童明《美国文学史》课后习题详解(主要小说家：1945年至60年代)【圣才出品】
童明《美国文学史》章节题库-第4部分美国现代主义时期：1914-1945【圣才出品】
童明《美国文学史》章节题库-第4部分美国现代主义时期：1914-1945【圣才出品】第4部分美国现代主义时期：1914-1945填空题1. “Impersonal theory” of poetry was developed by _____,a famous poet as well as a distinguished literary critic.（天津外国语学院2011研）【答案】T. S. Eliot【解析】“非个性化”理论是艾略特诗歌理论的核心内容，包括艺术情感、传统、客观对应物三个相互影响、相互制约的核心概念，“诗不是表现情感，而是逃避情感；不是表现个性，而是逃避个性。
”2. In his _____, Ezra Pound expresses his fascination with Chinese history and the doctrine of Confucius.（天津外国语大学2011研）【答案】Cantos【解析】Ezra Pound在长诗《诗章》中阐述孔子学说，他的另一诗集Cathay《华夏》收集并翻译了十几首中国古诗。
3. Author _____ Title _____.（南京大学2009研）The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him.【答案】Author: Ernest Hemingway; Title: A Clean, Well-lighted Place【解析】题目节选自海明威的A Clean, Well-lighted Place （《一个干净明亮的地方》）。
童明《美国文学史》（增订版）笔记和课后习题（含考研真题）详解
我国各大院校一般都把国内外通用的权威教科书作为本科生和研究生学习专业课程的参考教材，这些教材甚至被很多考试（特别是硕士和博士入学考试）和培训项目作为指定参考书。
为了帮助读者更好地学习专业课，我们有针对性地编著了一套与国内外教材配套的复习资料，并提供配套的名师讲堂、电子书和题库。
《美国文学史》（增订版）（童明主编）一直被用作高等院校英语专业英美文学教材，被很多院校指定为英语专业考研必读书和学术研究参考书。
为了帮助读者更好地使用该教材，我们精心编著了它的配套辅导用书。
作为该教材的学习辅导书，全书遵循该教材的章目编排，共分27章，每章由三部分组成：第一部分为复习笔记（中英文对照），总结本章的重点难点；第二部分是课后习题详解，对该书的课后思考题进行了详细解答；第三部分是考研真题与典型题详解，精选名校经典考研真题及相关习题，并提供了详细的参考答案。
本书具有以下几个方面的特点：1．梳理章节脉络，归纳核心考点。
每章的复习笔记以该教材为主并结合其他教材对本章的重难点知识进行了整理，并参考了国内名校名师讲授该教材的课堂笔记，对核心考点进行了归纳总结。
2．中英双语对照，凸显难点要点。
本书章节笔记采用了中英文对照的形式，强化对重要难点知识的理解和运用。
3．解析课后习题，提供详尽答案。
本书对童明主编的《美国文学史》（增订版）每章的课后思考题均进行了详细的分析和解答，并对相关重要知识点进行了延伸和归纳。
4．精选考研真题，补充难点习题。
本书精选名校近年考研真题及相关习题，并提供答案和详解。
所选真题和习题基本体现了各个章节的考点和难点，但又不完全局限于教材内容，是对教材内容极好的补充。
第1部分 早期美国文学：殖民时期至1815年第1章 “新世界”的文学1.1 复习笔记1.2 课后习题详解1.3 考研真题和典型题详解第2章 殖民地时期的美国文学：1620—1763 2.1 复习笔记2.2 课后习题详解2.3 考研真题和典型题详解第3章 文学与美国革命：1764—18153.1 复习笔记3.2 课后习题详解3.3 考研真题和典型题详解第2部分 美国浪漫主义时期：1815—1865第4章 美国浪漫主义时期4.1 复习笔记4.2 课后习题详解4.3 考研真题和典型题详解第5章 早期浪漫主义5.1 复习笔记5.2 课后习题详解5.3 考研真题和典型题详解第6章 超验主义和符号表征6.1 复习笔记6.2 课后习题详解6.3 考研真题和典型题详解第7章 霍桑、麦尔维尔和坡7.1 复习笔记7.2 课后习题详解7.3 考研真题和典型题详解第8章 惠特曼和狄金森8.1 复习笔记8.2 课后习题详解8.3 考研真题和典型题详解第9章 文学分支：反对奴隶制的写作9.1 复习笔记9.2 课后习题详解9.3 考研真题和典型题详解第3部分 美国现实主义时期：1865—1914第10章 现实主义时期10.1 复习笔记10.2 课后习题详解10.3 考研真题和典型题详解第11章 地区和地方色彩写作11.1 复习笔记11.2 课后习题详解11.3 考研真题和典型题详解第12章 亨利·詹姆斯和威廉·迪恩·豪威尔斯12.1 复习笔记12.2 课后习题详解12.3 考研真题和典型题详解第13章 自然主义文学13.1 复习笔记13.2 课后习题详解13.3 考研真题和典型题详解第14章 女性作家书写“女性问题”14.1 复习笔记14.2 课后习题详解14.3 考研真题和典型题详解第4部分 美国现代主义时期：1914—1945第15章 美国现代主义15.1 复习笔记15.1 复习笔记15.2 课后习题详解15.3 考研真题和典型题详解第16章 现代主义的演变16.1 复习笔记16.2 课后习题详解16.3 考研真题和典型题详解第17章 欧洲的美国现代主义17.1 复习笔记17.2 课后习题详解17.3 考研真题和典型题详解第18章 两次世界大战间的现代小说18.1 复习笔记18.2 课后习题详解18.3 考研真题和典型题详解第19章 现代美国诗歌19.1 复习笔记19.2 课后习题详解19.3 考研真题和典型题详解第20章 非裔美国小说和现代主义20.1 复习笔记20.2 课后习题详解20.3 考研真题和典型题详解第5部分 多元化的美国文学：1945年至新千年第21章 新形势下的多元化文学21.1 复习笔记21.2 课后习题详解21.3 考研真题和典型题解析第22章 美国戏剧：三大剧作家22.1 复习笔记22.2 课后习题详解22.3 考研真题和典型题详解第23章 主要小说家：1945年至60年代23.1 复习笔记23.2 课后习题详解23.3 考研真题和典型题详解第24章 1945年以来的诗学倾向24.1 复习笔记24.2 课后习题详解24.3 考研真题和典型题详解第25章 20世纪60年代以来的小说发展状况25.1 复习笔记25.2 课后习题详解25.3 考研真题和典型题详解第26章 当代多民族文学和小说26.1 复习笔记26.2 课后习题详解26.3 考研真题和典型题详解第27章 美国文学的全球化：流散作家27.1 复习笔记27.2 课后习题详解27.3 考研真题和典型题详解第1部分 早期美国文学：殖民时期至1815年第1章 “新世界”的文学1.1 复习笔记Ⅰ. Discoveries of America（发现美洲大陆）Who discovered America?谁发现了美洲？1 The credit is often attributed to Christopher Columbus. Yet this argument is controversial.一种说法是哥伦布发现了美洲大陆。
童明《美国文学史》课后习题详解(新形势下的多元化文学)【圣才出品】
第21章新形势下的多元化文学Questions for Discussion and Writing Assignments1. In the first half of the period (1945-1960s), what role did the United States play in the world? What does the “age of anxiety” mean? What are t he various anxieties?Key: The United States assumed leadership of the Western capitalist world and assumed the role of world policemen.As the United States began to play an imperialist role in the world, the age of the new American empire came. This is sometimes known, quite appropriately, as the age of anxiety.Anxiety was variously manifested. The Cold War mentality not only shaped US foreign policy but was also translated into fear-based domestic politics. McCarthism, also known as the Red Scare, was the modern version of witch-hunt, persecuting artists and writers in the name of fighting communism and of questioning “un-American” activities. Other things contributed to a disquieting society. One hundred years after the Civil War, racism still continued, even taking legal forms—racial segregation remained legal until the t 960s.2. What movements indicate the presence of an active civil society in the United States?Key: This civil society consists of many social forces which must not be confused with the corporate interests and governmental apparatus. Since the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement, the continuing feminist movement, and the many social protests and anti-war protests gained momentum in the straggle against the imperialist and racist ideologies. These social activities produced new energies, new ideas, and new conditions.3. What kinds of stylistic and intellectual forms emerged in the first half of the period?Key: A wider variety of intellectual and stylistic forms emerged.(1) Personal confessionals, in poetry, extended the energies and limits of previous models in literature and made the private-poetic a public intuition.(2) Poets in the “beat generation,” absorbing from multiple sources of cultural nourishments such as ancient Asian philosophy, created the image of the wandering pilgrims who sought beauty and beatitude at the fringe of conventional society.