美國文學(xué)整理

1、29introductionThe periods of American literature1.The colonial period (約1607 - 1765)The main features Puritanism2.The period of Enlightenment and the Independence War (1765 -1800)Benjamin Franklin3.The romantic period (1800 - 1865)(1)The early romanticism -Washington Irving James Fenimore Cooper(2)“

2、New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance (1836 - 1855)”-Emerson Thoreau Whitman Dickinson Hawthorne Melville Allan Poe4.The realistic period (1865 - 1914)(1)Midwestern Realism -William Dean Howells(2)Cosmopolitan Novelist-Henry James(3)Local Colorism-Mark Twain(4)Naturalism-Stephen Cr

3、ane Jack London Theodore Dreise5.The period of modernism (1914 - 1945)(1)Modern poetry: experiments in form (Imagism)-Ezra Pound T.S.Eliot Robert Frost(2)Prose Writing: modern realism (the Lost Generation)-F.Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway William Faulkner(3)Novels of Social Awareness-Sinclair Lew

4、is John Steinbeck Richard Wright(4)The Harlem Renaissance-Langston Hughes Zora Neals Hurston(5)The 20th Century American Drama-Eugene ONeil Tennessee Williams Arthur Asher Mille6.The Contemporary Literature (1945 -) American Poetry Since 1945: the Anti-traditionAmerican Prose Since 1945: Realism and

5、 Experimentation.Nobel Prize winner1930 Scinclair Lewis Main Street1936 Eugene ONeill The Hairy Ape 1938 Pearl S. Buck The Good Earth1949 William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury1954 Earnest Hemingway The Sun Also Rises1962 John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath1976 Saul Bellow Herzog1978 Isaac Bashevis

6、Singer Gimpel the Fool 1987 Joseph Brodsky Six Years Later1993 Toni Morrison Beloved Lecture 2 American Literature in the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods(1607 -1800)1.From 1607, American writing began with the work of English adventurers and colonists in the New World chiefly for the benefit of r

7、eaders in the mother country. Some of these early works reached the level of literature, as William Bradford in New England. From the beginning, however, the literature of New England was also directed to the edification（教導(dǎo)） and instruction of the colonists themselves, intended to direct them in the

8、 ways of the godly. The writing in this period was essentially two kinds: (1) practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people “at home” what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration; (2) highly theoretical, generally polemi

9、cal（好辯的）, discussions of religious questions.Furthermore, the influential Protestant work ethic, reinforced by the practical necessities of a hard pioneer life, inhibited（抑制） the development of any reading matter designed simply for leisure-time entertainment.(It is the belief that work itself is go

10、od in addition to what it achieves; that time saved by efficiency or good fortune should not be spent in leisure but in doing further work; that idleness is always immoral and likely to lead to even worse sin since “the devil finds work for idle hands to do”. This belief later developed into the Ame

11、rican philosophic idea Puritanism.)2. The Main Features of this period(1)American literature gr ew 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

12、the early colonial period. (2)In content these early writings served either God or colonial expansion or both. In form, if there was any form at all, English literary traditions were faithfully imitated and transplanted. (1)The Puritanism formed in this period was one of the most enduring shaping in

13、fluences in American thought and American literature. Puritanism(1)Simply speaking, American Puritanism just refers to the spirit and ideal of puritans who settled in the North American continent in the early part of the seventeenth century because of religious persecutions. In content it means scru

14、pulous moral rigor, especially hostility to social pleasures and indulgences, that is strictness, sternness and austerity in conduct and religion.(2)To some extent it is a state of mind, a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the American breathes, rather than a set of tenets Revolutionary

15、Periods(1756-1800)Main features Puritanism: doctrines of predestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonement.Social Awareness：Essays, pamphlets, and political documents for purposes of social reform, revolutionary agitation and philosophical declaration.Main figuresColonial period: W

