美国文学下学期期末复习笔记
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。
美国文学期末必考点总结
20151120美国文学必考点总结By Wang HX.说明：1，名词解释可参考我以前发的资料或者自己的资料，也可在网上搜美国文学名词解释。
2，作家作品一定要正确搭配，还要会写下面我列出的作家和作品。
作者是什么时代的代表，有什么称号要记住。
1,英国最早移民到美国的诗人：Anne Bradstreet，作品<The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America>first woman poet.2,Edward Taylor超验主义的先驱。
3，Hard work,thrift,piety and sobriety。
清教徒强调的四点，会写，可能填空。
4，Benjamin Franklin，作品"Poor Richard's Almanac"包括很多collection of proverbs流行谚语集。
The Autobiography自传。
5，Thomas Paine托马斯·佩因1737-1809"Great Common of Mankind"最平凡的人。
作品"American Crisis"《美国危机》，Common Sense常识。
6，Thomas Jefferson托马斯·杰弗逊，drafted the Declaration of Independence.起草了独立宣言。
All Men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life,Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.人人生而平等，他们都从“造物主”那边被赋予了某些不可转让的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。
美国文学复习笔记
Psychological RealismIt is the realistic writing that probes deeply into the complexitied of chanacters thoughts and motivations. Henny James is considered the founder of psychological realism.He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator,and not in any facts of which the spectator is unaware.Such realism is therefore merely the obligation that the artist assumes to represent life as he sees it, which may not be the same life as it”really “isInternational ThemeJame’s major fictional theme:the meeting of America and Europe.America innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and psychological complications arising therefrom.From the America,is was a process of procession from inexperience to experience,from innocence to knowledge and maturrity old.He enjoyed juxtaposing American moral innocence with the sombre decadence of Europe,or American innocence caught in the toils of European duplicity.The similarities and differences between Dickinson and Whitman:A:similaritiesBoth were American poets in theme and technique . Themeatically, both extolled an emergent America,its question,its individualism and its Americanness, their Poetry being part of” American Renaissance” .In technical terms,both added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before.They were pioneers in American poetry.B:Differences*Different from Whitman,who keeps his eye on society at large,Dickinson explores the inner life of the individual.*Different from Whitman’s endless,all-inclusive catdogue s. Dickinson’s Poetry is concise ,direct and simpleDifferences between Howells,James and Mark Twain(问答题）In themetic terms ,Howell concerned himself chiefly with middle class life;Jame wrote mostly of the upper reaches ofAmerica society;Mark Twain dealt largely with the lower strate of society.Teahnically,Howells wrote in the vein of genteel realism;James Pursued an “imaginative” treatments of reality or Psychological realism; Mark Twain’s contribution was partly throught his theories of localism and partly though his colloguial style . Howells wrote style of genteel realism.James we psychological realism;Mark Twain use local colorism.Naturalism:自然主义名词解释It was a post----Darwinian movement of the late 19th century that tried to apply the “laws”of scientific dete minism to fiction.The Naturalist went beyond the realist’s insistence on the objective presetation of the details of everyday life to insist that the materials of literature should be arranged to reflect a deterministic universe in which man is a s biological creature controlled by his environment and heredityThe Lost GenerationThis term is applied to the American writers who lost the traditional values as a result of the war and fought hard to seek new values and beliefs to fill the void of the post-war worldwhich was full of physical rounds as well as mental chaosMasterpiece:Uncle Tom’s Cabin <The Man That was a Thing> The Main idea of the Novel 问答题7分In the preface to Uncle Tom’s Cabin,stowe makes it clear that her intention is not to entertain but to enlighten.Notivated by the passage of the fugitive slave Act in 1850 and informed about the issue during her residence for several years in cincinnati .Stowe’s main purpose in writing the novel is to instruct her readers about the cruel and unjust institution of slavery.Stowe judges the United States a failed Christian democracy and enjoins revolution in overturning a system that creats both victims and victimizers,oppressors and oppressed ,which is thus harmful to both masters and slaves in both the North and SouthHemingway’s styleIceberg principle 1/8 is above the water and 7/8 is hidden below:understatment ,implied things,economicalSymbolismBrief and simple sentencesConversational,fundamental wordsSimple,natural ,direct ,clear and fresh美国文学复习The major of Puritan style of writing is simplicity.The style is plain and honest,with the nobility coming from the direct influence of the BibleIn general,American Puritanism has been a healthy legacy to the Americans.Characteristics of Colonial LiteratureA literature of ideas：theological ,moral,historical.political Dominated by Puritan values and thoughts:hard work,thrift,piety ,sobrietyThe authors faithfully imitated and transplanted English literary traditionsMajor writersPart Three American RomanticismWashington Irving(1783-1859)“father of American Imaginative literature”选择题“father of te American short story”“the American Goldsmith”The Sketch Book:The Importance of The Sketch Book“Rip Van Winkle”, “The Legand of sleepy Hollow”选择A:The book touched the American imagination and foreshadowed the coming of Hawthorone, Meville ,and Doe,in whose hands the short story attained a degree of perfection.B:It also marked the beginning of American.Romanticism,The Gothic, the supernatural,and the longing for the good old days one romantic enough in subject.Leatherstocking Tales(a series of five novels about the frontier life of American settlers)*The pineers*The Last of the Mohicans*The Prairie*The Pathfinder*The DeerslayerThe central figure has different names in the novelsLeather StockingNatty BumppoDeerslayerHawkeye考：the perk of American Romanticism美国浪漫主义的巅峰时期答：New EnglandTranscendentalism (1830-1860)新英格兰超验主义“The American Renaissance”Emerson (1803-1882）艾默生作品：Nature(“The Bible of NET”)新英格兰超验主义的圣经The American Scholar (“America’s peclaration of intellectual Independence”) 美国独立宣言Adultery A字Hawthorne (1804-1864)1、Works;The house of the seven GablesTwice -Told TalesMosses from an old ManseThe Scarlet letterThe Blithedale RomanceThe Marble Faun2、The Scarlet Letter “红字”小说分析最后大题20分（Hester，Dimmesdale, Chillingworth,Pearl)A: Character AnalysisHester:To the community which outlaws her,she manages to move even closer.She does her best to keep her hold on the magic chain of humanity.Her life aquires a real significance when she re-establishes a meaningful relationship with her fellowmen .The change in meaning of the Letter A is symbolic of her moral development.Adultery -->Able -->AngelDimmesdale ：He banishes himself from Society.He lives a stranger among his admirers.The result is,whereas Hester is able to reconstrct her life and win a moral victory,her undergoes the tragic experience of physical and spiritual disintegrating .He dies an honest man but dies in part of his own hand.Between him and Hester,it is shown that the best policy for man is to betrue,honest,and ever ready to show one’s worst to the outside word.Hester does it all her life;Dimmesdale does it finallyChillingworth:He is the real villian of the story,the scholar,the embodiment of pure intellect,who commits “the Unpardonable Sin”-- the violation of the human heart.He keeps preying on Dimmesdale’s conscience