(3)In fiction and in drama, new prototypes such as the invisible man, the dangling man, the alienated salesman Willy, the barely sane but beautiful Blanche DuBois and so on emerged, making a certain type of American—a black man, a Jew, or someone else—the symbol of the human condition in the modern world.4. What were the major changes that have taken place since the late 1960s? In whatsense are we living in a postcolonial world? What are the major convicts in today’s world?Key: Since the late 1960s, the world has undergone some dramatic changes. With former colonies of European power declaring independence one after another, colonialism in the old forms has come to an end. The Berlin Wall fell in the 1990s, and the Cold War is supposed to have ended, too. Yet, in the process towards a new world order, the Cold War mentality continues, and legacies of colonialism persist. The event of 9/11 in 2001 has pushed the United States and the rest of world into new chaos. The war against terrorism has become so complex in that we often cannot determine where the frontlines are or even how many different acts are to be considered “terrorism.”Although colonies gained their independence, the influence of colonial powers are still profound and far-reaching.Perhaps the most significant change is the on-going information revolution, which is profoundly transforming the ways in which man perceives the world.5. Why is multi-ethnic literature an inevitable phenomenon today?Key: With the new changes in the world, large numbers of immigrants from different parts of the world have been arriving in the United States since the1960s, changing demographic patterns and increasing the political weight of minority groups. With African American literature being the precursor and leader, ethnic literature—including Native American literature, Asian American literature, LatinoAmerican literature, and others—has finally been recognized as significant components of American literature.6. What is new in literary production and literary studies in the United States? Key: In fiction and in drama, new prototypes such as the invisible man, the dangling man, the alienated salesman Willy, the barely sane but beautiful Blanche DuBois and so on emerged, making a certain type of American—a black man, a Jew, or someone else—the symbol of the human condition in the modern world. New forces of influence such as existentialist philosophy were partly responsible for these new prototypes.7. What are the basic principles in existentialism?Key: (1) Existence precedes essence—this is the first and most important principle of existentialism. With this principle, existentialists reverse the main tradition in Western philosophy and the moral tradition of Christianity.(2) The idea of absurdity is thus central to existentialism and the feeling of absurdity is a negative feeling.8. What is the idea of the absurd which is central to existentialism?Key: Since absurdity means being devoid of purpose, a modern man often feels the absurdity of the world, not so much as a result of his atheistic position, but as the effects of alienation due to capitalist modernization. The feeling of absurdityis a negative feeling. But it may—and in many cases, may not—lead to meaningful action. Many in the “beat generation” turned to drugs, believing that the world cannot be changed. In that case, there is only compounded absurdity. Of course, this is not something that Sartre himself, the spokesman of existentialism, would have liked to see.9. What is postmodernism in the three contexts? In what ways do these postmodernisms overlap in meaning?Key: First, “postmodernity” is a mode of thinking (or a set of thinking strategies) which is suspicious and profoundly critical of the systemized modernity as launched by the Enlightenment. “Postmodernity” is in this sense another kind of modernity (or, fashionably called “contrapuntal modernity”) and it is closely associated with critical theories that have been called poststructuralism.Second, “postmodernity” is a term used in the context of Western Marxism and it stands for the cultural logic in post-industrialist society or the late stage of capitalism.Third, “postmodemism” is discussed in its literary and aesthetic function. Literary postmodernism is not such a “rupture” in literary history as some would still insist. If anything, it is a continuation of literary modernism, with, perhaps, a stronger emphasis on the flexibility and playfulness of literature as “text”. If we can identify one specific literary or aesthetic feature that is postmodern, it is then the stylistic emphasis on metafiction.Postmodernism in the three contexts are related to modernism, with which it is against, so these postmodernisms overlap in meaning.10. What kind of postmodern literature emerged in the 1960s and on what beliefs was this literature based?Key: In the 1960s the idea that the novel was dead became contagious. For some, this meant the abandonment of the traditional functions of the novel such as: that the novel should represent social reality, that it should represent how the psychological experience is related to the social experience, and that it should address those cultur al terms governing our “lived” reality. Some critics and writers, who called themselves literary “postmodernists,” claimed that they favored “fiction” over “reality.” Their emphasis on “fiction” was very different from that of the modernists. These “postmodernists” decided that they would go further to abandon reality-related functions of literature. They claimed that for them, literature itself had become “exhausted.” Such was the argument in John Barth’s 1967 essay “The Literature of Exhaustion.”11. What is postmodernism as it is perceived now in the 21st century?Key: Postmodernism, as it is perceived at the beginning of the 21st century, retains connotations of all three contexts.(1) In general, the distinction between postmodernism and modernism isperhaps less a matter of stylistic differences than a matter of attitude towards。
