三十年代的美国文学

1、三十年代的美国文学A. BackgroundThe great stock market crash of 1929-the Great DepressionAn abrupt shift to more radical lifestylesStruggling to find a solution to the global depressionPresidential Franklin Roosevelts “ New Deal” 罗斯福新政罗斯福新政: attempted to use government spending to combat large-scale unemploym

2、ent and severe negative growth. end the depression until the beginning of WW2Content: Social involvement and concern about the societyTechnique: the revival of naturalism and realism in addition to the influence of modernism the foremost novelist of the Great DepressionJohn Steinbeck(1902 - 1968)- A

3、merican novelist, story writer, playwright, and essayist. John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Born in California, of German-Irish ancestry. His father was a county treasurer.Studied marine biology in Stanford, although he never took his degree.He travelled to New York whe

4、re he worked as a reporter, but was fired. He then took odd jobs.During World War Two, Steinbeck became a war correspondent.In the 1960s, he made a tour of 40 states of the USA with his poodle, publishing Travels with Charley in search of America (1962) as a result of his journey. In the same year h

5、e was awarded the Nobel prize1929-1934: Cup of Gold (1929) 金杯; The Pastures of Heaven(1932) 天国牧场; etc.1935-1939: Tortilla Flat (1935) 托第拉平地; Of Mice and Men (1937) 人鼠之间; The Grapes of Wrath(1939) 愤怒的葡萄, etc.1940-1968: Pearl (1947) 珍珠; East of Eden (1952) 伊甸园之东，etc.He is probably best remembered for

6、this strong sociological novel, which is considered as one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century.Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940.Frequently read in American high school and college literature classes.a. setting: the great depressionb. story: a family of sharecroppers, the Joads were dri

7、ven from their land by drought and the Dust Bowl, and forced to endure the hardships of migrant workers moving West.c. characters:Tom Joad: released from prison after serving time for man-slaughter. He returns to find his parents farm deserted, and they are planning to leave for California.Pa and Ma

8、 Joad: Toms parentsRose of Sharon: his sisterd. Plot: Like other Oklahoma farmers, they have seen their crops ruined by the Eastern banks and corporate farmers are repossessing the land, and the Joads have little choice but to look for work in the orchards and fields out west.There is little hope of

9、 finding a stable community, even of a steady income.Their family is broken apart as the pregnant Rose of Sharons husband, Connie, leaves to seek better opportunities. In the end, she miscarries, choosing to breast feed a starving man against the power of society.e. structureThree Parts: chap.1chap.

10、10 Draught in OklahomaChap.13chap.18 The Epic TrekChap.19-chap.30 Life in CaliforniaRelationship between the novel and Bible:The similar structure旧约出埃及这一神话典故的结构模式f. theme*Mans Inhumanity to ManSteinbeck consistently and woefully points to the fact that the migrants great suffering is caused not by b

11、ad weather or mere misfortune but by their fellow human beings. Historical, social, and economic circumstances separate people into rich and poor, landowner and tenant, and the people in the dominant roles struggle viciously to preserve their positions.The Saving Power of Family and Fellowship“twent

12、y families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream.”Ma Joad: “We are the people”Tom eventually realizes: “his people are all people”.*The Dignity of Wrath The triumph of humanity As long as people maint

13、ain a sense of injusticea sense of anger against those who seek to undercut their pride in themselvesthey will never lose their dignity.g. symbols*Rose of Sharons PregnancyIt holds the promise of a new beginning. When she delivers a stillborn baby, that promise seems broken. But rather than slipping

14、 into despair, the family moves boldly and gracefully forward, and the novel ends on a surprising note of hope.*The image of grape :symbol of anger 圣经中多处把上帝的愤怒和葡萄联系在一起.“那天使就把镰刀扔在地上，收取了地上的葡萄，丢在上帝愤怒的大酒窖中。”。“恶人将饮上帝愤怒的酒，并被它淹没，受到最后的惩罚。” (旧约-申命记） Note: the name of the novel南北战争时期，美国诗人朱莉亚沃德豪写的“共和国战歌”：“我们看到

15、上帝降临的荣耀，他双脚踩踏着愤怒的葡萄，他拔出闪电这把无敌的利剑，他的真理在奔腾呼啸。”Conclusion1. The novel is full of bitterness but not exactly despair. There is still a ray of hope. 2. It helped toward increasing the nations awareness of its problem. 3. It is Steinbecks clear expression of sympathy with the disposed and the wretched. So

