(完整版)美国文学选读--Lecture6
Lectures on American Literature——美国文学讲义
True Relation of Virginia (1608)
Description of New England (1616)
General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624)
我要讴歌基督教创造的 奇迹为逃避欧洲的腐败 堕落，他们来到美洲的 海滩；……感谢上帝的 庇佑，把印第安人的荒 芜之地变得辉煌灿烂。 ---科顿· 马瑟
我们将成为整个世界的山巅 城 ( a city set upon a hill )， 全世界人民的眼睛都将看着 我们。如果我们在实现这一 事业的过程中欺骗了上帝， 如果上帝不再像今天那样帮 助我们，那么我们终将成为 世人的笑柄。
A Puritan Should Be…
务实的理想主义者
教条机会主义者
• “a visionary梦想家 who never forget that two plus two equals four; He was a practical idealist…his conduct was regulated by expediency 私利. He was a doctrinaire教条主义者 and an opportunist.”
• In content
religious writings serving either God or colonial expansion
• In form
imitating English literary tradition
American colonial literature is neither real literature nor American
American_Literature6
Mark Twain’s Style
Precise, enviable, well-crafted A master of irony, Nuances (minor differences) of dialect and of the vernacular of different classes and ethnic groups; Terse sarcasm; Use of local color and historical settings. From innocence to experience, Enamored of the American dream and disillusioned at last.
American Realism
The Civil War brought the Romantic Period to an end. The Age of Realism came into existence. It came as a reaction against the lie of romanticism and sentimentalism, as Everett Carter put it. Realism expresses the concern for common place and the low, and it offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience. Realist literature finds the drama and the tension beneath the ordinary surface of life. A realist writer is more objective than subjective, more descriptive than symbolic. Realists looked for truth in everyday truths. A fearless and enthusiastic champion of the new school was William Dean Howells, who by virtue of his powerful critical writings and of his generous patronage as senior editor of the influential journal Atlantic Monthly, made for the triumph of realism
美国文学,美国文学选读American_Literature_Total(只要10分)
① Romantic Movement in England and Europe proved to be a decisive influence; ② Many English and European master of poetry and prose made stimulating impact on American Romanticism.
Returned to Am. at about 50 after being away for 17 years Lived a leisure life and wrote the rest of his life except 4 years as Minister to Spain Died in 1859 and unmarried all his life
His career and works
1st
phase: 1809—1832 ―English phase‖
2nd phase: 1832—1859 ―minor phase‖
1st phase: 1809—1832
“English phase”
主要阶段或英国阶段
A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty 《纽约外史》(1809) The Sketch Book 《见闻札记》(1819—1820) / The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. : ―Rip Wan Winkle‖ 《瑞普.凡.温克尔》 ―The Legend of Sleepy Hollow‖ 《睡谷的传说》 —marked the beginning of short story as a genre in Am. literature —marked the beginning of American Romanticism The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus 《哥仑布传》(1828) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada 《攻克格拉纳达》(1829) The Alhambra 《阿尔罕伯拉》(1832)
美国文学选读部分习题答案归纳
U n i t2E d g a r A l l a n P o e1) Who is the narrator? What wrong does he want to redress?It is Montresor. Fortunato has given Montresor thousands of injuries that he has to bear before he has this opportunity of taking revenge.2) What is the pretext Montresor uses to lure Fortunado to his wine cellar?He claims that he has just got a cask of Amontilado and stores it in the wine cellar before he may find a connoisseur to testify to its authenticity.3) What happens to Fortunado in the end?The deceived Fortunado is killed because of his inability of getting out of the catacomb.4) Describe briefly how Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as contrasts.Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as seemingly contrasting characters chiefly by presenting their identical habit in wine and their different manners towards each other, but actually he intends to show some similarly defective aspects in their nature. The similarity in their nature is also suggested by their names as synonyms in Italian: Mortresor means “fortune” while Fortunado “treasure”. Their defective nature is highlighted when the revenger Mortresor, who is fully prepared on psychological and operating levels, throws the hardly prepared but totally deceived wrong-doer Fortunado into the deep and damp catacomb and blocks up its entrance with huge rocks.Lecture 4 Nathaniel HawthorneQuestions :1.Why is the prison the setting of Chapter 1 ?No matter how optimistic the founders of new colonies may be, they are quick to establish a prison and a cemetery in their “Utopia,” for they know that misbehavior, ev il, and death are unavoidable. This belief fits into the larger Puritan doctrine, which puts heavy emphasis on the idea of original sin—the notion that all people are born sinners because of the initial transgressions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. he is therefore using the prison building to represent the crime and the punishment which are aspect of civilized lifeWhat is the implication of the description of the roses?The rosebush symbolizes the ability of nature to endure and outlast man's activities. The narrator suggests that roses offer a reminder of Nature's kindness to the condemned; for his tale, he says, it will provide either a “sweet moral blossom” or else some relief in the face of unrelenting sorrow and gloom.2.Describe the appearance of Hester Prynne and the attitude of the people towards her.The second paragraph on page 30.The crowd in front of the jail is a mixture of men and women, all maintaining severe looks of disapproval. Several of the women begin to discuss Hester Prynne, and they soon vow that Hester would not have received such a light sentence for her