英语学习-美国文学史复习资料-必备
美国文学简史复习资料精华版
A Concise History of American LiteratureChapter 1 Colonial PeriodI.Jonathan Edwards1.life2.works(1)The Freedom of the Will(2)The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended(3)The Nature of True Virtue3.ideas – pioneer of transcendentalism(1)The spirit of revivalism(2)Regeneration of man(3)God’s presence(4)Puritan idealismII.Benjamin Franklin1.works(1)Poor Richard’s Almanac(2)Autobiography2.contribution(1)He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the AmericanPhilosophical Society.(2)He was called "the new Prometheus who had stolen fire <electricityin this case> from heaven〞.(3)Everything seems to meet in this one man –"Jack of all trades〞.Herman Melville thus described him "master of each and masteredby none〞.Chapter 2 American RomanticismSection 1 Early Romantic PeriodI.Washington Irving1.several names attached to Irving(1)first American writer(2)the messenger sent from the new world to the old world(3)father of American literature2.works(1)A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the Endof the Dutch Dynasty(2)The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. <He won a measure ofinternational recognition with the publication of this.>(3)The History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus(4)A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada(5)The Alhambra3.Literary career: two parts(1)1809~1832a.Subjects are either English or Europeanb.Conservative love for the antique(2)1832~1859: back to US4.style – beautiful(1)gentility, urbanity, pleasantness(2)avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining(3)enveloping stories in an atmosphere(4)vivid and true characters(5)humour – smiling while reading(6)musical languageII.James Fenimore Cooper1.works(1)Precaution <1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride andPrejudice>(2)The Spy <his second novel and great success>(3)Leatherstocking Tales <his masterpiece, a series of five novels>The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, ThePioneer, The Prairie2.point of viewthe theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs.change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights3.style(1)highly imaginative(2)good at inventing tales(3)good at landscape description(4)conservative(5)characterization wooden and lacking in probability(6)language and use of dialect not authentic4.literary achievementsHe created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history of the United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western tradition to American literature.Section 2 Summit of Romanticism – American TranscendentalismI.Appearance1836, "Nature〞by EmersonII.Features1.spirit/oversoul2.importance of individualism3.nature – symbol of spirit/Godgarment of the oversoul4.focus in intuition <irrationalism and subconsciousness>III.Influence1.It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought aboutthe idea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2.It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expandedeconomy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to "get on〞obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.3.It helped to create the first American renaissance –one of the mostprolific period in American literature.IV.Ralph Waldo Emerson1.works(1)Nature(2)Two essays: The American Scholar, The Poet2.point of view(1)One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in thetranscendence of the "oversoul〞.(2)He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moralinfluence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual andimmanent God in nature.(3)If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out thedivine in himself, he can hope to become better and even perfect.This is what Emerson means by "the infinitude of man〞.(4)Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making hisworld, and that he makes the world by making himself.3.aesthetic ideas(1)He is a complete man, an eternal man.(2)True poetry and true art should ennoble.(3)The poet should express his thought in symbols.(4)As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrateAmerica which was to him a lone poem in itself.4.his influenceV.Henry David Thoreau1.works(1)A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River(2)Walden(3)A Plea for John Brown <an essay>2.point of view(1)He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing andwas vehemently outspoken on the point.(2)He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.(3)Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw nature as a genuinerestorative, healthy inf luence on man’s spiritual well-being.(4)He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.(5)He was very critical of modern civilization.(6)"Simplicity…simplify!〞(7)He was sorely disgusted with "the inundations of the dirtyinstitutions of men’s odd-fellow society〞.(8)He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a newgeneration of men.Section 3 Late RomanticismI.Nathaniel Hawthorne1.works(1)Two collections of short stories: Twice-told Tales, Mosses from andOld Manse(2)The Scarlet Letter(3)The House of the Seven Gables(4)The Marble Faun2.point of view(1)Evil is at the core of human life, "that blackness in Hawthorne〞(2)Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passedfrom generation to generation <causality>.(3)He is of the opinion that evil educates.(4)He has disgust in science.3.aesthetic ideas(1)He took a great interest in history and antiquity. To him these furnishthe soil on which his mind grows to fruition.(2)He was convinced that romance was the predestined form ofAmerican narrative. To tell the truth and satirize and yet not to offend:That was what Hawthorne had in mind to achieve.4.style – typical romantic writer(1)the use of symbols(2)revelation of characters’ psychology(3)the use of supernatural mixed with the actual(4)his stories are parable <parable inform> – to teach a lesson(5)use of ambiguity to keep the reader in the world of uncertainty –multiple point of viewII.Herman Melville1.works(1)Typee(2)Omio(3)Mardi(4)Redburn(5)White Jacket(6)Moby Dick(7)Pierre(8)Billy Budd2.point of view(1)He never seems able to say an affirmative yes to life: His is theattitude of "Everlasting Nay〞<negative attitude towards life>.(2)One of the major themes of his is alienation <far away from eachother>.Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism <individualismcausing disaster and death>, rejection and quest, confrontation ofinnocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19c idea of progress3.style(1)Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguitythrough employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives.(2)He tends to write periodic chapters.(3)His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic power have been profuselycommented upon and praised.(4)His works are symbolic and metaphorical.(5)He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background ordescription of what goes on board the ship or on the route <MobyDick>Romantic PoetsI.Walt Whitman1.work: Leaves of Grass <9 editions>(1)Song of Myself(2)There Was a Child Went Forth(3)Crossing Brooklyn Ferry(4)Democratic Vistas(5)Passage to India(6)Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking2.themes –"Catalogue of American and European thought〞He had been influenced by many American and European thoughts: enlightenment, idealism, transcendentalism, science, evolution ideas, western frontier spirits, Jefferson’s individualism, Civil W ar Unionism, Orientalism.Major themes in his poems <almost everything>:●equality of things and beings●divinity of everything●immanence of God●democracy●evolution of cosmos●multiplicity of nature●self-reliant spirit●death, beauty of death●expansion of America●brotherhood and social solidarity <unity of nations in the world>●pursuit of love and happiness3.style: "free verse〞(1)no fixed rhyme or scheme(2)parallelism, a rhythm of thought(3)phonetic recurrence(4)the habit of using snapshots(5)the use of a certain pronoun "I〞(6)a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure(7)use of conventional image(8)strong tendency to use oral English(9)vocabulary –powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreignorigins, some even wrong(10)sentences –catalogue technique: long list of names, long poemlines4.influence(1)His best work has become part of the common property of Westernculture.(2)He took over Whitman’s vision of the poet-prophet and poet-teacherand recast it in a more sophisticated and Europeanized mood.(3)He has been compared to a mountain in American literary history.