美国文学史笔记英文版(按时间顺序)
美国文学史及选读复习笔记（1-2册）
美国文学史及选读复习笔记（1-2册）History And Anthology of American Literature (V olumeⅠⅡ)美国文学史及选读1、2PartⅠThe Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学1. 17世纪早期English and European explorers开始登陆美洲。
在他们之前100多年Caribbean Islands, Mexico and other Parts of South America已被the Spanish占领。
2. 17th早期English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts(弗吉尼亚和马萨诸塞)开始了美国历史3. 美国最早殖民者(earliest settlers)included Dutch ,Swedes ,Germans ,French ,Spaniards ,Italians and Portuguese (荷兰人，瑞典人，德国人，法国人，西班牙人，意大利人及葡萄牙人等)。
4. 美国早期文学主要为the narratives and journals of these settlements采用in diaries and in journals(日记和日志)，他们写关于the land with dense forests and deep-blue lakes and rich soil.5. 第一批美国永久居民：the first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown,Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿)。
6. 船长约翰?史密斯Captain John Smith他的作品(reports of exploration)17th 早期出版，被认为是美国第一部真正意义上的文学作品in the early 1600s,have been described as the first distinctly American literature written in English.他讲述了filled with themes, myths, images, scenes, character and events,吸引了朝圣者和清教徒前往lure the Pilgrims and the Puritans.7. 美国第一位作家：1608年Captain John Smith写了封信《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》“A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony”.8. 他的第二本书1612年《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》“A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country”.9. 他一共出版了八本书，其中有关于新英格兰的历史及描述。
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.
美国文学史英文版
Colonial Period (1620-1750)
Literature of the period dominated by the Puritans and their religious influence
emphasis is on faith in one’s daily life
Wiliam Bradford (journal) Anne Bradstreet (poetry) Jonathan Edwards (sermon) Mary Rowlandson (captivity narrative) Phillis Wheatley (poetry) Olaudah Equiano (slave narrative)
Enormous displacement of Native-American civilizations
French—St Lawrence River Swedes—Delaware River Dutch—Hudson River German and Scots-Irish—New York and Pennsylvania Spanish—Florida Africans (mostly slaves) were throughout the colonies
Colonial Period
(1620-1750)
Newly arrived colonists create villages and towns and establish new governments while protesting the old ways in Europe
Did not consider themselves “Americans” until mid18C
最全美国文学史笔记英文版(按时间顺序)
New England Poets
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 亨 利·沃兹沃思·朗费罗 1807-1882
The Song of Hiawatha 海华沙之歌----美国人写的第一部印第安人史诗;Voices of the Night 夜吟;Ballads and Other Poems 民谣及其他诗;Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems 布鲁茨的钟楼及其他诗;Tales of a Wayside Inn 路边客栈的故事--诗集：An April Day 四月的一天;A Psalm of Life 生命礼赞/Paul Revere‟s Ride 保罗· 里维尔的夜奔;Evangeline 伊凡吉琳;The Courtship of Miles Standish 迈尔 斯·斯坦迪什的求婚----叙事长诗；Poems on Slavery 奴役篇---反蓄奴组 诗 Twice-told Tales; Mosses from an Old Manse 古屋青苔: The Scarlet Letter 红 字 ;The House of the Seven Gables 有 七 个 尖 角 阁 的 房 子 ;The Blithedale Romance 福谷传奇;The Marble Faun 玉石雕像; “Young Goodman Brown” “The Minister‟s Black Veil”; “ The Birthmark”,”Rappaccini‟s Daughter”; “The Maypole of Merry Mount” Typee 泰比 ;Omoo 奥穆 ;Mardi 玛地 ;Redburn 雷得本 ;White Jacket 白外 衣 ;Pierre 皮 尔 埃 ; Moby Dick;The Confidence Man; Billy Budd; Clarel( long poem) Leaves of Grass 草叶集 :Song of the Broad-Axe 阔斧之歌 ;I Hear America Singing 我 听 见 美 洲 在 歌 唱 ;When Lilacs Lost in the Dooryard Bloom‟d;Democratic Vistas 民主的前景;The Tramp and Strike Question 流浪汉 和罢工问题;Song of Myself 自我之歌 “My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close”; “Because I could not stop for death”;” Wild Nights-Wild Nights” Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque 怪诞奇异故事集; The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym(one full-length novel); Review of Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales “MS.Found in a Bottle”; “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”; “The Fall of the House of Usher”/”The Cask of Amontillado”/ “Ligeia”/ “The Purloined Letter”/”Black Cat”/ “The Imp of the Perverse”/”The Gold Bug”/ ◆ ”The Philosophy of Composition”/”The Poetic Principle”,”Annabel Lee”/”The Raven”/”To Helen” Part 4. The age of Realism(1865-1914) Little Women 小妇人; Little Men 小绅士; Good Wives 好妻子; Jo‟s Boys 乔的孩 子 The Rise of Silas Lapham 赛拉斯·拉帕姆的发迹;Their Wedding Journey 他们 的蜜月之旅; A Modern Instance 现代婚姻; A Chance Acquaintance; A Hazard of Now Fortunes 时来运转;A Traveller from Altruia 从利他国来的旅客; Criticism and Fiction; A World of Chance; Annie Kilburn;
美国文学史整理