until the poor wretch is tormented to death.The end of Chillingworth is also tragic enough.B：The Theme of The Scarlet LetterIt is an illustration the American Romanticism adapted itself to American Puritan moralism.What Hawthorne was concerned was the moral,emotional and psychological effect of the sin on the people in general and those complicated in it in particular.The scarlet Letter is not a praise of a Hester prynne sinning,but a hymn on the moral growth of the woman when sinned against.C:The symbolic Meanings of Letter AAdultery,Able,Angel,Adamic (prehistoric,an archetypal vice suggesting “original sin”,from critical observation) 选择题Works 选择题Typee,Omoo,Mardi(From his adventures among the people of the South Pacific islands)Redburn(An account of his voyage to England)White Jacket (Relate his life on a United States man-of-war) Moby Dick(Masterpiece)PierreThe Confidence ManDilly Budd (It has been widely regarded as his testament of acceptance,a sign that he had resolved his quarrel with God) Clarel(His most famous poetic work)考：Moby DickA:The symbols in Moby Dick 写作手法*The voyage itself is a metaphor for search and discovery the search for the ultimate truth of experience*The Pequod is the ship of the American soul,and the endeavourof its crew represents the maniacal fanaticism of the white mental consciousness*Moby Dick is a symbol of both evil and goodness.Its whiteness is a paradoxical color,signifying death and corruption as well as purity. Innocence and youth.It represents the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from persuing.B:What is Moby Dick about?*It is an encycloped of everything,history,philosophy,religion.ect.in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry. But it is first a shaksperean tragedy of main fighting against over-whelming adds in a indifferent and even hostile universe. *Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived.It is Godless and purposeless.Man can abserve and even manipulate in a prudent way,but he cannot influence and overcome nature at its source.He must place himself at the mercy of nature.Once he attempts to seek power over it,he is doomed.The loss of faith and the sense of futility and meaninglessness which characterize modern life of the west was expressed so well in Melville’s work that the 20th century has found it both fascinating and great.*One of the major themes in Melville is alienation between manand man,man and society,and man and nature.Ahab may have been Melville’s portrait of an Emersouian self-reliant individual.The whole of Moby Dick is a negative reflection upon Transcendentatism.The idea Melville conveys in Moby Dick is “death-spiritual,emotional and physical”Ahab is a victim of solipsism,his tragedy stemming from extreme individralism.Moby Dick thus reveals the basic pattern of 19th century American life:longliness and suicidal individualism in a self-styled democracy.Whitman(1819-1892)沃尔特惠特曼1、The Literary Importance of WhitmanEzra Pound called him a “Pigheaded father”领袖人物选择题and recognized him as a father figure who led the break from the past.Whitman has been compared to a mountain in American literary history .Whitman became a transitional figure from komanticism and Transcendentalism to Realism.2、What is Leaves of Grass about? What is 《Leves of Grass 》about?写作风格：free arorseIt is a collection of Whitman’s poems,his lifelongachievements,Grass,which grows everywhere,is the ultimate symbol of democracy .The most famous piece is “Song of Myself”Whitman extols the ideals of equality and democracy and celebrates the dignity,the self-reliant spirit and the joy of the commonman.”Song of Myself”reveals a world of equality,without rank and hierarchy.Whitman responds enthusiastically to the expansion of American.It is a universe in constant motion and flux,one in which it is a pride to thrive,expend and live for all time.Whitman’s voice echoes the sound of America singing and foreteds the future union of the nations and the world and the cosmos.Oraland freeverse He makes his poems direct and sympa thetic to readerEzra Pound called him a “Pigheaded father”and recognized him as a father figure wholed the break from the past.He has been compared to a mountain in American literary history.Whitman became a transitioned fig we from Romanticism and Iranscendentalism.Emliy Dickinson(1830-1886)1、The Major Features of Dickinson’s Poems:*Dickinson’s poetry is a clear illustration of her religousethical and political -social ideas.Her basic tone was tragic.*Dickinson’s poetry concerns death and immortality.For Dickinson,death leads to immortality,as illustrated in”Because I could not stop for Death”.In”I heard a Fly Buzz- when I Died,she was skeptical and ambivalent about the possibilty of achieving immortality.*Dickinson holds that beauty,truth and goodness are ultimately one. In” I Died for Beauty- but was Scarce”. Discussing beauty and truth , she concludes that the two are one.*She was a courageous experiement .Her poetry abounds in telling images.A salient feature of her technique was a severe economy of expression.She became with stephen Crane,the precursor of the Imagist MovementWilliam Cullen Bryant(1794-1878)A:He was the first American lyric poet of distinctionB:He was influenced by Graveyard School in England and wrote”Tranatopsis”C:His best works are his lyric poems about nature and so hisstyle is quite similar to that of Wordsworth.IX Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849)father of modern short story 短篇小说之父Modern short storyFather of detective story 侦探小说之父Psychoanalytic criticism 心理分析批评之父Local ColorismThe Definition of Local ColorismLocal Colorism of Regionallism as a trend first made its presence felt in the late 1860s and early 1870s in America.It may be defined as the careful depiction in speech,dress or behavior peculiar to a geographical locality.The ultimate aim of the local colorists is to create the illusion of an indigenons little world with qualities that tell it apart from the world outside.HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 斯托夫人Uncle Tom’s Cabin(The Man That was a Ting) 选择题名词解释：A American DreamLocal Colorism 地方色彩文学美国现实主义领军人物：Howells, James,Mark TwainThe major works of Mark TwainThe celebrated Jumping Frog ofCalaveras county (made MT nationally famous)The Gilded Age (gave its name to the America of the post-bellum period which it attempts to satirize)The Adventures of Tom SawyerMark Twain(1835-1910)Mark Twain is the pseudonym of samuel Langhorne clemens. The Celebrated Jamping Frog of Calaveras Country( made MT nationally famous)The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(an immediate success as “a boy’s book”)The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (master work,from which “all modern American Literature comes”-- Hemingway)“Mark Twain “ means “two futhom’s depth of navigable water”Life the Missppi (another masterpiece)“Mark Twain” means “two fathom’s depth of navigable water”The Gilded Age (gave its name to the America of the post-bellumm period which it attempts to satirize)The age of Realism(1870s-1880s)American RealismBy the 1870s,New England Renaissance had wanted and the age of realism had arrived.Realism came as a reaction against “the lie of Romanticism and sentimentalism”.It expressed the concern for the world of experience,of the commonplace,and for the familiar and the low.The main theme of Henry James”“The Art of Fiction”reveals his literary credo that representation of life should be the main novel.Henry James(1843-1916)A：International ThemeJame’s major fictional theme:the meeting of America and Europe,American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and psychological complications arising therefrom.From the America,it was aprocess of procession from inexperience to experience,from innocence to knowledge and maturrity old.He enjoyed juxtaposing American moral innocence with the sombre decadence of Europe, or American innocence caught in the toils of European duplicity.What is Leaves of Grass about? (诗歌分析)*It is a collection of Whitman’s poems,his life long achievements.Grass which grows everywhere,is the ultimate symbol of democracy.The most famous piece is”Song of myself”*Whitman extols the ideals of equality and democracy and celebrates the dignity,the self-reliant spint and the joy of the common man.”Song of Myself”reveals a world of equality without rank and hierarchy.