crime if they had been the judges. One woman, the ugliest of the group, goes so far as to advocate death for Hester.3.What has happened to Hester?As a young woman, Hester married an elderly scholar, Chillingworth, who sent her ahead to America to live.While waiting for him, she had an affair with a Puritan minister named Dimmesdale, after which she gave birth to Pearl. The scarlet letter is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy.Why does she make the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate?It seems to declare that she is proud, rather than ashamed, of her sin. In reality, however, Hester simply accepts the “sin” and its symbol as part of herself, just as she accepts her child. And although she can hardly believe her present “realities,” she takes them as they are rather than resisting them or trying to atone for them.How does this tell us about her character?Throughout The Scarlet Letter Hester is portrayed as an intelligent, capable. It is the extraordinary circumstances shaping her that make her such an important figure.Unit 5 Herman Melville1. What are the stories Ismael tells about Moby Dick?2. Ishmael compares the legend of Moby Dick to his experience of the whale.3. He notes that sperm whale attacks have increased recently and that superstitious sailors have come to regard these attacks as having an intelligent, even supernatural origin.4. In particular, wild rumors about Moby Dick circulate among whalemen, suggesting that he can be in more than one place at the same time and that he is immortal. Ishmael remarks that even the wildest of rumors usually contains some truth.5. Whales, for instance, have been known to travel with remarkable speed from the Atlantic to the Pacific; thus, it is possible for a whale to be caught in the Pacific with the harpoons of a Greenland ship in it.6. Moby Dick, who has defied capture numerous times, exhibits an “intelligent malignity”（狠毒）in his attacks on men7. Why does Ahab react so violently against the white whale?8. First, he lost one of his legs because of the white whale.9. Second,He considers Moby Dick the embodiment of evil in the world, and he pursues the White Whale，because he believes it his inescapable fate to destroy this evil.10. Ishmael suggests that Ahab is “crazy”and call him “a raving lunatic.” Do you agree with him? Why or why not?11. Ishmael describes Ahab as mad in his narration, and it does indeed seem mad to try to fight the forces of nature or God.12. What narrative features can you find in the selected chapter?13. In the selected charpter, Melville employed the technique of multiple view of his narrative to portray Moby Dick to achieve the effect of ambiguity and let readers judge the meaning.Lecture 6 Herman Melville1.Where indeed did Thoreau live, both at a physical level and at a spiritual level?He lived in a cabin on Walden Pond, which belonged to Emerson’s property.2.Had Thoreau ever bought a farm? Why did he enjoy the act of buying?No, he hadn’t.He avoided purchasing a farm because it would inevitably tie him down financially and complicate his life.Thoreau didn’t see the acquisition of wealth as the goal for human existence, he saw the goal of life to be an exploration of the mind and of the magnificent world around us.He regarded the places as an existence free of obligations and full of leisure.3.Is it significant that Thoreau mentioned the Fourth of July as the day on which he began to stay in the woods? Why?Yes, it is.Because The Fourth of July is known as Independence Day,the birthday ot the United States.Here Thoreau uses the day to express his beginning of regeneration at Walden.It also means a symbol of his conquest of being.4.How could you answer the question Thoreau asked at the end of this selection?Unit 7 19th Century American Poets1. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(1)I Shot an Arrow…1. Why did the speaker lose sight of his arrow and song?The arrow flies too swiftly and too far away to be seen by the speaker; whereas the song is naturally invisible.2. In what circumstances did he find them again?He finds them unexpectedly years later from the trunk of a tree and the heart of a friend.3. What do arrow and song stand for in this poem?The images of arrow and song here may stand for friendship.(2)A Psalm of Life1. What kind of person is the speaker of this poem?The speaker is a man of action, always optimistic and cheerful, trying to achieve as much as possible in the short span of life.2. According to the poem, how should our lives be led to overcome the fact that each day brings us nearer to death?We should work harder and live happier.3. Interpret the metaphor of "Footprints on the sand of time" (line 28).The metaphor refers to human deeds in real life.2. Walt Whitman(1)One's Self I Sing1. What is the significance of singing about one's self?It is an exaltation of the individual spirit, which is typical of American people.2. What is the difference between physiology and physiognomy?Physiology is a science that deals with the functions and life process of human beings, whereas physiognomy refers to an art of judging character from contours of face itself or the appearance of a person.3. What does Whitman mean by the term of "the Modern Man"?He means that a man should be free from any prejudice and pride, totally different from the traditional one, that is full of bias.