P112)Theme: the fall of the house---the annihilation (disintegration) and of person6.Emily DickinsonSubject and theme:①(almost one third) Death and immortality“My life closed twice before its close”“Because I could not stop for death”theme: Everyone can’t live forever. Only after death can we getimmortality (immortality of soul)“ I heard a Fly Buzz- When I died”theme: skeptical & ambivalent about deathreluctance to death②Love“Wild Nights-Wild nights” (P99)③nature (both benevolent and cruel)“I’ll tell you how the sun rose”④emphasis of free will and human responsibility“To fight aloud”“A triumph may be”⑤soul ( conviction of her sovereignty)“I know that He exists”“The Brain is wider than the sky”Theme:influence of TranscendentalismHuman being’s mind (soul) is as divine as God⑥beauty, truth and goodness are ultimately one“I died for beauty-but was scare”“Tell all the truth but tell it slant” (P102)Writing style: emotional, original, against traditionChoice of words, verbal construction (capitalized and dash), spelling, fullof fresh images, brief, direct, plain words but not easy to readInfluence: precursor to the Imagist movement7.Walt WhitmanWorks: “Leaves of Grass”草叶集(9 editions from 1855 to 1892, Famous untilthe 5th edition)Poems in Leaves of Grass:“Song of Myself”(most famous one)“Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” (1859)“When Lilacs紫丁香La st in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (1865)“O Captain My Captain!”Writing style: free verse( no regular rhyme, but musical)iv.过渡时期Harriet Beecher Stowework: Uncle Tom’s Cabin---The greatest manifesto of American anti-slavery (最有名的反奴隶制作品)Content: a faithful record of American black people's miserable life.v.Realism 镀金时代Gilded Age1.William Dean Howells豪厄尔斯①title: “champion of literary realism in US”“first president of AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters”②works:essay--- Criticism and Fictionnovel---The Rise of Silas LaphamPlot: P120-121Character: Silas Lapham---common Bostonian of the late 19th century,average America happy with his family and proud of his success in the worldTheme:house---symbol of Lapham’s success (in material) an d aspiration for the polite societythe burning of the house---financial fall and moral rise2.Henry James①themes:exchanges between Americans and Europeans美国和欧洲文化的冲突②写作手法:a. eliminates the author and gives the reader the illusion ofbeing present at the scene of action让读者置身于情境中b. without comments or explanations: Dramatize, only dramatize, is hislesson作者只设定情境③Three distinctive periods:a. 1865-1882 novelsThe American (1877) 美国人The Europeans (1878) 欧洲人The Portrait of a Lady (1881) 淑女本色贵妇的肖像Daisy Miller(1878) 短篇小说b.1882-1895 playsc.1895-1990 novelsThe Turn of the Screw(1898)短篇小说碧庐冤孽(螺丝在旋紧)The Wings of the Dove (1902) 鸽之翼The Ambassadors (1903) 大使(奉使记)The Golden Bowl (1904) 金碗3.Mark Twain(Local Colorism)①Works: The Adventure of Tom SawyerThe Adventure of Huckleberry Finn 汤姆索亚历险记的续集,海明威称赞“all modern American literature comes”②theme: racism& slaveryintellectual& moral educationThe hypocrisy of civilized” society③real name: Samuel Langhorne Clemens④背景: Mississippi Rivervi.Naturalism(是现实主义的高级阶段)Time: at the end of the 19th centurySubject of naturalist: detailed description of lives of the low and the abnormal, frank description of human passion and sexuality, and portrayal of men overwhelmed by natureTheme of naturalists: pessimistic, deterministic自然主义的起源:Emile Zola “surrounding and heredity遗传can decide one’s destiny”写作手法:ironic讽刺, less sympathy, more serious than realism, deterministic决定论1.Stephen Crane①Works: (novels) Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) and The Red Badge ofCourage (1895) (short stories) “The Open Boat”②Writing style: psychological description, visual beauty with symbols2.Frank Norris①works: (Novel) McTeague麦克提格(1899)首部全面展示自然主义的作品the Octopus章鱼(best work) (1901) railwayWriting style:rich materialfresh imagerypoetic mode of fictionprecise and exact word(Essay of literary criticism) The Responsibilities of the Novelists (1903)3.O. Henry(a prolific American short-story writer)多产短篇小说家①Real name: William Porter②The Gift of the Magi③Writing style: short, interesting and clever plot, good-natured humor,surprising end, keen observation of details, slang and colloquialexpressions4.Theodore Dreiser西奥多·德莱塞works:Sister Carrie(1990)《嘉丽妹妹》Jennie Gerhardt (1911)《珍妮姑娘》(姐妹篇)The Financier (1912) 《金融家》“Trilogy of Desire” (欲望三部曲) The Titan (1914)《巨头》The Stoic(1947)《斯多葛》The "Genius" (1915) 《天才》--autobiographical novelAn American Tragedy--greatest and most successful Political commentary set5.Jack LondonWorks:---Reflection of his Involvement in the socialist movement:The Iron Heel, The People of the Abyss---Reflection of his belief in Darwinism:The Call of the Wild (1903)适者生存, The Sea Wolf (1904)---Reflection of the conflicting view :autobiographical novel Martin Eden (1909)vii.ModernismTwo literary periods•1920s --- The First World War (a decade of great joy and happenings )•1930s--- The Great Depression1.Ezra Pound--- the founder of Imagist movement(深受中国文化的影响)works: translations of Lipo’s poems “The River- Merchant’s Wife”翻译李白的《长干行》In a Station of the MetroThe apparition of these faces in the crowd ;Petals on a wet, black bough.—Ezra Pound2.T. S. EliotPoemsThe Waste Land (1922)---spiritual crisis of postwar Europe, like a manifestoof the “Lost generation”The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock (1917)--- a poem with a notable modernemotional color,意识流,现代主义情感色彩3.Wallace StevensBasic theme: interrelationship between reality and art, power of imaginationWorks: “Anecdote of the Jar”古坛轶事4.William Carlos WilliamsWorks: Famous poem: Paterson 帕特森(1946–58).Subject: everyday circumstances of life and the lives of common people.Writing style: unusual meters and styles, easy and enjoyable to read5.Carl Sandburg---One of The greatest poets in the “Chicago Renaissance”---Chicago Poems6.Robert FrostSubject: the people and landscape of New England.(Misconception of him as a lyric poet or as an authentic painter of locallandscape)Theme: (universal and abstract) the complexity of human existenceWorks:poem collection:A Boy’s Will (1913), North of Boston(1914)New Hamphshire(1923),Collected Poems(1930),A Further Range(1936),A Witness Tree(1942)Some famous poems:“After Apple Picking”“Mending Wall”“Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening”“The Road not Taken”“Design”“The Wood-Pile”Writing style:---formto retain traditional forms of poetry---themedeceptively simple (trivial subjects)---languagelucid, easy, fluent7.William Faulkner: one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers---one of the southern writers (fictional Yoknapatawpha County)---the Nobel Prize-winning novelist(1949)---a famous short story writerWorks: 19 novels, 3volumes of short stories•poem collection: The Marble Faun, 1924)•Novel:The Sound and the Fury, 1929喧哗与躁动As I Lay Dying, 1930Light in August, 1932Absalom, Absalom!, 1936Go Down, Moses, 1942•short story: “A Rose For Emily”Theme: general human situationWriting style: difficult and experimental•Vivid characterization( character with great independence)•Multiple narrators•Story-novel (emphasis on narrative)•Modern stream of consciousness (fragmentary and obscure)• A variety of English8. F. Scott Fitzgeraldwork: The Great Gatsby(1925)Themes: The decline衰落of American Dream in the 1920sThe Hollowness空虚of the upper classSymbols: The green light9.Ernest Hemingway①Nick Adams, a Hemingway hero, first appears in the novel In Our Time(1925)②The Sun Also Rises (1926)Jake BarnesA Farewell to Arms (1929)Frederick Henry & Catherine BarkleyDeath in the Afternoon (1932 )Green Hills of Africa (1935)For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)The Old Man and the Sea (1952)Manolin & Santiagoviii.American drama1.Eugene O’Neil(1888 – 1953)father of American dramaWorks:first published play, Beyond the Horizon (1920) on BroadwayThe Iceman Cometh (1946)Long Days Journey into Night (1956):an autobiographical play and releasedafter O'Neill's death.2.John Steinbeckthe Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962Famous for The Grapes of Wrath (1939), a novel widely considered to be a20th-century classic.。

