英美文学串讲.doc

“英美文学选读”串讲资料(1) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 Chapter5 Victorian Period1.age:1836-19012.background:(1)early years:rapid economic develpment as well as serious social problems(2)the next twenty years:prosperity and relative stability.a national spirit of earnestness,respectability,modesty domesticity(3)the last threee decades:the decline of the British empire and the decay of the Victorian values3.idea:(1)Darwins The Origin of Species;The Descent of Man shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith(2)Utilitarianism:whether it could promote the material happiness(3)socially conscious writers criticized(2)s depreciation of cultural values,cold indifference towards human feeling(4)literature:magnitude and diversity, romantically and realistically4.critical realist writers:criticized the society,concerned about the fate of common peopleCharles Dickens1.theme:critical realist writers,criticize:poverty,injustice,hypocrisy,corruptness2.works: Oliver Twist; The Pickwick Paper; David Copperfield; Domeby and Son; A Tale of Two Cities; Bleak House; Little Dorrit; Hard Times; Great Expectations3.characteristics:(1)he is skillful in the dialect and have a large vocabulary(2)character portrayal(3)characters are mostly innocent,helpless,persecuted child characters(4)a mixture of humor and sympathism(5)bizarre figure,horrible 4.Oliver Twist:the cruelty and hypocrisy of the workhouse system and the dark criminal underworld lifeThe Bronte Sisters1.scene:vast,rough,untouched moorland wilderness2.Charlotte Bronte:Jane EyreMr.Rochester and Jane Eyre. Rochester:a grim-looking,energetic,quick-tempered,but an understanding middle-aged manJane Eyre:has a burning spirit and a longing to love and be lovedJane Eyre:struggles for recognition of her basic rights and equality as a woman.Its an individual conscious struggle towards self-realization.She gets joy through the sacrifice of herself or her weakness overcome “英美文学选读”串讲资料(2) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 3.Emily Bronte:Wuthering Heights(uses flashbacks)Nelly:Catherines old nurse,narrator,told Mr.Lockwood,a temporary tenant the storyAlfred Tennyson1.Crossing the Bar; Ulysses; Break,Break,Break2.evaluation:Poet Laureate(Wordsworth,Southey)3.features:a powerful expression of the poets philosophical and religious thoughts,his doubts about life,soul.Robert Browning1.features:perfects dramatic monologue,keeps readers onmouseover,thoughtful and enlightened2.works: My Last Dutches, in heroic couplets,dramatic monologueGeorge Eliot1.idea:founder of stream of consciousness,focus on inner struggle.hereditary influences govern human action.concern for the destiny of woman.the tragedy of women lies in their very birth(hereditary influences)2.works features:naturalistic and psychological novel3.works:Middlemarch:a full view of life in a small EnglishtownThomas Hardy1.evaluation:naturalist(D.H.Lawrance;Theodore Dreiser;George Eliot),also critical realist writer(Dichens)2.works:WessexThe Return of the Nature; The Mayor of Casterbridge; Tess of the DUrbervilles; Jude the Obscure3.features:nostalgic(Washington Irving; F.Scott Fitzergerald; William Faulkner),also pessimistic4.naturalism:Darwins idea of survival of the fittest(1)man is born with tragic,inevitably bound by his own hereditary traits(2)man proves powerless before fate however he tries,he seldom escapes his doomed destiny5.Tess of the DUrbervilles:(1)criticize the society,hypocricy of the society(2)nauralism,the misery,poverty Tess suffersChapter6 The Realistic Period 1865-19141.background:the Civil War affected both the social and the value system(1)transformed from an agricultural one to an industrialized and commercialized one “英美文学选读”串讲资料(3) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 (2)stimulated technological development(3)stepped up urbanization(4)people became dubious about the human nature and the charity of GodThe Gilded Age2.American Realistic Period and English Realistic Period(Victorian Period)common ground(1)a great interest in the realities of life, aim at the interpretation of the actualities of any aspect of life(2)what was brutal or filthy,the open portrayal of class struggle(3)common people mostly depicteddifferences(America)(1)native trends in the realistic portrayal of the landscape and social surfaces(2)perfect the dialect style(3)concern about local colorism,a unique variation of American literary realism3.American Naturalism:influenced by Darwins evolutionary theory(1)accept the more negative implications of it and use it to explain the behavior of those characters in litrary works(2)inherited qualities,and habits confined by social forces are depicted(3)theme:human bestiality,especially the sexual desire(4)unpolished language(5)philosophically,the truth is always partially hidden from the eyes of the individual,or beyond his control(6)material source from the lower ranks of society portray misery and poverty(7)naturalism is evolved from realism.authors tone in writing is less serious and sympathetic,more ironic and pessimisticMark Twain1.works: Life on the Mississippi; The Adentures of Tom Sawyer; Advantures of Huckleberry Finn(trilogy of Mississippi)The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County; Innocents Abroad; The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg2.features:(1)paid more attention to the life of the Americans(2)preferred to have his own region and people in his stories,i.e. local colorism(3)concerned with the life of a small,well-defined region and the lower-class people(4)nostalgic in a vanishing way of life and recorders of a present that faded before their eyes NO ONE CAN LIVE WITHOUT MONEY,BUT MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING!GIVING YOUR STUDY A HAND IS FREE.