附：作者及作品（第一、二册）一、殖民主义时期The Literature of Colonial America1．船长约翰•史密斯Captain John Smith他的作品(reports of exploration)17th早期出版，被认为是美国第一部真正意义上的文学作品, 美国第一位作家《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》―A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony‖《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》―A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country‖《弗吉尼亚通史》―General History of Virginia‖2．威廉•布拉德福德William Bradford 《普利茅斯开发历史》―The History of Plymouth Plantation‖3．约翰•温思罗普John Winthrop《新英格兰历史》―The History of New England‖4．罗杰•威廉姆斯Roger Williams1．John Cotton第一批知识分子代言人，称为“新英格兰教父”the Patriarch of New England.《开启美国语言的钥匙》‖A Key into the Language of America‖或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》Or ― A Help to the Language of the Nativ es in That Part of America Called New England ‖5．安妮•布莱德斯特Anne Bradstreet 《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》‖The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America‖二、理性和革命时期文学The Literature of Reason and Revolution1。
美国文学史及选读考研复习笔记5
History And Anthology of American Literature（5）PartⅤTwentieth-Century Literature二十世纪文学Ⅰ. Ezra Pound埃兹拉·庞德1885-19721.埃兹拉·卢米斯·庞德Ezra Loomis Pound。
他是一位非常具有个性的诗人，他能把传统与令人深刻和大胆的创新很熟练地结合起来he had a distinct poetic personality, he combined a command of the older tradition with impressive and often daring originality.他是一位多产的随笔作家，他不断地为纽约、伦敦、巴黎的小杂志撰稿，然后把这些作品汇集到一起，于是便组成了一个令人兴奋的文学大世界，他坚持无私地扶持那些刚入道，没什么影响，而他认为有前途的文学艺术家，最为重要的可能就是他给T·S·爱略特的帮助了he was a prolific essayist for the little magazines of New York, London, Paris, which then constituted a large and exciting literary world. He unselfishly and persistently championed the experimental and often unpopular artists. Most important of all, perhaps, was the advice and encouragement which he gave to T·S· Eliot.2.庞德和爱略特的作品都要求他们的读者熟悉古典作品，包括意大利和英国文艺复兴时期的作品，特别是欧洲大陆地区文学，包括法国象征主义，庞德保持了作品的艰深晦涩风格 both Pound and Eliot required of their readers a familiarity with the classics, the productions of Italian and English Renaissance,, and specialized areas of Continental literature, including the works of the French symbolists. Pound’s continued to draw fundamentally upon his formidably recondite culture.3.《向塞克斯图·普罗佩提多斯致敬》”Homage toSextus Propertius”; 《人物》（或《面具》）”Personae”or “Masks”;1920年《休·赛尔温·毛伯利》被看作是有关一战战争实质的讽刺类代表作”Hugh Selwyn Mauberley”, considered as a satire of the materialistic forces involved in World WarⅠ;1917年开始创作《诗集》，截止1959年总首数已达109首，有点象但丁的《神曲》，也是由三个部分组成，结构较为松散，作品中的主人公是喜剧性的人而不是神，他认为人类文明的毁灭主要是由于人类的三个时期，即上古时期、复兴时期和现代时期缺乏信用所至”The Cantos”, began in 1917, by 1959, the numbered 109 poems. The progressive series, exceeding the proposed limit of one hundred poems, are loosely connected cantos, like Dante’s“Divina Commedia”in three sections, butrepresenting a comedy human, not divine, dealingwith the wreck of civilizations by reason of theinfidelity of mankind in the three epochs-the ancientworld, the Renaissance, and the modern period.4.二战期间，庞德代表意大利政府，运用广播形式对美国军队进行强烈的谴责。
美国文学文化常识略记(英汉对应)
四、Walt Whitman惠特曼 创造了自由诗体（Free verse）
The Old Man and the Sea《老人与海》
三、William Faulkner威廉福克纳
Absalom,Absalom!《押沙龙，押沙龙！》
The sound and the Fury《喧哗与骚动》
The light in August《八月之光》
As I Lay Dying《我弥留之际》
二、William Carlos Williams威廉姆斯
Pterson 《佩特森》
Red Wheelbarrow《红色手推车》
The Widow's Lament in Spring Time《寡妇的春怨》
三、T.S.Eliot
The Waste Land《荒原》标志现代主义
The love song of J.Alfred Prufrock《普洛夫洛克的情歌》
自然主义
四、Stephen Crane斯蒂文 克瑞恩（第一位美国自然主义者）
Maggie:A Girl of Streets《梅吉街头女郎》
The Red Badage of Courage《红色应用勋章》
五、Frank Norris弗兰克诺里斯
The Epic of the Wheat:The Octopus,The Pit,The Wolf《小麦三部曲》
【笔记】美国文学简史笔记常耀信
【关键字】笔记A Concise History of American LiteratureWhat is literature?Literature is language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages.Chapter 1 Colonial PeriodI.Background: Puritanism1.features of Puritanism(1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.(2)Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can bepassed down from generation to generation.(3)Total depravity(4)Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved.2.Influence(1) A group of good qualities –hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious andthoughtful) influenced American literature.(2)It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden.(3)Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chieflyinstrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctlyAmerican.(4)With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric isplain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the directinfluence of the Bible.II.Overview of the literature1.types of writingdiaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons2.writers of colonial period(1)Anne Bradstreet(2)Edward Taylor(3)Roger Williams(4)John Woolman(5)Thomas Paine(6)Philip FreneauIII.