美国文学复习题有答案

美国文学复习题有答案

美国文学复习题有答案
1. 谁是美国文学史上第一位重要的诗人?
答案:爱德华·泰勒(Edward Taylor)。

2. 19世纪美国文学中,哪位作家的作品以幽默和讽刺著称?
答案:马克·吐温(Mark Twain)。

3. 简述赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的《白鲸》中的主要冲突。

答案:《白鲸》中的主要冲突是船长亚哈对白鲸莫比·迪克的复仇。

4. 谁是“垮掉的一代”文学运动中最著名的诗人?
答案:艾伦·金斯伯格(Allen Ginsberg)。

5. 在菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》中,盖茨比的悲剧结局是什么?
答案:盖茨比被威尔逊误杀,因为他认为盖茨比是导致他妻子死亡
的罪魁祸首。

6. 描述艾米莉·狄金森的诗歌风格。

答案:艾米莉·狄金森的诗歌风格以简洁、使用短句和强烈个人情
感表达为特点。

7. 谁是20世纪美国文学中“南方文艺复兴”的代表人物?
答案:威廉·福克纳(William Faulkner)。

8. 在《杀死一只知更鸟》中,阿提克斯·芬奇律师为何受到小镇居民
的尊敬?
答案:阿提克斯·芬奇律师因坚持正义和平等,为一个被错误指控
的黑人辩护而受到尊敬。

9. 简述海明威的“冰山理论”。

答案:海明威的“冰山理论”是指在写作中只展示故事的表面部分,而将更深层的意义和情感留给读者去揣摩。

10. 在《愤怒的葡萄》中,约德一家的旅程象征着什么?
答案:约德一家的旅程象征着美国大萧条时期农民的苦难和对更
好生活的不懈追求。

美国文学期末复习资料(作家作品)

美国文学期末复习资料(作家作品)

美国文学期末复习资料(作家作品)——美国文学1、Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林1)"Poor Richard's Almanac" 穷人查理德的年鉴2)“The Way to Wealth”致富之道“The Autobiography”自传18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传2、Washington Irving华盛顿.欧文 the first great belletrist 第一个纯文学作家,the first great prose stylist of American romanticism. 美国第一位浪漫主义散文文体作家“Sketch Book”《见闻札记》, the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.现代文学史上第一部短篇小说和美国第一部伟大的青少年文学读物。

“Legends of the Conquest of Spain”《西班牙征服记》A History of New York 纽约的历史-----美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作;The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说-----使之成为美国第一个获得国际声誉的作家;Bracebridge Hall布雷斯布里奇田庄;Talks of Travellers旅客谈;The Alhambra 阿尔罕伯拉3.James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯.芬尼莫.库珀“Leatherstocking Tales”《皮袜子故事集》,包括“The Deerslayer”《杀鹿者》、“The Last of the Mohicans”《最后的莫希干人》、“The Pathfinder”《探路人》、“The Pioneers”《拓荒者》、“The Prairie”《大草原》, regard as “the nearest approach yet to an American epic.” 被认为是迄今为止美国最接近史诗的作品。

美国文学考试资料(英文版)(doc 10页)

美国文学考试资料(英文版)(doc 10页)

