專八人文常識(shí)輔導(dǎo)材料(美國文學(xué))

1、American Literature: A Concise HistoryReviewWho wrote The American? (2008)Herman Melville B. Nathaniel HawthorneC. Henry James D. Theodore DreiserDeath of a Salesman was written by. (2007)Arthur Miller B. Ernest HemingwayC. Ralph Ellison D. James BaldwinThe novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is written b

2、y_. (2006)Scott Fitzgerald B. William FaulknerC. Eugene O Neil D. Ernest HemingwayWilliam Sydney Porter, known as O Henry, is most fam_o_u.s(2fo0r0_5_)A. his poems B. his playsC. his short stories D. his novelsHistorical PeriodsColonial Period: 17th18th (faith f reason)Romantic Period: end of 18th t

3、o the Civil War The Age of Realism: 1865-1890 The Age of Naturalism: 1890-1900Modern Period: 1912-1945 Postwar Realism: 1950s-1960sPostmodernism: 1960s-1980sKey FiguresBenjamin FranklinJames Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving; Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson/Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herma

4、n Melville (R. W. Emerson, H.D. Thoreau)O Henry, Henry James, Mark TwainStephan Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Jack LondonEzra Pound, T.S. Eliot, R.L. Frost/Ernest Hemingway, F.S. Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck/Eugene O Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur MillerJerome SalingerNabokovMark Twain:

5、Trend: realism (local colorism) Genre: fiction Masterpiece: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Distinctive Style: vernacular language Other Important WorksSampleAmerican literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. She was .A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Katherine Anne Porte

6、r D. Emily DickinsonThe first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was a sharp social critic, whose name was .A. T.S. EliotB. Sinclair LewisC. Ernest HemingwayD. William FaulknerWhich of the following is NOT included in Dreiser s trilogy of desire concerning the ruthlessness ofcapitalists?

7、B. The FinancierD. The StoicB. The FinancierD. The StoicWith Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, became the major trend in the seventiesand eighties of the nineteenth century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism, an annual collection of proverbs.From 1732 to 1758, ,

8、 an annual collection of proverbs.A. AutobiographyPoor Richard s AlmanacCommon SenseThe General Magazine6. “ The American Renaissance A. local colorismC. Transcendentalism” is the period_6. “ The American Renaissance A. local colorismC. TranscendentalismRomanticismD. Colonismmaster work, the one boo

9、k from which as Hemingway noted, All modern Americ“anmaster work, the one book from which as Hemingway noted, All modern Americ“anliter ature comes ”.A. The Gilded AgeLife on the MississippiThe Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the only American playwright awarded Nobel P

10、rize of Literature.A. Arthur MillerB. Eugene O NeillTennessee WilliamsD. Sinclair LewisWhich of the following does NOT belong to“ Beat Generation ”?A. Jack KerouacB. F. S. FitzgeraldC. Allen Ginsberg D. William Burroughs is identified as the father of modern American poetry, who also plays an import

11、ant role intransmitting Chinese culture to the English-speaking world.A. T. S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra Pound D. Walt WhitmanI. Colonial Period: 17th18thThe influence of Puritanism on writing:fresh, simple and plaintraceable to the direct influence of the Bible frequent reference to the technique

12、 of symbolismAnne BradstreetThe Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in AmericaMichael WigglesworthThe Day of DoomEdward Taylor: a metaphysical poetBenjamin Franklin: the spokesman of the American Enlightenment (Age of Reason/Great Awakening); created the image of the Yankee pseudonym: Silence DogoodPoor Ric

13、hard s AlmanacAutobiographyThomas Paine (his style: plain)Common Sense the first pamphlet urging immediate independence from Britain; his most famous pamphlet; the greatest of the Revolutionary pamphletsPhilip FreneauThe first American-born poet; Poet of the American RevolutionTheme: nationalismThe

14、beginning of American RomanticismRomantic Period: 1) Early RomanticsNew England Poets (Fireside/Schoolroom Poets):Henry Wadsworth LongfellowThe song of Hiawatha the first American epic in blank verse about the American IndiansThe first American poet to be honored by having his bust placed in the Po

15、ets Corner of Westminster AbbeyWilliam Cullen Bryant: the American WordsworthThanatopsis (pondering on death) his greatest poemNovelist:James Fenimore Cooper: the first successful American novelist32 novels3 kinds:about the revolutionary past The Spyabout the sea The pilot about the frontier The Lea

16、therstocking Tales (The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer; protagonist: Natty Bumppo- “ the essential American soul ” by D. H. Lawrence)Story Writer and Prose Stylist:Washington IrvingThe Sketch Book won him international fame“ Rip Van Winkle ” & “ T

17、he Legend of Sleepy Hollow”“ Crayon ” styleIntroduced the familiar essay to AmericaRomantic Period: 2) TranscendentalistsNew England Transcendentalism=American RenaissanceFeatures:It stressed the power of intuition.It placed spirit first and matter second.It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God.