(4)Contemporary American poetry, whatever school or form, bearswitness to his great influence.II.Emily Dickenson1.works(1)My Life Closed Twice before Its Close(2)Because I Can’t Stop for Death(3)I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I died(4)Mine – by the Right of the White Election(5)Wild Nights – Wild Nights2.themes: based on her own experiences/joys/sorrows(1)religion – doubt and belief about religious subjects(2)death and immortality(3)love – suffering and frustration caused by love(4)physical aspect of desire(5)nature – kind and cruel(6)free will and human responsibility3.style(1)poems without titles(2)severe economy of expression(3)directness, brevity(4)musical device to create cadence <rhythm>(5)capital letters – emphasis(6)short poems, mainly two stanzas(7)rhetoric techniques: personification –make some of abstract ideasvividparison: Whitman vs. Dickinson1.Similarities:(1)Thematically, they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergentAmerica, its expansion, its individualism and its Americanness, theirpoetry being part of "American Renaissance〞.(2)Technically, they both added to the literary independence of the newnation by breaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameterand exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before: they werepioneers in American poetry.2.differences:(1)Whitman seems to keep his eye on society at large; Dickinsonexplores the inner life of the individual.(2)Whereas Whitman is "national〞in his outlook, Dickinson is"regional〞.(3)Dickinson has the "catalogue technique〞<direct, simple style>which Whitman doesn’t have.Edgar Allen PoeI.Works1.short stories(1)ratiocinative storiesa.Ms Found in a Bottleb.The Murders in the Rue Morguec.The Purloined Letter(2)Revenge, death and rebirtha.The Fall of the House of Usherb.Ligeiac.The Masque of the Red Death(3)Literary theorya.The Philosophy of Compositionb.The Poetic Principlec.Review of Hawthorne’s Twice-told TalesII.Themes1.death –predominant theme in Poe’s writing"Poe is not interested in anything alive. Everything in Poe’s writings is dead.〞2.disintegration <separation> of life3.horror4.negative thoughts of scienceIII.Aesthetic ideas1.The short stories should be of brevity, totality, single effect, compressionand finality.2.The poems should be short, and the aim should be beauty, the tonemelancholy. Poems should not be of moralizing. He calls for pure poetry and stresses rhythm.IV.Style – traditional, but not easy to readV.Reputation: "the jingle man〞<Emerson>VI.His influencesChapter 3 The Age of RealismI.Three Giants in Realistic Period1.William Dean Howells –"Dean of American Realism〞(1)Worksa.The Rise of Silas Laphamb.A Chance Acquaintancec. A Modern Instance(2)Features of His Worksa.Optimistic toneb.Moral development/ethicscking of psychological depth2.Henry James(1)Literary career: three stagesa.1865~1882: international theme●The American●Daisy Miller●The Portrait of a Ladyb.1882~1895: inter-personal relationships and some plays●Daisy Miller <play>c.1895~1900: novellas and tales dealing with childhood andadolescence, then back to international theme●The Turn of the Screw●When Maisie Knew●The Ambassadors●The Wings of the Dove●The Golden Bowl(2)Aesthetic ideasa.The aim of novel: represent lifemon, even ugly side of lifec.Social function of artd.Avoiding omniscient point of view(3)Point of viewa.Psychological analysis, forefather of stream of consciousnessb.Psychological realismc.Highly-refined language(4)Style –"stylist〞nguage: highly-refined, polished, insightful, accurateb.V ocabulary: largec.Construction: complicated, intricate3.Mark Twain <see next section>Local Colorism1860s, 1870s~1890sI.Appearance1.uneven development in economy in America2.culture: flourishing of frontier literature, humourists3.magazines appeared to let writer publish their worksII.Mark Twain – Mississippi1.works(1)The Gilded Age(2)"the two advantages〞(3)Life on the Mississippi(4)A Conne cticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court(5)The Man That Corrupted Hardleybug2.style(1)colloquial language, vernacular language, dialects(2)local colour(3)syntactic feature: sentences are simple, brief, sometimesungrammatical(4)humour(5)tall tales <highly exaggerated>(6)social criticism <satire on the different ugly things in society>parison of the three "giants〞of American Realism1.ThemeHowells – middle classJames – upper classTwain – lower class2.TechniqueHowells – smiling/genteel realismJames – psychological realismTwain – local colourism and colloquialismChapter 4 American NaturalismI.Theodore Dreiser1.works(1)Sister Carrie(2)The trilogy: Financier, The Titan, The Stoic(3)Jennie Gerhardt(4)American Tragedy(5)The Genius2.point of view(1)He embraced social Darwinism – survival of the fittest. He learned toregard man as merely an animal driven by greed and lust in astruggle for existence in which only the "fittest〞, the most ruthless,survive.(2)Life is predatory, a "game〞of the lecherous and heartless, a junglestruggle in which man, being "a waif and an interloper in Nature〞, a"wisp in the wind of social forces〞, is a mere pawn in the generalscheme of things, with no power whatever to assert his will.(3)No one is ethically free; everything is determined by a complex ofinternal chemisms and by the forces of social pressure.3.Sister Carrie(1)Plot(2)Analysis4.Style(1)Without good structure(2)Deficient characterization(3)Lack in imagination(4)Journalistic method(5)Techniques in painting。
英语美国文学史复习资料
英语美国文学史复习资料英语美国文学史复习资料一、时期综述（关于清教的应该都是重点）1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：A、narratives 日记B、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作内容：①their voyage to the new land ②adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates andcrops③about dealing with Indians ④guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit3、清教徒的想法：①Puritans want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices.净化信仰和行为方式②wish to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of the Bible to theology.重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位③lo ok upon themselves as a chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God’s will and is not to be accepted.认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝。
④Puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been e_aggerated.反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步。
⑤reli gious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。
(完整版)美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.)II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612)General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess PocahontasCaptain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce hiswife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church ofEngland. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism(1) predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.(2) Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.(3) Limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)(4) theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature(1) Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.(2) Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented 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. Politically, the British government forced dependenceby ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years (1776-1783) and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence ofornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine (1737-1809)Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau (1752-1832)“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”Works“The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Indian Burying Ground”“To a Caty-Did”Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life Experience►He was born in New York.►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H. H. Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.►After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.►In the same year, he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”.►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works►“The Rising Glory of America” (1772) 《美洲光辉的兴起》►“The House of Night” (1779,1786) 《夜之屋》►“The British Prison Ship” (1781) 《英国囚船》►“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) 《纪念美国勇士》►“”The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) 《野忍冬花》►“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花（黄杲炘译）►美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
美国文学史英语汇总
• John Cotton: (the Patriarch of New England) Characteristic of Puritans: Concerned more with authority than with democracy
• Roger Williams: • A Key into the Language of America;
• North, New England, Puritan Writers： William Bradford: first governor of Plymouth Plantation. 《普利茅斯垦殖记》（Of Plymouth Plantation） simplicity, earnestness, direct reporting, readable, moving. John Winthrop: first governor of Boston. The History of New England, candid simplicity, honesty
Puritanism’s influence on American literature
• Purpose: pragmatic • Contents: practical matter-of-fact accounts of life in the new world; highly theoretical discussions of religious questions. • Form: diary, autobiography, sermon, letter • Style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery, simplicity of diction.