童明《美国文学史》课后习题详解（女性作家书写“女性问题”）【圣才出品】
童明《美国⽂学史》课后习题详解（⼥性作家书写“⼥性问题”）【圣才出品】第14章⼥性作家书写“⼥性问题”Questions for Discussion and Writing Assignments1. Describe how the cultural and legal codes were against women in the late 19th century and early 20th century in America. Key: In the late 19th century and early 20th century was not free of Victorianism.(1)Under cultural and legal codes with Victorianist connotations in America, a woman was dependent upon a man to the extent that all her creativity was either channeled into making utilitarian goods or raising children. (2)She had little chance to receive education or to become a poet, or painter, or doctor, or lawyer, or take up any self-fulfilling career. Society allowed only the man to make major public and private decisions. (3)In those days, a woman had very few legal rights. She could not vote for national or local politics. Only in half of the states were women allowed to vote in school elections. Legally a woman could not contract just by herself.2. What are Amendments 13, 15, 19 in the American Constitution about? How was Amendment 19 won?Key: Amendment 13 abolished slavery. Amendment 15 in effect made racial discrimination illegal. Amendment 19 in effect affirms that women have the rights to vote.During that time, the women suffrage movement—a movement based on the basic assumption that women should have the same rights to vote as men—fought long and hard. And it was not until 1918—after some women suffrage leaders were imprisoned and then released—that women finally got their voting rights.3. What is the conflict Kate Chopin often depicts in her fiction? How is this theme manifested in the plotline of The Awakening?Key: Her main theme is the conflict between a woman’s need for her personhood and the conventionalized expectation that a wife should revolve around her husband. Stated differentl y, the conflict reflects Chopin’s belief that it is very difficult for men and women to reconcile two different needs they have: the need for them to live as discrete individuals (especially for the woman) on one hand and their need to live in a close relationship on the other.The Awakening focuses on this main theme. It presents the story of Edna Pontellier’s doomed attempt to find her own fulfillment through passion. From the perspective of the Victorianist society at the time, Edna should be happy considering that she is a young married woman, with an indulgent husband and attractive children. But she suffers from a lack of opportunity to achieve self-fulfillment. Neither her father nor her husband has encouraged her individuality.4. What does Edna Pontellier in The Awakening really want?Key: She desires what the Emersonian tradition encourages any American man to aspire. She desires to explore her self-potentials in connection with the world. She aspires for the Over-soul. During a summer vacation, sh e “begins to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.”Edna’s discontent leads to her adultery and then to suicide.5. Compare the husbands in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Chopin’s The Awakening. How are the cultural codes against women manifested in each case?Key: In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the husband, John, is a doctor who administers the “rest cure” by renting “a colonial mansion” (which she describes as “a hereditary estate” and “a haunted house”) for their stay in the summer. She is confined to the nursery upstairs and is forbidden to be with her child. Under the supervising eye of John’s sister, she cannot write nor do anything creative.In The Awakening, the husband, Leonce does not encourage his wife Edna’s individuality. He indulges but sees her “as a valuable piece of property” and thus mocks her artistic pursuit. He will not allow Edna to be free of the patriarchal restraints for a woman.6. How are the repressive gender codes manifested in the “treatment” of the wife(“I”) in “The Yellow Wallpaper?” To what extent is she a victim of the repressive gender codes and to what extent is she even an accomplice at the beginning?Key: “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a powerful feminist indictment of the norms in a patriarchal culture. It is based on the real experiences of Gilman. ‘T’, the protagonist of the story is a married middle-class woman who has just given birth to a child and is suffering from depression. Her husband, John, is a doctor who administers the “rest cure” by renting “a colonial mansion” for their stay in the summer. She is confined to the nursery upstairs and is forbidden to be with her child. Under the supervising eye of John’s sister, she cannot write nor do anything creative.To a great extent, she is a victim of the repressive gender codes, because that she is confined by her husband and has no freedom to do what she wants to do. However, to some extent, she herself is even an accomplice at the beginning, because that at the beginning she is perfectly sane although depressed, she should try her best to choose the way of her treatment and rebel against the ridiculous confinement by her husband.7. What are the ironies on which “The Yellow Wallpaper” turns?Key: “The Yellow Wallpaper” turns on ironies because that at the beginning the woman is perfectly sane although depressed.A sign of her sanity is that she realizes, as she writes in the diary, that she is not getting well because John is aphysician. As her confinement in the upstairs nursery prolongs for weeks, she gets worse and eventually becomes insane or, to use the right words, becomes a “mad woman.”8. What is the social world in which Edith Wharton lived and about which she wrote?Key: The world in which Edith