*Whitman responds enthusiastically to the expansion of America.It is a universe in cconstant motion and flux,one in which it is a pride to thrive,expand and live for all time.Whitman’s voice echoes the sound of America singing and foretells the future union of the notion’s and the world and the cosmos.B:”From :Free Verse(自由体）C：The First Person Narrator(以第一人称写的）：he makes his poems direct and sympathetic to the readerD:Language：oral and powerful (口语化的语言，思想明确）Major Naturalistic Writers(选择题）A：Stephen Crane(1871-1900)*Maggie:A Girl of the street (the first natural novel)The Red Badge of Courage( a greatest war novel)Open Boat: The Blue Hotel;An Experiement in Misery (Short Stories)B:Frank Marris(1870-1902)*Mc Teague (“the First full-bodied naturalistic American novel”,like a textbook for naturalistic fiction”a consciously naturalistic manifesto”）*The octopus The pit……(a trilogy on the production,distribution and consumption of wheat)三部曲C：Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945)Sister CarrizeThe FrancierThe TitanThe StoicJennie Gerhardt(couperwood trilogy “Trilogy of Desire”)The Genius (an autobiographical work )自传体小说The America TragedyThe BulwarkDreiser Looks at RussiaJack London (选择题）Works:A:Involvement in the socialist MovementThe people of the AbyssThe Iron HeelThe war of the classesRevolutionB:Darivinism and Nietzche’s “Superman”The call of the wild (nationally famous)The sea wolf (The Triumph of the spin另一名)White FangC:Autobiographical WorkMartin Eden (masterpiece)First famous NovelThe son of the WolfFitzgrald(1896-1940)1、Major Works(选择题）This side of Paradise （First novel,caught the tone of the age , essentially autobiographical)Flapppers and Philosophers (It glittered with the image of the Fitzgrald’s as the symbol of an American ideal.)Tales of the Jazz Age (It gare its name to the 1920s “the Jazz Age”)The Beautiful and the Dammed (A sort of first attempt at Writing The Great Gastsby)The Great Gatsby( Masterpiece)Tender is the NightAll the sad Young Man,Taps at Raveille (Two Collections of short stories)The Last Tycoon (Unifinished. The tragic of a man who begins to realize all the show of life.)The Great Gratsby is the Mastopice by Fitzgerald Gatsby’s life follows a clear pattern: 小说分析A dream---a disenchantment-----a sense a failure and despair.In this ,Gateby’s personal experience approximates the whole of the American experience up to first few decades of the 20th century.The world of Gatsby is inhabited by three groups of people.The first group indudes Toms, Daisy and their friends,who are rich,arrogant,contemptuous ,pretentious,talking about science and art but definitely lacking in intellectuality.The second group is made up of people like the wilsons,who are vulgar and speaking in bad grammar.Then there is Gatsby,who is worthy of all the others and whose secret griefs make Nick See the world anew.On the one hand ,Gatsby is innocent enough to believe that the past can be recovered and resurrected ;On the other hand ,Gatsby is both corrupt and corrupting,tragically convinced of the power of money,however it was made.The behaviors of the people in the novel clearly demote the vanishing of the great expectations which the first settlement of the American continent had inspired .The hope is gone; despair and doom have set in .Thus Gatsby’s personal life has assumed a magnitude as a “cultural --historical allegory” for the nationWilliam Faulkner(1879-1962)Ernest Hemingway(1899--1961)The lost Generation :Hemingway’s books paint the image of a whole generation, the Lost Generation.This included the young English and American expatriates as well as men and women caught in the war and cut off from the old values and yet unable to come to trems with the new era when civilization had gone mad.Hemingway’s StyleA:Iceberg principle:1/8 is above the water and 7/8 is hidden below:understatment ,implied things,economicalB:SymbolismC:Brief and Simple SentencesD:Conversational,fundamental wordsE:Simple ,natural ,direct ,clear and freshHemingway’s Major Works 海明威主要作品In our TimeMen Without WomenWinner Take NothingThe Torrents of SpringThe Sun Also RisesA Farewell to ArmsDeath in the AfternoonTo have and have NotGreen Hills of AfricaThe Fifth ColumnFor Whom The Bell TollsAcross the River and into the Trees。
英美文学史复习笔记5篇
英美文学史复习笔记5篇第一篇：英美文学史复习笔记英美文学复习时期划分——Early & Medieval literature 包括The Anglo-Saxon Period 和The Anglo-Norman Period ——Renaissance 文艺复兴——Revolution & Restoration 资产阶级革命与王权复辟——Enlightenment 启蒙运动——Romantic Period 浪漫主义时期——Critical Realism 批判现实主义——20th Modernism 现代主义传统诗歌主题：nature, life, death, belief, time, youth, beauty, love, feelings of different kinds, reason(wisdom), moral lesson, morality.修辞名称：meter格律, rhyme韵, sound assonance谐音, consonance和音, alliteration头韵, form of poetry诗歌形式, allusion典故, foot音步, iamb抑扬格, trochee扬抑格, anapest抑抑扬格, dactyl扬抑抑格, pentameter五音步文学体裁：诗歌poem,小说novel,戏剧novel起源：Christianity 基督教Bible圣经myth神话The Romance of king Arthur and his knights亚瑟王和他的骑士（笔记）一、1、The Anglo-Saxon period(496-1066)这个时期的文学作品分类：（pagan异教徒）（Christian基督徒）2、代表作：The song of Beowulf《贝奥武甫》(national epic)（民族史诗）采用了隐喻手法3、Alliteration押头韵（写作手法）例子：of man was the mildest and most beloved.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.二、The Anglo-Norman period(1066-1350)Canto 诗章受到法国影响English literature is also a combination of French and Saxon elements.1、romance传奇文学 Arthurian romances亚瑟王传奇2、代表作：Sir Gawain and the Green Knight(高文爵士和绿衣骑士)是一首押头韵的长诗 knighthood 骑士精神三、Geoffrey Chaucer(1340-1400)杰弗里。
美国文学史复习要点整理【手动】及美国文学简史笔记
美国文学史整理一、Colonial America 殖民时期1、New England：Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, andConnecticut.2、Doctrines of Puritanism清教American Puritanism stressed predestination（命运神定), original sin（原罪）, total depravity (彻底的堕落), and limited atonement (有限的赎罪)from God’s grace.3、Writing style：fresh, simple and direct and with a touch of nobility；the rhetoric is plain andhonest.4、Life style：hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.5、Main writer:①Thomas Paine 托马斯·潘恩work：Common Sense (1776) 《常识》American Crisis (1776-1783) 《美国危机》The Rights of Man《人权》The Age of Reason《理性时代》②Benjamin Franklin（本杰明·富兰克林）Poor Richard’s Almanac 《穷查理历书》Autobiography 《富兰克林自传》<clarity, good sense, and simplicity of the English essayists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele>③Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰弗逊Declaration of Independence (1776)《独立宣言》<simple and clear, powerful and graceful>二、American Romanticism (early period) 浪漫主义前期1、Characteristics：①A rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism.反对理性主义的客观性。
美国文学考试期末知识点
