Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution
美国文学史及选读复习笔记(1-2册) 2
History And Anthology of American Literature (VolumeⅠⅡ)美国文学史及选读1、2PartⅠThe Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学1.17世纪早期English and European explorers开始登陆美洲。
在他们之前100多年Caribbean Islands, Mexico andother Parts of South America已被the Spanish占领。
2.17th早期English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts(弗吉尼亚和马萨诸塞)开始了美国历史3.First colonies: named after English monarchs and English lands: Georgia, Carolina, Maryland, New York, NewHampshire, and New England(including 6 states)4.美国最早殖民者(earliest settlers)included Dutch ,Swedes ,Germans ,French ,Spaniards ,Italians and Portuguese(荷兰人，瑞典人，德国人，法国人，西班牙人，意大利人及葡萄牙人等)。
5.First writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. 采用in diaries and injournals(日记和日志)，他们写关于the land with dense forests and deep-blue lakes and rich soil.6.第一批美国永久居民：the first permanent English settlement in North America was established atJamestown,Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿)。
英语专业美国文学复习资料。
1.The History of American literatureThe literature of Colonial American (1607-1765)The literature of Reason and Revolution(1765—18世纪末）The literature of Romanticism（1800—1865）The literature of Realism（1865—1918）The literature of Modernism（1918－1945）The contemporary literature (1945－Now)2.Benjamin Franklin The AutobiographyThat good fortune, when I reflected on it, which is frequently the case, has induced me something to say that were it left to my choice, I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end, only asking the advantage authors have of correcting in a second edition some faults of the first.3.Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of IndependenceWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.4.Edgar Allan Poe The Cask of AmontilladoI must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.5.Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle ( The Sketch Book )“Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but, sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.”Interpretations of Rip Van WinkleA New Critical Approach: A peaceful village before Revolution Natural world in the mountains ; A noisy world after revolution ------Irving was unwilling to accept a modern democratic America ------both Rip and Irving prefer the past and a dream-like worldA Feminist Approach : Rip is a good person with more advantages than disadvantages, and readers always show sympathy on him because he has such bad-tempered wife. It seems that he has good reason to go out from his family. He was forced to go out .In fact , Rip: a lazy ,foolish man,an irresponsible father,a hard-hearted husband.His wife :a hard-working ,thrift woman, a kind ,responsible mother, an able, brave woman.6.Summit of Romanticism (American Transcendentalism)Emerson Nature & Self-RelianceThoreau WaldenNature : Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages.Self Reliance:Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.Walden:1 A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.2 I have frequently seen a poet withdraw , having enjoyed the most valuable part of a farm, while the crusty farmers supposed that he had got a few apples only.3 The hollow and lichen-covered apple trees, gnawed by rabbits, showing what kind of neighbors I should have.4 But I would say to my fellows, once for all, as long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the country jail.5 As I have said , I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.6 The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it.7 The Harivansa says,“An abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning.”such was not my abode, for I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds, not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them8 “There was a shepherd that did live, And held his thoughts as high .As were the mounts whereon his flocks. Did hourly feed his by”What should we think of the shepherd’s life if his flocks always wandered to higher pastures than his thoughts?Purpose : 1.escaping the effects of the Industrial Revolution by leading to a simpler life.2.simplifying life and reducing expenditures, increasing writings time3.putting into practice the Transcendentalist beliefIdeas : 1. the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.2 .was very critical of modern civilization.3.spiritual richness is real wealth7.Hawthorne The Scarlet LetterHester Prynne--1.confesses her guilty, faces the future optimistically，helps others2. able to construct her life, wins a moral success3. moral growth-----angelDimmesdale----1.hides his guilty first2.undergoes the physical and spiritual tormentsChillingworth--morally degrades by his pursuit of revengePearl----1, it means treasure ( the treasure to her mother. )2, Came out of an ugly shell but is beautifulTheme: 1 Don’t intend to tell a love story2 assumes the universalityof guilty3 explores the complexities and ambiguities of man’s choices4 focuses his attention on the moral, emotional, and psychological effects of the sin on the people.8.Longfellow A Paslm of Life / The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls / I shot an Arrow / My Lost Youth / The Rainy DayThe tide rises,The Tide Falls (1879)The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;Along the sea-sands damp and brown, The traveler hastens toward the town,And the tide rises, the tide falls.Darkness settles on roofs and walls,But the sea in the darkness calls;The little waves, with their soft white hands,Efface the footprints in the sands,And the tide rises, the tide falls.The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls, Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;The day returns, but nevermore . Returns the traveler to the shore,And the tide rises, the tide falls.My Lost YouthOften I think of the beautiful townThat is seated by the sea;Often in thought go up and downThe pleasant streets of that dear old town,And my youth comes back to me.And a verse of a Lapland songIs haunting my memory still'A boy's will is the wind's will,And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughtsI shot an