美国文学史复习资料大全--最全必考考点集结
美国文学史复习资料大全--最全必考考点集结本页仅作为文档页封面，使用时可以删除This document is for reference only-rar21year.MarchL e c t u r eⅠA B r i e f I n t r o d u c t i o n t o A m e r i c a nL i t e r a t u r efeatures of American writersIndependent, Individualistic, Critical, Innovative, HumorousI The Literature of Colonial and American PuritanismThe first American writer: Capitan John Smith.Philip Freneau:( Father of American Poetry)I I T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a s o n a n d R e v o l u t i o n,E n l i g h t e n m e n t Jonathan Edwards: First modern American and the country’s last medieval manBenjamin Franklin: The AutobiographyThomas Paine :The American CrisisThomas Jefferson (“The Declaration of Independence” first established the identity of American people)John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and JeffersonI I I T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R o m a n t i c i s mWashing Irving欧文: His first book was “A History of New York ”.“The Sketch Book 美国信札” made him international famousJames Fenimore Cooper: 库伯“Leatherstocking Tales”, 皮袜子故事集a series of five novels about the frontier life of American settlers.Deerslayer (1843), Pathfinder (1841), Last of the Mohicans (1825), The Pioneer (1823),The Prairie ( 1827),Edgar Allan Poe艾伦·坡: Poe was sensitive enough to feel the pressure of a world where science and reason reign supreme, and one where there is neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor peace, nor help from God.“The Raven”, “Israfel”, “Sonnet—to Science” and “To Hellen”.His short stories: “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Purloined Letter”, “The Gold Bug” and “The Mystery of Marie Roget”o f T r a n s c e n d e n t a l i s m先验主义A. Emphasis on Spirit (Oversoul)B. Emphasis on individualsC. Taking nature as the symbol of the Spirit (Oversoul)D. Brotherhood of man (equal and liberty)Ralph Waldo Emerson爱默生: Emerson created the school of transcendentalism. His famous essay “American Scholar” established the independence of A merican intellectual.“Nature”Henry David Thoreau梭罗: Walden瓦尔登湖Nathaniel Hawthorne 藿桑Twice-Told Tales ; Moses from an Old Manse, Scarlet Letter红字; The House of Seven Gables; The Blithedale Romance; The Marble FaunHerman Melville麦尔维尔:Moby Dick大白鲸Walt Whitman惠特曼: leaves of grass草叶集, song of myselfEmily Dickinson狄金森I V T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a l i s mBeecher Stowe斯托夫人: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin汤姆叔叔的小屋”Henry James 詹姆斯and international theme: The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl,5: American NaturalismStephen Crane克兰: Maggie: A Girl of the StreetsTheodore Dreiser德莱塞: Sister CarrieJack London杰克·伦敦: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf Martin Eden O. Henry欧·亨利 The Gift of the Magi, The Cop and the Athem6T w e n t i e t h-C e n t u r y L i t e r a t u r eEzra Pound庞德: In a Station of the MetroRobert Frost弗罗斯特: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningScott Fitzgerald菲茨杰拉德 and The American Dream: The Great GatsbyErnest Hemingway海明威 and Iceberg Principle: The Sun Also Rises. A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the SeaSteinbeck斯坦贝克: The Grape of WrathWilliam Faulkner福克纳: The Sound and the Fury ,Light in AugustSherwood Anderson安德森: Winesburg, OhioSinclair Lewis路易斯: Main StreetP u r i t a n i s m（清教主义）Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. Puritans wanted to purity their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. predestination（命运天定）, original sin（原罪）, total depravity（人类是完全堕落的，所以人要处处小心自己的行为，要尽可能做到最好以取悦上帝）,limited atonement（有限救赎，只有被上帝选中的人才能得到上帝的拯救）（启蒙运动）an intellectual movement in the seventeenth century and eighteenth. The common element was a trust in human reason as adequate to solve the crucial problems and to establish the essential norms in life, together with the belief that the application of reason was rapidly dissipating the remaining feudal traditions.（意象派）1912 and 1917. The typical Imagist poetry is written in free verse and undertakes to be as precisely and tersely as possible. Meanwhile, the Imagist poetry likes toexpress the writers’ momentary impression of a visual object or scene and often the impression is rendered by means of metaphor without indicating a relation.C o l o r i s m地方色彩文学a literary trend belonging to Realism. It refers to the detailed representation in prose fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress and ways of thinking and feeling which are distinctive of a particular region.the literature and art after WWII. Postmodernism involves not only a continuation, sometimes carried to an extreme, of the countertraditional experiments of modernism, but also diverse attempts to break away from modernist forms which had, inevitably, become in their turn conventional, as well as to overthrow the elitism of modernist “high art” by recourse to the models of “mass art”.（超验主义）in 1830s in US；emphasis on spirit or oversoul and stressing importance of the individual；regarding nature as symbols of the spirit or God and emphasis on brotherhood of man；representatives: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David ThoreauG e n e r a t i o n（迷惘的一代）American writers of the decade following the end of WWI, disillusioned by their war experience and alienated by what they perceived as the crassness of American culture are often tagged as Lost Generation. Their representatives are F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.（自然主义）Naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. Inpresenting the extremes of life, the naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death.Lecture 2 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)1.The theme in the scarlet letterThe sin of Puritanism on human nature(1)Sin: Hawthorne is haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life. Evil seems to be man’s birthmark. Sin will be punished. Hawthorne was predominantly concerned with the moral, emotional, and psychological effect of the sin on people in general. The story of Adam and Eve; Dimmesdale’s "Fall" is a descent from apparent grace to his own damnation; Chillingworth's misshapen body reflects the anger in his soul Pearl embodies the poison of her parents' guilt(2)Puritan legalism: Another theme is the extreme legalism of the Puritans and how Hester chooses not to conform to their rules and beliefs Because they rejected Hester, she spent her life mostly in solitude, and wouldn't go to church. As a result, She still sees her sin, but begins to believe that a person's earthly sins don't necessarily condemn them. She even thinks that their sin has been paid for by their daily penance and that their sin won't keep them from getting to heaven, however, the Puritans believed that such a sin surely condemns.When Dimmesdale dies, she knows she has to move on because she can no longer conform to the Puritan's strictness.Her thinking is free from religious bounds and she has established her own, different moral standards and beliefs(3)Past and present: Sins of Hawthorne’s ancestors. The wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones.2.The symbolism in scarlet letter“A”-----adultery, able, angelPearl-----the unique pure person in the puritan communityChillingworth----a bad guyDimmesdale---someone who should be condemned for his evil and sinsLecture 3 Herman Melville 1819-18911. Themes in Moby-Dick:The world is Godless and purposelessThe loss of faith and the sense of futility and meaninglessnessAlienation between man and man, man and society, man and natureDeath-spiritual, emotional and physicalThis work also reveals the basic pattern of nineteenth century American life: loneliness and suicidal individualism in a self-styled democracy.2. Symbolism in Moby DickAhab（圣经中的异教徒国王，昏庸暴虐，在小说中过分自信，在船上如同一个独裁的暴君）and Ishmael （圣经中被抛弃的人，是一个流浪者，在小说里他也是一个被社会所抛弃的人）the voyage: the search for the ultimate truth of experienceMoby Dick: evil or goodness; corruption, purity, innocence, youth, the final mystery of the universePequod: the American soulLecture 4 Walt Whitman (The father of Free Verse) (1819-1892) 1. The definition of Free Verse:Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme,or any other musical pattern What is the difference between free verse and blank verse(blank verse has no rhyme, but it should be iambic pentameter)2. The theme of Leaves of GrassIn spite