美国文学简史复习纲要

1、精选文档美国文学简史复习纲要Colonial Period殖民时期(1600s-1790s)American Puritanism美国清教主义：self-examination/self-improvementI. JonathanEdwards (1703-1758): Calvinist 加尔文教徒II. BenjaminFranklin本杰明富兰克林(1706-1790)(1) PoorRichard ' s Almanac(2) The Autobiography 自传Early AmericanRomanticism早期美国浪漫主义时期(1800s-1840s)1. feat

2、ures(1) As alogical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticismwas both imitative and independent .II. WashingtonIrving华盛顿欧文 (1783-1859)1. several names attached to Irving(1) firstAmerican writer(2) themessenger sent from the new world to the old world(3) father ofAmerican

3、 literature美国文学之父2. works(1) The Sketch Book见闻札记：Rip Van Winkle , The Legend of SleepyHollowIII. JamesFenimore Cooper 库柏(1789-1851)1. works(1) Leatherstocking Tales皮袜子故事集：TheDeerslayer, The Last of theMohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The Prairie2. literary achievementsCooper ' s Leathersto

4、cking Tales effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into theWest. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped tointroduce western tradition to American literature.Summitof Romanticism - NewEnglandTranscendentalism/AmericanRenaissance新英格兰超验主义-美国浪漫主义鼎

5、盛时期(1840s-)I. Appearance 提出 1836, "Nature " by Emerson 爱默生、论自然II. Features1. spirit/oversoul2. importance of individualism3. nature - symbol of spirit/God4. focus in intuition (irrationalism andsubconsciousness)III. Influence1. It helped to create the first American renaissance美国文学复兴 -oneo

6、fthe most prolific period in American literature、 independentAmericanculture.IV. RalphWaldo Emerson (1802-1882 )1. works(1) Nature the manifesto ofAmerican Transcendentalism.论自然 的发表是美国超验主义出现的标志。(2) The American Scholar 美国学者 regarded as the “Declaration of IntellectualIndependence ”.V. HenryDavid Tho

7、reau亨利大卫梭罗(1817-1862 )(1) Walden 瓦尔登湖 "Simplicity - simplify!”(2) A Plea forJohn Brown (an essay) : He hated the human injustice as represented bythe slavery system .Late Romanticism浪漫主义后期I. NathanielHawthorne(1804-1864 )1. works(1) The Scarlet Letter 红字：HesterPrynne 女主人公、Arthur Dimmesdale 通奸的牧

8、师、Roger Chillingworth 化名的丈夫、Pearl女儿2. point of view(1) Evil is atthe core of human life, “that blackness in Hawthorne ”(2) Wheneverthere is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation togeneration (causality).3. style - typical romantic writerII. HermanMelville (1819-1891)Mob

9、y Dick 白鲸RomanticPoetsI. WaltWhitman沃尔特惠特曼(1819-1892)1. work: Leaves of Grass (9 editions) 草叶集(1) Song ofMyself 自我之歌(2) WhenLilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom ' d 为纪念林肯总统而写(3) I HearAmerica singing2. style: "freeverse ”自由诗体3. influence(1) His bestwork has become part of the common property o

10、f Western culture.(2) He hasbeen compared to a mountain in American literary history.II. Emily Dickinson艾米丽迪金森(1830-1886 )1. works(1) My LifeClosed Twice before Its Close(2) Because ICan ' t Stop for Death(3) I Heard aFly Buzz - When I died2. themes: based on her own experiences/joys/sorrows3. s

11、tyle(1) poemswithout titles(2) directness,brevity(3) capitalletters emphasis(4) shortpoems, mainly two stanzasIII. Comparison:Whitman vs. Dickinson1. Similarities: Thematically,they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergent America, itsexpansion, its individualism and its Americanness, the

12、ir poetry being part of aAmerican Renaissance ".(2) Technically,they both added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking freeof the convention of the iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in formunknown before: they were pioneers in American poetry.2. differences: Whitman

13、seems to keep his eye on society at large; Dickinson explores the inner life of theindividual.(2) WhereasWhitman is “ national " in his outlook, Dickinsonis a regional ".(3) Dickinson has the a catalogue technique ” (direct, simple style) which Whitman doesn ' t have.EdgarAllen Poe 埃德加

14、爱伦坡()I. Works1. short stories(1) detectivestories推理小说和侦探小说之父a. Ms Foundin a Bottle瓶中手稿b. TheMurders in the Rue Morgue 莫格街杀人案(2) Revenge,death and rebirth 、gothic novels哥特小说a. The Fall of the House of Usher亚舍古屋的倒塌(3) Literarytheorya. The PoeticPrinciple :最诗意的莫过于美丽女人的早逝b. Poems: The Raven 乌鸦、Annabel L