arrowI shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where;For, so swiftly it flew, the sight. Could not follow it in its flight.I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where;For who has sight so keen and strong,That it can follow the flight of song?Long, long afterward, in an oak. I found the arrow, still unbroken;And the song, from beginning to end,I found again in the heart of a friend.9.Edgar Allan Poe To Helen Annabel Lee “The Raven”For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful ANNABEL LEE ；And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyesOf the beautiful ANNABEL LEE ；And so，all the night-tide , I lie down by the sideOf my darling —my darling —my life and my bride，In her sepulcher there by the sea—，In her tomb by the sounding sea.10.Emily Dickinson I Started Early-Took My Dog- I am NobodyTo Make a Prairie Success is counted sweetestI started Early -- Took my Dog -- And visited the Sea --The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me --And Frigates -- in the Upper Floor Extended Hempen Hands --Presuming Me to be a Mouse -- Aground -- upon the Sands --But no Man moved Me -- till the Tide Went past my simple Shoe --And past my Apron -- and my Belt -- And past my Bodice -- too --And made as He would eat me up --As wholly as a Dew Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve --And then -- I started -- too -- And He -- He followed -- close behind --I felt his Silver Heel Upon my Ankle -- Then my ShoesWould overflow with Pearl --Until We met the Solid Town -- No One He seemed to know --And bowing -- with a Might look -- At me -- The Sea withdrew --1 The speaker is extremely frightened by the sea.2.The speaker also seems attracted to the sea.3. The speaker runs to town to escape the sea.4. She has a conflicted relationship to the sea.5. she is attracted to sth that frightens her---her self consciousness may mean she has some desire about which she feels guilty.Water, The seaThe unconscious, the emotions, the desire, the sexuality.The speaker’s conflicted attitude toward the sea implies a conflicted attitude toward sex (sex both attract and frightens her)11.Whitman Leaves of Grass One's Self I Sing O Captain! My Captain(free verse)The "ship" is intended to represent the United States of America, while its "fearful trip" recalls the troubles of the American Civil War. The "Captain" is Lincoln himself. (metaphor ) Rrhyme scheme : a a b b c d e d12.Mark Twain (realism) The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras CountyThe Adventure of Tom Sawyer13.Naturalism Theodore Sister CarrieStephen Crane The Open Boat1. Sister CarrieOh, Carrie, Carrie! Oh, blind strivings of the human heart! Onward, onward, it saith(say), and where beauty leads, there it follows. Whether it be the tinkle of a lone sheep bell o‘er some quiet landscape, or the glimmer of beauty in sylvan places, or the show of soul in some passing eye, the heart knows and makes answer, following. It is when the feet weary and hope seems vain that the heartaches and the longings arise. Know, then, that for you is neither surfeit(过量）nor content. In your rocking-chair, by your window dreaming, shall you long, alone. In your rocking-chair, by your window, shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel.2. The Open BoatNaturalism in the story1,The indifference of natureThe oiler was the most skilled and capable manIf nature were just, The oiler would be the last of the four men who should have died. The oiler’s death and lack of explanation surrounding it reinforce the randomness of nature’s whims and symbolize the indifference of nature toward manIn the story a bird watches them and is completely indifferent.2,The survival of the fittestWhile the cook, captain, and correspondent all depend on a manmade or naturally occurring device to help them to the shore, the oiler goes it alone, relying only on his human strength and not on his more evolved capacity for thought and strategy.The “fittest”are the men who have relied on man’s ability to intelligently adapt and create.3,Man’s insignificance and aloneness in the universeThey think the man sees them. Then they think they see two men, then a crowd and perhaps a boat being rolled down to the shore. They stubbornly think that help is on the way as the shadows lengthen and the sea and sky turn black.14.Sherwood Anderson The Triumph of The EggThe Egg’s Symbolic Meanings :1.The Egg: The Robber2.The Egg: Beautiful But Fragile American Dream3 The Egg: The Old Unsolved Riddle15.Anne Porter The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (Stream-of-Consciousness Narration)16.F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great GatsbyEast Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made richThe unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals.Do you think Gatsby deserves to be called “the great”?It is complicated to say Gatsby deserves to be “great”or not.For one thing, Gatsby’s capacity to dream makes him “great”. Gatsby was ambitious, hardworking, generous and passionate. He was so extremely loyal to his love Daisy that he could do anything to get Daisy back: he did shady business to earn money and social position; he threw luxurious parties just to draw Daisy’s attention; he could take the blame for a death that he did not cause. Gatsby never gave up his idealistic dream while striving for material joy. Gatsby kept on making efforts to balance the both sides. In this respect, he is great.For another thing, Gatsby never realized that Daisy wasn’t the girl he loved anymore. He is not so wise and he can not see the people clearly. Gatsby was so innocent that he staked everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. In this respect, He wasn’t sober enough to be great.17.Ernest Hemingway (Iceberg theory)A Clean, Well-lighted Place The Old Man and The Sea18.Modern Poetry ImagismPound In a Station of the MetroWilliam Carlos Williams Spring and All The Red Wheelbarrow so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.19.Robert FrostFire And IceThe Road Not TakenStopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningWhose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though; (woods 象征着大自然，而village 象征着人类社会)He will not see me stopping here,To watch his woods fill up with snow (snow --- purity )My little horse must think it queer，To stop without a farmhouse near,Between the woods and frozen lake，The darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shake, (he---My horse,Personification )To ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound’s the sweep, (Alliteration )Of easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep, (Alliteration )But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.Rhyme : interlocking enclosed rhyme (aaba ,bbcb,ccdc, dddd)Rhetorical DeviceAlliteration---sound & sleep; dark & deepPersonification “he”—horse “My little horse must think it queer.”Repetition (重复) “and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.