of the unconventionality of his poetic form and ideas, Whitman is related to the past in many ways. Whitman embraces idealism. Whitman extols the ideals of equality and democracy and celebrates the dignity, the self-reliant spirit and the joy of the common man. Parallelism.3. The features of Leaves of GrassA. He extols the ideals of equality and democracy and celebrates the dignity, the self-reliant spirit and the joy of the common man.B. employing “free verse” as the form of his poems with two characteristics: parallelism; phonetic recurrenceC. frankness of the commonplace and the ugly sides in human lifeD. direct, plain and even vulgar languageE. “untold latencies” (his poetry suggests rather than tell)F. great influence on the 20th century American poetsEmily Dickinson (1830-1886)4. The themes in Emily DickinsonFlowers and gardensThe Master , Jesus or Godillness, dying and death, immortalitythe mind and spiritA religious certainty, God’s help and good lifeNature, both kind and cruelIndividuality, free will, human responsibilitySympathy for the poor and the weakBeauty, truth and goodnessLecture5 Edgar Allan Poe (1819-1849)1. IntroductionThe father of detective fiction. He is the first professional writer.Poems:“The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, “To Helen”Lecture 6 American realism (the late 19th century, esp. 1870s, 1880s)1. Features of American RealismA. reaction aga inst “the lie” of Romanticism (considering Romanticism made people escape from the social realities)B. theme: the world of experience of the commonplace and the familiar and the lowC. style: genteel, graceful prose by Howells and Henry James; plain and rough by Mark TwainD. vivid description of details from observation of actual lifeE. a reliance on the representative characterF. trying to hold an objective view of human nature and society2. Father of American realism:William Dean Howells (1837 – 1920)3. Features of Henry James’s workThe international theme:“the international theme”: the meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence, and its moral and psychological complications.Special point of view: internal monologue (illumination of the situation and characters through one or several minds)Lecture 7 Local Colorism1. Mark Twain’s real nameSamuel Langhorne Clemens2. 4 classical novels:The Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Man that Corrupted HadleyburgRoughing It3. Trilogy of MississippiLife on the mississippiThe Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn4. The features of Mark Twain’s languageAnglo-Saxon in origin, short, concrete and direct in effect;sentence structure is mostly simple or compound;repetition of words;ungrammatical elementsMark Twain made the colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of America.Lecture 8 Ernest Hemingway1. 4 novels of Ernest Hemingway:The Sun Also RisesFor Whom the Bell TollsThe Old Man and the SeaA Farewell to Arms2. The symbolism of The old man and the sea:Santiago – mankind;sea – nature and environment;marlin – purpose of life;shark – the evil force which control human’s fate3. The features in Ernest Hemingway:Hemingway situation: characterized by chaos and brutality and violence, by crime and death, by sports and sexHemingway theme: “grace under pressure”Lecture 9 American Naturalism1. Major feature of Naturalism godlessDeterminismThe universe is cold, indifferent, godless and hostile to human desires; life becomes a struggle for survivalThemes: social systems that destroy and dehumanize; individual experience of loss and failure3.differences between Realism and Naturalism4. The trilogy of fate:The FinancierThe TitanThe Stoic5. Masterpiece of Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie6. The real name of Jack London:John Ariffith London7. The masterpiece ofThe Gift of the MagiLecture 10 The southern renaissance1. 4 novels of William Faulkner:The Sound and the FuryLight in AugustAbsalom! Absalom!Go Down, MosesAs I lay Dyingthe Marble Faun2. The features of his novels:Theme: in praise of eternal virtues in human history, love, pity, honor and self-sacrifice (despair and destruction)multiple points of viewdislocation of timethe modern stream of consciousnesswords are often run together, with no capitalization and no proper punctuation interior monologuescolloquial and regional dialectsone fragment runs into another without proper noticeLecture 11 American Drama1. 4 novels of E ugene O’Neill:Beyond the HorizonLong Day’s Journey into NightThe Emperor JonesThe Hairy Ape2. Themes of The Hairy Ape:The industrial environment is presented as toxic and dehumanizing; the world of the rich, superficial and dehumanized. Yank has also been interpreted as representative of the human condition, alienated from nature by his isolated consciousness, unable to find belonging in any social group or environment.3. Major themes in A Streetcar Named Desire:Fantasy/IllusionBlanche dwells in illusion; fantasy is her primary means of self-defense.Fantasy has a liberating magic that protects her from the tragedies she has had to endure.Blanche's dependence on illusion is contrasted with Stanley's steadfast realism, and in the end it is Stanley and his worldview that win.To survive, Stella must also resort to a kind of illusion, forcing herself to believe that Blanche's accusations against Stanley are false so that she can continue living with her husband.4. Themes in Death of a Salesman:The American DreamAbandonmentBetrayalLecture 12 Postwar American Literature1. The definition of black humor:Black humor is a way to criticize the army, the bureaucracy and government. Humor—deep, strong, melancholy, self-mocking; to express the most helpless feeling by using seemingly light-hearted treatment;2. Features of the beat generation:free from all formalitiesanti-reasonbreaking down the limitations between poetry and proseThey shock their listeners by reading their works aloud in coffee houses and bars. They lived in a wild way, anti-traditional and rebellious.They cherished a rebellious attitude toward sex, living in groups and engaging themselves in homosexual activities.3. Definition of postmodernism:In general, the postmodern view is cool, ironic, and accepting of the fragmentation of contemporary existence. It tends to concentrate on surfaces rather than depths, to blur the distinctions between high and low culture, and as a whole to challenge a wide variety of traditional cultural values.4. Features of the confessional school:They wrote about themselves, cultivating the inner world of each private individual and challenging the traditional values.They describe personal experience and family problems.A ruthless, excruciating self-analysis of one’s own background and heritage, one’s own most private desires and fantasies etc., and the urgent “I’ll-tell-it-all-to-you” impulse.5. Postwar novels;Saul Bellow : Henderson the Rain King, More Die of Heartbreak;. Salinger : The Catcher in the Rye;John Updike: Rabbit pentalogy,Flannery O'Connor.Joseph Heller: Catch-22Alice Walker 艾丽斯.沃克 :The Color Purple 《紫色》Martin Luther King :I Have a DreamAmy Tan :The Joy Luck Club (1989) 《欣幸俱乐部》。
美国文学史复习知识点
