美国文学简史复习纲要

1、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)PoorRichards Almanac(2)The Autobiography自传Early AmericanRomanticism早期美国浪漫主义时期（1800s-1840s）1.features(1)As alogical

2、result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticismwas bothimitative 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 literature美国文学之父2.works(1)T

3、he Sketch Book见闻札记:Rip Van Winkle,The Legend of Sleepy HollowIII.JamesFenimore Cooper库柏(1789-1851)1.works(1)Leatherstocking Tales皮袜子故事集: TheDeerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The Prairie2.literary achievementsCoopersLeatherstocking Taleseffectively approximates the Am

4、erican 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 New EnglandTranscendentalism/AmericanRenaissance新英格兰超验主义-美国浪漫主义鼎盛时期(1840s-)I.Appearance提出1836,“Nature” by Em

5、erson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 one ofthe most prolific period in American literature、independent American

6、culture.IV.RalphWaldo Emerson（1802-1882）1.works(1)Naturethe 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 Thoreau亨利大卫梭罗（1817-1862）(1)Walden瓦尔登湖“Simplicitysimplify!”(2)A Plea forJohn Brown (a

7、n essay)：He hated the human injustice as represented bytheslavery 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

8、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）Moby 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)When

9、Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomd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 of 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

10、 Twice before Its Close(2)Because ICant Stop for Death(3)I Heard aFly Buzz When I died2.themes: based on her own experiences/joys/sorrows3.style(1)poemswithout titles(2)directness,brevity(3)capitalletters emphasis(4)shortpoems, mainly two stanzasIII.Comparison:Whitman vs. Dickinson1.Similarities:(1)

11、Thematically,they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergent America, itsexpansion, 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 freeof the convention of the

12、 iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in formunknown before: they were pioneers in American poetry.2.differences:(1)Whitmanseems to keep his eye on society at large; Dickinson explores the inner life of theindividual.(2)WhereasWhitman is “national” in his outlook, Dickinsonis “regional”.(3)Dic

13、kinsonhas the“catalogue technique” (direct, simple style) which Whitman doesnt have.EdgarAllen Poe埃德加爱伦坡（）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

14、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 Lee安娜贝尔李II.Themes:“Poe isnot interested in anything alive. Everything in Poes 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 Romanticis

15、m to Realism1.1880s urbanization: from free competition to monopolycapitalism2.the closing of American frontierII.ThreeGiants in Realistic Period1.WilliamDean Howells（1837-1920） “Dean of American Realism”(1)Realisticprinciples：habitualmoods/motives(2)Works:The Rise of Silas Lapham2.HenryJames（1843-1

16、916）a.theme:international themelDaisyMillerlThePortrait of a LadylThe Ambassadors大使：Strether主人公lThe Wingsof the DovelThe GoldenBowl(1)Point ofviewa.Psychologicalanalysis,forefather of stream ofconsciousnessb.Psychologicalrealismc.Highly-refinedlanguage3.Mark Twain(see nextsection)Local Colorism1860s

17、,1870s1890slHamlin Garland:Crumbling IdolslBret Harte:The Luck of Roaring CamplKate Chopin The 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

18、.style(1)colloquialstyle, vernacular 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/gentee

19、l realismJames psychological realismTwain local colourism and colloquialismAmerican Naturalism美国自然主义I.Background1.Darwins theory:“natural selection”2.Spensers idea: “social Darwinism”3.French Naturalism: ZoraII.Features1.environment and heredity2.general tone: hopelessness, despair, gloom, ugly side

20、of 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 OctopusrailwayVI.TheodoreDreiser:Sister Carrie、An American TragedyVII.JackLondon:Martin EdenThe M

21、odern PeriodThe1920s:Roaring 20s、Jazz AgeThe 1920s is a flowering period of American literature. It is considered“the second renaissance” of American literature.（第一次是超验主义）Background：FirstWorld War “a war to end all wars”一战Imagism(1908-1917)I. BackgroundImagism was influenced by French symbolism, anc

22、ient 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 Poundas that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant oftime,

23、“a vortex or cluster of fused ideas” “endowed with energy”. The exactword must bring the effect of the object before the reader as it had presenteditself to the poets mind at the time of writing.VI. EzraPound(1885-1972)1.works(1)In aStation of the Metro(2)Cantos：“the intellectual diarysince 1915”(3)

24、Hugh Selwyn Mauberley2.ContributionHe is regarded as thefather of modernAmerican poetry.VII. T. S. Eliot1.workslThe Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrocklThe Waste Land(epic)lFour QuarterslMurder in the Cathedral(play)2.Principle:objective correlative客观对应物VIII.Wallace Stevens(1879-1955):Anecdote of the Ja

