美国文学主要时期要点复习

1、【美国】Chapter 1The Romantic Period 浪漫主义时期From the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of he CivilWar. It started with the publication of Washington Irving s The SketchBook and ended with Whitman s Leaves of Grass. It is also called”theAmerican Renaissance ”.浪漫主义时期开始于十八世纪末，到内战爆发为止， 华盛顿.欧文出版的见闻札记标志着

2、美国文学的开端，惠特曼的草叶集 是浪漫主义时期文学的压卷之作。（也可称为“美国的文艺复兴”）The desire for an escape from society and a return to naturebecame a permanent convention of American literature. 对逃离社会， 回归 自然的渴求成为美国文学的一个永恒的话题。The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted greatinfluences over American moral values.美国清教作为种文化遗产，

3、对美国人的道德观念产生了很大的影响。Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view oforiginal sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers. 在霍桑，麦尔维尔以及其他一些小作 家的作品中，加尔文主义的原罪思想和罪恶的神秘性都得到了充分的表现。The most clearly defined Romantic literary movement in thisperiod is New

4、 England Transcendentalism.美国浪漫主义文学运动足能标炳的是新英格兰的超验主义运动。This Transcendentalist group includes two of the mostsignificant writers America has produced so far, Emerson and his youngfriend, Henry David Thoreau, whose writinghas a strong impact on Americanliterature. 超验主义文学的主要代表是爱默生和梭罗，他们的作品对美国文学 产生了很大的影

5、响。Basically, Transcendentalism has been definedphilosophically as“the recognition in man of the capacity of knowingtruth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach ofthe senses. ”超验主义承认“人类具有本能了解或认识真理的能力，能够超过 感官获取知识”。Emerson once proclaimed in a speech, “Nothing is at lastsacred bu

6、t the integrity of you own mind. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-reliant.爱默生曾说过：“只有人心灵的尊严才是最神圣的”。超验主义还认为自然是高 尚的，个人是神圣的，因此人必须自助。It ranges from the comic fables of Washington Irv

7、ing to theGothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe, from the frontier adventures of James Fenimore Cooper to the narrative quests of Herman Melville, from the psychological romances of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the social realism ofRebecca Harding,美国浪漫主义时期的小说富有独创性，多样性，与华盛顿 .欧 文的喜剧性寓言体小说，有爱伦.坡的哥特式惊险故事，有库柏的边疆历险故事

8、， 有麦尔维尔的长篇叙事，有霍桑的心理罗曼史，有丽贝卡哈丁的社会现实小说。Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis (1831-1910; born Rebecca Blaine Harding) was an American author and journalist. She is deemed a pioneer of literary Realism in American literature. Her most important literary work is the novella Life in the Iron Mills published in th

9、e April 1861 edition of the Atlantic Monthly. Throughout her lifetime, Harding Davis sought to effect social change for blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plight of these marginalised groups in the 19th century.To Hawthorne and Melv

10、ille, everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensable for the improvement of human nature,霍桑和麦尔维尔认为人们在内心上都是罪人，因此需要道彳惠力量 来改善人性。(I), Washington Irving 华盛顿,欧文He is regarded as Father of the American short stories.他是美国浪漫主义文学代表作家之一，美国短篇小说之父。With the publication of Th

11、e Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Irving won a measure of international fame on both sides of the Atlantic.1819 年至1820年，欧文出版了见闻札记，该书为欧文获得了欧美两大洲的文学 荣誉。A History of New York-He parodies or imitates Homer,纽约史在多方面模仿了荷马。Like the two famous personae he created, Diedrich Knickerbocker and Geoffrey Crayon,

12、Irving remained a conservative and always exalted a disappearing past.他所创造的两个人物 Diedrich Knickerbocker 和 GeoffreyCrayon和他一样，都停留在对过去的事情的津津乐道上。We hear rather than read, for there is musicality in almost every line of his prose. Weseldom learn a moral lesson because he wants us amused and relaxed,他的作品行

13、文优美流畅，犹如音乐。他的作品寓教于乐，给人以轻 松安逸之感，如入梦境。He is worth the honor of being“the American Goldsmith “ for hisliterary craftsmanship,在创作艺术方面他堪称是“美国的哥彳惠斯密”。“Rip van winkle” Here, Irving s pervasive theme of nostalgia forthe unrecoverable past is at once made unforgettable.”瑞普.凡.温克尔”-欧文在此表达了对一去不复返的东西十分依恋，笔触生动，令人