“英美文学选读”串讲资料(4) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 (5)skillfully used the colloquialism,the language is simple,direct,tagnists spoke in vernacular,both realistically and symbolically(6)his humor is remarkable,his humor is not only funny elements making people laugh,but a kind of artistic style to criticize the social injustice and satirize the decayed romanticism3.Advantures of Huckleberry Finn:The climax is Hucks inner struggle on the Mississippi,between his affection for Jim and the laws,finally he follows his own good-hearted morality rather than the conventional village oneHuckleberry Finn:a typical American boy with a sound heart and a deformed conscience,innocent and rebelHenry James1.evaluation:fluenced by Freud,pioneer of stream-of-consciousness,founder of psychological realism2.works:The Portrait of A Lady(masterpiece):international themes3.Daisy Millernarrator:Frederick WinterbourneDaisy Miller:Freedom an individuality,innocent,a pretty American FlirtEmily Dickinson1.works features:(1)she uses a particular rhyme pattern,uses dashes and captical letters as a means of emphasis(2)simplicity and plainness(3)focus on a single image or symbol(4)poems are personal and meditative(5)personification2.idea:skeptical about the relationship between man and nature,concerns religion,death,immortality,love,nature3.works:This is my letter to the World; I heard a Fly buzz-when I died; Because I could not stop for DeathTheodore Dreiser1.works:Sister Carrie2.trilogy:The Financier; The Titan; The Stoic greatest work:An American Tragedy3.idea:naturalist(1)heredity and environment are the forces determining mans destiny,under what life was ironic,even tragic(2)human beings life was trapped into a welter of inscrutable forces(3)Darwins idea of survial of the fittest is embodied as kill or to be killed in Dreisers works “英美文学选读”串讲资料(5) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 (4)explain the insignificance of life and attack the conventional moral standards(5)materialism is the core.man has a meaningless,endless search for satisfaction of his desires,desires for money(6)sex is another human desire.sexual beauty symbolizes the social statusChapter7 The Modern Period(England)1.background:second half of the 19th century to early of the 20th decades(1)natural and social sciences enormously advanced(2)capitalism came into its monopoly stage(3)the gap between the rich and the poor was further deepened(4)World War 1 2 broke2.what ideas influence this period:all kinds of philosophical ideas(1)Karl Marx: scientific socialism(2)Darwins theory of evolution,survival of the fittest(3)Freuds analytical psychology(4)The irrationalist philosophers give immense influence3.ideas:(1)Modernism originated from skepticism and disillusion of capitalism(2)The French symbolism announced modernism(3)takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base.The major themes are the distorted,alienated and ill relationships4.difference between Modernism and RealismModernism is a reaction against realism in many aspects(1)Modernism rejects rationalism,which is the theoretical base of Realism(2)Modernism refects the source of Realism,i.e. the external,objective,material world(3)Modernism rejects almost all the traditional elements in literature5.D.H.Lawences works features:(1)he interests in exploring the psychological development,he thinks life impulse is mans instinct.any conscious oppression will cause distortion of the individuals personality(2)make a psychological exploration of human relationships,especially those between men and women(3)he emphasizes that its capitalist industrialization that turn man into inhuman machines.And the desires for power and money cause the alienation of human reationships “英美文学选读”串讲资料(6) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 6.John Osborne:Look back in Anger Angry Young Man,the working-class drama and the Theater of AbsurbGeorge Bernard Shawn 1.idea:against art for arts sake,art should serve social purposes by reflecting human life,revealing social contradictions and educating common people2.works features:prolem plays,only one passion:indignation(1)showing ones character by the expense of anothers (2)inversion3.works:Mrs Warrens Profession(a play about the economic oppression of woman); St. Joan(historical play); The Apple Cart(political play); The Doctors Dilemma(political play)John Galsworthy1.works:trilogy:The Man of Property; In Chancery; To Let2.The Man of Property:Soames(husband),Irene(wife),Bosinney(wifes lover)the predominant possessive instinct of the ForsytesSoames represents the principle that the accumulation of wealth in the aim of life,for he considers everything in terms of ones property,he never pays any attention to his wifes thoughts and feelings,he takes her merely as part of his own property.theme:human relationships of the contemporary