16、 it was accused of being communist-oriented and banned for a long time. And Steinbeck himself is regarded as “Spokesman of the oppressed”. 4. Style of Steinbeck: conversation dialect and full of slang.In American literature, drama has a very short history, influenced by Europe for a long time. Altho

17、ugh the theatre was popular in America from colonial times, and although many Americans wrote plays which were produced, American drama of a quality to command respect abroad is the product of the 20th century. In 1930s, it began to flourish in rebellion.The greatest dramatists: Eugene ONeill Tennes

18、see WilliamsArthur Miller1. BackgroundStimulated by the naturalistic, symbolic, and critical drama of Europe, experimental theatres sprang up in America in the 1910s. In the meantime, modern American dramatists began to attract attention. Among them, Eugene O Neill was standing out. These authors wr

19、ote for the new theatre. They not only tried to avoid the clichs of plot, characterization, dialog, acting, and staging which had stultified the older drama, but their experimentation peculiar to the period was expressionism表现主义-the mingling of the realistic and the fantastic or symbolic. Experiment

20、s of this kind abound in the work of Eugene O Neill, the greatest American dramatist of the interwar period.a. lifeborn in a Broadway hotel room in New York City on October 16,1888. won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936, and Pulitzer Prizes for four of his plays: Beyond the Horizon (1920); Anna

21、 Christie (1922); Strange Interlude (1928); and Long Days Journey Into Night (1957). ONeill is credited with raising American dramatic theater from its narrow origins to an art form respected around the world. He is regarded as Americas premier playwright.O Neill began writing in a naturalistic vein

22、, as is evident in his plays like The Hairy Ape, Beyond the Horizon, and Anna Christie.As a result of his tragic view of life, his works in totality indicate chaos and hopelessness. In the late 1930s, he withdrew into retirement and seclusion. During the early 1940s he began to suffer from a nervous

23、 disease which prevented him from completing his great project.Beyond the Horizon 天外天The Iceman Cometh 卖冰的人来了Long Days Journey into Night 进入黑夜的漫长旅程Emperor Jones 琼斯皇帝The Hairy Ape 毛猿Comments:ONeil was no doubt the greatest American dramatist of the first half of the 20th century. He was the first pla

24、ywright to explore serious themes in the theater and to carry out his continual, vigorous, courageous experiments with theatrical conventions.（ 实验主义者）实验主义者）His plays have been translated and staged all over the world.田纳西威廉斯A. lifeBorn in Columbus, MississippiGraduated from State University of Iowa,

25、1938One of Americas foremost 20th_ century playwrights and the author of more than 70 plays. * He writes about violence, sex, homosexuality (taboos in drama). Some of his plays rooted in southern social scene. *The characters are often unhappy wanderers; lonely, vulnerable women indulged in memory o

26、f the past or illusion of the future. * He was attracted to bizarre(odd) characters and their predicament. He looked deeply into the psychology of the outcasts of society. He viewed life as a game which cannot be won. Almost all his characters are defeated. The Glass Menagerie 玻璃动物园玻璃动物园(performed i

27、n 1945, standing for the beginning of American drama after WW.）A Streetcar Named Desire 欲望号欲望号街车街车Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 热铁皮屋顶热铁皮屋顶上的猫上的猫D. style(1) combination of coarseness and poetry (2) vivid southern speech (3) He helped to break taboos, long imposed on the American literature.亚瑟米勒the finest rea

28、list of the 20th-century stage. With Tennessee Williams, Miller was one of the best-known American playwrights after WW II. He is a playwright of social philosophy, concerned with the inner thoughts of individuals and their conflicts with the morality of their society. Several of his works were film

29、ed.a. Life1915. born in Manhattan, the son of a comfortably middle class. The family moved to Brooklyn during the Great Depression which plunged his family into financial straits and influenced many of his plays. 1938. Graduated from the University of Michigan where he has all sorts of jobs to help

30、pay for his education and also began to write plays. 1940. His marriage to Mary Grace Slatter ended in divorce. 1956. His marriage to Marilyn Monroe entailed great notoriety, also ended in divorce. 1962 Married photographer Ingeborg Morath. He died on 10 February 2005.b.Theme: dilemma of modern man in relation to family and work c. His plays All My Sons 全是我的儿子Dea