Part one:Answer: 1—60A,B,D,D,C/ D,A,B,A,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,B,D,CD A B D B/ A C B C D/ C D C D A/ B,A,C,A,DB,C,C,B,A/ D,A,B,D,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,A,D,C11.Hawthorne’s masterpiece, one of the greatest novels of the world is The Scarlet Letter.2.Emerson’s first startling book is Nature.3.Ralph Waldo Emerson is the chief spokesman of this spiritual movement ofTranscendentalism.4.Washington Irving is worth the honor of being “for his literary craftsmanship for his literarycraftsmanship.5.The colonial influence over American Romanticism made American Romantic writers moremoralize than their English counter-parts.6.The impact of Darwin's evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to another school of realism: American Naturalism.7.In the first part of the 20th century, apart from Darwinism, there were two thinkers theGerman Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund Freud, whose ideas had the greatest impact on the period.8. In his poetry, Robert Frost made the colloquial New England speech into a poetic expression.The theme of returning to nature could be read in Leather-Stocking Tales by Cooper.10. About the novel The Scarlet Letter, which of the following statements is not true? DA. It's very hard to say that it is a love story or a story of sin.B. It's a highly symbolic story and the author is a master of symbolism.C. It's mainlyabout the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin upon the main characters and the people in general.D. In it the letter A takes the same symbolic meaning throughout the novel.11. Ezra Pound showed great interest in Chinese literature and translated the poetry of Li Bai into English.12. Eli ot’s first major poem (1917 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock , has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.13. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as The Roaring Twenties,The Jazz age andThe Dollar Decade.14. Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel A Farewell to Arms15. The Grapes of Wrath tells the Joad family’s life from the time they were evicted from their farm in Oklahoma until their first winter in California.16. Faulkner wrote about the society in the South by inventing families which represented different social forces: the old decaying upper class; the rising, ambitious, unscrupulous class of the “poor Whites”; and the Negroes who laboured for both of them.17. In Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, he used a technique called stream of consciousness , in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of four characters.18. Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, told from four different points of view.19. To Faulkner, the primary duty of a writer was to explore and represent the infinite possibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should observe with no judgment whatsoever and reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimum.20. Which of the following is right about American fiction from 1945 onwards?A group of new writers who survived the war wrote about their ideals within the artistic field.1. The Beat Generation is a large group including San Francisco writers, the name referred simultaneously_______, through drugs, and alcohol.• A. to their sense that society was worn out• B. to their interest in new forms of experience• C. to the rhythm of jazz2. In the Depression Age, John Steinbeck is the famous leftist for his sympathetic story about drifting farm laborers and factory workers.3. The 1940s saw the flourishing of a new contingent of writers, including R. P. Warren, A. Miller, T. Williams, K. A. Porter and E. Welty. All but Miller were from the South4. The Great God Brown fuses symbolism, poetry, and the affirmation of a pagan idealism to show how materialistic civilization denies the life—giving impulses to and destruction of the genuine art.5. The realistic schools led by Mark Twain and Henry James differ in their understanding of the truth6. Eliot’s first major poem (1917) has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes7. Which story is William Dean Howells’ masterpiece on the American spirit of the self-made man?A. A Modern InstanceB. The Luck of Roaring CampC. The Rise of Silas LaphamD. A Woman’s Reason8. Which of the following is depicted as the mythical county in William Faulkner'snovels?A. Cambridge.B. YoknapatawphaC. Mississippi.D.Tagliamento9. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.”This line is the shortest poem written by ______.A. T. S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD.E. E. Cummings10. Which couple of the following are not written by Henry James?A. The Portrait of A Lady and The EuropeansB. The Wings of the Dove and The AmbassadorsC. What Maisie Knows and The BostoniansD. The Genius and The Gilded Age11. __________ is said to be a “historical novel”by Faulkner.A. Go Down, MosesB. Light in AugustC. Absalom, AbsalomD. The Sound and the Fury12. Which of the following is said of the American naturalists?A. They preferred to have their own region and people at the forefront of thestories.B. Their characteristic setting is usually an isolated town.C. Human should be united because they had to adapt themselves to changingharsh environment.D. Their characters were conceived more or less complex combinations ofinherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.13. The great sea adventure story Moby-Dick is usually considered______.A. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the artistic truth and beautyB. an adventurous exploration into man's relationship with natureC. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universeD. a simple whaling tale or sea adventure14. The American 30s lasted from the Crash, through the ensuing Great Depression,until the outbreak of the 2nd World War 1939. This was a period of _______.A. a new social consciousnessB. bleaknessC. important social movementsD. All above15. As to the great American poet Ezra Pound, which of the following statements is not true?A. His language is usually oblique yet marvelously compressed and his poetry isdense with personal, literary, and historical allusions.B. His artistic talents are on full display in the history of the Imagist Movement.C. From his analysis of the Chinese ideogram Pound learned to anchor his poeticlanguage in concrete, perceptual reality, and to organize images into larger patterns through juxtaposition.D. For he was politically controversial and notorious for what he did in thewartime, his literary achievement and influence are somewhat reduced.16. Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt presents a documentary picture of the narrow and limited ______.A. up-class mindB. middle-class mindC. proletarianD. ordinary people17. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner makes best use of ______ devices in narration.A. romanticB. realisticC. gothicD. modernist18. American diction in the 1960s and 1970s proves to be different from itspredecessors. It is always referred to as “_______”.A. ImagismB. black humorC. new fictionD. the Beat Generation19. As an autobiographical play, O’Neill’s ______ (1951) has gained its status as aworld classic and simultaneously marks the climax of his literary career and the coming of age of American drama.A.Long Day’s Journey into NightB. The Hairy ApeC. Desire under the ElmsD. The Iceman Cometh20. Tender Is the Night is a ______ by Fitzgerald.A. short storyB. novellaC. poemD. novel1. Which of the following notions is not of literature?A. local colorB. sub-consciousnessC. stream of consciousnessD. naturalism2. As Fitzgerald’s writing style is concerned, which of the following is true?A. The author dropped off the device of having events observed by a “centralconsciousness”.B. His intervening passages of narration leave the tedious process of transition tothe author’s imagination.C. His diction and metaphors are partially original and details accurate.D. The scenic methods are employed, each of which consists of one or moredramatic scenes.3. The Age of Realism in the literary history of the U. S. refers to the period from______ to ______.A. 1861—1914B. 1863—1918C. 1865—1914D. 1865—19454. ______ is not the representative writer in the Age of Realism in the literary historyof the U.S.A. Henry JamesB. Emily DickinsonC. William Dean HowellsD. Mark Twain5. ______ explores the scrupulous individualism in a world of fantastic speculationand unstable values, and gives its name to the get-rich-quick years of the postCivil War era.A. Innocents AbroadB. The Gilded AgeC. Roughing ItD. The Middle Year s6. The impact of Darwin’s evolutionary theory on the American thought and theinfluence of the 19th century French literature and the American men of letters gave rise to another powerful school of realism of American literature: American ______.