15、ee 安娜贝尔李II. Themes: "Poe isnot interested in anything alive. Everything in Poe writings is dead. " .horror.III. Style traditional, but not easy to readThe Age ofRealism 现实主义时期：内战(1861-1865 )-一战I. Background:From Romanticism to Realism1. 1880' s urbanization: from free competition to mo

16、nopolycapitalism2. the closing of American frontierII. ThreeGiants in Realistic Period1. WilliamDean Howells (1837-1920) - “Dean of American RealismRealisticprinciples : habitualmoods/motives(2) Works: The Rise of Silas Lapham2. HenryJames ( 1843-1916 )a. theme: international themeDaisyMillerThePort

17、rait of a LadyThe Ambassadors 大使：Strether 主人公The Wingsof the DoveThe GoldenBowl(1) Point ofviewa. Psychologicalanalysis, forefather of stream ofconsciousnessb. Psychologicalrealismc. Highly-refinedlanguage3. Mark Twain (see nextsection)Local Colorism1860s,1870s7890sHamlin Garland:Crumbling IdolsBret

18、 Harte:The Luck of Roaring CampKate ChopinThe Awakening觉醒I. Mark Twain(1835-1910 )- Mississippi1. Samuel Langhorne Clemens 真名2. works(1) The GildedAge镀金时代(2) The advantages of Huckleberry Finn :Jim、raft 木筏(3) TheAdventures of Tom Sawyer(4) Life onthe Mississippi3. style(1) colloquialstyle , vernacul

19、ar language, dialects口语方言的运用(2) localcolour(3) humour(4) socialcriticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)II. Comparisonof the three“giants " of American Realism1. ThemeHowells middle classJames - upper classTwain - lower class2. TechniqueHowells - smiling/genteel realismJames -

20、psychological realismTwain - local colourism and colloquialismAmerican Naturalism 美国自然主义I. Background1. Darwin ' s theory: "natural selection”2. Spenser ' s idea:"social Darwinism”3. French Naturalism:ZoraII. Features1. environment and heredity2. general tone:hopelessness, despair,

21、 gloom, ugly sideof the societyIII. significanceIt prepares the way for the writing of 1920s'"lost generation " and T.S. Eliot.IV. StephenCrane: Maggie : A Girlof the Streets 、The Red Badge of CourageV. FrankNorris: McTeague、The Octopus railwayVI. TheodoreDreiser:Sister Carrie 、 An Ame

22、rican TragedyVII. JackLondon: Martin EdenThe Modern PeriodThel920s： Roaring 20s、Jazz AgeThe 1920s is a flowering period of American literature. It is considered“the secondrenaissance " of American literature.(第一次是超验主义)Background : FirstWorld War - "a war to end all wars ” 一战 Imagism(1908-1

23、917)1. BackgroundImagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient Chinese poetry andJapanese literature “haiku ” II. Development:three stages1. 19081909: London, Hulme2. 19121914: England ->America, Ezra Pound3. 19141917: Amy LowellIII. Whatis an "image " ?An image is defined by Poun

24、das that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant oftime,“a vortex or cluster of fused ideas ”aendowed with energy” . The exactword must bring the effect of the object beforethe reader as it had presenteditself to the poet' s mind at the time of writing.VI. EzraPound(18

25、85-1972)1. works(1) In aStation of the Metro(2) Cantos : "the intellectual diarysince 1915”(3) Hugh Selwyn Mauberley 2.ContributionHe is regarded as the father of modernAmerican poetry.VII. T. S. Eliot1. worksThe Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockThe Waste Land (epic)Four QuartersMurder in the Cat

26、hedral(play)2. Principle: objective correlative客观对应物VIII. Wallace Stevens(1879-1955):Anecdote of the Jar 、The Emperor ofIce-CreamIX. William Carlos Williams (1883-1963 ): The Red Wheelbarrow 、Spring and All、PatersonX. Robert Frost(1874-1963):在总统就职典礼上朗诵自己的诗歌nation 'sunofficial Poet Laureate1. wor

27、ks - poemsNorth of Boston : The Road Not Taken 、Stopping by Woods on a SnowyEvening、Picking Applesstyle/features of his poems Most of his poems took New England as setting, and the subjectswere chosen from daily life of ordinary people.(2) Although he was popular during 1920s, he didn' t experim

28、ent likeothermodern poets. He used conventional forms, plain language, traditional metre, and wrote in a pastured tradition.IX. CarlSandburg(1878-1967) :Chicago Poems 、Fog"the word of thepeopleE. E. Cummings(1894-1963):" a juggler with syntax, grammar and diction”individualism, “ painter p

29、oet ”Hart Crane(1899-1932):The BridgeMarianne Moore:The FishNovelsin the 1920sI. F. ScottFitzgerald(1896-1940)1. works(1) This Sideof Paradise(2) The Great Gatsby : Daisy、Tom Buchanan 、NickCarraway(3) Tender isthe Night(4) Tales ofthe Jazz Age2. point of view(1) Heexpressed what the young people bel