1. features of Puritanism 请教主义(1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.(2)Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. (3)Total depravity(4)Limited atoneme nt: Only the “elect” can be saved.2, American Puritanism 美国请教主义的Basic Puritan Beliefs(1)Total Depravity - through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.(2)Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination. (3)Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone. (4)Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.(5)Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.(6)Puritan values (creeds): Hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety, simple tastes. Puritans are more practical, tougher, to be ever ready for any misfortune and tragic failure and optimistic..3.Influence on American Literature对美国文学影响定义:America literature is in good measure a literary expression of the pious idealism of the American Puritanism bequest. All literature is based on a myth of garden of Eden.Symbolism象征the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chie fly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. Symbolism as a technique has become a common practice in American literature.With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.4. The literary Scene in colonial America 殖民地的美国Humble origins: diaries, histories, journals, letters,travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons各种作家Writers: (1)John Smith: the first American writer(2)Anne Bradstreet: a Puritan poet ,The Complete Work: Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America(3)Edward Taylor: a variety of verse: funeral elegies, lyrics, a medieval "debate," and a 500-page Metrical History of Christianity (mainly a history of martyrs). His best works, according to modern critics, are the series of short Preparatory Meditations.5;Features of Colonial Poets殖民地诗人的特征American literature grew out of humble origins. Diaries, histories, journals, letters, commonplace books, travel books, sermons, in short, personal literature in its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.They faithfully imitated and transplanted English literary traditions.---In English styleThey were servants of God.---Puritan poetsThey served either God or colonial expansion or both.6,Anne Bradstreet’s Works1,“Some vers es on the Burning of Our House”2,“The Spirit and the Flesh”3,The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America(the first collection published by English colonists living in America)7.several points in this period:(1)William Hill Brown published the first American novel The Power of Sympathy in 1789.(2)Charles Brockden Brown) was the first American author to attempt to live from his writing. He developed the genre of American Gothic. He employed new narrative techniques. Another significance was his description of his characters’ in ner world, so his works can be read as psychological novel.(3)Roger Williams (1603-1683)Preach for civil and religious liberty and against the puritan oligarchy of Boston.Call for democratic government and oppose to the eviction of the Indians.Works: The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience(4)CJohn Woolman1:From a pious Quaker family 2:Transcendentalism humanitarianism3:Plea for the rights of all men and the abolition of the slavery system.Works: Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes; A Plea for the Poor.(5)Thomas Paine :A great influence in the American RevolutionWorks: The Rights of Man; The Age of Reason(6)Philip Freneau:“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”,the most significant poet of 18th century in America. Some off his themes and images anticipated theworks of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville.His works:(1) The Rising Glory of America1772 《美洲光辉的兴起》(2) The Wild Honey Suckle 1786 《野地里德忍冬》(3) The Indian Burying Ground1788 《印第安人墓地》(4The Dying Indian: Tomo Chequi《奄奄一息的印第安人：托姆·柴吉》关于他的评价：He was the most significant poet of 18th century America.Some of his themes and images anticipated the works of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville.Poet of American Independence: Freneau provides incentive and inspiration to the revolution by writing such poems as "The Rising Glory of America" and "Pictures of Columbus."Journalist: Freneau was editor and contributor of The Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia) from 1781-1784. In his writings, he advocated the essence of what is known as Jeffersonian democracy - decentralization of government, equality for the masses, etc.Freneau's Religion: Freneau is described as a deist - a believer in nature and humanity but not a pantheist. In deism, religion becomes an attitude of intellectual belief, not a matter of emotional of spiritual ecstasy. Freneau shows interest and sympathy for the humble and the oppressedFreneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.All the while.in romanticizing the wonders of nature in his writings...he searched for an American idiom in verse.8：The American Enlightenment 美国启蒙运动(1)It was a part of a larger intellectual movement known as the Age of Enlightenment. Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature and society.(2)Reason was advocated as the primary source and basis of authority.There was a shift from God-centered thinking to human being centered. Instead of going through life unhappy and thinking they had to suffer so they could enjoy the afterlife - people began to think about what they could accomplish on earth.(3)Equality The American Enlightenment inflenced Benjamin Franklin dramatically.Great Awening影响(1)It is a serires of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th century.(2)It results in doctrinal changes and influnce social and political thought.In New England it was started by the rousing preaching of Jonathan Edwards9:Jonathan Edwards Works: (1)The Freedom of the Will《论意志自由》(2)The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended《论原罪》(3)The Nature of True Virtue《论真实德行的本原》AssessmentJonathan Edwards was a good deal of a transcendentalistbecause of his ideas:a, The spirit of revivalism b. Regeneration of man c. God’s presence d. Puritan idealism10:Benjamin Franklin Works:1：The Autobiography《自传》（1）The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is a record of self-examination and self-improvement.（2）The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Benjamin Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free, by nature endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.（3）Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream.Now a look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concisionThe Autobiography《自传》:It is perhaps the first real post-revolutionary American writing as well as the first real autobiography in English.It gives us the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man:2：Poo r Richard’s Almanac《穷理查德格言历书》Poor Richard’s Almanac is full of adages and common-sense witticism which became ,very quickly, household words.Benjamin Franklin Borrowed from such writers as Defoe, Swift, and Pope , and used his own wit to simplify and enrich their axioms11：General Introduction to Romanticism 浪漫主义介绍a. Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution.b. It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.The movement stressed运动强调a. strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities, both new aesthetic categories.b. It elevated folk art and custom to something noble.c. It argued for a "natural" epistemology of human activities as conditioned by nature in the formof language, custom and usage.12：Characteristics of Romanticism:浪漫主义特征（1）an innate and intuitive perception of man, nature and society—reliance on the subconscious, the inner life, the abnormal psychology（2）an emphasis on freedom, individualism and imagination—rebellion against neoclassicism which stressed formality, order and authority（3）a profound love for nature—nature as a source of knowledge, nature as a refuge from the present, nature as a revelation of the holy spirit the quest for beauty—pure beautythe use of antique and fanciful subject matters—sense of terror, Gothic, grotesque, odd and queer13，Romanticism Historical Background历史背景1，Political: After American Revolution, American developed into a political, economic and cultural independence. Democracy and equality became the ideals of the new nation. Complete changes came about in the political life of the country.2. Economic: Industrialism spread widely and fast. A large number of immigrants arrived. All these produced an economic boom.3. Both the change in political and the economic development brought about a sense of optimism and hope.4. Culturally: Magazines appeared in ever-increasing numbers and they played an important role in facilitating literary expansion.5. Foreign influence added incentive to the growth of romanticism in America.14Features of American Romanticism美国浪漫主义特征a. Imitative: Some of the American Romantic writings were modeled on English and European works. The Romantic Movement proved to be a decisive influence. Without it, the rise of Romanticism would have been impossible. Romanticism writers such as Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron all made a stimulating impact on American literature.b. Independent: From the very beginning, American Romanticism exhibited distinct features of its own. It originated from a mixture of factors which were altogether American rather than anything else.c. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize than writers in England.15：Uniqueness of Am. Romanticism:美国浪漫主义独特性Unique subject matter：The western movement ：the American national experience of pioneering into the west proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated American’s landsc ape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, stream, and vast oceans. The wildness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral law.Uniqueness of Am. Romanticism:：the newness as a nation美国浪漫主义独特性的具体体现（1）The ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that America was to be a new Garden of Eden for man were distinctly American. This feeling of newness was strong enough to inspire the romantic imagination and channel it into different vein of writing.Puritan moral values（2）Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize than writers in England.（3）Mixture of different races：The immigrants coming from different cultural and social background bring with them different cultures16. Two phases:两个时期a. 1770s to 1830s Early period Representatives: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooperb.1830s to 1860s Late period summit of American literature Representatives: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Poe etc.；Washington Irving “Father of the American short storyHis Worksa. A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty1809 《纽约外史》b. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent1819-1820 《见闻札记》c. Bracebridge Hall 1822 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》d. Oliver Goldsmith 1840 《哥尔德斯密斯》e. Life of George Washington1855-1859 《华盛顿传》The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent1819-1820 《见闻札记》评价：（1）The Sketch Book is a collection of essays, sketches, and tales.（2）In The Sketch Book, the most famous and frequently anthologized（选编）are “Rip Van Winkle” 《瑞普·凡·温克》“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《睡谷的传说》(3）The short story as a genre in American literature began with The Sketch Book.(4)The book touched the American imagination and foreshadowed the coming of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe. (5)It also marked the beginning of American Romanticisms.The evaluation of Irving：a:Father of American literatureb：The beginning of short story as a genre-“Father of the American short story”c The first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international famed The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American RomanticismThe theme of the storyThe story of man who has difficulties facing his advancing ageThe contradictory impulses in America toward work- the puritan attitude as opposed to the American desire for leisureThe theme of escape from one’s responsibilities and even one’s historyThe loss of identity19：James Fenimore Cooper(1789-1851)Major Works：Precaution戒备(1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) The Spy间谍(his second novel and great success)皮袜子故事集：“Leatherstocking Tales” (his masterpiece, a series of five novels): The Pioneers开拓者, The Last of the Mohicans最后的莫西干人, The Prairie草原, The Pathfinder探路者, The Deerslayer 杀鹿者point of view：the theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rightsTheme：a. America was made conscious of his past, particularly the contribution from the Mohicans.b. The antithesis between nature and civilization, at the cost of the life and labor, will be dissolved to push the development of frontiers.c. The battle between the colonists caused the trage dy of Indians in American continentThe features of Cooper ：He is a mythic writer Good at inventing plots (Cooper had never been to the frontier area personally.)Style: powerful, yet clumsy and dreadfulWooden Characters ：Use of dialect, but not authentic (criticized by Mark Twain)19：超验主义：Transcendentalism （1）定义Emerson’s Definition：In his essay "The Transcendentalist," Emerson explained transcendentalism is “idealism; i dealism as it appears in 1842".The factors that influenced New England Transcendentalism：New England Transcendentalism was the Product of a combination of foreign influences and the American Puritan traditiona. Foreign influences: the introduction of idealism (唯心主义)from Germany and France and Oriental mysticismb. American PuritanismMajor Features超验主义特征：emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul as the most important thing in the universe. 1 The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It exists in nature and man alike and constituted the chief elements of the universe2 It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish.It took nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God3 All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. Nature was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Everything in the universe was viewed as an expression of the divine spirit.4 It stressed the power of intuition. It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition. But the things they learned from within were truer than the things they learned from without, and transcended them. It held that everyone had access to a source of knowledge that transcended the everyday experiences of sensation and reflection. Intuition was inner light within.Influence超验主义的影响：1 It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2 It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.It helped to create the first American renaissance –one of the most prolific period in American literatureSignificance: New England Transcendentalism is the summit of American Romanticism. Representatives: Emerson, Thoreau20：Ralph Waldo Emerson拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生His Works：a. Essays《散文集》b. Nature《论自然》(a book which declared the birth of Transcendentalism)c. The American Scholar《论美国学者》(American’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence)d. Divinity, The Oversoul《论超灵》e. Self-reliance《论自立》f. The Transcendentalist《超验主义者》His point of view a. One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the “oversoul”.b. He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying(圣洁的神圣化的) moral influence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent(内在的固有的) God in nature.c. If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine in himself, he can hope to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson means by “the infinitude of man”.d. Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself.His aesthetics a. poets should function as preachers who gave directions to the mass.b. True poetry and true art should ennoble and serve as a moral purification and a passage toward organic unity(有机统一) and higher reality.c. Emerson places emphasis on ideas, symbols and imaginative words.d. As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrate America and the life today.e. Emerson’s aesthetics brought about a revolution in American li terature in general and in American poetry in particular. It marked the birth of true American poetry and true America poets such as Whitman and DickinsonNature （论自然）：Emerson’s first published work was Nature(1836). This work has the clearest statement of Transcendentalist ideas. Nature is considered the “gospel” (真理信条)of American Transcendentalism. It has an Introduction and eight chapters:1.Nature2. Commodity3. Beauty4. Language5. Discipline6. Idealism7. Spirit8. Prospects.The major thesis of the essay, in Emerson‘s words, is that we should now “enjoy an original relation to the universe,” and not become dependent on past experiences of others or on holy books, creeds ,dogma(教条教理).主要内容：In it Emerson stated that man should not see nature merely as something to be used; that man’s relationship with nature transcends the idea of usefulness. Nature is a kind of discipline to man. Once you are in nature, totally in solitude, you feel you’re nothing, but you see all. Nature makes people feel transparent(透明的) and humble. Meanwhile, He saw an important difference between understanding (judging things only according to the senses) and reasonThe American Scholar论美国学者These two works made him famous.As “Man Thinking”, the Scholar should know how to think when confronted with Nature, the Past (in the form of books) and Action (life).Emerson particularly warns that the past should be used to inspire and not to enslave the scholar. Emerson argued in the speech that the age called to the Scholar for active participation and leadership.It is American’s Declaration of Intellectual IndependenceSelf-Reliance(论自助)Self-Reliance is one of the most famous of these lecture essays, and is widely read in American high schools today. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance; He admired courage and was not afraid of changing or clashing ideas.Equally important is Emerson’s essay The Over-Soul (1841).The Major Themes in Emerson’s Works：the emphasis on the independence and separateness of the individual, and the right (and duty) of man rise to his full potential, asserting the inalienable worth of every man.“Another sign of our times…is the new importance given to the single personEmerson’s Influences on A.La He called on American Writers to write about America in a peculiarly American way.b His perception of humanity and nature as symbols of universal truth encouraged the development of the symbolist movement in A. art and literature.c He embodied a new nation’s desire and struggle to assert（维护主张）its own identity in its formative period.Henry David Thoreau a. A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers(1849)《康科德和梅里马克河上的一周》b. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and Walden / Walden《瓦尔登湖》c. Civil Disobedience《论公民之不服从》It influenced people such as Mahatma Gandhi.point of viewHe did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently(激烈的) outspoken on the point.He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.Like Emerson, but more tha n him, Thoreau saw nature as a healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being.He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.He was very critical of modern civilization.“Simplicity…simplify!”He has trust in the future and has belief in a new generation of men.Civil DisobedienceThe essay makes it clear that this stance(立场姿态) is not a matter of whim（一时的兴趣奇想）but a demanding moral principle.The appeal of civil disobedience in the North grew in the wake of the Compromise of 1850, whichincluded the hated Fugitive Slave Law, requiring all citizens to aid in the return of escaped slaves to their owners. Though civil disobedience is usually associated with passive resistance, Thoreau brought out the more direct action of John Brown.Thoreau's essay had a profound influence on reformers worldwide, from Gandhi in South Africa and India; to Martin Luther King, and the opposition to the Vietnam War in the United States.Walden (1854In 1854, Thoreau published the book by which he will always be best known, Walden, or Life in the Woods. It is by far the deepest, richest, and most closely jointed of his books. It shows Thoreau at his best, and contains all that he had to say to the world. In fact, he is a man of one book, and that book is Walden. Thoreau's Walden is mythic, poetic, fictitious, fabulous, and metaphoric in the best senses of these terms. In it the artistically recreated real-life experience (itself an experiment in "artistic" living) becomes a symbolic model or paradigm for an embodied spiritual quest for the disembodied, for a journey from the "gross" to the divine "necessaries of life." The thesis of Walden is clearly indicated in the first chapter of the book. True economy has nothing to do with the ways and means of increasing wealth, with methods for multiplying the superfluities, the "gross necessaries of life." True economy is that which simply provides the flesh with what belongs to the flesh so that the spirit may go about its own business.The book described the author’s extremely simple life and regeneration he experienced when he lived near the Walden pond.This is a book on self-culture and human perfectibilityThoreau has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man. He holds that the most important thing for men to do with their lives is to be self-sufficient and strive to achieve personal spiritual perfection.In the book Thoreau criticized the modern civilization and told people to leave the life of hurry and bustle and to sink themselves in nature.It is a book full of ideas expressed to jostle his neighbors out of their smug(自鸣得意的) complacency(自满满足For the fatal modern craze for monetary success he prescribes a panacea(灵丹妙药) “Simplicity…simplify!” Spiritual richness is real wealth.One’s soul might not help one up in the world, but it will help make real progress in self-improvementRegeneration is a major thematic concern of wardenRegeneration is a major thematic concern of warden and thus decide the structural framework of the book. The whole book is within the frame of a single year, and progresses through spring, summer and autumn to winter.EvaluationComparing with Emerson who was a great thinker, Thoreau was a great experimentalist who put Emerson's Transcendental doctrines into practice in the actual life.Herman Melville (1819 ---- 1891):Master of philosophical allegory寓言1:His point of view : a. negative attitude towards life. b. One of the major themes of his is alienation孤立（far away from each other）. c. Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism（individualism causing disaster and death）, rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19th-century idea of progress2:His Writing Stylea. Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives.b. He tends to write periodic chapters.c. His rich rhythmical富有节奏感的prose and his poetic power have been profusely丰富地commentedupon and praised. d. His works are symbolic and metaphorical.e. He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)His Worksa.Typee1846《泰比》b. Omoo1874《奥穆》c. Moby Dick 1851《莫比·迪克》d. Mardi1849《玛地》 f. White Jacket1850《白外衣》g. Pierre1852《皮尔埃》h. Billy Budd (posthumously) 《比利·巴德》Moby Dick(1)Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape by going out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod. The captain is Ahab, the man with one leg. Moby Dick, the white whale, had sheared off his leg on a previous voyage, and Ahab resolves to hunt him to kill him. He hangs a doubloon on the mast as a reward for anyone who sight the whale first. The Pequod makes a good catch of whales but Ahab refuses to turn back until he has killed his enemy. Eventually the white whale appears, and the Pequod begins its doomed fight with it. On the first day the whale overturns a boat; on the second it swamps another. When the third day comes, Ahab and his crew manage to plunge a harpoon into it, but the whale carries the Pequod along with it to its doom. All on board the whaler get drowned, except one, Ishmael, who survive to tell the tale.Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived. It is at once Godless and purposeless. Man in this universe lives a meaningless and futile life, meaningless because futile.One of the major themes in Melville is alienation, which he sensed existing in the life of his time on different levels, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Nature has overwhelming power. Man can’t conquer nature. Man, living in this world, is a tragedyIt is a negative reflection of self-reliance, and individualism. Ahab may have been Melville’s portrait of an Emersonian self-reliant individual. Melville lost no opportunity in his criticism of New England Transcendentalism. Constantly under his attack is its emphasis on individualism and Oversoul. The idea that man make the world for himself is nothing but a Transcendentalist folly.Symbolismthe voyage: the search for the ultimate truth of experienceMoby Dick: the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from pursuing Ambiguity (You can understand his Moby Dick differently.)First, it can be understand as a tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming odds in an indifferent and even hostile universe. Thus, Captain Ahab is a hero who dares to fight though he failed at last.Then, it can be understood as a bitter satire on Transcendentalism’s emphasis on self-reliance. Captain Ahab believed in his own power (a human being’s power) too much and thus he doomed to fail, because human’s power is limited and there is a mysterious thing existed in the universe which controlled man’s life and cannot be understood by human being.Nowadays some new research indicated that the story means man should protect the nature otherwise man will be punished as those whalers in the story were punished by the whale.Melville spoke ahead of his time. He knew that he was doomed to write a book like Moby Dick in his day, but he just could not help himself because he was a dedicated literary artist. There was, to be sure, a good deal of Ahab in him. “I have written a wicked book,” he said after finishing Moby Dick, and the public felt outraged. Thus born in the 19th century, Melville did not receive recognition until the twentieth century. Scarlet Letter1:The beauty shows:Free in the jail in her mind.。
美国文学期末复习知识点-绪论
绪论1.一般认为，美国文学史大致可分为七个时期，分别是殖民地时期、独立战争前后时期、南北战争时期、南北战争后至第一次大战前时期、两次大战之间时期、第二次大战后至越南战争前时期、越南战争后至新世纪初时期。
2.殖民地时期的美国文学主要有三类，它们是原住民印第安人口头文学和民间故事、欧洲探险者到北美的探险日记和航海记录、早期到北美殖民地的英国官员和牧师的散文和游记。
3.在殖民地英国官员和牧师作家们中大致可分为两类，即清教主义作家和反清教主义作家。
4.独立战争前后的美国文学中，发展成果最为突出的文学类型是散文。
5.第一位获得国际声誉的美国小说家是华盛顿·欧文，他的短篇小说代表作是《瑞普·凡·温克尔》、《睡谷传奇》。
6.詹姆斯·范·库柏创作了“皮袜子五部曲”：《开拓者》、《最后一个莫希干人》、《草原》、《探路人》、《逐鹿者》；他是第一位描写美洲殖民地历史的历史小说家、第一位刻画印第安人形象的小说家。
7.爱默生的散文《论自然》是美国超验主义运动的宣言，在该文中，爱默生提出新大陆需要精神独立。
超验主义是民主思想在哲学上的表现。
8.美国诗人瓦尔特·惠特曼的诗集《草叶集》的问世标志着美国浪漫主义运动达到高潮，爱默生欢呼的伟大的美国诗人诞生了。
9.惠特曼去世标志着浪漫主义文学时代的结束，美国文学迅速走进一个现实主义和自然主义文学发展新时代。
10.马克·吐温的小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》开创了美国文学的一代新风；威廉·豪威尔斯被认为是美国现实主义文学的奠基人，他最先指出“金钱成了时代的史诗”，“当个百万富翁成了美国人的理想”；而亨利·詹姆斯则开创了20世纪美国心理小说的新方向。
11.欧·亨利被誉为“美国短篇小说之父”，与法国作家莫泊桑和俄国作家契诃夫并列为世界三大短篇小说家。
12.弗兰克·诺里斯是第一个名副其实的美国自然主义作家，西奥多·德莱赛被称为第一次世界大战前最优秀的自然主义作家，其代表作品有《嘉莉妹妹》、《美国的悲剧》。
美国文学期末复习资料
美国文学期末复习资料美国文学期末复习资料美国文学是一门广泛而深入的学科，涵盖了从殖民地时期到现代的众多作品和作家。
为了帮助大家复习期末考试，本文将以不同的主题和时期为线索，介绍一些重要的美国文学作品和相关知识。
一、殖民地时期的文学在殖民地时期，美国文学主要以宗教为主题，反映了早期殖民者的信仰和生活。
《普利茅斯纪事》是美国文学史上的里程碑之一，它记录了普利茅斯殖民地的建立和早期的困难。
另外，约翰·史密斯的《弗吉尼亚史诗》和威廉·布拉德福的《普利茅斯植民地纪事》也是重要的作品。
二、启蒙时代的文学启蒙时代是美国文学的重要时期，这一时期的作品反映了人们对自由、理性和独立思考的追求。
本杰明·富兰克林是启蒙时代的代表人物，他的《贫穷理性者的儿子》和《自传》都是重要的作品。
此外，托马斯·潘恩的《常识》和托马斯·杰斐逊的《独立宣言》也是这一时期的重要文献。
三、浪漫主义时期的文学浪漫主义时期是19世纪美国文学的高峰期，作家们开始关注个人情感和内心体验。
华盛顿·欧文的《睡谷传奇》和爱德加·爱伦·坡的《乌鸦》是这一时期的代表作品。
此外，纳撒尼尔·霍桑的《红字》和赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的《白鲸》也是不可忽视的作品。
四、现实主义时期的文学现实主义时期是19世纪末到20世纪初的文学运动，作家们开始关注社会问题和人类命运。
马克·吐温的《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》和斯蒂芬·克莱恩的《红字》是这一时期的代表作品。
此外，亨利·詹姆斯的《国际象棋之家》和埃德蒙·威尔逊的《了不起的盖茨比》也是重要的作品。
五、现代主义和后现代主义时期的文学现代主义和后现代主义时期是20世纪美国文学的重要阶段，作家们开始挑战传统的叙事方式和观念。
欧内斯特·海明威的《老人与海》和威廉·福克纳的《喧哗与骚动》是现代主义时期的代表作品。
美国文学史期末考试复习资料
一、作者-作品1.Eugene O’Neill 尤金·奥尼尔Desire under the Elms榆树下的欲望2.Washington Irving华盛顿.欧文The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说3.Nathaniel Hawthorne霍桑The Scarlet Letter红字4.Herman Melville麦尔维尔Moby Dick白鲸5.Edgar Allan Poe艾伦.坡The Raven乌鸦6.Walt Whitman惠特曼Leaves of Grass草叶集7. Harriet Beecher Stowe 哈丽雅特.比彻.斯托Uncle Tom’s Cabin汤姆叔叔的小屋8. Henry James 亨利.詹姆斯in the Portrait of a Lady一位女士的肖像9.Mark Twain 马克.吐温TheAdventures ofHuckleberry Finn哈克贝里.费恩历险The Gilded Age镀金时代10. O. Henry 欧.亨利The Gift of the Magi麦琪的礼物11. Stephen Crane：史蒂芬.克莱恩The Red Badge of Courage红色英勇勋章12.Theodore Dreiser 西奥多.德莱塞Sister Carrie嘉莉妹妹13.Jack London 杰克.伦敦The Call of the Wild野性的呼唤14. John Steinbeck 约翰.斯坦贝克The Grapes of Wrath愤怒的葡萄15.F. Scott Fitzgerald弗斯.菲茨杰拉德The Great Gatsby了不起的盖茨比16.Ernest Hemingway 海明威The Sun Also Rises太阳照样升起17.Katherine Anne Porter 凯瑟琳.安.波特Flowing Judas and other Stories犹大之花18. Ezra Pound 埃兹拉.庞德 Imagism 意象派The Cantos 诗章19.William Carlos Williams: 威廉.威廉姆斯The Red Wheelbarrow红色手推车20. Joseph Heller约瑟夫海勒：Catch-22 第22条军规21.Thomas Stearns Eliot爱略特The Waste Land荒原22.Zora Neal Hurston 佐拉.赫斯顿Their eyes were watching God 他们眼望上苍二、名词解释1.Transcendentalism超验主义:(1)As a philosophical and literary movement, American Transcendentalis m (also known as “ American Renaissance”) flourshed in New England fr om the 1830s to the Civil War. It is the high tide of American romanticism and its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in Emerson and Thoreau. Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation and agai nst the materialism of American society.(2)The major features of Transcendentalism:① The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe. 思想超灵宇宙② The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. To t hem, the individual is the most important element of Society. 个体+社会③ The Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbol ic of the Spirit or God. Nature was not purely matter. It was alive, filled w ith God’s overwhelming presence. 自然+上帝代表人物：Emerson, Thoreau2.The Gilded Age镀金时代：an age of excess and extremes, of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, of gloom and buoyant hope. Although Americans continued to read the works of Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Poe, the great age of American romanticism had ended. By the 1870s the New England Renaissance had waned. 无节制、走极端，倒退和进步、贫困和富有并存，既令人沮丧又让人有希望的时代。