PuritanismFeatures of Puritanism1. Purification of the church2. Calvinism (John Calvin, 1509-1564, French protestant reformer)(1). Emphasis of Predestination “预定论”(2). Total depravity (Original Sin) 彻底的堕落(因原罪而起）(3). Limited atonement 有限的赎罪Anne Bradstreet (1612 — 1672)First famous poet in North America, known as the “Tenth Muse”最早写出真正有价值的英文诗歌的女诗人Major works:the first collection of poems in North America.The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650)《最近在美洲出现的第十位缪斯》Contemplations《沉思录》Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790 )Statesman, essayist, orator, philosopher, ambassador, scientist, inventor, publisher“master of each and mastered by none”—Herman MelvilleOne of the Founding Fathers of AmericaSymbol of America in the Age of EnlightenmentThe only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:the Declaration of Independencethe treaty of alliance with Francethe treaty of peace with Englandthe constitutionThe symbol of American Dream, a self-made manHis Major WorksPoor Richard’s Almanac (1732)《格言历书》poems and essaysa good many adages and common sense witticismsAutobiography (1868)— the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity—the faithful account of the colorful career of American’s first self-made man.— a Puritan document (self-examination and self-improvement; illustration of Puritan ethics ) — a story of the fulfillment of American dream.Thirteen virtues from The Autobiography1. Temperance节制. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.2. Silence沉默. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.3. Order秩序. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.4. Resolution决心. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.5. Frugality节俭. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself, i.e., waste nothing.6. Industry勤奋. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessaryactions.7. Sincerity诚实. Use no harmful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speakaccordingly.8. Justice公正. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.9. Moderation适度. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.10. Cleanliness清洁. Tolerate no uncleanlinessin body, clothes, or habitation.11. Tranquility宁静. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.12. Chastity贞洁. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or theinjury of our own or another’s peace or reputation.13. Humility谦虚. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.The Style of Puritan Writing1. Protestant - against ornateness; reverence for the Bible. The Puritans chose the Bible as the guidebook to their Promised Land.2. Puritan writing reflected the character and scope of the reading public, which was literate and well-grounded in religion.American RomanticismTime Range:From the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War.Historical Background:National independence, democracyRising materialism and business: leisure and wealthReligious dogma, rationalismFeatures:American Romanticism was both imitative and independent.Imitative: English and European Romanticists, about home, family, nature, children and idealized love, etc.Independent: Emerson and Whitman, on major problems of American life, like the westward expansion and democracy and equality, etc.1. Romantic Subject Matter(1). The quest for beauty: non-didactic, "pure beauty." (Allan Poe)(2). The use of the far-away and non-normal - antique and fanciful (Hawthorn, Poe)(3). Escapism - from American problems (Irving).(4). Interest in external nature - for itself, for beauty(Emerson, Thoreau)2. Romantic Attitudes :(1). Appeals to imagination:remoteness of settings in time and space. improbable plots.(2). Stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism,(3). Authorial subjectivity: in form and meaning.3. Major Themes:a.Primitivism and the cult of the “noble savage”(Hiawatha 《海华沙》);b.The celebration of natural beauty and the simple life (Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau);mon man, uncorrupted by civilization (Whittier, Cooper);d.Interest in the picturesque past (Irving, Hawthorne);e.Interest in the remote places (Melville); medievalism (Longfellow);Representitive Writers and WorksWashington Irving’s The Sketch Book 《见闻札记》marks the beginning of American Romanticism.Whitman’s (慧特曼) Leaves of Grass 《草叶集》) is the last masterpiece of American Romanticism.James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales 《皮裹腿故事集》depicts as a pioneer,effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West.Washington Irving（1783-1859）Father of the American short stories；the first great American writer；the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame.Masterpiece:The Sketch Book (1820）marks the beginning of American Romanticism.Rip Van Winkle （《瑞普·凡·温克尔》）The Legend of Sleepy Hollow （《睡谷的传说》）James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)One of the first authors to write about the American Westward movement.The creation of a myth about the formative period of the American nation.The introduction of the “Western” tradition into American literature.Masterpiece:Leatherstocking Tales 《皮裹腿故事集》（a collection of tales）The Pioneer, 1823; 《拓荒者》The Last of the Mohicans, 1826;《最后的莫西干人》The Prairie, 1827; 《大草原》The Pathfinder, 1840; 《探路人》The Deerslayer, 1841.《杀鹿者》TranscendentalismFeatures:1.Oversoul2.Individualism3.NatureThe Transcendentalists:The Big Three:1.Ralph Waldo Emerson;2.Henry David Thoreau;3.Margaret FullerThree sources:1.A thoughtful revolt against Puritanism (total depravity, the original sin etc.).2.German philosophers of the 18th century.3.The effect of oriental thought on the Western world.Ralph Waldo EmersonMajor Works:1.Nature:Emerson’s best know workThe bible of New England transcendentalism2.“Divinity School Address”attacks organized Christianityargues for “moral sentiment” --- essence of all religionsurges the listeners to be the true teacher: offering first-hand revelations3.“The American Scholar”:America’s declaration of Intellectual Independenceasserts nature as a teacher that instructs man to see his connection with the worldmaintains creation is continuous and each age must have its own booksdeclares self-trust and independent thinking a necessity for the new scholar.Henry David ThoreauMajor Works:1.WaldenA book on self-culture and human perfectibilitycarrying out an experimentrecording in great detail a spiritually rewarding yet simple lifereflecting on nature’s restorative influenceA book that inspired modern nature preservation2.Civil DisobedienceNathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)Major Works:(1). Fanshawe《范肖》(2). The Token were reprinted in Twice-told Tales. 《重述一遍的故事》(3). Twice-Told Tales, 1837; 《重述一遍的故事》(4). Mosses from an Old Manse, 1846; 《古屋青苔》,including “Young Goodman Brown”《年轻的古德曼·布朗》, “Rappaccini’s Daughter”《拉帕西尼的女儿》, “The Artist of the Beautiful”, “The Birthmark”, and “Roger Malvin’s Burial”.(5). Books for children:Grandfather’s Chair(1841);Famous Old People(1841),Liberty Tree(1841),Biographical Stories for Children(1842)(6). The Scarlet Letter, 1850; 《红字》(7). The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales (1851)(8). The House of Seven Gables , 1851; 《七个尖角阁的房子》(9). The Blithedale Romance, 1852; 《福谷传奇》(10). The Marble Faun , 1860; 《玉石雕像》(11). The Centenary Edition of the Works of Hawthorne, 18 vols. ed. W. Charvat et al., 1962-1987. Masterpieces:The Scarlet Letter (1850), written after Hawthorn’s dismissal from his post owing to a change of administrations, proved to be his greatest work, and indeed summed up in classic terms the Puritan dilemma that had so long occupied his imagination.Other Important books:The House of the Seven Gables (1851); is another great romance, concerned with the decadence of Puritanism, a novel based upon colonial America and filled with mysticism.The Blithedale Romance, (1852) in which he tuned to the contemporary scene and his Brook Farm experiences;The Scarlet Letter (1850)人物:1.Wife: Hester Prynne2.丈夫改名后: Roger Chillingworth3.Priest: Arthur DimmesdaleWalt Whitman (1819-1891)Whitman’s (慧特曼) Leaves of Grass 《草叶集》) is the last masterpiece of American Romanticism.Free verse1. without a fixed, traditional rhyme scheme2. It is sometimes referred to as “open form” verse, or by the French term vers libre.Whitman’s statusWhitman stands as one of two giants of American poetry in 19th C.found new subjects for typical American type of poetry.rejected conventional themes, traditional rhymeHe influenced Harlem Renaissance writers as Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson.Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot (Modernist poets) were also influenced by Whitman.Major Works:1.Leaves of Grass2.Song of Myself3.Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking4.When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d 纪念林肯Edgar Allan Poe1. Position(1). Poet, short-story writer and critic.(2). Unique position in the history of American literature:a. ancestor of the detective story (influencing Conan Doyle)b. forefather of psychological novels (psychological analysis)c. the first important American critic and father of psychoanalytic criticismd. (be regarded as) one of the first aesthetes in literary historyHowever, Poe may be the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature.2. Masterpieces:The Raven (1844)—one of his most enduring worksTo HelenHerman Melville:major theme: aliennationMasterpiece:Moby Dick 《白鲸》人物:1.Ishmael2.船长: Ahab3.白鲸: Moby Dick4.