Wharton was born and got married was the world of plutocratic aristocracy, the wealthy and secure society in New York and its affiliated capitals of American social life.She wrote as an insider of this world and of characters whose lives are modeled after those of “four hundred” prominent families in New York. Thematically, her novels reflect the struggles of the individual members of elite societies (particularly the female members) in their attempts to actualize themselves within the rigid behavioral mores of their class. While she exposes the hypocrisy behind the moral rigidity of “society,” she shows that the life in “society” is the richest to be experienced.9. Who is Mrs. Teddy Wharton? Why is she the formidable rival for Edith Wharton? Key: As a “society lady,” Edith Wharton was Mrs. Teddy Wharton.Because that when she writes, she names herself Edith Wharton, however, as a woman writer, she just cannot write what she wants to write freely. That is to say, she can think freely as Mrs. Teddy Wharton, but she cannot write freely as EdithWharton.10. What are the differences in the love situations depicted in the three majornovels by Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence?Key: The House of Mirth is the story of the lovely Lily Bart who is wellborn but has no money. Being poor spells helplessness in a society where money is the only guarantee of security. Lily Bart’s lover is unable to help her because he is also poor. Lily is then tempted to use her beauty to gain the support of a very rich man.Ethan Frome is a powerful story of illicit love. When Ethan Frome survives the accident that kills his young lover, he is physically and psychologically crippled. What makes the novel a fitting example of Wharton’s fictive skills is that the novel achieves intensity not only in the portrayal of Ethan or his unhappy lover or his unfortunate wife, but in the horror as observed by an outsider who comes from a world where the spiritual effects of such crude poverty are not known.The Age of Innocence pairs the enchanting but unhappily married Countess Olenska with Newland Archer. Olenska would seem to have the means of escape that Lily Bart does not. But Archer proves to be too weak a lover. Even when Olenska and Archer are both free, the latter is too timid to leave the security of New York high society and to take a step toward emotional reality.。
童明《美国文学史》课后习题详解(地区和地方色彩写作)【圣才出品】
第11章地区和地方色彩写作Questions for Discussion and Writing Assignments1. What is the subtle distinction between regionalism and local colorism?Key: There was often a romantic flavor in local color writings as they continued to receive influences from Washington Irving and the frontier tradition of tall tales. But, regionalism had no such romantic flavor.2. How important is Mark Twain to American literature and American culture, according to Bernard Shaw and Ernest Hemingway?Key: Bernard Shaw once wrote to Mark Twain: “I am persuaded that the future historian of America will find your works as indispensable to him as a French historian finds the political tracts of Voltaire.” Not every writer who once enjoyed fame is indispensable to literary history, but Mark Twain is “indispensable.” Without him, American literature an d its history would be, shall we say, less delightful.Ernest Hemingway once remarked: “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Apart from the fact he was one of the pioneers in stories that captured the “local color” of the West, he shows to the world that one’s childhood experiences can be transformed into classic novels.3. For what serious social purposes does Mark Twain use humor?Key: If Mark Twain did not directly make social criticism as a theorist in economics and philosophy would, he was in fact more effective in that he showed a genuine hatred for social hypocrisy and pretentiousness through his use of humor. He was relentless with his humor in exposing the impotence of religious teaching in the face of temptation and the iniquity of slavery.4. Explain the complex ways in which Mark Twain employs child-like innocence in his writing.Key: (1) Where the image of innocence is projected in Mark Twain, it is always coupled with irony.(2) As an ironist, Mark Twain allows us to see the adult through the eyes of a child, and to see the child through an adult’s perspective.(3) His greatest gift is therefore his multi- dimensional understanding of innocence. This understanding of innocence in Mark Twain is further extended to Americans encountering Europe. In such encounters, the irony of “innocence” mocks both the American naivety and the European pretentiousness. America and Europe take on the same ironic dynamisms that involve a child and an adult.5. Why is i t too simplistic to see Tom Sawyer as a “bad boy?”Key: Because that the “bad boy” image really shows the complexity of MarkTwain’s ironic genius. Some characteristics of the “bad boy” are prankish child-innocence. Some are tactics used by children to deal with a world of adult tyranny and hypocrisy.6. Huck’s feelings for Jim, the run-away slave, seem simple but they are not really simple. Explain how Mark Twain is able to convey complex meanings about this relationship.Key: (1) The plotline of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows from a run- away motif. The time the boy and the run-away slave spend together has nurtured such love between them that in a moment of crisis Huck renounces his upbringing in the South in order to continue to help Jim escape. But his discovery of conscience, apart from being heroic, is also material for irony, for he thinks that he can avoid his own damnation by assisting Jim. More ironically, Mark Twain lets us know at the very end of the novel that the boy who is so fond of Jim is nonetheless not free of the socially prevalent racial prejudices.