14、难忘。. Ralph Waldo Emerson 拉尔夫,华尔多,爱默生NewEngland Transcendentalism, which is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the Romantic period in the history of American literature.在美国浪漫主义时期的文学中，新英格兰的超验主义是不可或缺的。Emersonian Transcendentalism is actually a philosophical schoolwhich absorbed some ideological con

15、cerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism, with its focus on the intuitive knowledge of human beings to grasp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man.爱默生的超验主义实际上是在吸收美国清教思想，强调人类具有本能的掌握宇宙 绝对真理和人的神性而形成的一个哲学流派。In his essays, Emerson put forward his philosophy of the over-soul, t

16、he importance of the individual, and Nature.爱默生的文章提出了 超灵哲学，个人及自然的重要性。Emersonid affirmative about man s intuitive knowledge, with which a man can trust himself to decide what is right and to act accordingly.爱默生相信人的直觉知识。人类可以利用自己的直觉决定是非并采取相应得行 动。The ideal individual should be a self-reliant man.一个理想的个人

17、应是自助自立的人。“Go back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence andyou ll become spiritually whole again. ” “回到自然中去吧，沉浸在自然 的影响中吧，你将重新获得精神的完整。”In 1845, a great transcendentalist work Walden was born.1845年，写成了超验主义的伟大作品瓦尔登。In general, Emerson was showing to the world a distinctive American style, as

18、 he called for in The American Scholar in 1837.总的说来，爱默生的散文表现出明显的美国风格，堪称“美国学者”。“Nature” -the essay discusses the love of nature, the uses of nature,the idealist philosophy in relation to nature evidences of spirit in the material universe, and the potential expansion of human souls and works that wil

19、l result from a general return to direct, immediate contact with the natural environment. In the essay Emerson clearly expresses the main principles of his Transcendentalist pursuit and his love for nature. “论 自然”-全书讨论对自然的爱，对自然的利用，对自然的理性主义哲学，物质 宇宙里的精神证据，人类灵魂的潜在扩展。在文章中爱默生表达了超验主义的思 想原则及对自然的热爱。Nathanie

20、l Hawthorne纳萨尼尔霍桑The Scarlet Letter(1850), always regarded as the best of his works, tells a simple but very moving story in which four people living in a Puritan community.红字是霍桑的代表作，讲述的是四个生活在清教社区以 不同方式犯有通奸罪的故事，情节简单，但内容感人。According to Hawthorne, “There is evil in every humanheart, which mayremain la

21、tent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity. ”霍桑认为，人人内心都有邪恶，这种邪恶也许一生都 潜藏在内心，但在一定的条件下就表现出来。“The Birthmark drives homesymbolically Hawthorne s point that evil is man s birthmark, something he is b orn with. 在胎记中他一针 见血地指出邪恶就是人类与生俱来的胎记。Onesource of evil that Hawthor

22、ne is concerned most is overreaching intellect, which usually refers to someone who is too proud, too sure of himself.霍桑最关注的一个罪恶之源是一个人过于自尊自负。Calvinistic belief that human beings are basically depraved and corrupted, hence, they should obey God to atone for their sins.力口尔文思想认为人类本质是邪恶的，必然向上帝赎罪。Hawthor

23、ne is also a great allegorist and almost every story can be read allegorically, as is the case in“Young Goodman Brown： 霍桑擅长隐喻，像小伙子布朗一样，他几乎每个故事都可以当作隐喻来读。The scarlet letter A is ambiguous. And the ambiguity is one of the Salient characteristics of Hawthorne s art. 人们对 A 字究竟是什么意思搞 不清楚。这种多重含义和象征意义的模糊性正是

24、霍桑小说的艺术所在。Walt Whitman 华尔特.惠特曼His aim was nothing less than to express some new poetical feelings and to initiate a poetic tradition in which difference should be recognized.他的目的就是要表达新的诗情，开创一种新的诗歌传统，抒发独特 的自我。The poet s essential purpose was to identify his ego with the world, and more specifically w

25、ith the democratic ”en-masse“ of America, which is established in the opening lines of“Song of Myself. ” 诗人的主要目的就是在世界上确定自我，更具体的说就是要在整个美国确定自我。自我之歌 的开头几行就表现了这种思想。As Whitman saw it, poetry could play a vital part in the process of creating a new nation.惠特曼认为，诗歌可以塑造一个新的民族精神。In celebrating the self, Whit