船: PequodA common Theme: one of“Rejection and quest”1.19世纪中期2.Cooper, Hawthorne, MelvilleEmily Dickinson (1830-1886)1.Pioneer of Imagism2.Calvinist family诗歌特点:1.Love: “With a Flower”, “Proof”2.Nature: “A Service of Song”, “Summer Shower”3.Death and immortality: “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”4.Miscellaneous: “Tell all the Truth but tell It Slant”Her techniques originality:1.Capitalizations and dashes2.Metaphors3.symbolismDickinson’s status1. Her unconventionality influenced modern poets like Adrienne Rich, Richard Wilbur, and William Stafford.Along with Walt Whitman, Dickinson is considered a true genius of American poetry of the 19th C. Works1.Because I could not …2.Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-3.With A Flower4.Proof5.A Service of Song6.This is my letterAmerican RealismTime Range:1865 – 1910Background:1. Aftermath of the Civil Wara.Social Problems: deterioration of moral values; extremes of wealth and poverty; majoritystruggled for survivalb.Question on the Transcendentalists’ assumptions2. A great interest in the realities of life3. The close of the frontierFeatures:1. Anti-romantic, anti-sentimental ; truthful description of life真实性2. Typical character and plot under typical setting人物情节与背景的典型性、代表性3. Objective rather than idealized view of human nature and experience客观性4. Concern for social and psychological problems关注社会与个人心理问题Realistic Techniques(1). Settings thoroughly familiar to the writer(2). Plots emphasizing the norm of daily experience(3). Ordinary characters, studied in depth(4). Complete authorial objectivity(5). Responsible morality; a world truly reportedRepresentative Writers and Works:1. William Dean Howells is the the champion of literary realism in America. His The Rise of SilasLapham, is about critical of the rise of materialism in American life2. Henry James is the forefather of psychological analysis and stream of consciousness.His famous work is The Portrait of a Lady.3. Mark Twain represents social life through portraits of local places which he knew best.His famous word is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.William Dean Howells （1837 — 1920）1.middle class2.smiling aspectcking of psychological depthMajor Works1.The Rise of Silas Lapham （1885）《塞拉斯·拉帕姆的发迹》Protagonist: Silas Lapham, a self-made man , a upstart2. A Modern Instance （1881）《现代婚姻》3.Indian Summer （1886）《晚秋之暧》4.Annie Kilburn （1888）《安妮·吉尔伯恩》5.A Hazard of New Fortunes （1890）《时来运转》6.A Chance AcquaintanceHenry James（1843 — 1916）1.upper class2.Harvard3.Novelist, critic, playwright, essayist4.Forefather of psychological analysis and stream of consciousness5.International theme: American innocence in face of European sophisticationMajor Works:1.The American （1877）《美国人》2.Daisy Miller （1879）《苔瑟·密勒》3.The Portrait of a Lady （1881）《贵妇人的画像》4.The Bostonians （1886）《波士顿人》5.The Princess Casamassima （1886）《卡萨玛西玛公主》6.What Maisie Knew （1897）《梅吉的见闻》7.The Turn of the Screw 《拧螺丝》Three great novels8.The Wings of the Dove （1902）《鸽翼》9.The Ambassadors （1903）《专使》10.The Golden Bowl （1904）《金碗》Local Colorism (1860s -- 1900) 乡土文学Features1.Emphasis of elements which characterize a local culture, such as speech, customs, and morespeculiar to one particular place.2.Emphasis of physical setting and those distinctive qualities of landscape which condition humanthought and behavior.3.dialect4.frame storyMark Twain（1835 — 1910）1.lower class2.social critic, local colorist3.colloquial speech4.southwestern humor5. stories peculiar to Mississippi and WestMajor Works1. 《卡拉韦拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 第一个成功文学作品2.《镀金时代》（The Gilded Age, 1873）3.《汤姆·索耶历险记》（The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876）4.《王子与贫儿》（The Prince and the Pauper, 1881）5.《密西西比河上》（Life on the Mississippi, 1883）6.《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》（The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1886）7. 《傻瓜威尔逊》Pud’nhead Wilson （1893）8. 《圣女贞德》Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc （1896）Following the Equator （1897）《赤道旅行记》9.《败坏了赫德莱堡的人》The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1900)10.《傻子国外旅行记》Innocents Abroad (1869)11.《神秘的来客》The Mysterious Stranger (1906)12.《人是怎么一回事》What Is Man (1906)The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)人物:1.Huckleberry Finn: Main character of the book, who runs away from his adopted family to be freeof society and civilization.2.Tom Sawyer: Huck's best friend who freely spins lies and loves adventure.3.Widow Douglas: Adopts Huck to try and civilize him.4.Miss Watson: Sister of the Widow Douglas. She tries to teach Huck religion and how to spell.5.Jim: Miss Watson's slave. He runs away and journeys down the Mississippi River with Huck.6.Pap: Huck's drunkard father.7.The King and the Duke: two swindlersComparison of the three “giants”1. ThemeHowells – middle classJames – upper classTwain – lower class2. ToneHowells – smiling/genteel realismJames – psychological realismTwain – local colourism and colloquialismAmerican NaturalismTime Range:1890 -- 1920Background:1. Emergence of “Modern America” : financial giants vs. industria l proletariat2. New ideas about man and man’s place in the universe: in a cold, indifferent andGodless world, man is insignificant without freedom of will.3. Younger generation of writers thought Howellsian realism was too restrained andgenteel to tell the truth of the harsher realities of American life.Definition:a critical term applied to the method of literary composition that aims at a detached, scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man. It is thus more inclusive and less selective than realism, and holds to the philosophy of determinism. It conceives of man as controlled by his instincts or his passions, or by his social and economic environment and circumstances. Since in this view man has no free will, the naturalistic writer does not attempt to make moral judgments, and as a determinist he tends toward pessimism. (The Oxford Companion to American lit.)Features:1. Humans are controlled by some deterministic forces, both internal (heredity) and external (environment)2. The universe is indifferent and hostile.3. The literary naturalists have a major difference from the realists.They described the violent, sensational, sordid, unpleasant, and ugly aspects of life instead of the averageInstead of reflecting the middle-class life, they would rather write about the life of failure, poverty and even crime.4. general tone: hopelessness, despair, gloom, pessimismRepresentative Writers and Works1. as a response to a darkening social outlook: the harsh futility of life in nature, on the farm, or inthe city (Stephen Crane) Maggie: A Girl of the Street (1893)2. Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie is a spiritual tragedy.3. the political implications of economic forces (Frank Norris) McTeagueStephen Crane (1871-1900)1.Pioneer in the field of Modern poetry : One of the two precursors of Imagist, the other beingEmily DicksonMajor Works:1. Maggie: A Girl of the Street (1893) 《街头女郎梅季》a.A masterpiece of Am. naturalism, the first naturalistic novel in American Literature.b.Tragic lifec.died in riverd.Pete seduces and abandons Maggie2.The Red Badge of Courage (1895)《红色英勇勋章3.The Open Boat《海上扁舟》(1897)4.The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky《新娘来到黄天镇》5.The Blue Hotel《蓝色旅馆》6.An Experiment in Misery7.Collection: The Black Riders and Other Lines《黑衣骑士及其他》(1895）8.Long poem: War Is Kind《战争是仁慈的》（1899）9.A Man Said to the Universe (book)10. A Man Adrift on a Slim Spar”(book)Frank Norris(1870-1902)Major Works:1. McTeague (1899) 《麦克提格》“the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel” / full l ength2.“The Epic of the Wheat”: a trilogy 《小麦史诗》3.The Octopus （1901）《章鱼》the best, about the production of the wheat, the octopus—the railroad4.The Pit (1903)《陷阱》the distribution and consumption of the wheat on the market5.The Wolf《野狼》Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)Major Works:1.Sister Carrie (1900) 《嘉莉妹妹》a.第一部小说b.