(2) Mark Twain’s choice of Huck Finn as the narrative voice can effectively express Huck’s complex feeling towards Jim and his own actions.(3) A hard life has taught Huck to keep a firm grasp on reality and to think with common sense. But he is not cynical. He is friendly to all underdogs and antagonistic towards all shapes of overmastering and bullying power. As a result, Huck wouldn’t ignore other’s hardships and difficulties, as well as Jim’s.7. Describe Huck as a narrative voice and perspective in the novel.Key: Mark Twain’s choice of Huck Finn as the narrative voice is one of the reasons why this novel has become a masterpiece.Compared to Tom, Huck’s speech is saltier and he is freer of the hogwash of romance. When Tom and Huck are together, we identify more with Huck because he has none of the unimportant virtues that Tom holds onto. Huck is a homeless boy cheerful in his rags and he is suspicious of any attempt to civilize him. This suspicion becomes Mark Twain’s vehicle of exposing the fakeness in certain social mores.8. What are the four types of fictional works by Mark Twain?Key: Twain’s fictional works can be divided into four types:(1) The first type may be te rmed the “personalized fiction” which refer to works that fictionalize people and events that Mark Twain were familiar with.(2) The second type may be called “travel fiction”.(3) The third type may be described as “historical romances” which show Mark Tw ain’s familiarity with the romance tradition and his ability to subvert its conventionalized implications.(4) Then fourthly, there are the short stories and those “tall tales” suggesting Mark Twain’s connection with the frontier spirit and his fondness of local color.9. Name other regionalists and local colorists mentioned in the chapter and the regions they represent?Key: There were many other regionalists and local colorists. Some of the prominent ones include Sarah Orne Jewett in New England, George Washington Cable and Kate Chopin in the Deep South, and Brett Harte who wrote of the far West mining camps.。
童明《美国文学史》模拟试题及详解(二)【圣才出品】
童明《美国文学史》模拟试题及详解（二）I. Fill in the blanks1. On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet _____ appeared.【答案】Common Sense【解析】1776年美国独立的风潮开始，托马斯·潘恩支持美国独立，反对英国的殖民专政，撰写了他的成名小册子《常识》，为美国从英国殖民中独立出来辩论，批评英国国王残暴无能，认为独立后的美国应该建立共和国。
2. The great work _____ not only demonstrates Emersonian ideas of self-reliance but also develops and tests Thoreau’s own transcendental philosophy.【答案】Self-Reliance【解析】富兰克林的《论自立》不仅表现了爱默生关于自立的思想，同时也表达了他的超验主义思想。
3. Ernest Hemingway once noted that “all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain”. The book Hemingway gave credit to is _____.【答案】The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn【解析】海明威曾经说“所有现代美国文学都来自马克·吐温的一本书”。
这本书是《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》。
4. “In a Station of the Metro” has only the following two lines:The _____ of these faces in the crowd;_____ on a wet, black bough.【答案】apparition ; Petals【解析】这是著名意象派诗人庞德的一首短诗：众中梦幻身影，黝黑枝头疏花。
童明《美国文学史》课后习题详解（美国浪漫主义时期）【圣才出品】
童明《美国⽂学史》课后习题详解（美国浪漫主义时期）【圣才出品】第4章美国浪漫主义时期Questions for Discussion and Writing Assignments1. What were the feelings of the new nationhood? What are the connections between nationalism and romanticism?Key: The new nationhood was proud of itself, but as a young country it could not be quite free of a sense of inferiority or “colonial complex” in the face of Europe.Nationalism often goes hand in hand with romanticism. The special psychological make-up of nationalism gives romanticism its own particular characteristics.2. Who are the most accomplished writers in this time period? How differently do they define Americanness?Key: Literary giants such as Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Melville are the most accomplished writers in this time period. Soon, their achievements would be matched by those from Whitman and Dickinson, among others.3. What are the five characteristics of Romanticism as listed in this chapter? Please discuss each by offering examples from authors you have read in this period. Key: First, romanticism celebrates the triumph of feeling and intuition over reason.And it is suspicious of the rationalist explanations of the universe and human nature by the Enlightenment writers. Since romantic writers placed a higher value on the free expression of emotion and on the power of imagination, they showed greater interests in the psychic states. As a result, characters in romantic stories sometimes showed extremes of sensitivity, such as fear of the dark and the unknown. For example, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” depicts the character’s extremes of sensitivity in a very vivid a nd horrifying way, which arouses the reader feelings of fear.Second, if the Enlightenment had annulled the Middle Ages, romanticism looked back to the Middle Ages with a nostalgic fascination. Also, the “Orient”-especially its “glorious” past-was a source of fascination. Gothic styles, “oriental” styles and other exotic styles were favored by romanticists. For example, Melville wrote several famous works following the exotic styles, such as Typee and Mardi.Third, romanticism exalted the individual over society, thus showing a strong disliking for the bondage of convention and customs. As it is sometimes the contradiction, nostalgia for the past traditions is also a romantic strain. For example, Thoreau left society and went to the Walden Pond to live, there, he wrote his famous work Walden.Fourth, nature is believed to be the source of goodness and the antithesis of society as society is inclined to be corrupt. A related manifestation is the moral enthusiasm exhibited in some romantic writers. For example, Emerson turned hisattention to nature, and thought that nature had the function of healing. He left his Nature for the later generations.Fifth, cultural nationalism-or the proud belief in one’s own cultural genius and heritage-is also a striking characteristic of romanticism. For example, Whitman was devoted himself to express the national spirit of America as a young man. His famous poet “There was a Child Went Forth” is a typical instance.。