26、man gives emphasis to the physical dimension of the self and openly and joyously celebrates sexuality.在歌颂自我的同时，惠特曼强调了我的物理存在和性爱。Whitman s poetic style is marked, first of all, by the use of thepoetic I ”.他的诗总用第一人称。“Song of Myself - In this poem Whitman sets forth two principalbelief:the theory of uni

27、versality, and the belief in the singularityandequality of all beings in value.自我之歌-诗中表明了两大信仰：一是普遍性信仰，二是人类个别性和平等性。Herman Melville 赫尔曼.麦尔维尔Moby-Dick was published in 1851. 白鲸在 1851 年出版。Of all these sea adventure stories,Moby Dick proves to be the best.这些有关航海历险的书中，白鲸最好，达到了麦尔维尔创作的高峰。Moby Dick is regard

28、ed as the first American prose epic.白鲸是美国第一部散文体史诗。It turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man s deepreality and psychology.白鲸不仅仅是海上生活的生动描述，而且也象征追求宇宙真理的心路历程。The Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the

29、voyage becomes a search for truth. The white whale, Moby Dick, symbolizes nature for Melville, for it is complex, unfathomable, malignant, and beautiful as well. For the character Ahab, however, the whale represents only evil.这条船佩阔德成了人类社会和追求真理历程的缩影。白鲸则象征着自然，复杂， 深不可测，也很美丽。但对埃哈布，白鲸则代表着邪恶。白鲸像一堵墙，隐藏着 未知

30、和神秘。Melville s great gifts of language, invention, psychological analysis, speculative agility, and narrativepower are fused to makeMobyDick a world classic.麦尔维尔的语言才华，创造才华，心理分析能力，观察的敏捷及生动地描述都使该书成为世界名著。【美国】Chapter 2 The Realistic Period现实主义时期the realities感。This new attitude was characterized by a gre

31、at interest in of life.由于对现实生活产生了浓厚的兴趣，产生了新的创作灵The three dominant figures of the period are William DeanHowells, Mark Twain, and Henry James.这一时期的三个代表作家是豪威尔斯，亨利.詹姆斯和马克.吐温。In short, they set the example and charted the future coursefor the subjects, themes, techniques and styles of fiction we still c

32、all modern.总之，他们为后来的现实文学在题材，技巧和风格上都树立了典范。Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class andthe way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his ownregion and people at the forefront of his stories.豪威尔斯讨论上升的中产阶级及其生活方式， 而马克.吐温则喜欢把他自己家乡的人放在故事的最前沿。In a word, naturalism is evolved from realis

33、m when theauthor s tone in writing becomes less serious and less sy mpathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic. 总之，自然主义产生现实主义，只是在创 作上更富讽刺，更加悲观。自然主义只有另一种哲学途径的现实主义。Mark Twain 马克.吐温Mark Twain is considered as“the true father of Americannational literature. ”马克.吐温被认为是“我们真正的民族文学之父”。Two of the best bo

34、oks during this period are The adventuresof Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The former is usually regarded as a classic book written for boys about their particular horrors and joys, while the latter, being a boy s book specially written for t he adults, is Twain s most representative

35、 work, describing a journey down the Mississippi undertaken by two fugitives, Huck and Jim.这期间他最伟大的作品是汤姆.索亚历险记和哈克贝里.芬历险记。前者是就儿童的 恐惧和高兴的事儿写的一部儿童经典。而后者虽然是儿童故事，却为大人而写。这是马克.吐温最有代表性的小说，描写两个流浪儿童哈克和吉姆沿密西西比河 而下历险的旅程。The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and, especially, its sequenceAdventures of Huckleberry Finn pro

36、ved themselves to be the mile stone in American literature.汤姆.索亚历险记，尤其是哈克贝里.芬历险记是美国文学的里程碑。The childhood of TomSawyer and Huck Finn in the Mississippiis a record of a vanished way of life in the pre-Civil War Mississippi valley and it has movedmillions of people of different ages and conditions all o

