美国文学史期末复习 名词解释简答term

1、black humor: the term black humor was created in 1920s, but it was not noticed until 1960s. it was particularly a literary phenomenon in america after ww. black humor, in literature, is drama, novel, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruel

2、ty of the modern world. ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic face. josegh heller and kury vonnegut are famous for their novels of black hu

3、mor. especially hellers catch22.imagism: a poetic movement of england and the u.s. that flourished from 1909 to 1917. the movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the direct treatment of the thing” and the economy of wording. “poetic techniques to record exactly the momentary impress

4、ions”three main principles of the imagist movement (1912) : 1 direct treatment of poetic subjects 2 elimination of merely ornamental or superfluous words, to use no word that does not contribute to the presentation. 3 rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the se

5、quence of a metronome. 4 pounds in a station of the metro is a well-known poem.local colorism: local colorism is a type of writing that was popular in the late 19th(1860s1870s). the feature of local colorism are: (1) presenting a locale distinguished from the outside world; (2)describing the exotic

6、of the picturesque; (3)glorifying the past; (4) showing things as they are; (5) influence of setting on characters. the well known local colorism authors were mark twain with his book tom sawyer and the adventures of huckleberry finn, bret hartes with his the luck of the roaring camp.american purita

7、nism: the settlement of north american continent by english started in the early 17th century. under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and fourth decades of the seventeenth century to the northern english colonies in the new worlda migration that laid the foundation for t

8、he religious, intellectual, and social order of new england. puritanism, however was not only a historically specific phenomenon coincident with the founding of new zealand; it was also a way of being in the worlda style of response to lived experiencethat has reverberated through american life ever

9、 since. as a culture heritage, puritanism did have a profound influence on the early american mind. american puritanism also had a enduring influence on american literature.free verse: free verse is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length, and that attempts avoid any predetermined verse

10、structure; instead, it uses the cadenees of natural speech. while it alternates stressed and unstressed syllables as stricter verse forms do, free verse does so in a looser way. whitemans poetry is an example of free verse at its most impressive, for example song of myself. it has since been used ez

11、ra pound, t.s. eliot and other major american poets of the 20th century. walt whitemans leaves of grass is, perhaps , the most notable example.lost generation: the lost generation is a term first used by stein to describe the post-war i generation of american writers: men and women haunted by a sens

12、e of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.2full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest american literature to date.3the three best-known representatives of lost generatio

13、n are f.scott fitzgerald, hemingway and john dos passos.stream of consciousness: in literary criticism, stream of consciousness denotes a literary technique which seeks to describe an individuals point of view by giving the written equivalent of the characters thought processes. sense of consciousne

14、ss writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. sense of consciousness writing is usually regarded as a special form of interior monologue and is characterized by associative leaps in syntax and punctuation that can make the prose difficult to follow, tracing as they do a characters f

15、ragmentary thoughts and sensory feelings. sense of consciousness writing gained rapid prominence in the twentieth century. famous writers to employ this technique in the english language include william faulkner with his the sound and the fury.theater of the absurd: this is the kind of theater which

16、 develops from the existentialist philosophy, mainly in europe. playwrights: ionesco, adamou, genet, samuel beckett, edward albee, and harold pinter who are founders of the school. edward albees whos afraid of virgin woolf? , the zoo story are famous. a form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of

17、 human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, plots that lack realistic or logical development. plays that stress the illogical or irrational aspects of experience usually show the pointlessness of modern life. have written pla

18、ys of this kind.the beat generation: the beat generation is a group of american young writers and artists popular in the 1950s and early 1960s. the member of the beat generation were new bohemian libertines, who engaged in a spontaneous, sometimes messy, creativity. the beat writers produced a body

19、of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non conformity and for its non conforming style. the major writing are jack kerouacs on the road and allen ginsbergs howl.code hero: the hemingway hero is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent, a man of action,