16、illiam Bradford(1590-1657); Anne Bradstreet(1617-1672); Jonathon Edwards(1702-1758); Edward Taylor (1642-1729)Revolutionary period: Roger Williams(1603-1683) John Woolman(1720-1772); Thomas Paine(1737-1809); Philip Freneau(1752-1832); Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790)Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)本杰明富蘭克林E

17、valuations from McMichael:He is a master of the periodical essay, of satires, political journalism, and letters.helped established a tradition in American writing of the simple, utilitarian（實用的） style.(McMichael et al. 272-273)Evaluation:(1) He was a rare genius in human history. Nature seemed parti

18、cularly lavish and happy when he was shaped. Everything seems to meet in this one man, mind and will, talent and art, strength and ease, wit and grace, and he became almost everything: a printer, postmaster, citizen, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, inventor, orator, statesman, philosopher, polit

19、ical economist, ambassador, musician and parlor man. (2) .Politically he brought the colonial era to a close. For quite some time he was regarded as the father of all Yankees, even more than Washington was. He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States: the decla

20、ration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the treaty of peace with England, and the constitution. (3) Scientifically, as the symbol of America in the Age of Enlightenment, he invented a lot of useful implements. His research on electricity, his famous experiment with his kite line

21、and many others made him the distinguished scientist of his day.(4) Literally, he really opened the story of American literature. D. H. Lawrance agreed that Franklin was everything but a poet. In the Scottish philosopher David Humes eyes he was Americas “first great man of letters”.His works: Poor R

22、ichards Almanack 窮理查年鑒The Way to Wealth ( also known as Father Abrahams Sermon) 致富之路 Autobiography 富蘭克林自傳Philip Freneau菲利普弗雷諾（1752-1832）Father of American Poetry The first American writer to idealize the native Indian civilization.Works:野金銀花美麗的花兒 如此清秀的綻放 隱藏在這安寧幽靜的所在 未經(jīng)染指的花蕊盛開芬芳 未被注目的細枝問詢搖擺 不會有那旅人踐踏的

23、腳步 不會有那好事者的采摘白色的花兒開得自在 將那凡塵俗眼躲避開來 四周有香林掩蓋 一條弱水帶著細語相伴 這夏日便如此消逝遠去 你的花期也漸近凋敝暗香也終將銷殘 念及你之終期 我便哀慟不已 它們謝去也不減分毫妍麗 曾在天堂綻放的花朵 嚴霜與那秋日的肅殺 不會讓花兒留下絲毫痕跡那嬌蕊自朝霞與暮露里 來到這塵世 來時一無所有 去時了無牽掛 塵歸塵 土歸土 這相隔的時間 不過一晌 這便是一朵花兒憔悴的命運一場Lecture 3 The American RomanticismI. What is RomanticismSimply speaking, Romanticism is a literar

24、y movement associated with imagination and boundlessness, as contrasted with classicism, which is commonly associated with reason and restriction. The most clearly defined romantic literary movement in the U. S. was Transcendentalism. 1. Transcendentalism (超驗主義)Transcendentalism was a philosophical

25、movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern region of the United States.The movement was a reaction to, or protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality.A core belief was in the inherent goodness of both people and nature. They believed that society and

26、 its institutions ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual, and had faith that people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent.2. American Renaissance（美國文藝復(fù)興）The literary scene of the period was dominated by a group of New England writers, the “Brahmins”. They advocated ref

27、orms in church, state, and society, contributing to the rise of free religion and the abolition movement and to the formation of various utopian communities.Washington Irving華盛頓歐文 (1783-1859 )1.His earliest work was a sparkling, satirical History of New York （紐約史）The Sketch Book (1819-20 as Geoffrey

28、 Crayon) - contains Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow （見聞札記）The Life of George Washington (1855-59, five volumes)（華盛頓傳）2.Evaluation to him(1)American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist. Irving has been called the father of the Ameri

29、can short story. (2)The first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame. (3)It also marked the beginning of American Romanticism. Nathaniel Hawthorn納撒尼爾霍桑(1804-1864)The Scarlet Letter (紅字)The Interpretation and Semiosis(符指) of “A”A. Adultery (通奸)B. Alone/Alienate (孤獨/異化)C.