18、It emphasized the significance of the individual.It envisioned religion as an emotional communi cation between an individual soul and the universal“ OversoulIt held that commerce was degrading.The Transcendental Club & their journal The DialEssayists:Ralph Waldo EmersonTranscendentalism s most semin

19、al forceThe Lyceum MovementNature “the manifesto of American transcendentalism ”The American Scholar “ America s Declaration of Intellectual Independence”Henry David ThoreauHis first major influence: nonviolent struggle as expressed in his“ Civil Disobedience ”His second major influence: call of “ B

20、ack to Nature ”Walden a classic of American prose; reads like a diary of a nature lover SymbolismII. Romantic Period: 3) High RomanticsEdgar Allan PoeLiterary theories:1) A theory of PoetryThe most important purpose of poetry is the creation of beauty (English as a medium of pure musical and rhythmi

21、c beauty).The tone of its highest manifestation is one of sadness.The death of a beautiful woman is the most potential topic.death predominant theme in Poe s writing“Poe is not interested in anything alive. Everything in Poe s writings is dead. ”2) About His FictionThe mental world of the people sho

22、uld be illuminated.The principle of concentration and thematic totality should be stressed.Truth rather than beauty is often the aim of the tale.Literary achievements:The Ravenhis most famous narrative poemDetective stories, ratiocinative stories & science fictionThe Murders in the Rue MorgueThe Fal

23、l of the House of UsherThe Masque of the Red DeathWalt WhitmanLeaves of Grass (9 editions)America s first genuine epic poemStyle: free verseThe envelope structure, catalogue technique, thought rhythmRepresents a turning point in the history of American poetryEmily DickinsonFor the whole 19th century

24、 she was the only woman poet who enjoys high academic esteem today.PoemsThemes:religion doubt and belief about religious subjectsdeath and immortalitylove suffering and frustration caused by lovephysical aspect of desirenature kind and cruelfree will and human responsibilityNathaniel Hawthorne the f

25、irst American romancer; the first major novelist in English to wed morality to artHis novels were perhaps the deepest and most psychological in the 19th century.The Scarlet LetterHester Prynne, Pearl, Chillingworth, DimmesdalePoint of view: Evil is at the core of human life. Wherever there is sin, t

26、here is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation.Herman Meiville an adventure writer, known as“a man who lived with cannibals”Moby Dick the first American prose epic; the greatest American novel by some criticsA symbol to represent cruel, brutal, malicious powers of nature

27、The technique of multiple viewsStyle: highly symbolic and metaphoricalThe Age of RealismFeatures:truthful description of lifetypical character under typical circumstanceobjective rather than idealized, close observation and investigation of life“ Realistic writers are like scientists. ” open-ending:

28、Life is complex and cannot be fully understood. It leaves much room for readers to think by themselves.William Dean HowellsProductive except the genre of poetryThe Rise of Silas LaphamWilliam Sydney Porter (O. Henry)The surprise ending is his specialty, e.g. “ The Cop and the Anthem ”.Sherwood Ander

29、son: Winesburg, Ohio Henry James: novels of mannersDeveloped the international novelDaisy Miller established his reputation at home and abroad (theme: American innocence vs. European sophistication)The Ambassadors: his most “ perfect ” work of art, claimed by himself3 influential subjects: children,

30、 new women and artistsTheory of fiction in his The Art of FictionChief criterion: showing rather than tellinghonors: the first of the “ modern psychological novelists ”A “ realist of the inner life”A bridge of American and European culturesLocal ColorismThe late 1860s to early 1870sTo write or prese

31、nt local characters of their regions in truthful depiction distinguished from others, usually a very small part of the world.Hamlin Garland s “ Under the Lion s Paw ”Harriet Beecher Stowe : Uncle Tom s Cabtinhe greatest of all anti-slavery literatureMark Twain (Samuel Clemens) “ the Lincoln of our l