English Society are merely an extension of property relationshipsWilliam Butler Yeats1.works:The Lake Isle of Innisfree; Down by the Salley GardensT.S.Eliot1.works:The Waste Land(1)presents physical disorder and spiritual decadence in the modern western society(2)reflects disillusion and despair of a whole post war generation.anguish,menace,sterility had been afflicting all sensitive members of the postwar generation(3)concerns with the spiritual breakup of a modern civilization in which human life has lost its meaning(4)reflects the 20th century peoples disillusion and frustration in a meaningless and boring world2.works:The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock:dramatic monologue in ironic tonecontent:the meditation of an aging young man over the proposing marriage “英美文学选读”串讲资料(7) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 theme:the speakers incapability of facing up to love and to life in a sterile upper-class worldD.H.Lawence1.works:The Rainbow; Women in Love; Lady Chatterleys Lover2.Sons and Loverscontents:ignorant,drunken and brutish father(Mr.Morel),the weary,frustrated mother(Mrs.Morel),the intelligent and ambitious woman,tries to find emotional fulfillment in her sons(Paul).she hopes her sons should never became miners,they will be educated to realize her ideals of success,happiness and social respect.Paul is incapable of escaping the overpowering emotional bond imposed by her mothers love.(distorted relationship)James Joyce1.scene:the same setting:Ireland,especially Dublin,the same subject:the Irish people and their life2. works:Ulysses:an account of mans life during one day3.stream of conscienceness:presents unspoken materials directly from the psyche of the characters,or make the characters tell their own inner thoughts in monologuesa literary form presenting psychological aspects of charactersThe events seem to be trivial,insignificant,but below the surface of them,the natural flow of mental reflections,the shifting moods and impulses in the characters inner world are richly presented in an frank and penetrating way.(Ulysses)4.Araby(from Dubliners):a tale of the frustrated quest for beautytheme:the child lives not with his parents but with an uncle and aunt,a symbol of that isolation and lack of proper relation between parents and childrenChapter8 The Modern Period(America)1.age:second half of the 19th century to early decades of the 20th century2.background:(1)the U.S. has become the most powerful country(2)technological revolution (3)a decline in moral standard,a spiritual wasteland,feelings of fear,loss,disorientation and disillusionment3. influencing ideas:(1)the same as English Modern period: Karl Marx,Darwin,Freud “英美文学选读”串讲资料(8) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 (2)stream of consciousness:4.The Lost Generation by Gertrude5.John Steinbeck: The Grapes of WrathAllen Ginsberg: Howl,the manifesto of Beat MovementSalinger: The Catcher in the Rye6.modernisms features:literature:convey a vision of social breakdown and moral decaywriter: develop techniques that could represent a break with the past.modernistic works are discontinuity and fragmentation7.The differences between Modernism America and England(1)American wirters emphasize the concrete sensory images or details as the direct conveyor of experience(2)modern fiction employ the first narration or confine the reader to the central consciousness or one characters point of viewcommon ground:directness,compression,vividness,sparing of wordsEzra Pound1.imagist:(1)dirext treatment of poetic subjects(2)eliminat ornamental words(3)rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of a metronomeexample:In a Station of the Metro2.works:In a Station of the metro; The River-Merchents Wife; A pact(free verse)Robert Lee Frost1.works:The Road Not Taken-Mountain Interval,uncertainty of the speakers choice between safety and unknown(meditative) Stopping by Woods on a snowy Evening-New HampshireAfter Apple-Picking,a mans best efforts ever satisfy God?2.idea:a momentary stay against confusion,like Wordsworth3.The Road Not Taken:took the one less travelled by and that has made all the differenceEugene INeill1.works: The Hairy Apecharacters seek meaning and purpose in their lives through love or religion or revenge.the result is disappointment or despair.use Expressionism2.The Hairy Ape:concerns the problem of modern mans position.Yanks sense of belonging nowhere is a typical of the mood of isolation and alienation in the early twentieth century in the US and the whole world as well. “英美文学选读”串讲资料(9) 2004-01-04 16:56:14 F.Scott Fitzgerald1.both an insider and outsider of the Jazz Age2.The Great Gatsbynarrator:Nick CarrawayErnest Hemingway1.Hemingway hero(1)a wounded hero confronts all the difficulties of the situation with his dignity and courage.(In Our Times-Nick Adams)(2)a group of wandering,amusing and aimless people caught in the war.(The Sun Also Rises-The Lost Generation)(3)man suffers both physically and mentally,and is doomed to suffer,refute Gods kindness to man.(A Farewell to Arms-Frederick Henry)(4)proves lifes worth and there are causes worth dying for.(For Whom the Bell Tolls-Robert Jordan)(5)show great respect for the struggle of mankind against unconquerable natural forces,though only a partial victoy is possible.(The Old Man and the Se