30、 Art (多才)D. Able (能干)E. Admirable (可敬)F. Angel (天使)G. Advance (前進)Herman Melville哈曼. 梅爾維爾(1819 - 1891)His Masterpiece: Moby Dick白鯨 (1）It is an encyclopedia of everything, history, philosophy, religion, etc. (2)The main theme of it is about alienation between man and man, man and society, and man and

31、 nature. Edgar Allen Poe埃德加愛倫坡(1809-1849)“Al Aaraaf”阿爾阿拉夫“The Bells”鐘“The City in the Sea”海中之城“The Conqueror Worm”征服者爬蟲“A Dream Within a Dream”夢中之夢“Eldorado”黃金國“Eulalie”尤拉麗歌“The Haunted Palace”鬧鬼的宮殿“ToHelen”致海倫“Lenore”麗諾爾“Tamerlane”帖木兒“The Raven”烏鴉“Ulalume”尤娜路姆“Annabel Lee”安娜貝爾李那是很多年，很多年以前了， 在海濱的一個王

32、國里， 有一個女孩，你也許會知道 她的名字叫安娜貝爾麗； 這女孩，她生前沒有別的心事， 除了愛我，也接受我的愛意。 那時我是個孩子，她也是一個孩子，在這海濱的王國里； 但我們相愛，以深于愛情的愛情，我，和我的安娜貝爾麗以如此深的愛情，使雙翼的天使 對我們都感到妒忌。就是因為如此，在很久以前， 在這海濱的王國里， 一陣狂飆起自云間，吹凍了 我美麗的安娜貝爾麗；于是她家里的貴族們前來， 自我的身邊將她領(lǐng)去， 且將她幽禁于一個荒丘，在這海濱的王國里。天使們也沒有我們一半的快樂，對我們竟感到妒忌。 是的！就是因此（誰都知道），在這海濱的王國里， 一陣狂飆起自云間，在黑夜， 凍斃了我的安娜貝爾麗 可是我

33、們的愛情遠勝于那些愛情，那屬于年長于我們的人的， 那屬于聰明于我們的人的； 無論是天使們飛翱于天頂， 或是魔鬼們潛游于海底， 都不能分割我的靈魂自她的靈魂，自我們的安娜貝爾麗。因為每夜月亮的光輝都為我?guī)砹藟裘?，夢見美麗的安娜貝爾麗?而每夜星星的上升都使我感到那眼神，來自美麗的安娜貝爾麗。 于是，在整個夜間，我都躺下,在她的身邊，在我的小情人，小情人，我生命，我新娘的身邊，在臨海的她的孤墳里 在騷響的海畔的小墓里。II. The PoetsWalt Whitman(1819-1892)沃爾特惠特曼free verse: a modern form of poetry which does n

34、ot follow any specific rhyme or metrical scheme, although it does not completely abandon the basic poetic precepts of heightened language and sonics. 一種詩歌形式，不遵守任何明確的韻律或格律，當然也未完全拋棄基本的詩歌原則，如精煉的語言和聲韻規(guī)律。the poems of male affection (男性情感的表達)青年，白天，老年和夜強大、健壯、可愛的青年喲，充滿優(yōu)美、活力和魅力的青年喲，你知道在你以后來到的老年，也有著同樣的優(yōu)美、活力和魅

35、力么？光明燦爛的白天，碩大的太陽照耀著的充滿行動、野心和歡笑的白天喲，在你后面緊跟著充滿千千萬萬的太陽、安睡和使人精力恢復(fù)的幽暗的黑夜。我們兩個小伙子廝纏在一起我們兩個小伙子廝纏在一起彼此從來不分離天南海北，一路同行我們精力充沛，肩并著肩，手牽著手我們縱情吃喝玩樂，同眠共枕我們隨意航行，當兵，偷竊，恫嚇，不承認法律，覺得它還不如我們自己，我們自由呼吸，飲水，跳舞，在海濱草地，教訓(xùn)那些守財奴、卑鄙者、牧師。我們掙脫城市，譴責(zé)安逸，嘲弄法規(guī)，驅(qū)逐軟骨頭，實現(xiàn)我們的冒險。對各州對各州，對其中的任何一個，或各州中的任何一城，應(yīng)該說，“要多抗拒，少順從，”一旦無條件順從，一旦完全受奴役，一旦完全受奴役，