37、ver the world; and the books are noted for their unpretentious, colloquial yet poetic style, their wide-ranging humor, and their universally shared dream of perfect innocence and freedom.汤姆.索亚和哈克.芬在密西西比河上度过的童年是内战前该条河谷生活方式的实录，感动了 数以万计的各种年龄的人。书中的率直，口语化而又不失诗意的语言风格，广泛的幽默，天真和自由的梦想都是令人难忘的。Hemingway once d

38、escribed the novel the one book from whichallmod比n American literature comes. The profound portrait of Huckleberry Finn is another great contribution of the book to the legacy of American literature.哈克贝里.芬历险记-海明威曾把该书看作是“所有现代美国 文学之源”.。哈克贝里的深刻形象是该书给美国文学做出的又一贡献。The climax arises with Huck s inner strug

39、gle on the Mississippi, when Huck is polarized by the two opposing and the laws of the society against those who help slaves escapes.哈克在密西西比河的内心争斗室小说的高潮。哈克在理想与现实，对吉姆的感情与社会反对奴隶逃跑的法律之间被抛 到了巅峰。Huck s final decision - to follow his own good-hearted moralimpulse rather than conventional village morality.

40、哈克最后决定： 遵循自己内心的良知，而非世俗的道德Twain is also known as a local colorist, who preferred to present social life through portraits of local characters of his regions, including people living in that area, the landscape, and other peculiarities like the customs, dialects, costumes and so on.马克.吐温善于描绘地方风物，包括地方任

41、务，风光，风俗，方言和服饰等等。Another fact that madeTwain unique is his magic power with language, his use of vernacular. His words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect, and his sentence structures are simple, even ungrammatical, which is typical of the spoken language. 马克.吐温独特的另一个方面是他乡土气 息的语言风格。他的用词口语化，

42、具体可感，直率有力。句子结构简单，不合语 法。Mark Twain s humor is remarkable. 马克.吐温的幽默是突出的。Twain s works, containing some practical jokes, comic details, witty remarks, etc., and some of them are actually tall tales.他的作品生动有趣，充盈着实用的笑话，喜剧情节，智慧的语言以及传奇故事。His humor is a kind of artistic style used to criticize the social inj

43、ustice and satirize the decayed romanticism.他的幽默是对社会不公正和沦丧的浪漫主义的讽刺和批判。Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Huck , a typical American boywhom its creator described as a boy with “ a sound heart and a deformed conscience ” . Through the eyes of Huck, the innocent and reluctant rebel, we see the pre-Civil Wa

44、r American society fully exposed and at the same time we are deeply impressed by Mark Twain s thematic contrasts between innocence and experience, nature and culture, wilderness and civilization.哈克贝里.芬历险记一该小说最精彩的形象是哈克，他是被作者称为一个 “有正常心理和畸形良知”的美国男孩。通过天真又叛逆的哈克的眼睛，我们看到内战的美国社会的真正面目，同时，通过马克.吐温对比性的描写，我们还看到了

45、率真与世故，自然与文化，野蛮与文明的对立。(II ) Henry James亨利.詹姆斯While Mark Twain and W川iam DeanHowells satirized European manners at times, Henry James was an admirer of ancient European civilization.马克.吐温和豪威尔斯不时的讽刺欧洲传统，而詹姆斯却羡慕欧洲文明。In the first period of his, James took great interest in international themes. James tre

46、ated with great care the clashes between two different cultures and the emotional and moral problems of Americans in Europe, or Europeans in America. The works include“The American ”，“Daisy Miller ，“The Europeans，“The Portrait of a Lady” .在詹姆斯的早期作品中，他对国际主题很感兴趣。这一时期几乎他的每一部小说都有关 欧美在文化，情感和道德方面的冲突，每篇作品都

47、处理了重要的问题。著作有美 国人，黛西.米勒，欧洲人，贵妇人的画像。In his middle period, the works contain“The Bostonians ” , “ThePrincess Casamassima , and so on.中期创作包括波士顿人，卡撒玛西玛公主等等。In his last and major period, James returned to his international theme” .后期他又回到了 “国际主题”。These novels are always set against a larger international b

48、ackground, usually between Europe and America, and centered on the confrontation of the two different cultures with two different groups of people representing two different value systems.(国际主题的/、说) 这些小说以国际，主要是欧美为大背景，集中表现两种人群的两种价值观在两种文化 制度中的冲突。The theme of his essay “The Art of Fiction clearly indic