(3)O Captain! My Captain!1. Why is the word "Captain" capitalized throughout the poem?In this poem the word “Captain” specially refers to Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States.2. What overall metaphor does the poet employ in this poem?Life is a journey.3. Why do people on the shores exult and bells ring, while the speaker remains so sad?They welcome the ship returning from its hard trip, whereas the speaker is sad because the captain fails to receive his own honor.3.Emily Dickinson(1) To Make a Prairie …1. What things are needed to "make" a prairie? In what sense can one really do it?Some grass and insects and small animals. People can make a prairie with their imagination.2. How can "revery alone" create a prairie?The prairie stays in one's mind.(2) Success Is Counted Sweetest1. Why is success "counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed"?Those who have tasted the bitterness of failure would have a keener desire for success.2. Who are "the purple host"?The so-called successful people in the world.3. Who is "he" in the last stanza?Anyone who is pursuing his success.(3) I'm Nobody!1. Who are the "pair of us" and "they" in this poem?The "pair of us" refers to the speaker in the poem and the reader, and "they" refers to the public, especially those in power.2. What does "an admiring bog" really mean?" (line 28).It Implies the vain and empty common people, who are always admiring and pursuing the celebrities.3. What is the theme of this poem?The real admirable life is a secluded and common one.4. Do you want to be "nobody" or "somebody"? Explain your reasons.Different persons would have different answers to this question. Personally, I prefer to be nobody.Unit 17 20th-Century American Poets1. Ezra PoundIn A Station of the Metro1. Why does the poet call the faces of pedestrians "apparition"?These pedestrians are all walking in a hurry amidst the drizzling rain.2. What do "petals" and "bough" stand for?Petals refer to the faces while the bough stands for the floating crowd.2. Wallace StevensAnecdote of the Jar1. What does the jar in poem symbolize? Why does the speaker place it on top of a hill?The jar here symbolizes a certain perspective on looking at this world. If the perspective of the viewing is creative and unique, it will change the conventional order of the old world. When a new perspective comes out, it will certainly hold attention from the rest.2. The jar is "round" and "of a port in air," meaning that it has a stately importance. What effect does it have on surroundings when placed on the ground?Maybe the round jar assumes the air of a domineering figure, which helps to form a certain order out of the disordered surrounding.3. How did the wilderness of Tennessee characterized? What words or phrases does the poet use to describe it?Tennessee seems to a place full of life and energy. “Slovenly,” “sprawl” and “wild” are some of the words used to describe the place. (See Anecdote of the Jar )4.Robert Frost(1)Fire and Ice1. What are the symbolic meanings of fire in this poem?Fire symbolizes natural disaster, human passion, as well as war.2. Why does the speaker say that ice is also great for destruction? Explain what ice stands for here.Ice, oppose to fire, is also a dreadful natural disaster in this world, and ice is always related to indifference, coldness, hatred, and the other negative sentiments of human beings.3. What is your opinion about fire and ice? Which one is more destructive?Both fire and ice can destroy this beautiful world if they are beyond control of human beings. Therefore we should be open-minded and reduce our prejudice and pride so as to keep this world in peace.(2)Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening1. In your opinion, what was the reason that made the speaker stop by the woods on a snowy evening?The poet was deeply attracted by the natural beauty of the scene at that very moment.2. Why did the horse give the harness bell a shake?The horse grew impatient by stopping in the middle of the dark, cold woods at midnight. It was eager to go home.3. Why couldn't the speaker stay longer by the woods to appreciate its mysterious beauty?He realized that it was late at night and he would have to hurry home to get some food and sleep, because the next morning he would have a lot of work to do.4. What is the effect of repetition in the last two lines?The refrain-like repetition in the last two lines reminds the reader a simple fact of life: whatever happens, one must go forward in the journey of his or her life.(3) The Road Not Taken1. What is the speaker's initial response to the divergence of the two roads?The speaker is at a loss which road he should choose, and he feels sorry that he cannot explore both roads at the same time.2. Describe the similarities and differences of these two roads. Which one does the speaker take?Two roads are similar except one of them is more “grassy,” which implies that it is less traveled by people. The speaker prefers the less traveled one, because he likes adventure.3. What might the two roads stand for in the speaker's mind?One road stands for the traditional one and the other is unconventional one and full of challenges and difficulties. To follow other people's footsteps or to open a new road for himself is really not an easy decision for us to make in our lives.。
美国文学选读06
Marriage
In 1842 Hawthorne became friends with the Transcendentalists in Concord, Emerson and Thoreau, who also drew on the Puritan legacy. However, generally he did not have much confidence in intellectuals and artists, and eventually he had to admit, that "the treasure of intellectual gold" did not provide food for his family. In 1842 Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody, an active participant in the Transcendentalist movement. Only the bride's family attended the wedding. Hawthorne settled with Sophia first in Concord, but a growing family and mounting debts compelled their return to Salem. Hawthorne was unable to earn a living as a writer and in 1846 he was appointed surveyor of the Port of Salem.