( Superficial meaning: there is still a long distance before the speaker arrives at home and sleeps. Implied meaning: there are still numerous responsibilities before the speaker’s life comes to an end.SymbolismWoods--The mystery of nature; the temptations in our lifeVillage & He (the owner of the woods)—Human world & societySnow--Something of purityPromises--The unavoidable responsibilities & obligationsMiles--Long distance; the heavy duty of lifeSleep--Rest during night; the end of life (death)I am on my way--The journey of life20.Eugene O’Neill Desire Under the Elms (Abbie,Eben,Ephraim, Simeon ,Peter)21.Toni Morrison Recitatif。
美国文学填空填空题练习
Part I. The Literature of Colonial America1. The most enduring shaping influence in American thought and American literature was American Puritanism11. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were the Puritan values that dominated much of the early American writing.Part II. The Literature of Reason and Revolution3. Benjamin Franklin also edited the first colonial magazine, which he called the General Magazine.4. Benjamin Franklin's best writing is found in his masterpiece Autobiography9. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was Philip Freneau10. Philip Freneau's famous poem The British Prison Ship was written about his imprisoned experience.11. Philip Freneau was considered as the " poet of the American Revolution. "12. Philip Freneau has been called the "Father of American Poetry."14. In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of Reason and Revolution.Part III. The Literature of Romanticism1. In the early nineteenth century, Washington Irving wrote The Sketch Book which became the first work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.2. In 1828, Noah Webster published his An American Dictionary of the English Language.3. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his remarkable dictionary named Dictionary of the English Language.4. The Civil War of 1861—1865 ended in the defeat of the Southerners and the abolition of Slavery5. The American Transcendentalists formed a club called the Transcendental Club.6. The Transcendental Club often met at Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord home.7.Washington Irving was regarded as the first great prose stylist of American romanticism.8. At nineteen, Washington Irving published in his brother's newspaper, his "Jonathan Old style" satires of New York life.9. In Washington Irving's work The Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.10. In Paris, Washington Irving met John Howard Payne, the American dramatist and actor, with whom Irving wrote his brilliant social comedy Charles the Second, or The Merry Monarch.11. The short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is taken from Washington Irving's work named The Sketch Book.12.Washington Irving was the first American to achieve an international literary reputation after the Revolutionary War.13. Washington Irving' s first book appeared in 1809. It was entitled The History of New York.14. Washington Irving also wrote two biographies, one is The Life of Oliver Gold¬smith, and the other is Life of Washington.15. The first important American novelist was James Fenimore Cooper16. James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Spy was a rousing tale about espionage against the British during the Revolutionary War.17. The best of James Fenimore Cooper's sea romances was The Pilot. The hero of the novel represents John Paul Jones, the great naval fighter of the Revolutionary War.18. The central figure in the Leather stocking Tales is Natty Bumppo , who goes by the various names of Leather stocking,Deer slayer, Pathfinder and Hawkeye.19. To a Waterfowl" is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant ' s work, it has been called by an eminent English critic " the most perfect brief poem in the language. "20.William Cullen Bryant was the first American to gain the stature of a major poet in the world literature.21. Among William Cullen Bryant's most important later works are his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey into English blank verse.22. Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Bells is perhaps the best example of onomatopoeia in the English language.23. Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven was published in 1845 as the title poem of a collection.24. Ralph Waldo Emerson was responsible for bringing transcendentalism to New England.25. Ralph Waldo Emerson's truest disciple, the man who put into practice many of Emerson's theories, was Henry David Thoreau26. In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began a two-year residence at Walden Pond.27. A superb book entitled Walden came out of Henry David Thoreau's two-year experiment at Walden Pond.28. From Henry David Thoreau's Concord jail experience, came his famous essay Civil Disobedience.29. Hester Prynne is the heroine in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter.30. Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.31. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's first collection of poems entitled Voices of the Night appeared in 1838.32. The most scholarly of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's writings is his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.33. Besides lyrics and longer poems Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote dramatic works, among which Michael Angelo is the most conspicuous.34. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Lowell are the only two American poets commemorated in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.35. After his death, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.36. The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the eighteenth century through the outburst of the Civil War.37. The English author named Sir Walter Scott was, in a way, responsible for the romantic description of landscape in American literature and the development of American Indian romance. His Waverley novels were models for American historical romances.38. Published in 1823, The Pioneers was the first of the Leather stocking Tales, in their order of publication time, and probably the first true romance of the frontier in American literature.39. In The Pioneers, Natty Bumppo represents the ideal American, living a virtuous and free life in God' s world.40. In 1836, a little book came out which made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America. It was entitled Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson41. Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay The American Scholar has been regarded as "America's Declaration of Intellectual Independence". It called on American writers to write about America in a way peculiarly American.42. Another renowned New England Transcendentalist was Henry David Thoreau a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson' s and his junior by some fourteen years.43. The way in which Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter suggests that American Romanticism adapted itself to American puritan moralism.44. Herman Melville's world classic novel Moby Dick was dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne a novelist.45. It is said that in his late years, Herman Melville stopped writing novels and stories and turned to poetry, Clarel is his most famous poetic work.46. Herman Melville is best known as the author of one book named Moby Dick which is, critics have agreed, one of theworld's greatest masterpieces.Part IV. The Literature of Realism1. Realism had originated in the country France as a literary doctrine that called for "reality and truth" in the depiction of ordinary life.2. The arbiter of nineteenth century literary realism in America was William Dean Howells.3. Henry James probed deeply at the individual psychology of his characters, writing in a rich and intricate style that supported his intense scrutiny of complex human experience.4. Mark Twain, breaking out of the narrow limits of local color fiction, described the breadth of American experience as no one had ever done before, or since.5. Darwinism had an evident influence on naturalism. It seemed to stress the animality of man, to suggest that he was dominated by the irresistible forces of evolution.6. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse, that is poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.7. In his cluster of poems called Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman gave America its first genuine epic poem.8. There is no doubt that the solitary Emily Dickinson of Amherst, Massachusetts, is a poet of great power and beauty.9. There was only one female prose writer in the nineteenth century. That was Harriet Beecher Stowe10. Harriet Beecher Stowe's masterpiece is Uncle Tom's Cabin.11. Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known by the pen name Mark Twain .12. One of Samuel Langhorne Clemens' best books Life on the Mississippi is built around his experiences as a steamboat pilot.13. The result of Mark Twain's European trip was a series of newspaper articles, later published as a book called Innocents Abroad.14. Mark Twain was the first literary giant born west of the Mississippi.15. Mark Twain's work The Mysterious Stranger tells of the visits of an angel to the village of Eseldorf in Austria in 1590.16. William Sidney Porter, whose pen name was O. Henry, was the author of The Cop and the Anthem.17. Many of O. Henry's stories tell about the life of poor people in New York.18. 0. Henry sympathized with the poor's lot and hated those rich who exploited and despised them. This is especially seen in his story entitled An Unfinished story.19. It is said that O. Henry imitated a French author named De Maupassant as a model, and there is indeed much in common between these two writers.20. The title of one of O. Henry's books The Four Millions indicates that he considered all the people of New York City worth writing about, instead of only the upper class.21. Henry James' first novel is Watch and Ward, which failed to make him famous.22. The novel which was described by an American critic as "an outrage to American girlhood" is Henry James' Daisy Miller .23. Henry James' first important fiction was A Passionate Pilgrim in which he took up for the first time the theme of The American in Europe.24. In 1881, Henry James published his novel The Portrait of a Lady, which is generally considered as his masterpiece.25. Henry James is considered the founder of Psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator.26. The name of the heroine in The Portrait of a Lady is Isabel Archer.27. In 1902 Jack London published his first novel A Daughter of the Snows .28. Martin Eden is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself.29. The first novel of Theodore Dreiser was Sister Carrie.30. The identification of potency with money is at the heart of Theodore Dreiser's masterpiece An American Tragedy.31. The protagonisw of Theodore Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire is Frank Cowperwood.32. Theodore Dreiser visited the Soviet Union in 1927 and published Dreiser Looks at Russia the following year.33. Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie , a commercial and critical failure when first published in 1900, was reissued in 1907 and won high praise for its grim, naturalistic portrayal of American society.34. Mark Twain's first novel, The Gilded Age was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize.35. Three years' life on the Mississippi left such a fond memory with Mark Twain that he returned to the theme more than once in his writing career. His book Life on the Mississippi relates it in a vivid, moving way.36. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was Mark Twain' s masterpiece from which, as Hemingway noted, "all modern American literature comes. "37. The best work that Mark Twain ever produced is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which was a success from its first publication in 1884, and has always been regarded as one of the great books of western literature and western civilization.38. Stephen Crane is the pioneer who wrote in the naturalistic tradition.39. Stephen Crane's novel Maggi; A Girl of the Streets relates the story of a good woman' s down¬ fall and destruction ina slum environment.40. War in the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a plain slaughter-house. There is nothing like valor or heroism on the battlefield, and if there is anything, it is the fear of death, cowardice, the natural instinct of man to run from danger.41. Benjamin Frank Norris' novel McTe ague has been called "the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel" and "a consciously naturalistic manifesto".42. Jack London's masterwork Martin Eden is somewhat autobiographical.43. O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi is a very moving story of a young couple who sell their best possessions in order to get money for a Christmas present for each other.Part V. Twentieth Century Literature (I) Before WWII1. The First World War stands as a great dividing line between the nineteenth century and the contemporary American literature.2. American writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a "Lost Generation " , devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.3. The most significant American poem of the twentieth century was The Waste Land.4. The publication of The Waste Land, written by Thomas Stearns Eliot, helped to establish a modern tradition of literature rich with learning and allusive thought.5. In 1920, Sinclair Lewis published his memorable denunciation of American small-town provincialism in Main Street .6. F. Scott Fitzgerald summarized the experiences and attitudes of the 1920s decade in his masterpiece novel The Great Gatsby7. The Great Depression of the 1930s greatly weakened the American nation's self-confidence.8. An American woman writer named Gertrude Stein who had lived in Paris since 1903, welcomed the young expatriates to her literary salon, and gave them a name "the Lost Generation".9. William Faulkner wrote about the disintegration of the old social system in the American Southern States, and its effecton the lives of modern people, both black and white.10. Ezra Pound was the leader of a new movement in poetry which he called the "Imagist" movement.11. Ezra Pound's major work of poetry is the long poem called The Cantos.12. One of Edwin Arlington Robinson's early books, Captain Craig, once came to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt.13. Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, 1925 and 1928.14. Robert Frost' s first book A Boy's Will brought him to the attention of influential critics, such as Ezra Pound, who praised him as an authentic poet.15. Robert Frost's second volume of poems was North of Boston16. "After Apple-Picking" is a well-known poem written by Robert Frost17. New Hampshire, one of Robert Frost's longest poems, is a very witty and wise anecdotal discussion about the values of life and character.18. At one time, Sandburg's reputation mainly rested on a multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln including "The Prairie Years" and "The War Years".19. Carl Sandburg' s love of folklore developed in time into a rather modern tendency to represent it in literature such as in his The People,Yes .20. Wallace Stevens was successful in two fields of activity which did not seem compatible with one another; he was a very successful businessman and a very re¬markable contemporary poet at the same time.21. At the age of 44, Wallace Stevens was finally persuaded to publish a book of poems, entitled Harmonium.22. The Necessary Angel is a collection of Wallace Stevens' s occasional lectures on poetry.23. For the publication of his Collected Poems, Wallace Stevens received the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.24. After his death, Wallace Stevens' s previously uncollected works appeared under the title Opus Posthumous.25. In 1915, Thomas Stearns Eliot published his Prufrock and Other Observations.26. In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot published his The Sacred Wood, containing, among other essays, "Tradition and the Individual Talent", the earliest statement of his aesthetics.27. In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot began to write his masterpiece The Waste Land, one of the major works of modern literature.28. As Thomas Stearns Eliot declared, he followed strictly the advice of his close friend Ezra Pound in cutting and concentrating The Waste Land.29. Thomas Stearns Eliot's later poetry took a positive turn toward faith in life. This was demonstrated by Ash-Wednesday,a poem of mystical conflict between faith and doubt.30. In his work The Hollow Men, Thomas Stearns Eliot satirized the straw men, the Guy Fawkles men, whose world would end "not with a bang, but a whimper."31. Few men of letters have been more fully honored in their own day than Thomas Stearns Eliot, and even those who strongly disagree with him seemed content with his selection for the Nobel Prize in 1948.32. Thomas Steams Eliot wrote seven plays, the best of which is Murder in the Cathedral, a verse play on an ancient historical subject, written in 1935.33. Thomas Stearns Eliot's last important work was Four Quartets, a profound meditation on time and timelessness, written in four parts.34. F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel This Side of Paradise, with its portrayal of casual dissipations of "flaming youth" , was an immediate commercial success.35. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his best novel The Great Gatsby. It is the story of an idealist who was destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.36. F. Scott Fitzgerald' s second novel The Beautiful and the Damned describes a handsome young man and his beautiful wife, undoubtedly modelled after himself and Zelda.37. The hero in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel Tender is the Night is a psychiatrist who marries a rich patient. The author condemns the wasted energy of misguided youth.38. F. Scott Fitzgerald's last novel The Last Tycoon remained unfinished.39. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway became the spokes¬ man for what Gertrude Stein had called "a Lost Generation".40. Emest Hemingway's stature as a writer was confirmed with the publication of his novel A Farewell to Arms in 1929. The novel portrayed a farewell both to war and to love.41. Set in Spain during the Civil War, the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls stated again Hemingway ' s view of love found and lost, and described the indomitable spirit of the common people.42. In the story The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway portrayed an old fisherman named Santiago, who shows triumphant even in defeat.43. In 1954, Ernest Hemingway was awarded a Nobel Prize for his "mastery of the art of modem narration".44. Numerous parallels exist between the events of Ernest Hemingway's life and those of his characters, but fewer were closer than those of Richard Cantwell, the hero of the work Across the River and into the Trees.45. In 1952, Ernest Hemingway published a successful novel entitled The Old Man and the Sea, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and occasioned the award of the Nobel Prize in 1954.46. In the same way that F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age became the symbol for an age, Ernest Hemingway' s novel The Sun also Rises painted the image of a whole generation, the Lost Generation.47. Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms can be read as a footnote to The Sun Also Rises in that it explains how people, like Jake Barnes, come to behave the way they do.48. The Spanish war was conductive to Ernest Hemingway's writing The Fifth Column, a play which was universally deplored.49. John Steinbeck was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s.50. In the short novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrayed the tragic friendship between two migrant workers.51. In the work The Long Valley John Steinbeck described the fate of the lowly whose instinctive responses to life led only to destruction.52. The Grapes of Wrath is generally regarded as John Steinbeck's masterpiece.53. In 1935, John Steinbeck published Tortilla Flat, a collection of short stories which vividly described the life of poor Mexican-Americans with affection and humor.54. John Steinbeck's post-war novel The Pearl reflected his bitter feelings against those greedy, rapacious elements of society which made the war possible.55. Quentin is a character in William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury56. Joe Christmas is a character in William Faulkner's novel Light in August.57. The works written by William Faulkner may be viewed as a culmination of the development of twentieth-century southern fiction.58. Katherine Ann Porter's novel Ship of Fools consists of three parts, "Embarkation", "High Sea" , "The Harbors"59. In her essay "Place in Fiction" , Eudora Welty emphasizes the importance of for literary creations. She is noted for her fidelity to the American South, so her major theme relate to place, traditional southern family relationships.60. Carson McCullers was said to touch William Faulkner in writing, and her well-known novels are and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe61. One of the important figures in the 1930s who tried to adapt European avantgardism to American writing is Nathanael West62. The New Criticism first emerged in 1920s as a reaction against the prevailing time-honored critical tendency to focus on thetheme often in disregard of the form of the work. The name is given by John Crowe Ransom's collection of critical essays The New Criticism .Part VI. Twentieth Century Literature (II) After WWII2. In poetry, Postmodernism strives to go against the vogue of the New Critical poem and its parent style, the High Modernism of the previous decades.4. Allen Ginsberg is the spokesman of postwar Beat Generation in American literary history.17. J. D. Salinger is probably best known for his novel The Catcher in the Rye26. Joseph Heller's Catch-22is one of the most famous novels dealing with the subject of absurdity in typical "obscure" techniques.Part VII. American Drama1. Eugene O' Neill is the first master in the American history of drama.2. In 1916, Eugene O' Neill's first play Bound East for Cardiff was put on by the Province-town Players, which was significant not only for him but for American Drama.5. Eugene O' Neill received the Pulitzer Prize for his Beyond the Horizon and Anna Christie between 1920 and 1922, and Nobel Prize in 1936.10. The Theater of the Absurd in the 1950s and 1960s refers to some plays, some of which center on the meaninglessness of life with its pain and suffering that seems funny, even ridiculous. Edward Albee is one of the representatives.Part VIII. Multi-ethnic Literature1. African American literature centers on a myth, though also biblical, quite different from that on which mainstream American literature is based.2. African American literature is patterned on a myth of_deliverance from slavery, that of the Hebrew prophet Moses leading the Jews in their flight from the bondage in Egypt.3. African American literature has undergone a long process of evolution. Its early form was oral, including songs, ballads and spirituals, in short, folk literature in its various manifestations.6. In the 1940 Richard Wright's Native Son came out as a watershed in the tradition of the African American novel.7. Toni Morrison and Alice Walker are two of the most important female African American novelists.14. By far the most important person in the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes known as African Americans' poet laureate, who ultimately outgrew the movement, and developed into one of the major African American authors to help make African American culture.15. Langston Hughes was one of the founders of the black theater in the Federal Theater Project during the Depression. 