美国文学——历史背景

Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge, UK / Bridgeman Art
Library
Elasticity, 1916 (oil on
canvas), Boccioni, Umberto (1882-1916). Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy Bridgeman
2)Spiritually: ❖dislocation ❖fragmentation ❖Failure of the American Dream
2. wide-spread contempt for law (looking down upon law)
3. Freud’s theory
3. Features of the literature
Bathing Beauty, Paris 1920's
1920’s American Literature
❖ 1. Introduction ❖ 2. Background ❖ 3. Features of the literature
1. Introduction
❖ a flowering period of American literature ❖ “the second renaissance” of American
literature
Paris
❖ In 1910, the poet Hugo described Paris: "In Paris, you can feel the heartbeat of Europe, Paris, is the city within city."
1922
在20年代，Coco Chanel首先展示了用普通平针棉织 物做成的系列服装。她的尝试招来了嘲笑。但是在上 市之后不久，香奈儿设计的优雅、舒适的服装甚至使 原来最持怀疑态度的人都得到信服，她们以前都穿各 种连裤内衣和宽大的法国式短衬裤。
the “Golden Twenties” or
“années folles” (“Crazy Years”)

❖ The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity, a break with traditions.
❖ One of the twentieth century’s defining features is
“Modernist Experiment” radical artistic experiment
❖ Among the leading aesthetic innovators of this era were the composer Igor Stravinsky
1) The Effect of the First World War: A Turning Point in the American Literature
2) New Theories and Ideas 3) Modernism
a. Sigmund Freud
❖ Freud made the practice of the psychoanalysis
which emphasizes the importance of unconsciousness or the irrational in the human psyche.
b. W. James & Carl Jung
❖ William James’ theory of “stream of consciousness”
❖ New technologies, especially automobiles, movies and radio proliferated 'modernity' to a large part of the population.
❖ At the same time, amusement, fun and lightness were cultivated in jazz and dancing.
❖ emphasizes the period’s social, artistic, and cultural dynamism (活力)
❖ The era was further distinguished by
several inventions and discoveries of far-reaching importance
伊迪斯·华顿《天真/纯真年代》
❖ F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise
菲茨杰拉德《人间天堂/天上人间》
❖ Ezra Pound, Hugh Selwyn Mauberly
埃兹拉·庞德《休·塞尔温·莫伯利》
❖ Eugene O'Neill, The Emperor Jones
million copies), ❖ And Then There Were None (无人生还/孤岛奇案/十
个印第安小孩) 1939, 115 million copies) ❖ The Lord of the Rings (1954/55, 100 million copies)
十个印地安小男孩,为了吃饭去奔走；噎死一个没法救,十个只剩九。 九个印地安小男孩,深夜不寐真困乏；倒头一睡睡死啦,九个只剩八。 八个印地安小男孩,德文城里去猎奇；丢下一个命归西,八个只剩七。 七个印地安小男孩,伐树砍枝不顺手；斧劈两半一命休,七个只剩六。 六个印地安小男孩,玩弄蜂房惹蜂怒；飞来一蜇命呜呼,六个只剩五。 五个印地安小男孩,惹事生非打官司；官司缠身直到死,五个只剩四。 四个印地安小男孩,结伙出海遭大难；鱼吞一个血斑斑,四个只剩三。 三个印地安小男孩,动物园里遭祸殃；狗熊突然从天降,三个只剩两。 两个印地安小男孩,太阳底下长叹息；晒死烤死悲戚戚,两个只剩一。 一个印地安小男孩,归去来兮只一人；悬梁自尽了此生,一个也不剩。
❖ Carl Jung’s “collective unconscious” and “archetypal (原型的) symbol”
c. French Impressionism & German Expressionism
❖ Both French Impressionist(印象主义的) and German Expressionist(表现主义的) artists avoided the representation of external reality depicted the human reality in a rather subjective point of view.
Agatha Christie
The best-selling works of the 20th century are estimated to be ❖ Quotations from Chairman Mao (1966, 900 million
copies), ❖ Harry Potter and the Philosopher‘s Stone (1997, 120
literature ❖ The nicknames for this period:
(1) Roaring 20s – comfort (2) Dollar Decade – rich (3) Jazz Age – Jazz music
Roaring Twenties
❖ a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America
尤金·奥尼尔《琼斯皇》
❖ Death of William Dean Howells (b. 1837)
1921
❖ Edith Wharton wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence. Although some of the judges wished to award the prize to Sinclair Lewis's Main Street.
Expressionism
The Scream
by Edvard Munch
d. Cubism
❖ another avant-garde art movement ❖ pioneered by Pablo Picasso(毕加索) & Georges
Braque(勃拉克) ❖ revolutionized European painting & sculpture ❖ inspired related movements in music &
unprecedented industrial growth and accelerated consumer demand and aspirations
significant changes in lifestyle
❖ By the middle of the decade, economic development soared in Europe, and the Roaring 20s broke out in Germany, Britain and France, the 2nd half of the decade becoming known as
❖ The period is also often called “The Jazz Age”.
2. Historical Background
❖ 1.First World War – “a war to end all wars” 1) Economically: became rich from WWI ❖Economic boom ❖new inventions ❖Highly-consuming society