美国文学chapter2 The Realistic period (现实主义文学时期)

chapter2 The Realistic period (现实主义文学时期)

本章概述


一. 十九世纪中期现实主义文学产生的历史、文化背景；
二、美国现实主义文学创作的基本特征、基本主张；
三、对同时代与后期美国文学的影响；
四、主要作家作品。

文学史分析


一、The time period :
The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as the Age of Realism in the literary history of the United States .
二. The theoretical base :
1.The thoughts of Howells豪威尔斯 :
A. The literary principle :
The fidelistic reflection of human reality is most clearly expressed by William Dean Howells .
B. The influence :
Guided by this principle of adhering to the truthful treatment of life , the realists touched upon various comtemporary social and political issues .
2. The subject matters :
A. The characters :
They introduced industrial workers and farmers , ambitious businessmen and vagrants流浪者 , prostitutes妓女 and unheroic ?nhi'r?uik]胆怯的soldiers as major characters in fiction .
B. The modes :
They approached the harsh realities and pressures in the post Civil War society either by a comprehensive picture of modern life , or by a psychological exploration of man's subconsciousness .
3. The three towering figures :
The three dorminant figures of the period are William Dean Howells , Mark Twain and Henry James .
A. The common features :
a.They brought to fulfillment native trends in the realistic portrayal brought to perfection teh vernacular style .
b.They established the literary indentity of distinctively American protagonists ,主角 specifically the vernacular hero and the "American Girl ."
C. In short , they set teh example and charted the future course for the subjects , themes ,techniques and styles of fiction .
B. The distinctions :
a. They differed in their understanding of the " truth " .While Mark Twain and Howells seemed to have paid more attention to the "life" of theAmericans ,Henry James had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the "inner world " of man .
b. Though Twain and Howells both shared the same concern in presenting the truth of the American society , they had each of them different emphasis . Howells focused his discussion the rising middle class and the way they lived , While Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories .
三. The naturalism in literature :
1. The sources :
The impact of Darwin's evolutionary theory and the influence of the 19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to yet another school of realism: American naturalism .
2. The subject matter :
They chose their subjets from the lower ranks of society , and portrayed misery and poverty of the "underdogs " who were demonstrably victims of society and nature .
3.The themes :
One of the most familiar themes in American naturalism is the

theme of human "bestiality 兽性"especially as an explanation of sexaul desire .
4.The features:
Artistically ,naturalistic writings are usually unpolished in language , lacking in academic skills and unwieldy in structure . Philosophically , the naturalists believe that the real and true is always partially hidden from the eyes of the individual , or beyond this control . In a word , naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic .



主要作家作品
A. 马克.吐温
B.亨利.詹姆斯
C.艾米莉.狄金森
D.西奥多.德莱塞



A. 马克.吐温
一. The works :
1.The early period :

A.With works like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 哈克贝利芬历险记an Life on the Mississippi Twain密西西比河上的生活 shaped the world's view of America .
B. The first among these books is Roughing it .
C. Two of the best books during this period are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 汤姆索亚and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .
2.The late period :
A. the Gilded Age镀金时代 is Written in collaboration with Warner , the novel explored the scrupulous individualism .
B.In A Connecticut Yankee in king Arthu's Court ,亚瑟王宫廷的美国佬 Twain follows the journey of a representative of modern technology and ideas into a historically backward , feudal society .
C.The others include:
The Tragedy of Pudd's nhead Wilson The man That Corrupted Hadleyburg 败坏哈德莱堡的人and The Mysterious Strager . 神秘的陌生人
二. The masterpieces :
1. The literary status :
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn proved themselves to be the milestone in American literature , and thus firmly established Twain's position in the literary world .
2. The features:
The books are noted for their unpretentious 谦逊的,colloquial 通俗的yet poetic style ,their wide -ranging humor , and their unviversally shared dream of perfect innocence and freedom .
3. The language :
the novel is written in a language which is not grand , pompous自大的 , but simple , direct , lucid 明晰的, and faithful to the colloquial speech .
4. The character portrayal :
The profound portrait of Huckleberry Finn is another great contribution of the book to the legacy of American literature .
三. The artistic features:
1.The local color :
Twain is also known as a local colorist , who preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions , Unlike James and Howells , Mark Twain wrote about the lower -class people .
2. The language :
Another fact that made Twain unique is his magic power with language , his use of vernacular . His words are colloquial , concrete and direct in effect , and his sentence structures are simple ,
3.The sense of humor :
Mark Twain's humor is remarkable , too . Mark Twain shared the popular image of the American funny man . However , his

humor is not only of witty remarks , but a kind of artistic style used to criticize the social inujustic and satirize the decayed romanticism .