童明《美国文学史》课后习题详解(文学分支：反对奴隶制的写作)【圣才出品】
第9章文学分支：反对奴隶制的写作Questions for Discussion and Writing Assignments1. Up till the Civil War, the United States was “a house divided” on the question of slavery. What were the realities that indicated that house was divided? What were the arguments on both sides?Key: Over the question of slavery, the house called the United States was filled with high emotions and fierce debates. The Founding Fathers had hoped that slavery would shrivel away in the course of time. Their thinking was that the Constitution prohibited importing additional slaves so that slaveholders would eventually turn to free sources of labor. But the invention of the cotton gin and the expanding cotton markets in Britain and in New England increased the demand for cotton grown in much of America’s South. Slaves were a cheap source labor for a profitable cotton industry. When slaves could not be imported, they were bred. Slave-breeding became a profitable business.The arguments made by defenders of slavery were various and they changed over time. Some argued that slavery was an institution as old as human history and it was sanctified by the Bible. Some others claimed that slavery helped Christianize people who were less than civilized. Still others suggested that slavery was more humane than the “wage slavery” in the industrialized North, The most racist of the arguments would hold that African Americans wereless than human and were not capable of developing into free beings.2. Was abolishing slavery a primary concern for President Lincoln at first? What changes in the nation that finally encouraged him to draft the Emancipation Declaration?Key: When the southern states claimed the rights of secession, President Lincoln’s primary concern was to keep the Union and the issue of abolishing slavery was secondary to him.But, in the North abolitionist sentiment was rising. There was an even more vigorous protest against the possibility of slavery spreading into the West. Abolitionism then became a noble cause. By1862 Lincoln had drafted the Emancipation Declaration that would free the slaves and change once again the United States.3. Earlier on, the question of slavery was not a central issue for writers such as Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Emerson. What changed their minds and the minds of many others in the 1850s?Key: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 enraged many writers, as the law imposed upon the northerners the legal obligation to help slave owners protect their “property.”After the 1857 decision that said African Americans were not considered citizens by law, it was increasingly difficult for public personalities to avoid thequestion. It is in this context that we should understand the intents and implications of anti- slavery writing by writers of different backgrounds.4. What was the reception of Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly in the United States and internationally? What did President Lincoln say to Stowe once? Why did Stowe publish A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853)? Key: In one year it sold more than 300,000 copies in the United States and 1,500,000 internationally. It. became the best-known American novel. George Eliot, George Sand, Tolstoy, Henry James all praised it for its moral power if not its artistic merits. The book was also turned into drama and was staged.Lincoln once met Ha rriet Beecher Stowe and said to her: “So this is the little lady who made this big war!”To respond to hostile accusations that the sensational accidents in Uncle Tom’s Cabin lacked authenticity, Stowe published A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853) to show how she had drawn extensively from abolitionist materials and slave narratives.5. What was the main appeal of Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Stowe is known as a religious abolitionist. How is that manifested in the book?Key: The main appeal of Uncle Tom’s Cabin comes from the extreme sentimentality that derives from the deaths of little Eva St. Clare and Uncle Tom as well as from melodramatic events such as Eliza’s escape across the ice of theOhio River. With these stories and emotions, Stowe expresses, sometimes in her direct voice to the reader, her outrage at the iniquities of slavery.She claimed that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a Christian book, written by God Himself, with her pen as His medium. Thus, the old Puritan theme of God’s intentions for America recurred in a different form. The driving force of the novel is God’s wrath directed at the slavery’s destruction of the fundamental laws of love, family and true feeling. The moral indignation is expressed in terms of the two poles of the conflict. On the one hand, the re is Haley, the slave trader, “a man alive to nothing but trade and profit.” On the other hand, there is Rachel Halliday who represented the religious home reuniting the families torn apart by the greed of Haley.6. What are Stowe’s limitations in this b ook?Key: Stowe’s limitations in this book probably