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. The Lost GenerationD. Naturalism7. In the first part of the 20th century, apart from Darwinism, there were two importantthinkers, ______, whose ideas had the greatest impact on the writing of American modernist period.A. the German Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund FreudB. the German Karl Marx and the American Sigmund FreudC. the Swiss Carl Jung and the American William JamesD. the Austrian Karl Marx and the German Sigmund Freud8. In his poetry, Robert Frost made the colloquial ______ speech into a poeticexpression.A. EnglandB. New EnglandC. PlymouthD. Boston9. As the theme of New England Transcendentalism, returning to nature could be read in Walden by ______.A. CooperB. TwainC. IrvingD. Thoreau10. About the novel The Scarlet Letter, which of the following statements is not true?A. It’s very hard to say that it is a love story or a story of sin.B. It’s a highly symbolic story and the author is a master of symbolism.C. It’s mainly about the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin upon the main characters and the people in general.D. In it the letter A takes the same symbolic meaning throughout the novel.11. ________ showed great interest in Chinese literature and translated the poetry of Li Bai into English.A. Ezra PoundB. Robert FrostC. T. S. EliotD.E. E. Cummings12.Psychological realists take the psychologist view that _______ shapes up the social life.A. subconscious instinctB. intuitive and self-reliantC. evil in human heartD. the circumstance of no freedom of choice13. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money thanFitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It is this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as .A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz ageC. The Dollar DecadeD. All of above14. Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell inlove with a nurse. They later became the characters of his novel .A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms15. ______ tells the Joad family’s life from the time they were evicted from their farmin Oklahoma until their first winter in California.A. Of Mice and MenB. The Grapes of WrathC. The Great GatsbyD. For Whom the Bell Tolls16. In the first half of the 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering period which is called “_____”.A. the English RenaissanceB. the Second RenaissanceC. the American RenaissanceD. the Salem Renaissance17. In Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, he used a technique called , inwhich the whole story was told through the thoughts of four characters.A. symbolismB. imagismC. the stream of consciousnessD. naturalism18. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning ______.A. nature, man and the universeB. the relationship between man and womanC. the development of Romanticism in American literatureD. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism19. To Faulkner, the primary duty of a writer is to explore and represent the infinitepossibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should ______.A. observe with no judgment whatsoeverB. reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimumC. observe at a great distance and sometimes participate in the eventsD. both A and B20. Which of the following just depicts the American fiction in the field of literaturefrom 1945 onwards?A. Black fiction began to attract critical attention during the 1950s.B. There appeared a significant group of Jewish-American writers whose workswere set against the Jewish experience and tradition.C. A group of new writers who survived the war wrote about their ideals, seekingvitality in more widely popular material.D. American fiction in the 1950s and 1960s proves to be a harvest which derivedfrom its predecessors.Answer: 1—60A,B,D,D,C/ D,A,B,A,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,B,D,CD A B D B/ A C B C D/ C D C D A/ B,A,C,A,DB,C,C,B,A/ D,A,B,D,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,A,D,CPart Two1. Leather-stocking Tales F. Cooper frontier literature2. The Portrait of a Woman H. James psychological realism3. The Sketch Book W. Irving American short stories4. The 22 Catch J. Heller fiction of black humour5. Leaves of Grass W. Whitman free verse6. The Sound and the Fury W. Faulkner the stream of consciousness7. The Call of Wild J. London leftist and muckraker8. Nature R. W. Emerson transcendentalism9. The Great Gatsby F. S. Fitzgerald T he Jazz Age10. The Grapes of Wrath J. Steinbeck Depression literature and mild leftist1. Howl A. Ginsberg the beat generation2. The Zoo Story E. Albee absurdist theatre3. The Purloined Letter E. A. Poe detective stories4. The Native Son R. Wright H arlem Renaissance and black novels5. The Scarlet Letter N. Hawthorne black vision6. The Sun also Rises E. Hemingway the lost generation and war novels7. Autobiography B. Franklin individualism8. The Waste Land T. S. Eliot imagist poetry9. Sister Carrie T. Dreiser naturalism10. Adventures of Huckleberry Fin M. Twain local colorismPart Three1. Who are the forerunners of American naturalism?2. Who is considered the representative of the American literary school of last century: the Lost Generation and what did these men of letters call themselves?3. Which four fictional schools successively came into being in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 60s of the 20th century?4. Who is the most outstanding novelist of the 30th decade of last century and what are his earliest best seller and his greatest book?5. Which names are always associated with the stream-of-consciousness?6. As the following naturalists’example, which two novels are Stephen Crane’s main works ?7. What four literary branches consist of the American realism?8. What skills of literary creation does the 20th century stream-of-consciousness of American literature often include?9. Which three periods consist of the main development of American literature?10. What special names are given to the 20s, 30s, and 50s of the 20th century?11. Who are the forerunners of the first three main branches of American realism?12. By what historical events are the three main periods of American literature briefly divided?13. What renaissances successively appeared in the development of American literature?14. What expressive forms does post-modernism have?15. During the South Renaissance, what literary schools was formed one after another by nearly the same key members?16. What are the three main branches of knowledge covered by the Course of American Literature?17. Which main literary schools played the role in American early modernism of the 20s to 30s of the 20th century?18. What features does romanticism have in its style?19. What are the features of expression of American Romanticism?20.Part Three answer1. A. Stephen Crane, B. Frank Norris C. Theodore Dreiser2. A. Ernest Hemingway, B. exiles/expatriates3. A. the Lost Generation fiction, B. the leftist fiction,C. the south fiction,D. the Beat Generation fiction4. A. John Steinbeck B. Of Mice and Men , C. The Grapes of Wrath5. A. William James, B. Henry James, C. Sigmund Freud,D. Carl G. Jung,E. James Joyce,F. T.S. Eliot,6. A.《Maggie: A Girl of the Streets》 B.《The Red Badge of Courage》7. A. social realism, B. psychological realism, C. regionalism, D. naturalism8. A. interior monologue, B. free-association, C. multi-level structure9. A. the period of Romanticism, B. the period of Realism, C. the period of Modernism10. A. The Jazz Age, B. The Red Decade, C. The Timid Decade11. A. W.D. Howells for social realism, B. Mark Twain for regionalism,C. H. James for psychological realism12. A. the War of Independence—the Civil War, B. the Civil War—World War I,C. World War I—World War II—the end of last century13. A. the 1st American Renaissance in romantic period,B. the 2nd American Renaissance during the 20s—30s of the 20th century,C. the Harlem Renaissance during the 30s of the 20th century,D. the South Renaissance during the 40s of the 20th century14. A. black humor, B. fiction of absurdity,C. meta-fiction,D. avant-garde fiction15. A. Fugitives B. Agrarians C. The New Criticism16. A. the history of literature, B. reading of literary works, C. the criticismof literature17. A. the Lost Generation, B. muckraking realism, C. leftist naturalism18. A. imaginative fiction B. ideal emotion C. heroism D. musicality in lines E. gothic and supernatural atmosphere19. A. attention to mental states B. escaping from society and return to natureC. celebration of the landscape with its virginD. influence of puritan strict moral lawsPart FourThe source of New England Transcendentalism is both ________ and ____________.Transcendentalism advocates ________ and _______ of man and nature. Emerson’s _______ is honored as the declaration of transcendentalism and of independence of literature while The American Scholar as the ______ of Intellectual independence.Washington Irving is well known as a writer of ______ and his best ones collected in _______ are Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.James Cooper is well known as the early novelist whose famous stories are collected in his collection of novels: _________. The five collected long stories are his masterpieces that are good examples of the pioneering _______ of American literature.The early sprouting period of American literature is often divided into two halves of _______ and __________The puritans from England came to the new world on purpose to seek for freedom _______, freedom of speech and freedom _________. of religionTwo books by Franklin which is the most widely read are ________ and _________. Melville’s outlook on life was influenced by Hawthorne’s _______, Shakespearean tragic vision and Emersonian ________.Edgar Allen Poe was honored as a _______ of the new style of poetry and American ________, such as The Purloined Letter.Part Four answerAmericans Puritanism European romanticismharmony unityNature manifestoshort stories The Sketch BookThe Leather-stocking Tales west fictionliterature of colonial America literature of reason and revolution.of religion from wantPoor Richard’s Almanac Autobiography of Franklinblack vision Transcendentalismpioneer analyzing novel。