B.亨利.詹姆斯
一. The literary creation :
The literary of Henry James is generally divided into three periods .
1.The early period :
A. The theme:
James took great interest in international themes he treated with great care the clashes between two different cultures and the emotional and moral problems of American in Europe , or Europeans in America .
B. The Works :
the American 美国人, Daisy Miller黛西米娜 , The Europeans 欧洲人, The Portrait of A Lady 贵妇人的画像is generally considered to be his masterpiece .
2. The middle period :
A. the Theme:
James experimented with different themes and forms in his middle period .
B. The works :
The Bostonians波士顿人 , The Princess Casamassima 卡萨玛西玛公主, The Death of a Lion ,狮之死 The turn of the Screw螺丝在拧紧 , and The Beast in the Jungle 丛林猛兽.
3.The late period :
A. The theme :
In his last and major period , James returned to his " international theme ."
B. The works :
What Maisie Knows , The Wings of the Dove鸽翼 , The Ambassadors 专使and The Golden Bowl 金碗. These demanding novels are widely considered to be James' most influential contribution to literature .
二. The contributions to literature :
1.The international theme
A. James' fame generally rests upon his novels and stories with the international theme . These novels are always set against a larger international background , usually between European and America . The typical pattern of the conflict between the two cultures would be that of a young American man or American girl .
B. Marriage and love are used by James as the focal point of the confrontation between the twol value systems .
2.The literary criticism :
A. Henry James's literary criticism is an indispensable part of his contribution to literature . The theme of his essay " The Art of Fiction " 小说的艺术clearly indicates that the aim of the novel is to present life .
B. He also advoctes the freedom of the artist to write about anything that concerns him , even the disgreeable , the ugly and commonplace .
三. the artistic features :
1.The psychoanalysis:
A. James's realism is characterized by his psychological approach to his subject matter .His fictional world is concerned more with inner life of human beings than with overt human actions .
B. This emphasis on psychology and on the human consciousness proves to be a big breakthrough in novel writing James is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th -century "stream-of -consciousness " 意识流novels and the founder of psychological realism .
2. The narrative point of view :
A. James avoids the authorial omniscience and makes his characters reveal themselves .
B.In his novels we usually learn the main story by reading through one or several minds and share their pe

rspetives .
3.The language :
As to his language , James is not so easy to understand . With a large vocabulary , he is always accurate in word selection , trying to find the best expression for his literary imagination.


C.艾米莉.狄金森
一. The literary themes :
1.About eternity :[i't?:n?ti] 来世
A. Dickinso's poems are usually based on her own experiences , her sorrows and joys . But within her little lyrics Dickinso addresses those issues that concern the whole human beings .

B. Closely related to Dickinson's religious poetry are her poems concerning death and immortality .
2.About love :
A. Love is another subject Dickinson dwelt on . One group of her love poems treats the suffering and frustration love can cause .
B.The other group of love poems focuses on the physicalaspect of desire . However , it is those poems dealing wiht marriage that have aroused critical attention first .
二. The artistic features :
1.The unique style :
Her poems have no titles. In her poetry there is a particular stress pattern .
2.The unconventional style :
The form of her poetry is more or less like that of the hymns is community churches ,familiar ,communal ,and sometimes , irregular .
3.The other styles :
Her poetic idioms is noted for its laconic brevity , directness and plainness . Her poems are usually short , and many of them are centered on a single image or symbol and focused on one subject matter .

D.西奥多.德莱塞
一. The works
1.The literary status :
Theodore Dreiser is generally acknowledged as one of America's literary naturalists .
2.The representatives :

A. Sister Carrie 嘉莉妹妹is the best -known works .
B. His best short fictions were Nigger Jeff,黑人杰夫 Old Rogaum and His Theresa .老罗高姆和他的特里斯
C. His " Trilogy of Desire,欲望三部曲 " The Financier 金融家, The Titan巨头and The Stoic斯多葛 .
D. Dreiser's greatest wrok is An American Tragedy . 美国悲剧
二. The thoughts of literary creation:
1. The naturalism :
A. With the publication of Sister Carrie ,Dreiser was launching himself upon a long career later known as literary naturalism , which emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministic forces shaping individualized characters .
B. In his words , man is a "victim of forces over which he has no control ." To him ,life is " so sad , so strannge , so mysterious and so inexplicable. "
2.The Darwinism :
A.The effect of Darwinist idea of " survival of the fittest " was shattering .
B. In Sister Carrie Dreiser expressed His naturalistic pursuit . In his " Trilogy of Desire ," Dreiser's focus shifted from the American Tragedy proves to be his greatest work Dreiser intended to tell us that it is the social pressure .
3.The American Values :
A. From the first novel Sister Carrie on , Dreiser set himself to project the American values the human individual is obsessed with a never -ending , yet meaningless search for satisf

action of his desires . One of the desires is for money . Sex is another human desire .
B. Dreiser never forgot to imply that these human desires in life could hardly be defined .
三. The artistic features:
1. For lack of concision , his writings appear more inclusive and less selective . He has been always accused of being awkward in setence structure , inept 笨拙的and occasionally flatly wrong in word selection and meaning , and mixed and disorganized in voice and tone .
2. He broke away from the genteel tradition of literature and dramatized the life in a very realistic way .