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 idealismIV.Benjamin Franklin1.life2.works(1)Poor Richard’s Almanac(2)Autobiography3.contribution(1)He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American PhilosophicalSociety.(2)He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case)from heaven”.(3)Everything seems to meet in this one man –“Jack of all trades”. Herman Melvillethus described him “master of each and mastered by none”.Chapter 2 American RomanticismSection 1 Early Romantic PeriodWhat is Romanticism?●An approach from ancient Greek: Plato● A literary trend: 18c in Britain (1798~1832)●Schlegel Bros.I.Preview: Characteristics of romanticism1.subjectivity(1)feeling and emotions, finding truth(2)emphasis on imagination(3)emphasis on individualism – personal freedom, no hero worship, natural goodnessof human beings2.back to medieval, esp medieval folk literature(1)unrestrained by classical rules(2)full of imagination(3)colloquial language(4)freedom of imagination(5)genuine in feelings: answer their call for classics3.back to naturenature is “breathing living thing” (Rousseau)II.American Romanticism1.Background(1)Political background and economic development(2)Romantic movement in European countriesDerivative – foreign influence2.features(1)American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experienceand contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place”was radically new and alien.(2)There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. American romanticauthors tended more to moralize. Many American romantic writings intended toedify more than they entertained.(3)The “newness” of Americans as a nation is in connection with AmericanRomanticism.(4)As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticismwas both imitative and independent.III.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.life3.works(1) A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the DutchDynasty(2)The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of internationalrecognition with the publication of this.)(3)The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus(4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada(5)The Alhambra4.Literary career: two parts(1)1809~1832a.Subjects are either English or Europeanb.Conservative love for the antique(2)1832~1859: back to US5.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 languageIV.James Fenimore Cooper1.life2.works(1)Precaution (1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)(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, The Pioneer, ThePrairie3.point of viewthe theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs.democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights4.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 authentic5.literary achievementsHe created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history ofthe United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring andpushing the American frontier forever westward, then Cooper’s Leatherstocking Taleseffectively 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 westerntradition to American literature.Section 2 Summit of Romanticism – American TranscendentalismI.Background: four sources1.Unitarianism(1)Fatherhood of God(2)Brotherhood of men(3)Leadership of Jesus(4)Salvation by character (perfection of one’s character)(5)Continued progress of mankind(6)Divinity of mankind(7)Depravity of mankind2.Romantic IdealismCenter of the world is spirit, absolute spirit (Kant)3.Oriental mysticismCenter of the world is “oversoul”4.PuritanismEloquent expression in transcendentalismII.Appearance1836, “Nature” by EmersonIII.Features1.spirit/oversoul2.importance of individualism3.nature – symbol of spirit/Godgarment of the oversoul4.focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)IV.Influence1.It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea thathuman can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw offshackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new anddistinctly American culture.2.It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy whereopportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moralnecessity for rising to spiritual height.3.It helped to create the first American renaissance – one of the most prolific period inAmerican literature.V.Ralph Waldo Emerson1.life2.works(1)Nature(2)Two essays: The American Scholar, The Poet3.point of view(1)One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the“oversoul”.(2)He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man,and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature.(3)If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine inhimself, he can hope to become better and even perfect. This is what Emersonmeans by “the infinitude of man”.(4)Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and thathe makes the world by making himself.4.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 celebrate America whichwas to him a lone poem in itself.5.his influenceVI.Henry David Thoreau1.life2.works(1) A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River(2)Walden(3) A Plea for John Brown (an essay)3.point of view(1)He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and wasvehemently 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 genuine restorative,healthy influence 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 dirty institutions of men’sodd-fellow society”.(8)He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a new generation of men. Section 3 Late RomanticismI.Nathaniel Hawthorne1.life2.works(1)Two collections of short stories: Twice-told Tales, Mosses from and Old Manse(2)The Scarlet Letter(3)The House of the Seven Gables(4)The Marble Faun3.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 passed fromgeneration to generation (causality).(3)He is of the opinion that evil educates.(4)He has disgust in science.4.aesthetic ideas(1)He took a great interest in history and antiquity. To him these furnish the soil onwhich his mind grows to fruition.(2)He was convinced that romance was the predestined form of American narrative.To tell the truth and satirize and yet not to offend: That was what Hawthorne had inmind to achieve.5.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 ofviewII.Herman Melville1.life2.works(1)Typee(2)Omio(3)Mardi(4)Redburn(5)White Jacket(6)Moby Dick(7)Pierre(8)Billy Budd3.point of view(1)He never seems able to say an affirmative yes to life: His is the attitude of“Everlasting Nay” (negative attitude towards life).(2)One of the major themes of his is alienation (far away from each other).Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism (individualism causing disasterand death), rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts overthe comforting 19c idea of progress4.style(1)Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity throughemploying 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 profusely commentedupon and praised.(4)His works are symbolic and metaphorical.(5)He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description ofwhat goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)Romantic PoetsI.Walt Whitman1.life2.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 Rocking3.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 War 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 happiness4.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 foreign origins, some evenwrong(10)sentences – catalogue technique: long list of names, long poem lines5.influence(1)His best work has become part of the common property of Western culture.(2)He took over Whitman’s vision of the poet-prophet and poet-teacher and recast itin 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, bears witness to hisgreat influence.II.Emily Dickenson1.life2.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 Nights3.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 responsibility4.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 ideas vividparison: Whitman vs. Dickinson1.Similarities:(1)Thematically, they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergent America, itsexpansion, its individualism and its Americanness, their poetry being part of“American Renaissance”.(2)Technically, they both added to the literary independence of the new nation bybreaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedomin form unknown before: they were pioneers in American poetry.2.differences:(1)Whitman seems to keep his eye on society at large; Dickinson explores the innerlife of the individual.(2)Whereas Whitman is “national” in his outlook, Dickinson is “regional”.(3)Dickinson has the “catalogue technique” (direct, simple style) which Whitmandoesn’t have.Edgar Allen PoeI.LifeII.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 TalesIII.