美国文学复习资料

美国文学复习资料

本学期考试复习范围:(考试中需要写作家、诗人等名字的地方,需要写全名,写作品名注意大写字母,否则影响判分)11. The 1920s. Imagism, Ezra Pound (名词术语,诗人,代表作品诗歌,评价)12. T.S. Eliot (诗人,代表作品诗歌,评价)13. Robert Frost (诗人,代表作品诗歌,评价)14. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway (作家,作品,名词术语,评价)15. William Faulkner (作家,作品,名词术语,评价)16. Sinclair Lewis (作家,作品)17. John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck (作家,作品,评价)19. American drama: Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller (戏剧家,戏剧,评价等)20. Postmodernism (名词术语)21. The Beat Generation(名词术语)Allen Ginsberg (诗人,诗歌,评价)23. 24. postwar American novelSaul Bellow, J.D. Salinger, Joseph Heller (作家,作品,评价,术语)Imagism1. Three Imagist poetic principles:(1) Direct treatment of the subject: Direct treatment of the “thing”, whethersubjective or objective; (2) economy of expression: To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation; and (3)creation of new rhythms: As regarding rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome.2.the definition of Imagism(1)Imagism came into being in Britain and US around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation. (2)The Imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.(3) Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles: i) directtreatment of subject matter; ii) economy of expression; iii) as regards rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome; iv) Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” is a well-known imagist poem.3.Ezra Pound (1885-1972)——the father of modern American poetryCathay (1915)《中国》或《华夏集》a volume of Chinese translation.He blue-penciled The Waste Land, the most significant American poem of the twentieth century.Cantos 《诗章》,a modern epic,Pound’s major work of poetry4.In a Station of the MetroThe apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.Appreciation and comment:In “In a Station of the Metro” Pound attempts to produce the emotion he felt when he walked down into a Paris subway station and suddenly saw a number of faces in the dim light. To capture the emotion, Pound uses the image of petals on a wet, black bough. The image of “petals” is juxtaposed with another image of “wet, black bough.” The image is not decoration: It is central to the poem’s meaning. In fact, it is the poem’s meaning.5. Ezra P ound’s main contribution to American literatureEzra pound is regarded, and rightly, as the father of modern American poetry. Impatient with the fetters of English traditional poetics, he led the experiment in revolutionizing poetry. It was he who first discovered T.S. Eliot and blue-penciled the latter’s famous poem, The Waste Land. It was he who helped William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, and William carols Williams in their literary careers. And he survived them all, writing continually righ t up to his death. Pound’s contribution to the development of modern poetry is very great.T.S. Eliot’ Poetry:1)The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock——a masterpiece of the Modernist movement Literary terms:soliloquy (独白)interior monologue (内心独白)dramatic monologue (戏剧独白)motif (主旨,主题)epigraph (题词)Soliloquy or interior monologue: in drama, an extended speech delivered by a character alone on stage. The character reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings directly to the audience, as if thinking aloud.Dramatic monologue: A kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem.Epigraph: a quotation or motto at the beginning of a chapter, book, short story, or poem that makes some point about the work.Motif: A recurring feature (such as a name, an image, or a phrase) in a work of literature. A motif generally contributes in some way to the theme of a short story, novel, poem, or play.2)The Waste LandIn October, 1922, Eliot published The Waste Land in The Criterion.The Waste Land was thought as the most significant American poem of the 20th century and helped to establish a modern tradition of literature rich with learning and allusive thought.The poem is subdivided into five sections:I. The Brurial of the Dead II. A Game of ChessIII. The Fire Sermon IV. Death by waterV. What the Thunder Said6. A poem:Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningWhose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound’s the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.Appreciation and comment:The poem is one of Robert Frost’s most anthologized lyric poems consisting of four stanzas. The poem is written in iambic tetrameter quatrains. This seemingly simple and fresh tells that in the winter twilight the poet stops his horse to observe the beauty of the forest scene. The poet is so fascinated by the lovely nature that he almost forests his journey. His horse shakes its bells and the poet is reminded to continue his journey. In the poem “promises” may mean one’s life missions to fulfill. Symbolically, “sleep” refers to “die”. The poem seems to say that life is a journey and that no matter what attracts you on the way you have to continue your journey and fulfill your life promises before you take your “final rest”. The poem also reveals the speaker’s desire for a momentary relief from the obligations of the world.A poem:The Road not TakenTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come backI shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.Appreciation and comment:The Road not Taken is Robert Frost’ most widely anthologized poem. It tells how the course of his life was determined when he came upon two roads that diverged in a wood on an autumn day. The poet, after much hesitation and reflection, challenged himself by choosing the one less travelled and he said his life was different. Symbolically, the roads the poet mentioned in the poem are roads that man has to choose in life. The poet chose to follow an unusual, solitary life. Perhaps, he was speaking of his choice to become a poet rather than some commoner profession. The dilemma man faces in the course of life choice is universal and painful. The poet tells us that one has to give up something desirable so as to reap what seems better. In fact, each choice runs risk of losing something beautiful. However, man has to choose andmust be responsible for what he has chosen. Whatever the outcome, one must accept the consequences of one’s choice for it is not possible to go back and have another chance to choose differently. The poet seems to say that it is of great importance to make a wise choice in life. The poem is composed in five-line stanzas, rhyming abaab.7. Ernest Hemingway——The Spokesman of the Lost GenerationThe definition of The Lost Generation1. The Lost Generation is a term first used by Gertrude Stein to describe thepost-World War I generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.2. Full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drankexcessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.3. The three best-known representatives of Lost Generation are F. Scott Fitzgerald,Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos.8.The Sun Also RisesHemingway employed an epigraph in the novel which had been said by Gertrude Stein to describe the expatriates in Paris “You are a lost generation.” The novel paints the image of the lost generation.A Farewell to ArmsIt is an anti-war novel, describing the love between an American soldier Frederic Henry and an English nurse Catherine.For Whom the Bell TollsIt tells of a volunteer American guerrilla in the Spanish Civil War.The Old Man and the SeaIt tells of a Cuban fisherman, Santiago, who catches a big fish, only to see it devoured by sharks. The novel highlights the theme that man can be destroyed but not defeated. It is a representation of life as a struggle against unconquerable forces in which only a partial victory is possible. This book led to Hemingway's receipt of the Novel Prize in 1954.Iceberg Theory:Think of an iceberg: one eighth of an iceberg is above the water. All of the rest is underneath the water. The same is true with Hemingway’s writing. His sentences only give one small bit of the meaning. The rest is implied. One must go very deep beneath the surface to understand the full meaning of his writing. Hemingway’s vocabulary is easy and his sentence patterns are easy, but they are extremely difficult to be fully understood.Hemingway heroes or the code hero:Hemingway heroes refer to some protagonists in Hemingway's works. Such a hero usually an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent. And usually he is a man of action and of few words. His such an individualist, alone even when with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place where one can not get happiness. For example, Frederic Henry in A Farewell to Arms, Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea or the undefeated bullfighter.9. John Dos PassosU.S.A 《美国》或《美利坚》The trilogy comprises The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936)Dos Passos used experimental techniques in these novels: the “Newsreels”, the “Biographies”, and the “Camera Eye”(see page 263-264)William FaulknerMajor works1. The Sound and the Fury《喧嚣与骚动》This novel is a complex account of the breakdown of the once distinguished and honored Compson family. The book is divided into 4 sections, largely reliant on Stream of Consciousness and Multiple Point of View. Section 1 is narrated by Benjy, the youngest member and an “idiot.” like hi s brothers Quentin and Jason, he is chiefly preoccupied with his sister Caddy. For Benjy, her disappearance amounts to the loss of the center of his universe. Section 2 is told by Quentin, a Harvardfreshman. He commits suicide. In Section 3, Jason, the eldest son, reveals his bitterness and anger at the opportunities he has lost because of the irresponsibility and selfishness which he feels predominate in the family. Section 4 concentrates on the Compsons’ black servant, Dilsay, and her grandson, Luster. This section provides some objective information to unify the previous subjective narrations into an organic entity.2. Light in August《八月之光》3. Go Down, Moses.《去吧,摩西》4. As I Lay Dying《在我弥留之际》5. Absalom, Absalom!《押沙龙,押沙龙!CommentFaulkner as the foremost southern writer of the 20th century with 19 novels, 4 collections of about 70 short stories, and two volumes of poetry. His important subjects are childhood, families, sex, obsessions the past and the modern southern memory, myth and reality, race, and alienation. His theme is essentially an analysis of the underlying cause for the failure and decay of the South before the Civil War. His fiction carries a strong sense of fragmentation in social community and within the individual himself due to the loss of love and lack emotional response.He is noted for the Yoknapatawpha stories/saga in which the fictional Yoknapatawpha County is the setting. The country stands for the Old South. It also serves as allegory or a parable of the Old South. He writes about the disintegration of the old social system in the American Southern States and its effect on the lives of modern people, both black and white. It shows a panorama of the experience and consciousness of the whole Southern society.Stream of Consciousness:Stream of Consciousness or interior monologue is one of the modern literary techniques. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. The modern American writer William Faulkner successfully advanced this technique. In the stories, action and plots are less important than the reactions and inner musings of the narrators. Time sequences are often dislocated. The reader feels himself to be aparticipant in the stories, rather than an observer.Multiple Points of View:Faulkner was a master at presenting multiple points of view, showing within the same story how the characters reacted differently to the same person or the same situation. The use of this technique gave the story a circular form wherein one event was the center, with various points of view radiating from it. The multiple point of view technique makes the reader recognize the difficulty of arriving at a true judgment.10. Eugene O’Neill——the founder of modern American drama1.Beyond the Horizon (1920) (naturalism)2.The Emperor Jones(1920) (symbolism and expressionism)3.The Hairy Ape(1922) (naturalism) (the plot of the drama) (see p286)4.Desire under the Elms (1924) (Oedipus complex)5.The Great God Brown (1926)7. The Iceman Cometh(1946)8. Long Day’s Journey into Ni ght (1956)(autobiographical play) (naturalism) (the plot of the drama) (see p287)CommentIn what way was Eugene O’ Neill an experimentalist in dramatic art?O’Neill was a tireless experimentalist in dramatic art. He took drama away from the old traditions of the last century and rooted it deeply in life. He introduced the realistic or even the naturalistic aspect of life into the American theater. He borrowed freely from the best traditions of European dramas be it Greek tragedies, or the realism of Ibsen, or the expressionism of Strindberg, and fused them into the organic art of his own. He borrowed freely from modern literary techniques such as the stream-of-consciousness device with the help of which he managed to reveal the emotional and psychological complexities of modern man. O’Neill’s ceaseless experimentation enriched American drama and influenced later playwrights.11. Arthur MillerA typical theme of Arthur Miller’s plays concerns the dilemma of modern man inrelation to his family and work. What occurs often in a Miller play is that the hero finds himself under a pressure from his society and its ethics, tries in vain to extricate himself from the physical and spiritual quandary into which he has fallen and finds release only in death, often in the form of actual or virtual suicide. The world is harsh. There is little or no choice for the hero. Either he submits to the impossible demands of society, or he rejects them. He dies in either case.12.PostmodernismPostmodernism represents a new mode of perception and a way of writing. In poetry it strives to go against the vogue of the New Critical poem and its parent style, the High Modernism of the previous decades. In its thematic concerns, Postmodernism views the world as one that is not to be molded, but as formless and unpredictable. Postmodernism does not endeavor to impose on life and reality, but is willing to embrace it for what it is. And it tends to use topics and subjects of a personal, even a forbidden, nature. In its formal aspects, Postmodernism seeks for a freedom in literary expression. Postmodernism asserts its own identify by virtue of its negation, partial in some cases, of its inheritance. Postmodernist novel exhibits its own unique features such as metafiction, black humor, and forms of avantgardism.13.The Beat GenerationIn the 1950s, there was a widespread discontentment among the postwar generation, whose voice was one of protest against all the mainstream culture that America had come to represent. This has come to be known as the Beat Generation. The word “beat,” which Ginsberg and his friend Jack Kerouac picked up from a junkie friend of theirs, represented a non-conformist, rebellious attitude toward conventional values concerning sex, religion, the arts, and the American way of life. It was an attitude that resulted from the feeling of depression and exhaustion and the need to escape into an unconventional sometimes communal, mode of living. The most enduring works are represented by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and William Burroughs’s Naked Lunch in prose and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Pictures from the Gone world in poetry.Saul BellowSaul Bellow’s basic themes of the novelsSaul Bellow’s basic themes are e ssentially three-fold: first, he views contemporary society as a threat to human life and human integrity. Modern civilization tends to dehumanize, making people lose their distinction and turning them into what he calls “fat goods”. Material affluence dis tracts and produces a sense of alienation. Then living in such an environment, people tend to become paranoid, high-strung, and impotent, and so lose their sanity. Bellovian characters suffer most from a kind of psychosis. They go through a phase before they regain their mental balance and serenity. Finally, there is the quest motif, a quest for truth and values, difficult, excruciating, but successful in a way.CommentSaul Bellow is the first important Jewish novelist to begin publishing in the mid-1940s. His novels present the problems of the modern urban man in search of his identity. This is a common theme that many writers develop in the postwar era. But he does it with the Jewish character and with particular Jewish flavor. His is often acclaimed as the best writer after Hemingway and Faulkner. He received Nobel Prize in 1976 because “the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture are combined in his work.”J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)In 1951, he published his first and only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, and became famous overnight. The novel deals with the 16-year-old boy Holden Caulfield, a modern Huck Finn.Comment on the novelHolden is out of step with the educational, commercial, and sexual customs of the adult society and ab le to see through and expose its falsities and “phoniness.” as he believes that all children are in danger of losing their innocence and integrity in a corrupt and decadent world, he wishes to be a catcher in the rye. Rebellious against the dubious values of the adult world, he represents the young people who are unable to talk to their parents or accept the “American way of life.” From the experience of this young boy, the novel reveals hypocrisy, venality, and squalor in society. Thisnovel uses the firs t person point of view, and is written in a typical children’s language and from a child’s perspective of innocence. Evidently, it follows Mark Twain’s tradition.Black humor:Black humor refers to the use of the morbid and the absurd in literature for darkly comic purpose. It carries the tone of anger and bitterness in the grotesque situations of suffering, anxiety and death. It makes readers laugh at the blackness of modern life. The representative novel of black humor in American literature is Joseph Heller’ Catch-22.Antihero:Antihero refers to the chief person in a modern novel or play whose character is widely discrepant from that which we associate with the traditional protagonist or hero of a serious literary work. Instead of manifesting largeness, dignity, power, or heroism, the antihero is petty, ignominious, passive, ineffectual, or dishonest. The use of non-heroic protagonists occurs as early as the picaresque novel of the 16th century, and the heroine of Defoe’s Moll Flanders is a thief and a prostitute. The term “antihero”, however, is usually applied to writings in the period of disillusion after the Second World War. For example, Yossarian in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.。