先遭拒绝, 后出版2.The Trilogy of Desire”《欲望三部曲》:a.The Financier (1912) 《金融家》b.The Titan (1914) 《巨头》c.The Stoic,《禁欲者》(1945, unfinished)3.The 'Genius' (1915) 《天才》4.An American Tragedy (1925) 《美国悲剧》, 自传5.Dawn 《曙光》(1931)6.The Bulwark 《堡垒》(1946)Sister Carrie (1900)人物:1.Caroline Meeber, known as Carrie2.Charlie Drouet3.George HurstwoodThe 1920sAmerican ModernismTime Range:1910s – 1945Historical Background:1. The Influence of the WWI:A stronger image of America in international arena;The economic boom-a deceptive affluence;The development of a new type of industrial economy;2. Intolerance in American society: the discrimination against minorities.3. The loss of faith—the death of God.Intellectually, Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche, MarxSpiritually, sense of disillusionment & fragmentationDefinition:1. The attempt to create something new in the space of modern crisis and change.2.Discontentment and a deliberate & radical break with traditional ways of expression in Western arts & lit.3.Innovative experimentation in subjects, forms, concepts & stylesFeatures:Fragmentation and open-endedness in structureAlienation as the chief characteristicInterests in the psychological depths of characters (method of stream-of-consciousness)Gender, race, class as accepted registers-- efforts to represent postwar world as incoherent, futile, fragmented, and meaningless, man as misplaced, lost and alienated, to resist traditional totalized views of realityRepresentitive Writers and Works1.T. S Eliot is the most dominant literary figure between the two world wars.The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock2.Ezra Pound is the leader of the Imagist movement, mentor of many literary talents, tried for treasonIndebtedness to Chinese culture.In a Station of the Metro.Imagism 意象主义(1912—1914, with Ezra Pound as the leader)1.Rejected the effusive nature of Romantic and Victorian poetry2.Focused on directness of idea and economy of language3.Contemporary with and in harsh contrast to Georgian poetry4.Contemporaries: Ezra Pound, T.S. EliotRepresentatives: Pound, Hulme, Amy Lowell, H.D., Richard Aldington, William Carlos WilliamsFeatures of the Imagist Poetry:1.To use the language of common speech2.To create new rhythms – a new cadence means a new idea3.To allow absolute freedom in the choice of subject4.To present an image5.To produce poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred or indefinite6.Concentration is the very essence of PoetryEzra Pound (1885—1972) 庞德Major Works:1.In a Station of the Metro2.Indebtedness to Chinese culturea.Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·西尔文·毛伯莱》b.Cantos （1915-1945）《诗章》3.1908 A Lume Spento《灯火熄灭之时》4.1909 Personae《人物》5.1910 The Spirit of Romance《罗曼斯精神》6.1915 Cathay《中国》7.1919 Homage to Sextus Propertivs《向塞克斯图斯·普罗佩提乌斯致敬》8.1920 Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·赛尔温·毛伯利》9.1945 The Pisan Cantos《比萨诗章》10.1954 Letters of Ezra Pound，1907—1941《埃兹拉·庞德书信集》11.1973 Literary Essays《文学论文集》SelectedProse 1909—1965《文选》Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965)1.fragmentation2.modern man alienationMajor Works:1.The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1911)《普鲁弗洛克的情歌》2.The Waste Land (1922) 《荒原》3.Hollow Man (1925) 《空心人》4.Ash Wenesday (1930)《圣尘星期三》5.Four Quartets (1943)《四个四重奏》F.Scott Fitzgerald (1896—1940) 菲茨杰拉德1.The spokesman of the “Roaring twenties” and The Jazz Age2.StylistMajor Works:1.This Side of Paradise (1920) 《人间天堂》2.The Beautiful and Damned (1922)《美人与丑鬼》The first attempt at writing The Great Gatsby.3. The Great Gatsby (1925) 《了不起的盖茨比》a.F’s best, written in Paris, a masterpiece of the 1920sb.criticism on the Jazz Age4. Tender Is the Night (1934) 《夜色温柔》F’s second important novel, condemning the wasted energy of misguided youth.5. The Last Tycoon (1941)《最后一个巨头》unfinished6. Two short story collections:a.Flappers and Philosophers (1920) 《少女与哲学家》b.Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) 《爵士时代的故事》Give its name to the decade (1919-1929) –the Jazz Age (the “Roaring Twenties”, “The Flapper Period”)7.The Crack-Up (1945), essays collected by Edmund Wilson 《崩溃》The Great Gatsby (1925) 《了不起的盖茨比》人物:1.Tom Buchanan2.Daisy3.Gatsby4.Wilson5.Nick CarrawayErnest Hemingway (1899—1961) 海明威1.colloquial style2.iceberg theoryMajor Works:1. The Sun Also Rises (1926)《太阳照样升起》paints the image of a whole generation—the lost generation, spiritual crisis2. A Farewell to Arms (1929) 《永别了，武器》based on his war experience in Italy, a love tragedy in the War, the lovers called “modernRomeo and Juliet”, firmly established H’s reputation3. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) 《丧钟为谁而鸣》（《战地钟声》）Based on his experience as a journalist in Spain during its civil war, anti-Fascism4. The Old Man and the Sea (1952) 《老人与海》One of his best, winning the Nobel Prize5. Short story collections:a.Men without Women (1927)《没有女人的男人》b.Winner Take Nothing (1933) 《胜者无所得》6. Play:The Fifth Column (1940) 《第五纵队》The Old Man and the Sea (1952) 《老人与海》人物:1.Santiago2.marlinThe Lost Generation 迷惘的一代Writing Features:ing of age during the War, having something to do with it2.Disillusioned and antagonistic against war3.Unhappy about American culture4.Expatiates in Paris5.grace under pressure6.death7.war,violent, meaningless, chaotic, purposeless slaugterWilliam Faulkner(1897-1962)福克纳1.Southern Literature and Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha saga2.Fictional world3.Family community4.Style:a.stream of consciousness and interior monologueb.disorder of timec.freshMajor Works:1.The Sound and The Fury (1929) 《喧嚣与骚动》2.As I Lay Dying (1930) 《我弥留之际》3.Sanctuary (1931) 《圣殿》4.Light in August (1932) 《八月之光》5.Absalom, Absalom (1936)《押沙龙！押沙龙！》6.Go Down, Moses (1942) 《去吧，摩西》7.Trilogy of the Snopes familyThe Hamlet (1940) 《村子》The Town (1957) 《小镇》The Mansion (1959)《大宅》8. Short Story collection:The Unvanquished, 《没有被征服的人》(1938)9. A Rose for EmilyJohn Dos Passos (1896—1970) 约翰·多斯·帕索斯U. S. A. Trilogy 《美国》三部曲a. The 42nd Parallel (1930)《北纬四十二度》“machine” dominates and impedes the free growth of individuals b. 1919 （1932）《一九一九》A record of W W I, depersonalizing machinec. The Big Money （1936）《赚大钱》The booming twentiesJohn Steinbeck (1902-1968) 约翰•斯坦贝克The Grapes of Wrath （1939）《愤怒的葡萄》被称作”Uncle Tom’s Cabin” of the 1930sEugene O’Neill (1888-1953) 尤金·奥尼尔1.“Founder of the American drama,” and “the American Shakespeare” in the history of Americandrama.2.receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1936).Major Works:1.Bound East for Cardiff （1916）《东航卡迪夫》his first play, marking the beginning of O’s long and successful dramatic career and ushered in the modern era of the American theatre2.Beyond Horizon (1920) 《天边外》his first play of success, established his reputation, Pulitzer Prize3.The Emperor Jones (1920) 《琼斯王》4.The Hairy Ape (1922) 《毛猿》Ralph (Waldo) Ellison (1914-1994)Invisible Man--An archetypal existential story of modern times.（注：可编辑下载，若有不当之处，请指正，谢谢!）。
美国文学史复习资料
I. Multiple Choice (20 points in all, 1 for each)1) Check the dictionary: pompous, vernacular2) At the beginning of Faulkner’s福克纳（美国小说家，曾获1949年诺贝尔文学奖）A Rose For Emily, there is a detailed description of Emily’s old house. The purpose of such description is to imply that the person living in it __C____.A. is a wealth ladyB. has good tasteC. is a prisoner of the pastD. is aconservative aristocrat3) Stylistically, Henry James’s亨利·詹姆斯（美国著名小说家和批评家）fiction is characterized by ___D_____.A. short clear sentencesB. abundance of local imagesC. ordinary American speechD.highly refined language1. The convention of the desire for an escape from society and a reture to nature inAmerican Literature is particularly evident in __A______A. Cooper’s L eather-Stocking TakesB. Hawthorne’s . 霍桑The Scarlet Letter红色禁恋；红字C.Whitman’s惠特曼Leavesof Grass草叶集D.Irving’s 欧文Rip Van Winkle里普·万·温克尔（美国作家欧文的作品中人物名）2. In 1873,Ralph Waldo Emerson 拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生（美国作家）made a speech entitled at Harvard,which was hailed by Ol iver Wendell Homes as “our Intellectual Dedaration of Independence” DA.NatureB.Self-RelianceC.Divinity Scholar AddressD.The AmericanScholar3. What’s the analogy that Emily Dickin son uses in her poem Because I could not stopfor death? AA.Horse and carriageB. stage and performanceC.Cloud and ShadeD.ship and harbor4. Most of the writers in the Modern Period were able to probe into the inner would of ofhuman reality on the base of _D___A.Carl Jung’s “collective unconscious”集体无意识and “archetypal symbol”B.Sigmound Frend’s “interpretation of dreams”C.William Jame’s “stream of consciousness”意识流（一种文学流派）D.all of the above.II. Blank Filling (10 points in all, 1 for each)1) __Henry James____ is considered the founder of Psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator.2) Mark Twain’s first novel, __ The Gilded Age______ 镀金时代was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the postbellum美国南北战争后的period which it attempts to satirize.Blank Filling1. The best of puritan poets was Edward Taylor 爱德华.