are that she had difficulties depicting lives of black slaves, because she had never been close to black life. Stowe’s direct contact with slavery was limited to her visit to a plantation and her observation of how slaves were sold. Her writing may be sentimental and her understanding of the slaves may be limited, but she has used her sentimentality for very serious purposes.7. In what sense is Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave more than an autobiography?Key: Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an example of “slave narratives” which appeared in the 19th century as materials for the abolitionist movement. In general, Douglass’s autobiographical writings fall into two parts: the “before” and the “after.” The “before” recounts the horrors of being a slave and the “after” narrates the opportunities discovered in freedom. In this sense, Douglass’s book is also an example of the American tale of the self-made man.8. What is the structure of this book and what kind of details are included? Key: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tells the story of his life from childhood until his escape to freedom at the age of 20. It includes many details of him, for example, he says in it that in order to avoid being retaken, he changed his name from Bailey to Douglass.The publication of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845 revealed so much detail of his life that Douglass was at risk of being re- enslaved. So he stopped his lectures with the antislavery circuit and fled to England.9. What inspired Douglass to write his book?Key: Douglass was deeply impressed by sufferings that he went through when he was young, so when he grew up, he became an active abolitionist. He wanted to write down his own horrible story so as to evoke people’s dissatisfaction and fight against slavery.10. How did the writing and publication of the book impact Douglass’s personal life?Key: The publication of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845 revealed so much detail of his life that Douglass was at risk of being re- enslaved.So he stopped his lectures with the antislavery circuit and fled to England.Between 1845 and 1847 he lectured in England to promote the antislavery cause in the British Isles. His English friends raised money with which he purchased his freedom. Later in 1847, he moved to Rochester, New York.11. Harriet Ann Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the only slavenarrative written by a woman. What details in her account set this book apart from the slave narrative written by a male? Compare Jacobs’s Incidents with Douglass’s Narrative and also with Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.Key: Jacobs’ own experiences as a slave and her perspective are quite different from those of slave narratives written by males. There are some striking features in her narrative. (1)First of all, she spoke directly to white women in the North, with the intention of recruiting them to the abolitionist cause. For that purpose, she exposed any falsely romantic notions Northern white women might have had about Southern genteel life. (2)Since white women in pre-Civil War America were expected to be chaste, pious, attractive, domestic and gracefully obedient to their husbands, she had to convince them that she was not a “fallen woman”。
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第23章主要小说家：1945年至60年代Questions for Discussion and Writing Assignments1. Name the major African American fiction writers in this period.Key: The major African American writers include Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin.2. Who are some of the major writers (in this time period) in the Southern tradition? Key: Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty were two major w riters in the Southern tradition.3. Who are some of the major writers in the Jewish tradition?Key: Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud and Joseph Heller were the major writers in the Jewish tradition.4. Name some writers who responded to the “age of anxiety.”Key: J. D. Salinger responded to the “age of anxiety”5. What is “black humor?” Name some writers in this tradition.Key: “Black humor” as a literary concept came into being, associated with novels such as Catch-22.Catch-22 is an anti-war novel. Because it is built on the alternating play of humor and horror, it has come to exemplify “black humor.” Ifthere was a tradition of novels that studied the waste of war and madness of war mentality, Norman Mailer appeared to be a leader, with his The Naked and the Dead(1948) and Armies of the Night(1967) being the representative works. Some other novelists, such as Saul Bellow, put on a passive but nonetheless pertinent resistance. Bellow created heroes who, in anxiety, hoard their own spiritual valuables.6. Name two literary precursors to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Write an essay to explore their connections.Key: Dostoevsky and Richard Wright are, among others, precursors to Ellison. (Essay writing is omitted.)7. Historically, what was the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois regarding the path to freedom for African Americans? How is this debate implied or manifested in Invisible Man?Key: The historical context of this story is a debate in the earlier 20th century between two schools of thoughts represented by African American leaders, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois. Washington advocated that African Americans in the racially segregated South should seek vocational skills and economic freedom so that they would gain the equality. Dubois, on the other hand, believed that without the basic