美国文学考试,10页轻松搞定

美国文学考试,10页轻松搞定
威廉-希尔-布朗 william hill brawn,第一部美国小说《同情的力量》
三、浪漫主义时期1800-1865
作家们强调文学的想象力和感情色彩,反对古典主义的形式与观点,歌颂大自然,崇尚个人和普通人的思想感情,并且寻根问祖,发幽古之思情。素材完全取自美国现实,如西部开发和拓荒经历。他们赞美美国山水,讴歌美国生活,反映美国人民的乐观与热情。
废奴文学:
爱默生,梭罗,惠蒂埃
影响最大的是斯托夫人harriet beecher stowe,《汤姆叔叔的小屋》uncle tom's cabin
四、现实主义文学1865-1918
乡土文学:朱厄特sarah orne jewett, 短篇小说集《迪普黑文》deephaven and other stories,长篇小说《尖枞树之乡》the country of pointed firs
爱默生ralph waldo emerson, <论自然>nature(被称为超验主义的圣经),《论自立》self reliance,对打破神学统治,摒弃请教教义,强调人的地位,确立民主思想和发展民族文化起了极大作用。
梭罗henry david thoreau,emerson的朋友和门徒。《沃尔登》walden。《论公民的不服从》civil disobedience,主张用和平斗争的方式反对战争和奴隶制,对甘地、马丁路德金起过积极影响。
詹姆斯,被称为心理分析小说家,他晦涩的文体、开放性结局和内心独白等手法大大影响了后世的现代派,尤其是意识流文学。他的作品属于世态小说novel of manners,代表作《一位女士的肖像》the portrait of a lady's,《鸽翼》the wings of the dove,《专使》the ambassadors, 《金碗》the golden bowl.

美国文学考试重点

美国文学考试重点

1.The literature of colonial AmericaWilliam Bradford威廉·布拉德福德(1590年-1657年),五月花号公约签署人之一,于1620年参与创立了普利茅斯殖民地,并在长达30余年的时间里担任普利茅斯总督。

他所撰写的《普利茅斯垦殖记》是关于欧洲新世界殖民史的早期著作之一。

Anne Bradstreet美国女诗人布莱德斯特律1612英格兰比安普敦~1672.9.16,马萨诸塞湾殖民地安多弗美国最早写出真正有价值的英文诗歌的一位女诗人。

她的宗教组诗《沉思集》(Contemplations)受到20世纪文学批评界的重视,被认为是一部不朽之作。

《凡人的虚荣》(Of the vanity of all worldly creatures)、《灵与肉》(The Flesh and the Spirit)、《献给我亲爱的丈夫》(To My Dear and Loving Husband)、《人世正凋萎,万物有终极》(All things within this fading world hath end)、《心痛手颤写诗句》(With troubled heart and trembling hand I write)、《大卫对扫罗和约拿单的哀悼》(David's Lamentation for Sauland Jonathan)Puritan Thoughts美国清教主义从一开始就是一种精神运动,它不仅仅是一种宗教信仰,而且还是一种极端民主与共和的理论。

清教徒在自己的祖国遭受迫害,对英国严酷的社会现实不满而移民到美国。

他们希冀按自己的意欲信仰上帝。

于是,他们致力于建立一个乌托邦式的重视伦理和精神生活的社会模式。

他们崇尚真正的自由——这种真正的自由涵盖了广泛的道德的含义。

他们把一切破坏和蔑视这种自由信念的行为一概斥责为对权威的亵渎。

因此,他们认为自己是一群称之为美国人的新人,命定要建立一个新的世界,为人类建造一座“山上的光辉的城市”。

美国文学试题及答案

美国文学试题及答案

美国文学试题及答案一、单项选择题(每题2分,共20分)1. 马克·吐温的代表作是以下哪一部?A. 《了不起的盖茨比》B. 《哈克贝利·芬历险记》C. 《白鲸》D. 《老人与海》答案:B2. 爱伦·坡的《乌鸦》属于什么文学流派?A. 浪漫主义B. 现实主义C. 哥特式D. 现代主义答案:C3. 《飘》的作者是谁?A. 弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫B. 玛格丽特·米切尔C. 简·奥斯汀D. 乔治·艾略特答案:B4. 以下哪部作品不是亨利·詹姆斯的作品?A. 《贵妇人的画像》B. 《使节》C. 《简·爱》D. 《贵妇人的画像》答案:C5. 以下哪部作品是威廉·福克纳的代表作?A. 《了不起的盖茨比》B. 《喧哗与骚动》C. 《老人与海》D. 《白鲸》答案:B二、填空题(每题2分,共10分)1. 《汤姆叔叔的小屋》的作者是________。

答案:哈丽叶特·比彻·斯托2. 《红字》的作者是________。

答案:纳撒尼尔·霍桑3. 《草叶集》的作者是________。

答案:沃尔特·惠特曼4. 《愤怒的葡萄》的作者是________。

答案:约翰·斯坦贝克5. 《太阳照样升起》的作者是________。

答案:欧内斯特·海明威三、简答题(每题5分,共20分)1. 简述《白鲸》中主人公艾哈布船长的形象。

答案:艾哈布船长是《白鲸》中的主人公,他是一个对捕鲸有着极端执着的船长,他的复仇心理和对白鲸的执念几乎占据了他整个人生。

他的形象代表了人类对自然的挑战和对未知的恐惧。

2. 描述《了不起的盖茨比》中盖茨比的美国梦。

答案:《了不起的盖茨比》中的盖茨比代表了20世纪20年代的美国梦,他通过自己的努力从贫穷中崛起,追求财富和社会地位,但最终因为追求一个无法实现的爱情和对过去的执着而走向悲剧。