36、這大地上的任何國家，州，城市，就將永遠不會重獲自由。Emily Dickinson(1830-1886)艾米莉狄金森(女) 第一位黑人諾獎religious poet in the Puritan tradition 清教傳統(tǒng)中的宗教詩人poet of the Romantic school 浪漫派詩人 proto-feminist poet 早期女權(quán)主義詩人first poet of modernism 第一位現(xiàn)代主義詩人precursor of postmodernism 后現(xiàn)代主義的先行者我為美而死我為美而死，對墳?zāi)?幾乎還不適應(yīng) 一個殉真理的勇士 就成了我的近鄰他輕聲問我“為什么倒下”

37、？我答他：“為了美” 他說：“我為真理，真與美 是一體，我們是兄弟”就這樣，象親人，黑夜相逢我們隔著房間談心直到蒼苔長上我們的嘴唇覆蓋掉，我們的姓名我們有一份黑夜要忍受 我們有一份黑夜要忍受我們有一份黎明我們有一份歡樂的空白要填充我們有一份憎恨這里一顆星那里一顆星，有些，迷了方向！這里一團霧那里一團霧，然后，陽光！Lecture 4 The American RealismWhat is American realism?（1）As a literary movement realism came in the latter half of the nineteenth century as

38、a reaction against “the lie” of romanticism. It expressed the concern for the world of experience, of the commonplace, and for the low. （2）The American realists advocated “verisimilitude versmltju:d of detail derived from observation”.（源于觀察的逼真細節(jié)）The schools of American Realism:（1）Midwestern Realism

39、It just refers to William Dean Howellss realism because he came from the American Midwest and carefully interweaved the life and emotions of ordinary middle-class there in his works.（2）Cosmopolitan Novelist（3）Regionalism (local color) Simply it means The use of regional detail in a literary or artis

40、tic work. Local colorists were interested in realistically depicting life in different sections of the United States in order to promote understanding and unification. Fiction writers O. Henry, and Mark Twain have been identified within this tradition.（4）Naturalism The writers of naturalism tore the

41、 mask of gentility to pieces and wrote about the helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world, and his lack of dignity in face of the forces of environment and heredity（遺傳）. In their works there is a desire to assert ones human identity, to define oneself against the social and natural fo

42、rces one confronts.The major representatives of American naturalists include Jack London, Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser and so on.（5）The Chicago School of poets（6）The rise of black American literatureMark Twain馬克吐溫 (1835 - 1910)The Innocents Abroad (1869)傻子旅行Roughing It (1872)苦行記The

43、Gilded Age (1873鍍金時代The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)湯姆索耶歷險記The Prince and the Pauper (1882)變形記 Life on the Mississippi (1883)密西西比河上的生涯The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)哈克貝利費恩歷險記 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court (1889) 康州美國佬在亞瑟王朝The Tragedy of Puddnhead Wilson (1893)傻瓜威爾遜One of hi

44、s significant contributions to American literature lies in the fact that he made colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country.Theodore Dreiser西奧多德萊賽( 18711945)Sister Carrie（1900）, the story of a kept woman whose behavior goes unpunished.Jennie Ger

45、hardt（1911）珍妮姑娘 His Cowperwood trilogy based on the life of the transportation magnate Charles T. Yerkes. The Financier（1912）The Titan（1914）The Stoic（posthumously 1947） 斯多葛The Genius (1915), a sprawling semi-autobiographical chronicle of Dreisers numerous love affairs, was censured by the New York S