泰勒, whose complete edition of poems appeared in 1960, more than two hundred years after his death.7. The Financier, The Titan 巨人；提坦；太阳神and The Stoic 斯多葛学派哲学家form D reiser’s Martin Eden.8. Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the Pulitzer 普利策奖Prize in 1522, 1925 and 1928.10. Fitzgerald’s菲茨杰拉德（美国作家，弗·司各特·菲茨杰拉德）first novel This Side of Paradise, with its portrayal of casual dissipations of “flaming youth”, was an immediate commercial success.3. In “Song of Myself”, Whitman’s惠特曼own early experience may well be identified with the children of a young growing American.4. The range of Dickinson’s poetry suggests not her limited experience but the power of her creativity and imagination.5. Mark Twain, breaking out of the narrow limits of local color fiction, described thebreadth of American experience as no one had ever done before, or since.6. 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 attemps.7. Many of O.Henry’s stones talk about the life of poor people in New York.8. Henry James realism is characterized by his psychological approach to his subject matter.9. The Financier, T he Tifan and The Stoic form Dreiser’s “Trilogy of Desire”欲望三部曲12. American writers of first postwar era self ——consciously acknowledged that they were a “Lost Generation ” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.13. At one time, Sandburg’s reputation mainly rested on a multi ——volume biography of Abraham Lincoln 亚伯拉罕including “The Prairie Years”and “The War Years”14. For publication of his collected Poems, Wallace Stevens华莱士.史蒂文斯received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize.15. In 1954, Hemingway was awarded a Nobel Prize for his “mastery of the art of modern narration”.16. In 1935, Steinbeck斯坦贝克published Tortilla Flat. A collection of short story which vividly described the “life of poor Mexican——Americans with affection and humor.17. The Yoknapatawpha Country is a legendary kingdom created by Faulkner.18. The most significant American poem of the 20th century was The Waste Land.19. Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, 1925 and 1928.21. As Thomas Sterns Eliot’s declared, he followed strictly the advice of his doze friendEzra Pound in cutting and concentrating The Waste Land12.“Martin Eden”is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself。
(完整word版)美国文学史-知识点梳理(word文档良心出品)
Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.)II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612)General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess PocahontasCaptain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce hiswife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church ofEngland. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism(1) predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.(2) Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.(3) Limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)(4) theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature(1) Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.(2) Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented 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. Politically, the British government forced dependenceby ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years (1776-1783) and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence ofornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine (1737-1809)Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau (1752-1832)“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”Works“The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Indian Burying Ground”“To a Caty-Did”Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life Experience►He was born in New York.►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H. H. Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.►After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.►In the same year, he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”.►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works►“The Rising Glory of America” (1772) 《美洲光辉的兴起》►“The House of Night” (1779,1786) 《夜之屋》►“The British Prison Ship” (1781) 《英国囚船》►“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) 《纪念美国勇士》►“”The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) 《野忍冬花》►“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花（黄杲炘译）►美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
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弃我去者，昨日之日不可留乱我心者，今日之日多烦忧美国文学史复习1（colonialism)第一部分殖民主义时期的文学一、时期综述1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作内容：1）their voyage to the new land2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops3) About dealing with Indians4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit3、清教徒的思想：1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。
4、典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William他们的不同：John Cotton was much more concerned with authority than with democracy; William begins the history of religious toleration in America.5、William的宗教观点：Toleration did not stem from a lack of religious convictions. Instead, it sprang from the idea that simply to be virtuous in conduct and devout in belief did not give anyone the right to force belief on others. He also felt that no political order or church system could identify itself directly with God. 行为上的德，信仰上的诚，并没有给任何人强迫别人该如何行事的权利。
没有任何政治秩序和教会体制能够直接体现神本身的意旨。
6、英国最早移民到美国的诗人：Anne Bradstreet7、在殖民时期最好的清教徒诗人：the best of Puritan poets is Edward Tayor.学习指南：1、Could you give a description of American Puritans? 关于美国清教徒的描绘Like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to the "purity" of the first-century church as established by Jesus Christ himself. To them religion was a matter of primary importance. They made it their chief business to see that man lived and thought and acted in a way which tended to the glory of God. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusionof grace from God, all that John Calvin, the great French theologian who lived in Geneva had preached. It was this kind of religious belief that they brought with them into the wildness. There they meaant to prove that were God's chosen people enjoying his blessings on this earth as in Heaven.2、Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing.3、The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet & Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry.4、The earliest settlers included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards Italian, and Portuguese.美国文学史复习2（reasoning and revolution)(2009-01-17 15:54:25)一、美国的性质：The war for Independence ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic - the United States of America. 联邦的资产阶级民主共和国--美利坚合众国。
二、代表作家：1、Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林1706-17901）"Poor Richard's Almanac" 穷人查理德的年鉴annual collection of proverbs 流行谚语集It soon became the most popular book of its kind, largely because of Franklin's shrewd humor, and first spread his reputation2) Founded the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and political ideas.建立了一个秘密俱乐部，讨论的主题是政治、经济和科学等时事方面的问题3）established America's first circulating library, founded the college--University of Pennsylvania. 建立了美国第一个可租借的图书馆，还创办了一所大学——就是现在的宾夕法尼亚大学。
4）first applied the terms "positive" and "negative" to electrical charges.5)As a representative of the Colonies, he tried in vain to counsel the British toward policies that would let America grow and flourish in association with England. He conducted the difficulty negotiations with France that brought financial and military support for America in the war. 作为殖民地的代表，他不断建议英国改变政策，使美国可以和英国一起发展、繁荣。
他说服法国支持美国的独立战争。
6）As an author he had power of expression, simplicity, a subtle humor, sarcastic.作为作家具有非凡的才能，表达简洁明了，幽默，讽刺天才、7）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、Thomas Paine 托马斯·佩因 1737-1809 "Great Common of Mankind" 最平凡的人1）famous pamphlet "Common Sense" 著名的政治小册子《常识》it boldly advocated a "Declaration for Independence", and brought the separatist agitation to a crisis. 拥护独立宣言，是分裂活动发展成最后危机。
2）"American Crisis" 《美国危机》，signed "Common Sense" (p31,第一段）The Case of the Officers of Excise税务员问题；Common Sense常识；American Cri sis 美国危机；Rights of Man人的权利：Downfall of Despotism专制体制的崩溃；The Age of Reason理性时代3、Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰弗逊1）drafted the Declaration of Independence. 起草了独立宣言2）与清教徒不同，主张追求幸福。