30、ieved in the 1920s, the so-called “AmericanDream " is false in nature.(2) His novelsfollow a pattern: dream lack of attraction failure and despair.3. The GreatGatsbyNarrative point of view - NickHe is related to everyone in the novel and is calm and detected observerwho is never quick to make j

31、udgements. Selected omniscient point of viewII. ErnestHemingway(1899-1961): the spokesman of the Lost Generationby Gertrude Stein (1874-1946 )1. Works: protagonist: the typical Hemingway hero The SunAlso Rises : Jack Barnes、(2) A Farewell to Arms : FredericHenry 、Catherine(3) For Whomthe Bell Tolls(

32、4) The OldMan and the Sea : Santiago2. themes - "grace under pressure ”(1) war andinfluence of war on people, with scenes connected with hunting, bull fightingwhich demand stamina and courage, and with the question “ how to live withpain " , " how human being live gracefully under pre

33、ssure ”.(2) “ codehero ”The Hemingway hero is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes,sensitive and intelligent, a man of action, and one of few words. That is anindividualist keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in adreadful place. These people are usually spiritual stron

34、g, people of certainskills, and most of them encounter death many times.3. style(1) Iceberg principle: understatement,implied things电报式对话III. SinclairLewis “the worst important writer in American literature” 美国第一位诺贝尔文学奖获得者。A sociological writer .1. Works : Main StreetIV. ThomasWolfe: a personal writ

35、er .V. SherwoodAnderson(1876-1941):Winesburg, Ohio grotesque s小镇下层民众的精神世界。VI. WillaCather(1873-1947) : women protagonists 、prairie state of theNebraska 、immigrants1. works(1) The Songof the Lark(2) My Antonia :Jim BurdenSouthernLiterature/ RenaissanceI. WilliamFaulkner(1897-1962):The Sound and the F

36、ury :theCompsons、Benjy/Caddy/Quentin/Jason 、DilseyAs I LayDyingLight in August :JoeChristmas、Joanna Burden 、Lena Grove、HightowerAbsalom,AbsalomA Rose for Emily1. Themes: nostalgia historyand raceHe explains the present by examining the past, by telling the stories ofseveral generations of family to

37、show how history changes life. He wasinterested in the relationship between blacks and whites, especially concernedabout the problems of the people who were of the mixed race of black and white,unacceptable to both races.2. style/features of his works“anti-hero ” : weak, fable, vulnerable (truepeopl

38、e in modern society)(2) Jefferson, Yoknapatawpha county, the American Deep SouthI. Eudora welty: Death of a TravelingSalesmanII. The New Criticism新批评主义：注重对文本本身的分析Section2 The 1930s Radical 1930sIII. Background: Great Depression (1929"Black Thursday ")IV. Writers of 1930s1. social concern a

39、nd social involvement2. revival of naturalistic tradition of Dreiser andNorrisV. John Dos Psssos(1896-1970) U.S.A : Newsreel/ Biographies/ Camera Eye VI. John Steinbeck(1902-1968)1. Works(1) Of Mice and Men : twomigrant workers(2) TheGrapes of Wrath : crisis novel 危机小说、bible、OklahomaCalifornia 、the

40、Joads , Roseof sharon : as injusticeisbuilding up and up, something is going to explore into violence.American DramaI. Eugene O ' Neill(1888-1953)1. TheHairy Ape : Yank、self-identity/senseof belonging2. Long Day ' sJourney into Night : the Tyrones 、3. His position:He was the first playwright

41、 to explore serious themes in theatre. Withhim, American drama developed into a form of literature. And in him, Americandrama came of age (mature). He came only after Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw inthe world of drama.II. ArthurMiller(1915-2005)1. All My Sons2. TheCrucible 炼狱3. Death Ofa Salesman : W

42、illy LomanTennessee Williams(1) The GlassMenagerie(2) AStreetcar Named DesireEdward Albeea. Who' sAfraid of Virginia Woolf?III. Literaturein the 1960sSection1 Poetry1. Schools ofPoetry (time, representatives, major features)1. Confessional school: 自白派诗人Sylvia Plath(1932-1963)The Colossus and Oth

43、er Poems 、Ariel、The Bell Jar、"Daddy "、"Lady Lazarus ”2. The Beat Generation:Allen Ginsberg(1926-1997)Howl嚎叫、垮掉一代的写照Section2 Fiction1. Post-WarRealism1. VladimirNabokov(1899-1977):Lolita: HumbertHumbert2. JackKerouac: On the Road : Dean Moriarty 、SalParadise aspontaneous prose3. J. D.Salinger (1919-2010 )(1) The Catcherin the Rye: Holden Caulfield 、Phoebe、phony4. Truman Capote(1924-1984)Breakfast at Tiffany ' s : HollyGolightlydreamchaser/drifter 、 Paul、 FredIn Cold Blood a nonfictionnov