美国文学期末重点复习资料
美国文学一．术语解释1，Transcendentalism(超验主义):简略版：It started in 1830s in US; which emphasis on spirit or oversoul and stressing importance of the individual; regarding nature as symbols of the spirit or God. It took idea from the romantic literatures of Europe, from Neo-Platonism and so on. Emerson was its representative.深层次版：American Transcendentalism: the emergence of the Transcendentalists as an identifiable movement took place during the late 1820s and 1830s, but the roots of their religious philosophy extended much farther back into American religious history. Transcendentalism and evangelical Protestantism followed separate evolutionary branches from American Puritanism, taking as their common ancestor the Calvinism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the Universe. They stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society. They offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to them, alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Transcendentalism is based on the belief that the most fundamental truths about life and death can be reached only by going beyond the world of the senses. Emerson’s Nature has been called the “Manifesto of American Transcendentalism” and his The American Scholar has been rightly regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”.美国超验主义：美国超验主义出现的19世纪20年代末期到三十年代，但是它的根源在宗教史上要远得多。
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课堂笔记1、Realism 特征：①Mechanization 机器化②urbanization 城市化，许多人涌入城市，阶级差异明显③induseridization 工业化④federal government (race种族平等进入宪法)标志着马克.吐温的《镀金时代》开始⑤railway system 工业化的一大标志，电力和石油的应用发挥了重大作用。
wrence的作品中突出了对铁路的描写。
2、文化特征：①女性发挥作用明显，女性的作者和读者明显增多。
②开始关注中产阶级。
Mid class. ③现实主义 realism，New York replaced Boston as the nation’s literary center.纽约成为新的文化中心。
3、Realism： Mark Twain local colorist 本土色彩浓厚Henry James psychologist 心理描写深刻Naturalism 自然主义 pessimistic 悲观的Environment 环境Heredity (lower) 底层的继承4、Calvinist family Predestination 预知的卡尔文主义 Pessimism 悲观的悲观的，宿命的 tone(诗歌基调) tragic 关注死亡 Death and immortality(永恒)5、两个作家的比较 Dickinson Whitman关注点： inner world of individual 关注个人内心 Society / large 关注社会形式： free verse free verse语言： concise、direct、simple 简洁、直接的 ( diction ) 书上内容：一、时期综述：1、镀金时代：The Gilded Age, an age of excess and extremes, of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, ofgloom and buoyant hope. 无节制、走极端，倒退和进步、贫困和富有并存，既令人沮丧又让人有希望的时代。
2、Although Americans continued to read the works of Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Poe, the great age of Americanromanticism had ended. By the 1870s the New England Renaissance had waned.新英格兰的文艺复兴已开始接近尾声。
3、现实主义和自然主义作家的人物刻画方法：19世纪末,the literary naturalists who followed them, rejected the portrayal of idealized characters and events. Instead, they sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtleties of humanpersonality, to portray characters who were less simply all good or all bed.反对在作品中描绘理想化了的人物和事件，关注人性中的微妙之处。
4、Realism：（现实主义）appeared in the United States in the literature of localcolor, an amalgam of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things was immediately observable. the dialects, customs, sights.现实主义有浓厚的美国本土特色，是浪漫主义故事情节和现实主义描写相结合的产物：美国风味的方言、风俗、各种观点5、自然主义：naturalism, a new and harsher realism, 新型的更为冷峻的现实主义，产生悲观的流派，产生于the end of the century 十九世纪末，因为Perception of society’s disorders 对社会无序的感知。
Presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were dominated by their environment and heredity. 设法尽力客观真实地展现出受环境与出身局限的下层人民和各种经济阶层人物的真正生活。
The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environ ment, the religious “truths” were illusory, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. 强调世界的非道德性，人们没有意志的自由，宗教上的真理是虚幻的，现实生活是痛苦的。
Deterministic 决定论，宿命的，代表作家：Stephen Crane 史蒂芬.克莱恩, Frank Norris 弗朗克.诺里斯,Jack London 杰克.伦敦, Theodore Dreiser 西奥多.德莱塞.6、Darwinism: 达尔文主义:an evident influence on naturalism, stress theanimality of man, to suggest that be was dominated by the irresistibleforces of evolution. 对自然主义影响极大，强调人的动物性，意味着人的命运受进化的不可抗力来决定的。
7、William Dean Howells 威廉.迪安.豪厄斯，①The arbiter of 19th century literary realism in America。
十九世纪美国现实主义文学泰斗，提拔许多年轻作家②His defined realism: nothing more and nothing less than the truthfultreatment of material.不加一分，不减一分，百分之百描写现实。
③中央视角：an objective point of view二、代表作家：1、Walt Whitman 沃尔特.惠特曼①★free verse (自由诗体) without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. 无固定节奏，无有规律的韵脚②“Leaves of Grass”草叶集 1870 the first genuine epic poem. 美国历史上第一部真正的史诗Poem’s特点：most of the poems in “Leaves of Grass”are about man and nature.③关注点：In his poetry, he combined the ideal of democratic common manand that of the rugged individual④诗人职责：he envisioned the poet as a hero, a savior and a prophet, one wholeads the community by hisexpressions of the truth.表达真理的前提下，引导社会发展。
2、Emily Dickinson 爱米丽.狄金森①作品：“I died for Beauty”我为美而死（诗歌） Beauty / Truth / Goodnessare ultimate(终极) the same“Because I could not stop for Death”我不能等候死神 Theme：死亡是实现永恒Immortality的途径②特点：her poetry in unique and unconventional in its own way. Her poemshave no titles, hence are always quoted by their first lines.3、Harriet Beecher Stowe 哈丽雅特.比彻.斯托小说家 only one female prosewriter(散文作家) in 19th century代表作：“Uncle Tom’s Cab in”汤姆叔叔的小屋关注农奴制度 Pay attention to serf's system4、Mark Twain 马克.吐温①美国现实主义文学的代表作“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”哈克贝里.费恩历险记(马克最有名的作品)②特点：local colorist 地方特色:a unique variation of American literary realism,it refers to the particular concern about the local character of aregion.③contribution贡献：colloquial speech accepted as literary medium口语化被文学界接受④代表作：“The Gilded Age”70-90年代，镀金时代，贫富分化，财富积累。
“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”用词简单、幽默、使用当地语言编写“Life on the Mississippi”5、O. Henry 欧.亨利 short story 短篇小说①特点：tell about the lives of poor people in New York关注下层人; usually short简单; plots are exceedingly clever and interesting，humor abounds情节极度聪明有趣并富于幽默; the end is always surprising结尾意外;contain a great deal of slang and colloquial expressions使用大量的俚语和口语.②代表作：“The Four Million”《四百万》小说集、“The Gift of the Magi”《麦琪的礼物》单部小说★6、Henry James 亨利.詹姆斯 novelist小说家；Literature theoretician 文学理论家，从小受欧洲教育①心理现实主义的开创者：the founder of psychological realism. The literarycareer of him is generally divided into three periods, in the first periods, James took great interest in international theme; exemplify the mature and formidable style of a third literary period, which critics have come to praise as “The Major Phase”.②特点：(1)deeply into the individual psychology of his characters, writing ina rich and intricate style that supported his intense scrutiny ofcomplex human experience.深刻探讨人物人性心理，用深厚、复杂的写作方式对复杂的个人经历进行揣摩(2)1st person and 3rd person narration，第一和第三人称的叙述(3)omniscient 全视角是不真实的;③家庭背景：father: philosopher哲学家,富有；brother: psychologist, philosopher心理学家,哲学家；④创作原则：The art of Fiction小说的艺术;art vs. life, brings the meaning of life;⑤贡献contribution：in his critical commentaries, he made major contributionsto the art of fiction itself, helping to transform the novel from itsalliance with journalism and romantic story-telling into an art from ofpenetrating analysis of individuals confronting society, chronicles ofthe psychological perceptions that James himself defined as thehighest from of experience. 詹姆斯把小说从新闻形式和浪漫故事转变成为了对个人在社会大环境中面对种种冲突，进行深刻剖析的文学形式；对人们心理感受进行反映的一种文学形式，他定义这位感受的最高形式。