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter was a critical and popular success. The illicit love affair of Hester Prynne with the Reverend Arhur Dimmesdale and the birth of their child Pearl, takes place before the book opens. In Puritan New England, Hester, the mother of an illegitimate child, wears the scarlet A (for adulteress, named in the book by this initial) for years rather than reveal that her lover was the saintly young village minister. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, proceeds to torment the guiltstricken man, who confesses his adultery before dying in Hester's arms. Hester plans to take her daughter Pearl to Europe to begin a new life.
(完整版)英美文学选读课PPTLectureTwo
● Beowulf killed Grendel’s mother and be the king of the country.
● Beowulf fought against the fire dragon and died.
The Theme
• How the primitive people struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader.
Beowulf
The Story
● Hrothgar, built a great hall named Heorot ● The hall was later harassed by a monster named Grendel. ● Beowulf fought againsts Grendel and killed him. ● Grendel’s mother came to revenge.
The earliest inhabitants in England: the Celts, from the upper Rhineland
陶洁《美国文学选读》(第3版)笔记和课后习题详解(第6单元 亨利
第6单元亨利•大卫•梭罗6.1复习笔记I.Introduction to author（作者简介）Henry David Thoreau(1917-1862)is a renowned New England Transcendentalist,essayist,philosopher and poet.亨利·大卫·梭罗（1917—1862）是著名的新英格兰超验主义者、散文家、哲学家，诗人。
1.Life（生平）Thoreau was a friend of Emerson and his junior by some fourteen years. Thoreau was born in Concord,Massachusetts.He went to Harvard at17.After graduation,he made friends with Emerson and embraced his ideas.In1845he moved in a cabin on Walden Pond and lived there in a very simple manner for a little over two years.During his stay in Walden,he went back occasionally to his village,and on one visit he was detained for a night in jail for refusing to pay a poll-tax he thought unjust.This inspired him to write his famous essay,“Civil Disobedience”.He wrote about his experience in the famous book,Walden,after he moved back to Concord.He became a major voice for nineteenth-century America,now better heard perhaps than Emerson’s.His influence goes beyond America.His status was placedin the Hall of Fame in New York in1969.梭罗是爱默生的好友，比爱默生小14岁。
英美文学欣赏最新版教学课件美国文学Unit 6 Henry James
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
Under all his culture, his cleverness, his amenity, under his good-nature, his facility, his knowledge of life, his egotism lay hidden like a serpent in a bank of flowers. 在他的修养、聪明和优雅的风度下，在他的和善、能干活熟谙世故的 外表下，隐藏着他的自私，好像是鲜花丛中隐藏着的一条毒蛇。 （注解：夜深人静，伊莎贝尔独自坐在即将熄灭的壁炉前，陷入深深 的思考中。经过了无限的痛苦和挫折之后，她认清了她丈夫的本质。）
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
if she had really married on a factitious theory, in order to do something finely appreciable with her money. 是否她真的是因为一种假想的道理才结婚，为了用她的钱做合适的事。 （注解：伊莎贝尔当初答应奥斯蒙德求婚时，表兄拉尔夫提醒她说，奥 斯蒙德因为她的钱才向她求婚。因为他一无所有。伊莎贝尔当时回答： 如果是这样，我的钱就算是用到了最需要的地方。）
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
An Appreciation of American Literature
Unit 6 Henry James
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
作者简介
亨利 ·詹姆斯（Henry James, 1843—1916）美 国著名小说家和文学评论家，被誉为美国现代 小说和小说理论的奠基人。詹姆斯出身纽约一 个名门世家。父亲是哲学家、神学家。哥哥威 廉 ·詹姆斯（William James, 1842—1910）是著 名的心理学家和实用主义哲学家。“意识流” 一词即出自他的《心理学原理》。詹姆斯自幼 受到良好的教育， 并多次游历、求学欧洲，并 结识屠格涅夫、福楼拜、左拉等文学名家。曾 学习绘画，还进入哈佛大学学习法律，但不久 即辍学专事文学创作。他崇尚欧洲文化，1875 年起定居伦敦。1915 年，因美国未及时参加第 一次世界大战而加入英国籍，第二年病逝。
(完整word版)美国文学选读课后习题答案(word文档良心出品)
3.Is it significant that Thoreau mentioned the Fourth ofJuly as the day on which he began to stay in the woods?Why?