20、and one of few words. that is an individualist keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place. these people are usually spiritual strong, people of certain skills, and most of them encounter death many times. the heroes in his book are all have something in common whi

21、ch hemingway values: they have seen the cold world and for one cause or another, they boldly and courageously face the reality; whatever the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure. the hemingway code hero has an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life, though he is

22、 pessimistic that is hemingway. confessional poets: it is an autobiographical mode of verse that reveals the poets personal problems with unusual frankness. the term is usually applied to certain poets of the united states from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, notably robert lowell. the terms disti

23、nctive sense depends on the candid examination of what were at the time of writing virtually unmentionable kinds of private distress. the genuine strengths of confessional poets, combined with the pity evoked by their high suicide rate, encouraged in the reading public a romantic confusion between p

24、oetic excellence and inner torment.multiple point of view: it is one of the literary techniques william faulkner used, which shows within the same story how the characters reacted differently to the same person or the same situation. the use of this technique gave the story a circular form wherein o

25、ne event was the center, with various points of view radiating from it. the multiple points of view technique makes the reader recognize the difficulty of arriving at a true judgment.american naturalism: the american naturalists accepted the more negative interpretation of darwins evolutionary theor

26、y and used it to accout for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were regarded as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.2) naturalism is evolved from realism when the authors tone in writing becomes less se

27、rious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic. it is no more than a gloomy philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence.3dreiser with his sister carrie is a leading figure of his school. harlem renaissance：harlem renaissance refers to a period of outstanding literary vi

28、gor and creativity that occurred in the united states during the 1920s.2 the harlem renaissance changed the images of literature created by many black and white american writers. new black images were no longer obedient and docile. instead they showed a new confidence and racial pride. 3 the center

29、of this movement was the vast black ghetto of harlem. in new york city.4 the leading figures are langston hughes, james w.johnson.etc 1/what are major features of hemingways writing style?(1) he may be classified to the school of naturalismscientific observation of life, without idealism. (2) iceber

30、g theory of writing: lean/economical style:(3) colloquial style: influences by mark twain(4) symbolism/ stream of consciousness(5) theme: grace under pressure; war and its effect upon people(6) code hero: henry jack barn, satiago(7) simple sentence, nature, direct, fresh, clear【his sentences are sho

31、rt and simple; language is vigorous and positive in colloquial style; gorgeous adjectives are avoided; words are concrete, specific and more commonly found, casual and conversational. apparently natural as his style seems to be, his style is deliberate and polished. its simplicity can be disastrousl

32、y deceptive, as it is highly suggestive and connotative and capable of offering layers of undercurrent of meaning. iceberg theory: one eighth is above the water; all of the rest is underneath the water. hemingways strength lies in his short sentences and very specific details in his restraint and un

33、derstatement. in his opinion, a writer has got to catch “the whiteness of the bone”, to catch the one specific thing and bring it to life and make it vivid for the readers and leave everything else out.】2/compare whitman and dicksons poetry in terms of content and technique?1.similarities:(1)themati

34、cally, they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergent america, its expansion, its individualism and its americanness, their poetry being part of “american renaissance”.(2)technically, they both added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention of the i

35、ambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before: they were pioneers in american poetry.(newness pioneers)2.differences:(1)whitman seems to keep his eye on society at large; dickinson explores the inner life of the individual.(2)whereas whitman is “national” in his outlook, dickinson

36、 is “regional”.(3)dickinson has the “catalogue technique” (concise, direct, simple style and diction) which whitman doesnt have (endlessallinclusive catalogue sentences).3/what are major feature of american poetry in 1950s and 1960s?i.features1.some poets found inspiration in the past.2.poetry becam

37、e more attuned to political and social issues of the period.3.poets became more visible in american public life.4.there was no prescribed form for poetry.5.poets became more political. themes such as homosexuality, racism, etc. are included in the poems. in 1960s, poetry became more and more politic