18. Native Son by Richard Wright is a story about an African American adolescent's growth of awareness. It consists of three sections, namely "Fear", "Right" and "Fate".19. African American literature attained a higher degree of maturity in 1952 when Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man appeared in print.21. Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon is seen as another milestone in African American literature after Native Son and Invisible Man. It tells the story of an African American trying to recover his family roots.29. Another important Asian American writer is Amy Tan, whose first novel, The Joy Luck Club, made quite a stir on the contemporary American literary scene and brought Asian American literature to the intensive scrutiny of readers and critics alike.。
2.The literature of reason and revolution
Originated in Europe in the 17th century Resources: Newton’s theory自然科学 的发展使人们认识到人类是可以征服 自然的; deism（自然神教派，宗教与 启蒙精神相结合的产物）; French philosophy <Rousseau卢梭(17121778), 法国启蒙思想家, 哲学家, 教育 家和文学家, Voltaire伏尔泰>
◆April 19, 1775, the battle of Lexington莱克星顿 战役, a town of northeast Massachusetts, the beginning of the Independence War ◆ July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, 托马斯·杰弗逊 （1743─1826，为美国第三任总统（1801─1809)， Declaration of Independence ◆ 1778, alliance with France, turning point for American army ◆ 1778, English army surrendered ◆ 1783, formal recognition from Britain government
⑵ Literary works
Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷查理 的年历》 Modeled on farmers’ annual calendar; kept publishing for many years; includes many classical sayings. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” 省钱等于赚钱。勤俭积财。 “ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
美国文学史及选读考研复习笔记2
History And Anthology of American Literature（2）Part ⅡThe Literature of Reason And Revolution理性和革命时期文学1．托马斯·佩因《常识》Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”;托马斯·杰弗逊《独立宣言》Thomas Jefferson “Declaration of Independence”2．在经济方面，英国要求美出口原材料，后从英国购回高成本的机器they hampered colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country.3．在政治方面，要求他们归英国政府统一管理，交各种税收但在议会中却没有代表by ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.4．美独立战争持续了八年（1776-1783）The War for Independence.诺亚·韦伯斯特（Noah Webster）说：文化上的独立，艺术上的著名。
5．文学上独立的代表作：1785年杰弗逊：《弗吉尼亚洲的声明》Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia”;1791年巴特姆：《旅行笔记》“Travels” by BartramⅠ. Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林1706-1790殖民地时期作家。
2 The Literature of Reason and Revolution _Benjamin Franklin
The Literature of Reason and Revolution(1765-1799)●Social background●Enlightenment in American●CultureNew York StateAmerican EnlightenmentAmerican and English Enlightenment:Similarities:Emphasis on education, science, reason, and orderDifference:“In America Enlightenment ideas nurtured a greaterparticipatory interest in worldly affairs: Americansbelieved that more reasonable political and socialorders should be established. Under the influence ofEnlightenment, Americans also learned to take actionsto resist oppressive power and to criticize and reformgovernments.”(Tong, 2002:40).●Social background●Enlightenment in American●Culture●(2) American RevolutionNew York StateThe War of Independence (1776-1783)（Main Literary Genre：essays, speeches, pamphlets）Thomas Paine–American Crisis (Common Sense)Thomas Jefferson—“The Declaration of Independence”The Most Important Writer of the AgeBenjamin Franklin --AutobiographyBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Everything seems to meet in this one man, mind and will, talent and art, strength and ease, wit and grace, and he became almost everything: a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador.Herman Melville described him, “master of each and mastered by none”. (qtd. in Chang, 2006:34)As an inventor and scientist:He proved the identity of lightning and electricityand invented the lightning rod, etc.As a printer:He set up his own printing press.As a statesman and diplomat:He actively participated in the American Revolution.As a writer :Autobiography 《自传》（《富兰克林自传》）Poor Richard’s Almanac 《格言历书》● Contents of Poor Richard’s Almanac:● * Calendar, weather, astronomical information,● mathematical exercise● * Proverbs●●Sayings in Poor Richard’s Almanac:●Lost time is never found again.● A penny saved is a penny found.●God help them that help themselves.●Fish and visitors stink in three days.Autobiography is a book on the art of self-improvement , an inspiring account of a poor boy’s rise to wealth and fame.Benjamin FranklinAutobiographyMemoirsfour parts; 65 years old when he wrote itContentsAn inspiring account of a poor boy’s rise to a high position.A how-to-do-it book, one on the art of self- improvement;Covering his life only until 1757 when he was 51 years old;Describing his life as a shrewd and industrious businessman;Narrating how he owned the constant felicity of his life, his long-continued health and acquisition of fortune.Featuresa Puritan documentspokesman for American EnlightenmentStylesimplicity, directness and concisionSignificancethe beginning of the subject of American Dream in literaturebegan the genre of autobiography in American lit.●Structure of the Book:●Three parts:●* The first part portrays Franklin as a young man in Boston and Philadelphia.●(Narrator: a more mature adult Franklin)●* The second part –an “art of virtue”section.●* The third part reveals how the adult Franklin uses his principles of conduct to performhis roles as a scientist and a statesman.Franklin’s 13 virtuesAutobiography:1. TEMPERANCE Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation节制: 食不过饱,饮酒不醉2. SILENCE Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.寡言: 言必与人与己有益,避免闲聊3. ORDER Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.生活秩序: 每样东西应有一定地方,每件日常事应有一定时间去做4. RESOLUTION Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.