46、ociety for the Suppression of Vice. Its sequel, The Bulwark,壁壘 appeared posthumously in 1946.An American Tragedy（1925） Evaluation on him:He embraced social Darwinism. He learned to regard man as merely an animal driven by greed and lust in a struggle for existence in which only the fittest, the most

47、 ruthless, survive. Human tragedy comes as a result of the collision between mans biological needs and societys ruthless manipulationJack London杰克倫敦(1876-1916)The Son of the Wolf (1900)狼子The People of the Abyss (1903)深淵里的人們The Call of the Wild (1903)野性的呼喚The Sea Wolf (1904)海狼White Fang (1906)白牙/狼/芳T

48、he Iron Heel (1908)鐵蹄Martin Eden (1909)馬丁伊登Burning Daylight (1910)毒日子/天大亮The Valley of the Moon (1913)月亮谷Credo信條寧為飛灰滅，不作逐塵浮， 寧燃星星火，身化熊熊焰， 寧與枯木為儔，豈可默然同腐。 此身愿化流星燦，不羨天河行星體， 君看曇花一現(xiàn)人生沒，絕勝平凡塵世苦勾留。莫費一生求茍活，只求獻盡每一刻。Love of Life:熱愛生命一切，總算剩下了這一點他們經(jīng)歷了生活的困苦顛連；能做到這種地步也就是勝利，盡管他們輸?shù)袅速€博的本錢。Lecture 5 The American Mode

49、rnism(1914 - 1945)What is Modernism? Modernism is a cultural movement that generally includes the progressive literature which emerged in the beginning of the 20th century , particularly in the years following World War I. It embraced the new economic, social and political aspects of the emerging mo

50、dern world. 1) Modernism in literature is not easily summarized, but the key elements are experimentation, anti-realism, individualism and a stress on the cerebral（理性） rather than emotive（情感） aspects.2) The work of Modernist writers is characterized by showing the disenchantment（覺醒）, dislocation（錯位）

51、, and alienation（疏離） of men in the world, and by the emphasis on experimentation and formalism and objectivism.Among American writers, the best-known Modernists are T.S.Eliot, Ezra Pound, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and so on.I. Imagism:（1）It is a Movement in U.S. and Engl

52、ish poetry characterized by the use of concrete language and figures of speech, modern subject matter, metrical（韻律） freedom, and avoidance of romantic or mystical themes, aiming at clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images.（2）Pound defined an image as that which presents an inte

53、llectual and emotional complex in an instant of time, a vortex or cluster of fus ed ideas, endowed with energy.（意象是在一瞬間呈現(xiàn)出的理性和感情的復(fù)合體）Ezra Pound伊茲拉龐德(1885 - 1972)While in prison, he was awarded a prestigious poetry prize in 1949 for his last Cantos.1.His poetic features:Throughout the 1920s, he was m

54、uch involved in most of the major artistic movements. He was the leader of the Imagist school in poetry. He believed that good poetry was based on images rather than ideas. 2.Introduction to “One image poem”：“a form of super-position, that is to say, it is one idea set on top of another. ”Pound“一種意象

55、重疊的形式，即，一個思想放在另一個思想上。”It is essentially a metaphor, a metaphorical relation between two images in two separate sentences/clauses.其本質(zhì)是隱喻的一種，其兩個句子或分句上孤立的意象是比喻關(guān)系。3.In a Station of the Metro 人群中幽然浮現(xiàn)的一張張臉龐， 黝黑的濕樹枝上的一片片花瓣。 Modern Realism (the Lost Generation)P153（1）The Lost Generation is a term used to de

56、scribe a group of American intellectuals, poets, artists and writers fled to France in the post WWI years to reject the values of American materialism and to seek the bohemian（波西米亞） lifestyle in Paris.（2）Full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs . （3）American poet Gertrude Stein（格特魯?shù)滤固┮颍?actually coined the expression lost generation. Speaking to Ernest Hemingway, she said, you are all a lost generation. The term stuck the mystique（神秘性） surrounding t