38、al.4/what factors make catcher in the rye a success in american literature?popular with the postwar young generation who have found in holden an approximation of their own experiencethe books success has also to do with its superb handling of language.5/what are the major theme of catch22dehumanizat

39、ion of all contemporary institutions corruptions of individual in power.it is not only a war novel, but also a novel about peoples life in peaceful time. this novel attacked the dehumanization of all contemporary institutions and corruptions of individuals who gain power in institutions. armed-force

40、s are the most outrageous example of the two evils.6/discuss faulkners theme, style and point of view.point of viewhe generally shows a grim picture of human society where violence and cruelty are frequently included, but his later works showed more optimism. his intention was to show the evil, hars

41、h events in contrast to such eternal virtues as love, honour, pity, compassion, self-sacrifice, and thereby expose the faults of society. he felt that it was a writers duty to remind his readers constantly of true values and virtues.themes(1)history and racehe explains the present by examining the p

42、ast, by telling the stories of several generations of family to show how history changes life. he was interested in the relationship between blacks and whites, especially concerned about the problems of the people who were of the mixed race of black and white, unacceptable to both races.(2)deteriora

43、tion(3)conflicts between generations, classes, races, man and environment(4)horror, violence and the abnormalstyle / features of his works(1)complex plot(2)he used the device of stream of consciousness (3)he used multiple point of view and a circular form instead of a linear structure. (4)the violat

44、ion of chronology in the narrative structure is matched by a violation of everyday language habits in faulkners prose style.(5)courtroom rhetoric: formal language(6)he stressed authorial transcendence to avoid authorial intrusion in narration and characterization(7)“anti-hero”: weak, fable, vulnerab

45、le (true people in modern society)(8)his prose varies from colloquial, regional, to formal diction and cadences(声调)of american speech.(9)“despair” and “doom” are the frequent motifs in a world of racial exploitation and violence, civil wars, macabre murders, suicides, labor pains, etc.(10 )faulkner

46、not only provided the reader with more than external events and details, he also probed the inner lives of those who are living in the south and trying to cope with the problems of a society in decline and transition.he has a group of women writers following him, including oconnor and eudora welty7/

47、whats the difference between henry james realism and mark twains realism?although james and twain both worked for realism, there were obvious differences between them. in thematic terms, james wrote mostly of the upper reaches of american society, whereas mark twain dealt largely with the lower stra

48、ta of society. technically, james pursued the psychological realism, but mark twains contribution to the development of realism and to american literature as a whole was partly through his theories of local colorism in american fiction, and partly through his colloquial style.henry james believed th

49、at 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 is. james shifted the ground

50、of realistic art from the outer to the inner world. mark twain preferred to represent social life through portraits of local places which he knew best. he drew heavily from his own rich fund of knowledge of people and places. he confined himself to the life with which he was familiar. by quoting fro

51、m his own experience, mark twain managed to transform into art the freedom and humor, in short, the finest elements of western culture.8/in connection with american romanticism, how do you understand the “newness” of the american as a nation?there is an amount of truth in describing the americans as

52、 some-what different from europeans. their ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that america was to be a new garden of eden for man were distinctly american plan. the ideals may have been mere talk, and the dream may have been in the process of evaporation or even may have

53、 been just the figment of imagination, but their very existence in any form in the minds of the people did probably produce a feeling of newness, a feeling strong enough to inspire the romantic imagination and channel it into a different vein of writing. hence the sense of mission with which some am

54、erican romanticists undertook to represent their people in the new world. anyone who tries to appreciate american literature in general and american romantic writing in particular in english and european terms will have to be content if they fail to find any thing great there.9/is there symbolism in

55、 the book moby dick?a) it is a mixture of fantasy and realism based on the south pacific whaling industry. it might be read as initiation story about ishmael, the outcast, finding himeslf in a real world of hard work and danger and an unreal world of speculation and mystery.b) it is a fabulos dramatization of ahabs obsessed dermination to revenge