  1. 1、下载文档前请自行甄别文档内容的完整性,平台不提供额外的编辑、内容补充、找答案等附加服务。
  2. 2、"仅部分预览"的文档,不可在线预览部分如存在完整性等问题,可反馈申请退款(可完整预览的文档不适用该条件!)。
  3. 3、如文档侵犯您的权益,请联系客服反馈,我们会尽快为您处理(人工客服工作时间:9:00-18:30)。

Part one:Answer: 1—60A,B,D,D,C/ D,A,B,A,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,B,D,CD A B D B/ A C B C D/ C D C D A/ B,A,C,A,DB,C,C,B,A/ D,A,B,D,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,A,D,C11.Hawthorne’s masterpiece, one of the greatest novels of the world is The Scarlet Letter.2.Emerson’s first startling book is Nature.3.Ralph Waldo Emerson is the chief spokesman of this spiritual movement ofTranscendentalism.4.Washington Irving is worth the honor of being “for his literary craftsmanship for his literarycraftsmanship.5.The colonial influence over American Romanticism made American Romantic writers moremoralize than their English counter-parts.6.The impact of Darwin's evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to another school of realism: American Naturalism.7.In the first part of the 20th century, apart from Darwinism, there were two thinkers theGerman Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund Freud, whose ideas had the greatest impact on the period.8. In his poetry, Robert Frost made the colloquial New England speech into a poetic expression.The theme of returning to nature could be read in Leather-Stocking Tales by Cooper.10. About the novel The Scarlet Letter, which of the following statements is not true? DA. It's very hard to say that it is a love story or a story of sin.B. It's a highly symbolic story and the author is a master of symbolism.C. It's mainlyabout the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin upon the main characters and the people in general.D. In it the letter A takes the same symbolic meaning throughout the novel.11. Ezra Pound showed great interest in Chinese literature and translated the poetry of Li Bai into English.12. Eli ot’s first major poem (1917 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock , has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.13. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as The Roaring Twenties,The Jazz age andThe Dollar Decade.14. Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel A Farewell to Arms15. The Grapes of Wrath tells the Joad family’s life from the time they were evicted from their farm in Oklahoma until their first winter in California.16. Faulkner wrote about the society in the South by inventing families which represented different social forces: the old decaying upper class; the rising, ambitious, unscrupulous class of the “poor Whites”; and the Negroes who laboured for both of them.17. In Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, he used a technique called stream of consciousness , in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of four characters.18. Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, told from four different points of view.19. To Faulkner, the primary duty of a writer was to explore and represent the infinite possibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should observe with no judgment whatsoever and reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimum.20. Which of the following is right about American fiction from 1945 onwards?A group of new writers who survived the war wrote about their ideals within the artistic field.1. The Beat Generation is a large group including San Francisco writers, the name referred simultaneously_______, through drugs, and alcohol.• A. to their sense that society was worn out• B. to their interest in new forms of experience• C. to the rhythm of jazz2. In the Depression Age, John Steinbeck is the famous leftist for his sympathetic story about drifting farm laborers and factory workers.3. The 1940s saw the flourishing of a new contingent of writers, including R. P. Warren, A. Miller, T. Williams, K. A. Porter and E. Welty. All but Miller were from the South4. The Great God Brown fuses symbolism, poetry, and the affirmation of a pagan idealism to show how materialistic civilization denies the life—giving impulses to and destruction of the genuine art.5. The realistic schools led by Mark Twain and Henry James differ in their understanding of the truth6. Eliot’s first major poem (1917) has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes7. Which story is William Dean Howells’ masterpiece on the American spirit of the self-made man?A. A Modern InstanceB. The Luck of Roaring CampC. The Rise of Silas LaphamD. A Woman’s Reason8. Which of the following is depicted as the mythical county in William Faulkner'snovels?A. Cambridge.B. YoknapatawphaC. Mississippi.D.Tagliamento9. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.”This line is the shortest poem written by ______.A. T. S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD.E. E. Cummings10. Which couple of the following are not written by Henry James?A. The Portrait of A Lady and The EuropeansB. The Wings of the Dove and The AmbassadorsC. What Maisie Knows and The BostoniansD. The Genius and The Gilded Age11. __________ is said to be a “historical novel”by Faulkner.A. Go Down, MosesB. Light in AugustC. Absalom, AbsalomD. The Sound and the Fury12. Which of the following is said of the American naturalists?A. They preferred to have their own region and people at the forefront of thestories.B. Their characteristic setting is usually an isolated town.C. Human should be united because they had to adapt themselves to changingharsh environment.D. Their characters were conceived more or less complex combinations ofinherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.13. The great sea adventure story Moby-Dick is usually considered______.A. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the artistic truth and beautyB. an adventurous exploration into man's relationship with natureC. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universeD. a simple whaling tale or sea adventure14. The American 30s lasted from the Crash, through the ensuing Great Depression,until the outbreak of the 2nd World War 1939. This was a period of _______.A. a new social consciousnessB. bleaknessC. important social movementsD. All above15. As to the great American poet Ezra Pound, which of the following statements is not true?A. His language is usually oblique yet marvelously compressed and his poetry isdense with personal, literary, and historical allusions.B. His artistic talents are on full display in the history of the Imagist Movement.C. From his analysis of the Chinese ideogram Pound learned to anchor his poeticlanguage in concrete, perceptual reality, and to organize images into larger patterns through juxtaposition.D. For he was politically controversial and notorious for what he did in thewartime, his literary achievement and influence are somewhat reduced.16. Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt presents a documentary picture of the narrow and limited ______.A. up-class mindB. middle-class mindC. proletarianD. ordinary people17. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner makes best use of ______ devices in narration.A. romanticB. realisticC. gothicD. modernist18. American diction in the 1960s and 1970s proves to be different from itspredecessors. It is always referred to as “_______”.A. ImagismB. black humorC. new fictionD. the Beat Generation19. As an autobiographical play, O’Neill’s ______ (1951) has gained its status as aworld classic and simultaneously marks the climax of his literary career and the coming of age of American drama.A.Long Day’s Journey into NightB. The Hairy ApeC. Desire under the ElmsD. The Iceman Cometh20. Tender Is the Night is a ______ by Fitzgerald.A. short storyB. novellaC. poemD. novel1. Which of the following notions is not of literature?A. local colorB. sub-consciousnessC. stream of consciousnessD. naturalism2. As Fitzgerald’s writing style is concerned, which of the following is true?A. The author dropped off the device of having events observed by a “centralconsciousness”.B. His intervening passages of narration leave the tedious process of transition tothe author’s imagination.C. His diction and metaphors are partially original and details accurate.D. The scenic methods are employed, each of which consists of one or moredramatic scenes.3. The Age of Realism in the literary history of the U. S. refers to the period from______ to ______.A. 1861—1914B. 1863—1918C. 1865—1914D. 1865—19454. ______ is not the representative writer in the Age of Realism in the literary historyof the U.S.A. Henry JamesB. Emily DickinsonC. William Dean HowellsD. Mark Twain5. ______ explores the scrupulous individualism in a world of fantastic speculationand unstable values, and gives its name to the get-rich-quick years of the postCivil War era.A. Innocents AbroadB. The Gilded AgeC. Roughing ItD. The Middle Year s6. The impact of Darwin’s evolutionary theory on the American thought and theinfluence of the 19th century French literature and the American men of letters gave rise to another powerful school of realism of American literature: American ______.