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 scienceIV.Aesthetic ideas1.The short stories should be of brevity, totality, single effect, compression and finality.2.The poems should be short, and the aim should be beauty, the tone melancholy. Poemsshould not be of moralizing. He calls for pure poetry and stresses rhythm.V.Style – traditional, but not easy to readVI.Reputation: “the jingle man” (Emerson)VII.His influencesChapter 3 The Age of RealismI.Background: From Romanticism to Realism1.the three conflicts that reached breaking point in this period(1)industrialism vs. agrarian(2)culturely-measured east vs. newly-developed west(3)plantation gentility vs. commercial gentility2.1880’s urbanization: from free competition to monopoly capitalism3.the closing of American frontierII.Characteristics1.truthful description of life2.typical character under typical circumstance3.objective rather than idealized, close observation and investigation of life“Realistic writers are like scientists.”4.open-ending:Life is complex and cannot be fully understood. It leaves much room for readers to think by themselves.5.concerned with social and psychological problems, revealing the frustrations ofcharacters in an environment of sordidness and depravityIII.Three Giants in Realistic Period1.William Dean Howells –“Dean of American Realism”(1)Realistic principlesa.Realism is “fidelity to experience and probability of motive”.b.The aim is “talk of some ordinary traits of American life”.c.Man in his natural and unaffected dullness was the object of Howells’s fictionalrepresentation.d.Realism is by no means mere photographic pictures of externals but includes acentral concern with “motives” and psychological conflicts.e.He condemns novels of sentimentality and morbid self-sacrifice, and avoids suchthemes as illicit love.f.Authors should minimize plot and the artificial ordering of the sense of something“desultory, unfinished, imperfect”.g.Characters should have solidity of specification and be real.h.Interpreting sympathetically the “common feelings of commonplace people” wasbest suited as a technique to express the spirit of America.i.He urged writers to winnow tradition and write in keeping with currenthumanitarian ideals.j.Truth is the highest beauty, but it includes the view that morality penetrates all things.k.With regard to literary criticism, Howells felt that the literary critic should not try to impose arbitrary or subjective evaluations on books but should follow the detachedscientist in accurate description, interpretation, and classification.(2)Worksa.The Rise of Silas Laphamb. A Chance Acquaintancec. A Modern Instance(3)Features of His Worksa.Optimistic toneb.Moral development/ethicscking of psychological depth2.Henry James(1)Life(2)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 and adolescence, then backto international theme●The Turn of the Screw●When Maisie Knew●The Ambassadors●The Wings of the Dove●The Golden Bowl(3)Aesthetic ideasa.The aim of novel: represent lifemon, even ugly side of lifec.Social function of artd.Avoiding omniscient point of view(4)Point of viewa.Psychological analysis, forefather of stream of consciousnessb.Psychological realismc.Highly-refined language(5)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.What is “Local Colour”?Tasks of local colourists: to write or present local characters of their regions in truthful depiction distinguished from others, usually a very small part of the world.Regional literature (similar, but larger in world)●Garland, Harte – the west●Eggleston – Indiana●Mrs Stowe●Jewett – Maine●Chopin – LouisianaIII.Mark Twain – Mississippi1.life2.works(1)The Gilded Age(2)“the two advantages”(3)Life on the Mississippi(4) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court(5)The Man That Corrupted Hardleybug3.style(1)colloquial language, vernacular language, dialects(2)local colour(3)syntactic feature: sentences are simple, brief, sometimes ungrammatical(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.Background1.Darwin’s theory: “natural selection”2.Spenser’s idea: “social Darwinism”3.French Naturalism: ZoraII.Features1.environment and heredity2.scientific accuracy and a lot of details3.general tone: hopelessness, despair, gloom, ugly side of the societyIII.significanceIt prepares the way for the writing of 1920s’ “lost generation” and T. S. Eliot.IV.Theodore Dreiser1.life2.works(1)Sister Carrie(2)The trilogy: Financier, The Titan, The Stoic(3)Jennie Gerhardt(4)American Tragedy(5)The Genius3.point of view(1)He embraced social Darwinism – survival of the fittest. He learned to regard manas merely an animal driven by greed and lust in a struggle for existence in whichonly the “fittest”, the m ost ruthless, survive.(2)Life is predatory, a “game” of the lecherous and heartless, a jungle struggle inwhich man, being “a waif and an interloper in Nature”, a “wisp in the wind ofsocial forces”, is a mere pawn in the general scheme of things, with no po werwhatever to assert his will.