Yes, it is.Because The Fourth of July is known asIndependence Day,the birthdayofthe United States.HereThoreau uses the day to express his beginningof regeneration at Walden.It also means a symbol of hisconquest of being.
This belief fits into the larger Puritan doctrine, which puts heavy emphasis on the idea of original sin—the notion that all people are born sinners because of the initial transgressions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. he is therefore using the prison building to represent the crime and the punishment which are aspect of civilized life. What is the implication of the description of the roses?The rosebush symbolizes the ability of nature to endure and outlast man's activities. The narrator suggests that roses offer a reminder of Nature's kindness to the condemned; for his tale, he says, it will provide either a “sweet moral blossom” or else some relief in the face of unrelenting sorrow and gloom.
lecture 6 美国文学史课件
2. The Beat literature: Beat generation: nonconformist, rebellious / unconventional life/ prose: Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs; poetry: Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
II. Different poetic groups in 1950s and 1960s
1. The confessional School: a school of poetry where the poet may expose personal, taboo, difficult things about themselves. Features: self-analysis of one’s own heritage and background, private desires and fantasies, “I’ll-tell-it-all-to-you” desire/ Robert Lowell: Life Studies; Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath
Lecture 6 Post –war Literature
Poetry and New-Realistic Novels
Historical Background:
1.the U.S. : emerginnt economic shape
2. Dropping of the atomic bombs: fear and doubt
3.1950s—fear and conformity ,“red hunt” : Cold War, McCarthyism ,Korea War
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American Naturalism
• It is a literary movement in 1890s. • It is a more advanced stage of realism. • The American naturalists accept the more negative
• The forces that were behind the city-ward movement were chances to change, which is considered as a kind of human and social evolution.
Realism
for the familiar and the low. • Realists tries to vividly describe details from observation of
actual life. • Realists tries to offer an rather than an idealized view of
• A. Time
• the latter half of the 19the century, esp. 1870s, 1880s
• B. Features
• Realism comes as a reaction against “the lie” of Romanticism. • It expresses the concern for the world of the commonplace, and
✓ Henry James: Life should be the main object of the novel.
✓ Mark Twain: Writers should keep in their mind the soul, the life, and the speech of the people
✓ Closing Frontier
• As the frontier was losing, Americans began to lose hope to go to the west and they became more practical to face daily life. The worth of the American dream, the idealized, romantic view of man and his life in the new world, began to lose. disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned out to be a “Gilded” one.
interpretation of Darwin’s theory and stress the powerlessness of people in the environment and society. • They focus mainly on the lowest class, trodden people and their destiny. • The subject matters are the conflict, cruelty, death, violence, misery and sex. • They write objectively and indifferently.
The Age of Realism (1865-1914)
An important transitional period in American history
Background
✓ American Civil War (1861-1865)
• The industrialized North fought the agrarian South, the factory defeated the plantation, and the USA headed toward capitalism.
✓ Darwin’s publication of The Origin of the Species
• This book was adopted by big business. Just as Darwin proposed that only the fittest of the species survives, capitalists considered themselves the highest product of civilization.
✓ Industrialization
• American economy developed very fast in the late part of the 19th century. Extremes of wealth and poverty appeared. Money concentrated into a small group of people while the masses struggled for survival. Most people in the country developed strong ambition for power and money.
Realistic writers
human nature and society. • The language is plain, natural and objective.
• C. Representative writers
✓ William Dean Howells: He must write what he observed and knew.