49、ates that the aim of the novel is to present life.小说的艺术一文明确指出，小说的目的是现实生活。The artist should be able to “feel ” the life, to understand human nature, and then to record them in his own art form.艺术家应能够“感受” 生活，理解人性，然后忠实地将这些录入作品。James s realism is characterized by his psychological approach tohis subject

50、 matter.詹姆斯的现实主义还具有分析方法的倾向。One of James s literary techniques innovated to cater for this psychological emphasis is his narrative“point of view ” .詹姆斯文学创作技巧的一个方面就是强调这种心理分析，以叙述着者的视角为线索。As to his language, James is not so easy to understand. He is often highly refined and insightful.詹姆斯的文学语言不易读懂。“Dais

51、y Miller ” : Miller has ever since becomethe American Girl inEurope, a celebrated cultural type whoembodies the spirit of the NewWorld.黛西.米勒一黛西.米勒从此成为在欧洲的美国姑娘的形象，是美国精神的 代表。. Emily Dickinson 艾米莉.狄金森Dickinson s poems are usually based on her own experience, her sorrows and joys.狄金森的诗都是根据自己的经历和悲欢而创作的。W

52、ithin her little lyrics Dickinson addresses those issues that concern the whole human beings, which include religion, death, immortality, love, and nature. In some of her poems she wrote about her double belief about religious subjects.在她的短篇抒情诗里所涉及到的问题却是有关人类的，包括宗教，死亡，不朽，爱情和自然。她的一些诗还怀疑宗 教信仰。Although

53、she believed in God, she sometimes doubted His benevolence. Closely related to Dickinson s religious poetry are her poemsconcerning death and immortality, ranging over the physical as well as the psychological and emotional aspects of death.虽然她相信上帝但有时去口怀疑它的善。狄金森与宗教有关的诗是关于死亡和不朽，包括身体，心理和情感三个方面。One gro

54、up of her love poems are clearly the reflection of her own unhappy experience.她的一组爱情诗明确地反映了她自己不幸的经历。More than five hundred poems Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her general skepticism about the relationship between manand nature is well-expressed.狄金森有500多首诗是关于自然的，诗中表达了作者对人与 自然关系得怀疑。Her ac

55、ute observations, her concern for precise details and her interest in nature are pervasive. 她对自然的观察敏锐，描写细致，兴趣丰 饶。Her poemshave no titles, hence are always quoted by their first lines. In her poetry there is a particular stress pattern. eg. Capital letters as a means of emphasis. The form of her poet

56、ry is more or less like that of the hymns in community churches, familiar, communal, and sometimes, irregular.她的诗大多无题，常以首句引用，诗中节奏特别，例如用大写表示强 调。她的诗形式上多少有点像教堂的圣歌，不讲规则，为人喜闻乐见。Her poetic idiom is noted for its laconic brevity, directness and plainness.她用词简洁，直率，平易。Dickinson s poetry, despite its ostensib

57、le formal simplicity, is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness.狄金森的诗虽然表面浅显，但内容多样化，微妙而又深刻。(IV)Theodore Dreiser 西奥多.德莱塞In 1911, Jennie Gerhardt came out, followed by two volumes of his“Trilogy of Desire” , The Financier and The Titan, the third, The Stoic, being published posthumously in 1

58、947.1911 年,Jennie Gerhardt 出版，随 后他的欲望三部曲头两部金融家，巨头相继出版，第三部斯多葛 是死后出版。In his words, man is a “victim of forces over which he has no control ”.用他的话来说，人类是“各种力量交织在一起的受害者，这些力量人类是无法控制的”。From the first novel Sister Carrie on, Dreiser set himself to projectthe American values for what he had found them to be

59、-materialistictothe core.在第一部小说嘉莉妹妹出版过后，德莱塞一直把美国的价值观推 向彻底的物质享受主义。For lack of concision, his writings appear more inclusive and less selective, and the readers are sometimes burdened with massive detailed descriptions of characters and events.由于不够简洁， 他的作品包容有余，选择不足。读者深受他冗繁的描写之累。His style is not polish

60、ed but very serious and well calculated to achieve the thematic ends he sought.他的写作风格虽显粗糙，但内容严肃，与表现主题十分相符。【美国】Chapter 3 The Modern Period 现代时期The idea of “seize the day or “enjoy the present was pervasive, as opposed to placing all hope in the future.“及时行乐” 的思想十分横行，他们不把希望寄托在将来。The most recognizable