32、iterature ” ; the true father of American literature One famous essay: “ To the Person Sitting in Darkness ”His greatest achievement: The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnOther works: His penname was made famous by “ The Notorious Jumping Frog of the Calaverus CountyThe Gilded Age: a satire against cor

33、ruptionThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Life on the Mississippicolloquial language, vernacular language, dialectslocal coloursyntactic feature: sentences are simple, brief, sometimes ungrammaticalhumourtall tales (highly exaggerated)social criticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)The A

34、ge of Realism: ComparisonThemeHowells -middle classJames -upper classTwain -lower classTechniqueHowells -genteel realismJames -psychological realismTwain -local colorism and colloquialismThe Age of Naturalism Realism vs. Naturalism: Though naturalists also describe real life, they present harsher re

35、ality, usually the violent, sensational, unpleasant, and ugly aspects of life.Their writing style and technique were more innovative.Stephan Crane-pessimismMaggie, A Girl of the Streets the first naturalistic novel written by an AmericanThe Red Badge of Courage his most famous book about the America

36、n Civil WarStyle: realistic, naturalistic, and impressionisticFrank Norris-optimismMcTeague the first full-bodied naturalistic American novelThe Octopus his most impressive prose epicTheodore Dreiser -“ the wheelhouse of American naturalism”Sister Carrie: a slave to her heredity and to her environme

37、ntAn American Tragedy: his masterpieceStyle: journalistic method of reiteration, word-pictures, sharp contrast, stubborn honestyJack LondonThe Son of the Wolffirst collection of the storiesThe Call of the Wild an all-time best sellerHis fiction has the unusual and intriguing power of ancient myth.Th

38、e originator of a new type of writing: rough realismModern Period: 1) PoetrySub-branches:Imagism, symbolism, impressionism, futurism, constructivism, surrealism, etcFeatures:Modernism dramatized discontinuity.Modernists had a sense of fragmentation.It has a strong and conscious break with tradition.

39、 (stream of consciousness)V. Modern Period 1) PoetryEzra Poundthe father of modern American poetryCantoshis major work of poetryCathaya volume of Chinese translationsStyle: clarity, precision and a direct conversational diction, economy of verseImagismT. S. Eliota poet, a playwright, and a literary

40、criticHe declared himself a“classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and-ACnagthloolic in religion”The Waste Landa central poem of modernism; reads like a manifesto of the“Lost GenerationFive segmentsOrganizing principle: the myth of death and rebirthNew England Poets:A. Robinson won Pulitzer

41、 for three times.Robert Lee Frostthe most popular American poet from 1914 to his deathHe won Pulitzer for four times.Pastoral poetryV. Modern Period 2) FictionLost Generation:The term was first used by Gertrude Stein.Ernest Hemingwaya Nobel Prize Winner (1954)The Sun also RisesA Farewell to Arms: es

42、tablished his reputation as a great American writerFor Whom the Bell TollsThe Old Man and the SeaTelegraphic styleIceberg theory of writing“ the code hero ”Francis Scott FitzgeraldThis Side of Paradise his first novel; the first American novel depicting the casual dissipations ofThe Great Gatsby his

43、 best novel which deals with the frustration and despair resulting from the failure of the American dream Sinclair Lewis the first American writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1930)Main Street satirizes the smug provincial complacency of the middle class Babbitt his masterpieceThe word

44、 “ babbittry ” means energetic shallowness-asnadtissfealcftionSatiric monologueJohn Steinbeck the foremost writer of the Great DepressionThe Grapes of Wrath his masterpiece, won a Pulitzer PrizeA combination of naturalist and symbolist techniqueV. Modern Period: 3) DramaEugene O Neill the founder of

45、 modern American drama3 Pulitzer Prizes & the Nobel PrizeIntroduced trends of realism, naturalism and expressionismBeyond the HorizonLong Day s Journey into NightTennessee WilliamsThe Glass MenagerieA Streetcar Named Desire won him his first Pulitzer PrizeColloquial southern speechArthur MillerDeath

46、 of a Salesman his masterpiece; an American myth and a contemporary tragedyPostwar RealismJohn Cheever short fictionJohn Updike the most realistic of all the postwar realists;“ Olinger ” storiesJames Thurber the greatest American literary humorist of the 20th centuryJerome Salinger a representative of alienated young Americans; generation gapThe Catcher in the Rye a modern Huck FinnPost-modernism: FictionModernism vs. post-modernismUnlike modernism, which suggested a historic period, post-modernism described a sensibility, a feeling for innovation.Controllable