political rights, African Americans would remain disfranchised and economically unfree. Ellison’s novel, in the finalanalysis, makes a mockery of Booker T. Washington’s view.8. How do the Prologue and Epilogue work together as the framework for the novel? What kinds of images and metaphors are found in the Prologue and Epilogue? Identify them and discuss their allegorical or symbolic significance.Key: Ellison’s novel is framed by means of th e Prologue and the Epilogue which, together, show us an invisible man who has already gained a mature understanding of the American society and of the right path towards freedom and is now in a stage of “hibernation,” reflecting on how he lost his innocenc e and how he should act in the future. The rest of the novel, between the Prologue and the Epilogue, are flashbacks, showing the several stages of his journey.The “Prologue” introduces several themes symbolically. Consider the meaning of just one symbolic moment: the invisible man is living in a building rented strictly to whites, in a section of the basement that was shut off, and he lights it with 1,369 light bulbs, taking power, free of charge, from the “Monopolated Light & Power.”9. What is the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama? What does the Institute stand for? Explore, in detail, some episodes in this part of novel, such as: driving Mr. Norton, the Golden Day, Bledsoe’s “recommendation” for the invisible man. Why is this phase of the invisible man’s journey an “ indispensable part of his education?Key: Tuskegee was the black vocational school the invisible man attended. Ellison thinly disguises the Institute as the embodiment of the philosophy of Booker T. Washington. The key players here are Mr. Norton, the white trustee from the North and Bledsoe, the school Principal who is African American.10. Write an essay to explain the episode at the Liberty Paint Factory and its clinic asan allegorical commentary on the situation of race in American culture.Key: (Essay writing is omitted.)11. Why was James Baldwin the artist welcomed by the American public as acelebrity in his time? Answer this question by discussing Baldwin’s passion and compassion, his themes and his style.Key: Healing is a crucial theme in Baldwin because as a black homosexual man, he experienced doubly the prejudices and oppression against the socially marginalized. From the experience of oppression comes forth a voice of compassion and fortitude, a voice that was so welcomed by the American public that Baldwin the artist became, in his day, a public figure or celebrity.He depicted the blacks’ experience, often focusing on anti-separatism asa political principle, on the black man’s need for self- realization, and onChristian love as the means with which African Americans can begin healing from the wounds of racial oppression. Healing is a crucial theme in Baldwin because as a black homosexual man, he experienced doubly the prejudices andoppression against the socially marginalized.12. In what sense does Go Tell It on the Mountain, Baldwin’s first novel, take onthe rhythm and resonance of the Bible? Or, how does Baldwin’s novel turn the struggles of African Americans into an allegory? Discuss with details from the three parts.Key: The main plotline follows the religious conversion of John Grimes at the age of 14. The novel begins on the morning of his 14th birthday and, by night, he is reborn in Christ. There are three parts. The first part, “The Seventh Day,”introduces the boy and his family in the Temple of Fire Baptized in Harlem in the spring of 1935. The second part, “The Prayers of the Saints,” consists of flashbacks of the private lives and deep thoughts of his Aunt Florence, his mother Elizabeth and his “legal” (or foster) father Gabriel. John was born an illegitimate child whose real father, Elizabeth’s lover, was arrested wrongly, beaten by the police, and committed suicide. It is Gabriel who, having lost his own wife, mistress and his son, marries Elizabeth and takes John as his own son.The third part, “The Threshing-Floor,” completes the conversion in the present.As John lies before the altar, dream fragments in Freudian sequence pass before his mind’s eye. The novel ends on a suggestive note that traditional Christianity may be inadequate for John who is black. The traditional color symbolism is all wrong in that it considers black the color of evil. It is thus troubling to hear John say “wash me ... whiter than snow.”13. If you have read Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy and understand the theory ofaesthetic as it is presented in the strife and marriage of the Dionysian and the Apollonian, write an essay exploring the differences between the brothers in “Sonny’s Blues” and how they learn to make music by complementing each other.Key: (Essay writing is omitted.)14. What are the two letters that make up Fire Next Time? How does Baldwin makea political argument in religious terms?Key: This lengthy essay takes the form of two extended letters: “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation” and “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region of My Mind.”Baldwin argues from his personal experiences that neither the Christian church nor the Islamic religion is adequate enough for pe ople’s needs to confront the harsh realities, which include political rights of the black.15. Flannery O’Connor continued the tradition of the grotesque but heremployment of the grotesque differs from Anderson’s grotesque. What is that important difference?Key: O’Connor continues Sherwood Anderson’s tradition of literary grotesqueness. But her depicted grotesqueness resembles Anderson’s only to。