25、r、The Emperor of Ice-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nationsunofficial Poet Laureate1.works poemsNorth of Boston:The Road Not Taken、Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening、Picking Applesstyle/features of his

26、poems(1)Most of his poems tookNew Englandas setting, and the subjectswere chosen from daily life of ordinary people.(2)Although he was popular during 1920s, he didnt experiment like othermodern poets. He usedconventionalforms, plain language,traditionalmetre, and wrote in a pastured tradition.IX. Ca

27、rlSandburg(1878-1967) :Chicago Poems、Fog“the word of thepeople”E. E. Cummings(1894-1963):“a juggler with syntax, grammar and diction” individualism, “painter poet”Hart Crane(1899-1932):The BridgeMarianne Moore:The FishNovelsin the 1920sI.F. ScottFitzgerald(1896-1940)1.works(1)This Sideof Paradise(2)

28、The Great Gatsby: Daisy、Tom Buchanan、NickCarraway(3)Tender isthe Night(4)Tales oftheJazz Age2.point of view(1)Heexpressed what the young people believed 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 Gr

29、eatGatsbyNarrative point of view NickHe is related to everyone in the novel and is calm and detected observerwho is never quick to make judgements. Selected omniscient point of viewII.ErnestHemingway(1899-1961): the spokesman of the Lost Generation byGertrude Stein（1874-1946）1.Works: protagonist: th

30、e typical Hemingway hero(1)The SunAlso Rises: Jack Barnes、(2)A Farewell to Arms: FredericHenry、Catherine(3)For Whomthe Bell Tolls(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 stami

31、na and courage, and with the question “how to live withpain”, “how human being live gracefully under pressure”.(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 un

32、der control, stoic and self-disciplined in adreadful place. These people are usually spiritual strong, 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 literat

33、ure”美国第一位诺贝尔文学奖获得者。A sociological writer.1.Works：Main StreetIV.ThomasWolfe:a personal writer.V.SherwoodAnderson(1876-1941):Winesburg, Ohiogrotesques小镇下层民众的精神世界。VI.WillaCather(1873-1947)：women protagonists、prairiestate of the Nebraska、immigrants1.works(1)The Songof the Lark(2)My Antonia:Jim BurdenSou

34、thernLiterature/ RenaissanceI.WilliamFaulkner(1897-1962):lThe Sound and the Fury:theCompsons、Benjy/Caddy/Quentin/Jason、DilseylAs I LayDyinglLight in August:JoeChristmas、Joanna Burden、Lena Grove、HightowerlAbsalom,AbsalomlA Rose for Emily1.Themes:nostalgia(1)historyand raceHe explains the present by e

35、xamining the past, by telling the stories ofseveral generations of family to 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.

36、style/features of his works(1)“anti-hero”: weak, fable, vulnerable (truepeople 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 1930sRadical 1930sIII.Background:Great Depression (19

37、29 “Black Thursday”)IV.Writers of 1930s1.social concern and social involvement2.revival of naturalistic tradition of Dreiser andNorrisV.John Dos Psssos(1896-1970):Newsreel/ Biographies/ Camera EyeVI.John Steinbeck(1902-1968)1.Works(1)Of Mice and Men：twomigrant workers(2)TheGrapes of Wrath:crisis nov

38、el危机小说、bible、Oklahoma-California、the Joads,Roseof sharon:as injustice isbuilding up and up, something is going to explore into violence.American DramaI.Eugene ONeill(1888-1953)1.TheHairy Ape: Yank、self-identity/senseof belonging2.Long DaysJourney into Night: the Tyrones、3.His position:He was the fir

39、st playwright 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 Sale

40、sman:Willy LomanTennessee Williams(1)The GlassMenagerie(2)AStreetcar Named DesireEdward Albeea.WhosAfraid of Virginia Woolf?III.Literaturein the 1960sSection1 PoetryI.Schools ofPoetry (time, representatives, major features)1.Confessional school:自白派诗人Sylvia Plath(1932-1963)The Colossus and Other Poem

41、s、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 FictionI.Post-WarRealism1.VladimirNabokov(1899-1977):Lolita:HumbertHumbert2.JackKerouac:On the Road:Dean Moriarty、SalParadise“spontaneous prose”3.J. D.Salinger（1919-2010）(1)The Catcherin the Rye:Holden Caulfield、Phoebe、phony4.Truman Capote(1924-1984)Breakfast at Tiffanys：HollyGolightlydreamchaser/drifter、Paul、FredIn Cold Blood