(3)No one is ethically free; everything is determined by a complex of internalchemisms and by the forces of social pressure.4.Sister Carrie(1)Plot(2)Analysis5.Style(1)Without good structure(2)Deficient characterization(3)Lack in imagination(4)Journalistic method(5)Techniques in paintingChapter 5 The Modern PeriodSection 1 The 1920sI.IntroductionThe 1920s is a flowering period of American literature. It is considered “the second renaissance” of American literature.The nicknames for this period:(1)Roaring 20s – comfort(2)Dollar Decade – rich(3)Jazz Age – Jazz musicII.Backgrounda)First World War –“a war to end all wars”(1)Economically: became rich from WWI. Economic boom: new inventions.Highly-consuming society.(2)Spiritually: dislocation, fragmentation.b)wide-spread contempt for law (looking down upon law)1.Freud’s theoryIII.Features of the literatureWriters: three groups(1)Participants(2)Expatriates(3)Bohemian (unconventional way of life) – on-lookersTwo areas:(1)Failure of communication of Americans(2)Failure of the American societyImagismI. BackgroundImagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient Chinese poetry and Japanese literature “haiku”II. Development: three stages1.1908~1909: London, Hulme2.1912~1914: England -> America, Pound3.1914~1917: Amy LowellIII. W hat is an “image”?An image is defined by Pound as that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time, “a vortex or cluster of fused ideas” “endowed with energy”. The exact word must bring the effect of the object be fore the reader as it had presented itself to the poet’s mind at the time of writing.IV. Principles1.Direct treatment of the “thing”, whether subjective or objective;2.To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation;3.As regarding rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in thesequence of a metronome.V. Significance1.It was a rebellion against the traditional poetics which failed to reflect the new life ofthe new century.2.It offered a new way of writing which was valid not only for the Imagist poets but formodern poetry as a whole.3.The movement was a training school in which many great poets learned their firstlessons in the poetic art.4.It is this movement that helped to open the first pages of modern English and Americanpoetry.VI. Ezra Pound1.life2.literary career3.works(1)Cathay(2)Cantos(3)Hugh Selwyn Mauberley4.point of view(1)Confident in Pound’s belief that the artist was morally and culturally the arbiterand the “saviour” of the race, he took it upon himself to purify the arts and becamethe prime mover of a few experimental movements, the aim of which was to dumpthe old into the dustbin and bring forth something new.(2)To him life was sordid personal crushing oppression, and culture produced nothingbut “intangible bondage”.(3)Pound sees in Chinese history and the doctrine of Confucius a source of strengthand wisdom with which to counterpoint Western gloom and confusion.(4)He saw a chaotic world that wanted setting to rights, and a humanity, sufferingfrom spiritual death and cosmic injustice, that needed saving. He was for the mostpart of his life trying to offer Confucian philosophy as the one faith which couldhelp to save the West.5.style: very difficult to readPound’s early poems are fresh and lyrical. The Cantos can be notoriously difficult insome sections, but delightfully beautiful in others. Few have made serious study of thelong poem; fewer, if anyone at all, have had the courage to declare that they haveconquered Pound; and many seem to agree that the Cantos is a monumental failure.6.ContributionHe has helped, through theory and practice, to chart out the course of modern poetry.7.The Cantos –“the intellectual diary since 1915”Features:(1)Language: intricate and obscure(2)Theme: complex subject matters(3)Form: no fixed framework, no central theme, no attention to poetic rulesVII. T. S. Eliot1.life2.works(1)poems●The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock●The Waste Land (epic)●Hollow Man●Ash Wednesday●Four Quarters(2)Plays●Murder in the Cathedral●Sweeney Agonistes●The Cocktail Party●The Confidential Clerk(3)Critical essays●The Sacred Wood●Essays on Style and Order●Elizabethan Essays●The Use of Poetry and The Use of Criticisms●After Strange Gods3.point of view(1)The modern society is futile and chaotic.(2)Only poets can create some order out of chaos.