决心: 决心做的事坚持不懈5. FRUGALITY Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing.俭朴: 用钱必须与人与己有益,避免浪费6. INDUSTRY Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off allunnecessary actions.勤勉: 不浪费时间,每时每刻有事做,去掉一切不必要行动7. SINCERITY Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; speak accordingly.诚恳: 不欺骗人,思想要纯洁公正,说话也如此8. JUSTICE Wrong none by doing injuries; or omitting the benefits that are your duty.公正: 不做损人利己的事,不要忘记履行应尽的义务9. MODERATION Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.适度: 避免极端, 人若给你应得处罚, 当容忍之10. CLEANLINESS Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.清洁: 身体衣服和住所力求清洁11. TRANQUILITY Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable.镇静: 勿因小事和不可避免的事而惊慌失措12. CHASTITY Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.贞节: 绝不损害自己和他人的安宁和名誉13. HUMILITY Imitate Jesus and Socrates.谦虚: 仿效耶稣和苏格拉底●●What is it mainly about?●Experiences of reading as a child;●Experiences of becoming a printer and writing ballads;●Experiences of taking up prose writing.●Do you find the language difficult to understand?●Sentence length: mostly2-3 lines●Diction: mostly homely, simple words of Anglo-Saxon origin●Syntax: few inverted sentences●Few rhetorical devices●Significance of Franklin's Autobiography●Subject matter:●It is probably the first of its kind in Literature.● * A faithful account of the colorful life of America’s● first self-made man.* Poor and obscure* Wealthy and famous*A typical example of the fulfillment of the American Dream.●●Theme:●* A reflection of the age: a demonstration of Enlightenment.●emphasis on reason and order —13 virtues● e.g.●Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.●●Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of●your business have its time.●* A Puritan document.●(A Record of self-examination and self-improvement)●Style:● A Exhibition of a simple, concise, direct style.●As Chang points out, “it is safe to say that the book is an exemplaryillustration of the American style of writing”(2006:34).Other Possible Themes in Franklin’s Writing● 1. Interest in the individual and society; the creation of an American nationalidentity.● 2. Tension between aristocracy and democracy; the awareness of America beingdistinct from England in values and interests.● 3. Tension between appearance and reality; shift from an other worldly to thisworldly viewpoint.● 4. Tension between romantic idealism and pragmatic rationalism.。
美国文学史总结
PartITheLiteratureofColonialAmerica（殖民地时期的文学）Chapter1→JohnSmith约翰.史密斯1.ATrueRelationofSuchOccurrencesandAccidentsofNoteasHathHappenedinVirginiaSincetheFirstPlantingofThatColony《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》（1608）2.AMapofVirginiawithaDescriptionoftheCountry《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》（1612）3.TheGeneralHistoryofVirginia,NewEngland,andtheSummerIsles《弗吉尼亚通史》（1624）Chapter2→1.）monSense《常识》（1776）3.TheAmericaCrisis《美国危机》（1776-1883）（aseriesofsixteenpamphlets）（signed“CommonSense”）4.RightsofMan《人权》（I1791年，II1792年）5.TheAgeofReason《理性时代》6.AgrarianJustice《土地公平》（hislastimportanttreatise他最后一部重要著作）Chapter7→ThomasJefferson（托马斯.杰弗逊）TheDeclarationofIndependence《独立宣言》（BenjaminFranklin&Jefferson杰弗逊）（1776）Chapter8→PhilipFreneau（菲利普.弗瑞诺）1.ThePowerofFancy《想象的力量》（1770）2.TheHouseofNight《英国囚船》（1781）HisearlierpoemswerecollectedinThePoemsofPhilipFreneauWrittenChieflyDuringtheLateWar这些早期作品后来于1786年一起被收录在《战争后期弗洛诺主要诗歌集》中。
美国文学史总结
美国文学史总结Part I The Literature of Colonial America（殖民地时期的文学）Chapter 1→John Smith 约翰.史密斯1. A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened inVirginia Since the First Planting of That Colony 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》（1608）2. A Map of Virginia with a Description of the Country 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》（1612）3.The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles 《弗吉尼亚通史》（1624）Chapter 2→William Bradford （威廉.布拉德福德）→Of Plymouth Plantation 《普利茅斯开发史》（1826）→John Winthrop （约翰.温思罗普）→The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 《新英格兰史》（1856）Chapter 3→John Cotton （约翰.科登）→Roger Williams （罗杰.威廉姆斯）→ A Key into the Language of America 《开启美国语言的钥匙》/《美国新英格兰地区土著居民语言指南》Chapter 4→Anne Bradstreet（安妮.布雷兹特里特）（女性作家）→The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America 《在美洲诞生的第十位缪斯》→Edward Taylor （爱德华.泰勒）（女性作家）→Psalms 《诗篇》Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution（理性和革命时期文学）Chapter 5→Benjamin Franklin （本杰明.富兰克林）1.Poor Richard ’s Almanac 《穷理查德年鉴》（1732-1758，1729年正式出版）2.The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》（Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗逊）3.The Autobiography 《自传》4.Collect Works 《作品选集》Chapter 6→Thomas Paine （托马斯.佩因）1.The Case of the Officers of the Excise 《收税官的案子》（1772）（his first pamphlet）mon Sense 《常识》（1776）3.The America Crisis 《美国危机》（1776-1883）（a series of sixteen pamphlets）（signed“Common Sense” ）4.Rights of Man 《人权》（I 1791年， II 1792年）5.The Age of Reason 《理性时代》6.Agrarian Justice 《土地公平》（his last important treatise 他最后一部重要著作）Chapter 7→Thomas Jefferson （托马斯.杰弗逊）The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》（Benjamin Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗1.该集子并不是按写作顺序来安排的，而是按事件发展的先后顺序重新编排，即：TheDeerslayer（《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》}Chapter 11→William Cullen Bryant （威廉.卡伦.布莱恩特）1.Thanatopsis《死亡思考/死之思考》（1817）2.To a Waterfowl《致水鸟》（is perhaps the peak of his work 是其巅峰之作）Chapter 12→Edgar Allan Poe （埃德加.艾伦.坡）1.MS. Found in a Bottle 《金瓶子城的方德先生》2.The Fall of the House of Usher《鄂榭府崩溃记》3.Tales Of the Grotesque and Arabesque《述异集》（1840）4.The Raven《乌鸦》（1845）5.To Helen《给海伦》6.Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔.李》Chapter 13→Ralph Waldo Emerson（拉尔夫.沃尔多.爱默生）1.Nature《论自然》（1836）2.Two speeches（正真让他功成名就的是两次演讲）：The American Scholar《美国学者》（a great statements 一篇优秀的论说文）& Divinity School Address《神学院致辞》3.Poem《诗集》（1847）4.Essay《随笔录》5.Representative Men《代表》（1850）6.English Traits《英国人》（1856）7.Nature《论自然》8.Self-Reliance《论自助》Chapter 14→Henry David Thoreau（亨利.戴维.梭罗）1.Walden《沃尔登》（1854）Chapter 15→Nathaniel Hawthorne （纳撒尼尔.霍桑）1.The House of the Seven Gables《七个尖角阁的房子》2.Mosses from an Old Manse《古厦青苔》（1846）3.The Scarlet Letter 《红字》（1850）The Scarlet Letter is the introductory chapter of The Scarlet Letter. 《海关》是《红字》的前言。