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. The Lost GenerationD. Naturalism7. In the first part of the 20th century, apart from Darwinism, there were two importantthinkers, ______, whose ideas had the greatest impact on the writing of American modernist period.A. the German Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund FreudB. the German Karl Marx and the American Sigmund FreudC. the Swiss Carl Jung and the American William JamesD. the Austrian Karl Marx and the German Sigmund Freud8. In his poetry, Robert Frost made the colloquial ______ speech into a poeticexpression.A. EnglandB. New EnglandC. PlymouthD. Boston9. As the theme of New England Transcendentalism, returning to nature could be read in Walden by ______.A. CooperB. TwainC. IrvingD. Thoreau10. About the novel The Scarlet Letter, which of the following statements is not true?A. It’s very hard to say that it is a love story or a story of sin.B. It’s a highly symbolic story and the author is a master of symbolism.C. It’s mainly about the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin upon the main characters and the people in general.D. In it the letter A takes the same symbolic meaning throughout the novel.11. ________ showed great interest in Chinese literature and translated the poetry of Li Bai into English.A. Ezra PoundB. Robert FrostC. T. S. EliotD.E. E. Cummings12.Psychological realists take the psychologist view that _______ shapes up the social life.A. subconscious instinctB. intuitive and self-reliantC. evil in human heartD. the circumstance of no freedom of choice13. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money thanFitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It is this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as .A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz ageC. The Dollar DecadeD. All of above14. Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell inlove with a nurse. They later became the characters of his novel .A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms15. ______ tells the Joad family’s life from the time they were evicted from their farmin Oklahoma until their first winter in California.A. Of Mice and MenB. The Grapes of WrathC. The Great GatsbyD. For Whom the Bell Tolls16. In the first half of the 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering period which is called “_____”.A. the English RenaissanceB. the Second RenaissanceC. the American RenaissanceD. the Salem Renaissance17. In Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, he used a technique called , inwhich the whole story was told through the thoughts of four characters.A. symbolismB. imagismC. the stream of consciousnessD. naturalism18. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning ______.A. nature, man and the universeB. the relationship between man and womanC. the development of Romanticism in American literatureD. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism19. To Faulkner, the primary duty of a writer is to explore and represent the infinitepossibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should ______.A. observe with no judgment whatsoeverB. reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimumC. observe at a great distance and sometimes participate in the eventsD. both A and B20. Which of the following just depicts the American fiction in the field of literaturefrom 1945 onwards?A. Black fiction began to attract critical attention during the 1950s.B. There appeared a significant group of Jewish-American writers whose workswere set against the Jewish experience and tradition.C. A group of new writers who survived the war wrote about their ideals, seekingvitality in more widely popular material.D. American fiction in the 1950s and 1960s proves to be a harvest which derivedfrom its predecessors.Answer: 1—60A,B,D,D,C/ D,A,B,A,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,B,D,CD A B D B/ A C B C D/ C D C D A/ B,A,C,A,DB,C,C,B,A/ D,A,B,D,D/ A,A,D,D,B/ C,C,A,D,CPart Two1. Leather-stocking Tales F. Cooper frontier literature2. The Portrait of a Woman H. James psychological realism3. The Sketch Book W. Irving American short stories4. The 22 Catch J. Heller fiction of black humour5. Leaves of Grass W. Whitman free verse6. The Sound and the Fury W. Faulkner the stream of consciousness7. The Call of Wild J. London leftist and muckraker8. Nature R. W. Emerson transcendentalism9. The Great Gatsby F. S. Fitzgerald T he Jazz Age10. The Grapes of Wrath J. Steinbeck Depression literature and mild leftist1. Howl A. Ginsberg the beat generation2. The Zoo Story E. Albee absurdist theatre3. The Purloined Letter E. A. Poe detective stories4. The Native Son R. Wright H arlem Renaissance and black novels5. The Scarlet Letter N. Hawthorne black vision6. The Sun also Rises E. Hemingway the lost generation and war novels7. Autobiography B. Franklin individualism8. The Waste Land T. S. Eliot imagist poetry9. Sister Carrie T. Dreiser naturalism10. Adventures of Huckleberry Fin M. Twain local colorismPart Three1. Who are the forerunners of American naturalism?2. Who is considered the representative of the American literary school of last century: the Lost Generation and what did these men of letters call themselves?3. Which four fictional schools successively came into being in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 60s of the 20th century?4. Who is the most outstanding novelist of the 30th decade of last century and what are his earliest best seller and his greatest book?5. Which names are always associated with the stream-of-consciousness?6. As the following naturalists’example, which two novels are Stephen Crane’s main works ?7. What four literary branches consist of the American realism?8. What skills of literary creation does the 20th century stream-of-consciousness of American literature often include?9. Which three periods consist of the main development of American literature?10. What special names are given to the 20s, 30s, and 50s of the 20th century?11. Who are the forerunners of the first three main branches of American realism?12. By what historical events are the three main periods of American literature briefly divided?13. What renaissances successively appeared in the development of American literature?14. What expressive forms does post-modernism have?15. During the South Renaissance, what literary schools was formed one after another by nearly the same key members?16. What are the three main branches of knowledge covered by the Course of American Literature?17. Which main literary schools played the role in American early modernism of the 20s to 30s of the 20th century?18. What features does romanticism have in its style?19. What are the features of expression of American Romanticism?20.Part Three answer1. A. Stephen Crane, B. Frank Norris C. Theodore Dreiser2. A. Ernest Hemingway, B. exiles/expatriates3. A. the Lost Generation fiction, B. the leftist fiction,C. the south fiction,D. the Beat Generation fiction4. A. John Steinbeck B. Of Mice and Men , C. The Grapes of Wrath5. A. William James, B. Henry James, C. Sigmund Freud,D. Carl G. Jung,E. James Joyce,F. T.S. Eliot,6. A.《Maggie: A Girl of the Streets》 B.《The Red Badge of Courage》7. A. social realism, B. psychological realism, C. regionalism, D. naturalism8. A. interior monologue, B. free-association, C. multi-level structure9. A. the period of Romanticism, B. the period of Realism, C. the period of Modernism10. A. The Jazz Age, B. The Red Decade, C. The Timid Decade11. A. W.D. Howells for social realism, B. Mark Twain for regionalism,C. H. James for psychological realism12. A. the War of Independence—the Civil War, B. the Civil War—World War I,C. World War I—World War II—the end of last century13. A. the 1st American Renaissance in romantic period,B. the 2nd American Renaissance during the 20s—30s of the 20th century,C. the Harlem Renaissance during the 30s of the 20th century,D. the South Renaissance during the 40s of the 20th century14. A. black humor, B. fiction of absurdity,C. meta-fiction,D. avant-garde fiction15. A. Fugitives B. Agrarians C. The New Criticism16. A. the history of literature, B. reading of literary works, C. the criticismof literature17. A. the Lost Generation, B. muckraking realism, C. leftist naturalism18. A. imaginative fiction B. ideal emotion C. heroism D. musicality in lines E. gothic and supernatural atmosphere19. A. attention to mental states B. escaping from society and return to natureC. celebration of the landscape with its virginD. influence of puritan strict moral lawsPart FourThe source of New England Transcendentalism is both ________ and ____________.Transcendentalism advocates ________ and _______ of man and nature. Emerson’s _______ is honored as the declaration of transcendentalism and of independence of literature while The American Scholar as the ______ of Intellectual independence.Washington Irving is well known as a writer of ______ and his best ones collected in _______ are Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.James Cooper is well known as the early novelist whose famous stories are collected in his collection of novels: _________. The five collected long stories are his masterpieces that are good examples of the pioneering _______ of American literature.The early sprouting period of American literature is often divided into two halves of _______ and __________The puritans from England came to the new world on purpose to seek for freedom _______, freedom of speech and freedom _________. of religionTwo books by Franklin which is the most widely read are ________ and _________. Melville’s outlook on life was influenced by Hawthorne’s _______, Shakespearean tragic vision and Emersonian ________.Edgar Allen Poe was honored as a _______ of the new style of poetry and American ________, such as The Purloined Letter.Part Four answerAmericans Puritanism European romanticismharmony unityNature manifestoshort stories The Sketch BookThe Leather-stocking Tales west fictionliterature of colonial America literature of reason and revolution.of religion from wantPoor Richard’s Almanac Autobiography of Franklinblack vision Transcendentalismpioneer analyzing novel。

相关文档
最新文档