(3)The method to use is to compare the past and the present.4.Style(1)Fresh visual imagery, flexible tone and highly expressive rhythm(2)Difficult and disconnected images and symbols, quotations and allusions(3)Elliptical structures, strange juxtapositions, an absence of bridges5.The Waste Land: five parts(1)The Burial of the Dead(2) A Game of Chess(3)The Fire Sermon(4)Death by Water(5)What the Thunder SaidVIII. Robert Frost1.life2.point of view(1)All his life, Frost was concerned with constructions through po etry. “a momentarystay against confusion”.(2)He understands the terror and tragedy in nature, but also its beauty.(3)Unlike the English romantic poets of 19th century, he didn’t believe that man couldfind harmony with nature. He believed that serenity came from working, usuallyamid natural forces, which couldn’t be understood. He regarded work as“significant toil”.3.works – poemsthe first: A Boy’s Willcollections: North of Boston, Mountain Interval (mature), New Hampshire4.style/features of his poems(1)Most of his poems took New England as setting, and the subjects were chosenfrom daily life of ordinary people, such as “mending wall”, “picking apples”.(2)He writes most often about landscape and people – the loneliness and poverty ofisolated farmers, beauty, terror and tragedy in nature. He also describes someabnormal people, e.g. “deceptively simple”, “philosophical poet”.(3)Although he was popular during 1920s, he didn’t experiment like other modernpoets. He used conventional forms, plain language, traditional metre, and wrote ina pastured tradition.IX. e. e. cummings“a juggler with syntax, grammar and diction” –individualism, “painter poet”Novels in the 1920sI. F. Scott Fitzgerald1.life – participant in 1920s2.works(1)This Side of Paradise(2)Flappers and Philosophers(3)The Beautiful and the Damned(4)The Great Gatsby(5)Tender is the Night(6)All the Sad Young Man(7)The Last Tycoon3.point of view(1)He expressed what the young people believed in the 1920s, the so-called“American Dream” is false in nature.(2)He had always been critical of the rich and tried to show the integrating effects ofmoney on the emotional make-up of his character. He found that wealth alteredpeople’s characters, making them mean and distrusted. He thinks money broughtonly tragedy and remorse.(3)His novels follow a pattern: dream – lack of attraction – failure and despair.4.His ideas of “American Dream”It is false to most young people. Only those who were dishonest could become rich.。
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New England Poets
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 亨 利·沃兹沃思·朗费罗 1807-1882
The Song of Hiawatha 海华沙之歌----美国人写的第一部印第安人史诗;Voices of the Night 夜吟;Ballads and Other Poems 民谣及其他诗;Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems 布鲁茨的钟楼及其他诗;Tales of a Wayside Inn 路边客栈的故事--诗集：An April Day 四月的一天;A Psalm of Life 生命礼赞/Paul Revere’s Ride 保罗· 里维尔的夜奔;Evangeline 伊凡吉琳;The Courtship of Miles Standish 迈尔 斯·斯坦迪什的求婚----叙事长诗；Poems on Slavery 奴役篇---反蓄奴组 诗 Twice-told Tales; Mosses from an Old Manse 古屋青苔: The Scarlet Letter 红 字 ;The House of the Seven Gables 有 七 个 尖 角 阁 的 房 子 ;The Blithedale Romance 福谷传奇;The Marble Faun 玉石雕像; “Young Goodman Brown” “The Minister’s Black Veil”; “ The Birthmark”,”Rappaccini’s Daughter”; “The Maypole of Merry Mount” Typee 泰比 ;Omoo 奥穆 ;Mardi 玛地 ;Redburn 雷得本 ;White Jacket 白外 衣 ;Pierre 皮 尔 埃 ; Moby Dick;The Confidence Man; Billy Budd; Clarel( long poem) Leaves of Grass 草叶集 :Song of the Broad-Axe 阔斧之歌 ;I Hear America Singing 我 听 见 美 洲 在 歌 唱 ;When Lilacs Lost in the Dooryard Bloom’d;Democratic Vistas 民主的前景;The Tramp and Strike Question 流浪汉 和罢工问题;Song of Myself 自我之歌 “My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close”; “Because I could not stop for death”;” Wild Nights-Wild Nights” Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque 怪诞奇异故事集; The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym(one full-length novel); Review of Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales “MS.Found in a Bottle”; “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”; “The Fall of the House of Usher”/”The Cask of Amontillado”/ “Ligeia”/ “The Purloined Letter”/”Black Cat”/ “The Imp of the Perverse”/”The Gold Bug”/ ◆ ”The Philosophy of Composition”/”The Poetic Principle”,”Annabel Lee”/”The Raven”/”To Helen” Part 4. The age of Realism(1865-1914) Little Women 小妇人; Little Men 小绅士; Good Wives 好妻子; Jo’s Boys 乔的孩 子 The Rise of Silas Lapham 赛拉斯·拉帕姆的发迹;Their Wedding Journey 他们 的蜜月之旅; A Modern Instance 现代婚姻; A Chance Acquaintance; A Hazard of Now Fortunes 时来运转;A Traveller from Altruia 从利他国来的旅客; Criticism and Fiction; A World of Chance; Annie Kilburn;
Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790) Hector St.John de (1735-1813)克里夫古尔 Crevecour