美国文学期末考试名词解释部分.docx

1、美国文学期末考试名词解释部分Transcendentalism:transcendentalismwasagroupofnewideasinliterature,religion,cultureandphilosophythatemergedinNewEnglandintheearlytomiddle19thcentury.TranscendentalistsspokeforculturalrejuvenationandagainstthematerialismofAmericansociety.Itplacedemphasisonspirit,ortheOversoul,asthemosti

2、mportantthingintheworld.ItstressedtheimportanceofindividualandofferedafreshperceptionnatureadsymbolicofthespiritofGod.ProminenttranscendentalistsincludedRalphWaldoEmersonandHenryDavidThorough.BlackHumor:theuseofmorbidandtheabsurdfordarklycomicpurposesinmodernfictionanddrama.Thetermrefersasmuchtothet

3、oneofangerandbitternessasitdoestothegrotesqueandmorbidsituations,whichoftendealwithsuffering,anxiety,anddeath.BlackhumorisasubstantialelementintheAnti-novelandtheTheatreofAbsurd.JosephHellersCatch-22isanalmostarchetypalexample.Irony:acontrastoranincongruitybetweenwhatisstatedandwhatisreallymeant,orb

4、etweenwhatisexpectedtohappenandwhatactuallyhappensindramaandliterature.Therearetypesofirony:verbalirony,dramaticironyandironyofsituation.Ironyofsituationtypicallytakestheformofadiscrepancybetweenappearanceandreality,orbetweenwhatacharacterexpectsandwhatactuallyhappens.Bothverbalandironyofsituationsh

5、arethesuggestionofaconcealedtruthconflictingwithsurfaceappearances.Individualism Itisamoralpoliticalandsocialphilosophywhichemphasizesindividuallibertytheprimaryimportanceoftheindividualandtheunitiesofself-reliance.Stream of consciousness(意识流)(or interior monologue);In literary criticism, Stream of

6、consciousness denotes a literary technique which seeks to describe an individuals point of view by giving the written equivalent of the characters thought processes. Stream of consciousness writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. Its introduction in the literary context, transfer

7、red from psychology, is attributed to May Sinclair. Stream 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 fragmentary

8、thoughts and sensory feelings.famous writers to employ this technique in the english language include James Joyce and William Faulkner.Symbolism meansusingsymbolsinliteraryworksthesymbolmeanssomethingrepresentsorstandsforabstractdeepmeaningAmerican realism ：（美国现实主义）Realism was a reaction against Rom

9、anticism and paved the way to Modernism; 2).During this period a new generation of writers, dissatisfied with the Romantic ideas in the older generation, came up with a new inspiration. This new attitude was characterized by a great interest in the realities of life. It aimed at the interpretation o

10、f the realities of any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color. Instead of thinking about the mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism, peoples attention was now directed to the interesting features of everyday existence, to what was brutal or sordid,

11、and to the open portayal of class struggle;3) so writers began to describe the integrity of human characters reacting under various circumstances and picture the pioneers of the far west, the new immigrants and the struggles of the working class; 4) Mark Twain Howells and Henry James are three leadi

12、ng figures of the American Realism.AmericanNaturalism:Americannaturalismwasanewandharsherrealism.Thenaturalistsattempttoachieveextremeobjectivityandfrankness,presentingcharactersoflowsocialandeconomicclasseswhoweredeterminedbyenvironmentandheredity.Itemphasizedthattheworldwasamoral,themenandwomenhad

13、nofreewill,thatliveswerecontrolledbyheredityandenvironment,thatthedestinyofhumanitywasmiseryinlifeandoblivionindeath.ThepessimismanddeterministicideasnaturalismpervadedtheworksofsuchAmericanwritersasStephenCraneandTheodoreDreiser.AmericanPuritanism:Puritanismisthepracticesandbeliefsofthepuritans.The

14、Puritanswereoriginallymembersofadivisionoftheprotestantchurchwhowantedtopurifytheirreligiousbeliefsandpractices.Theyacceptedthedoctrinesofpredestination,originalsinandtotaldepravity,andlimitedatonementthroughaspecialinfusionofgracefromGod.Americanliteratureinthe17thcenturymostlyconsistedofPuritanlit

15、erature.PuritanismhadanenduringinfluenceonAmericanliterature.Ithadbecome,tosomeextent,somuchastateofmind,somuchapartofnationalculturalatmosphere,ratherthanasetoftenets.A Jazz age(爵士时代):The Jazz Age describes the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the years between world war I and world war II. Particula

16、rly in north America. With the rise of the great depression, the values of this age saw much decline. Perhaps the most representative literary work of the age is American writer Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby. Highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of indi

17、vidualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term” Jazz Age”.Local Colorism(乡土文学)：Generally speaking, the writings of local colorists are concerned with the life of a small, weell-defined region or province. The characteristic setting is the isolated small town. 2) Local colorists were

18、 consciously nostalgic historians of a vanishing way of life, recorders of a present that faded before their eyes. Yet for all their sentimentality, they dedicated themselves to minutely accurate descriptions of the life of their regions, they worked from personal experience to record the facts of a

19、 local environment and suggested that the native life was shaped by the curious conditions of the local. 3) major local colorists is Mark Twain.Imagism:isapoeticmovementofEnglandandtheUnitedStates,flourishedfrom1909-1917.Itscredo,expressedinSomeImagistPoets,includedtheuseofthelanguageofcommonspeech,

20、projectmatter,theevocationofimagesinhard,clearpoetry,andconcentration.TheLostGenerationisagroupofexpatriateAmericanwritersresidingprimarilyinParisduringthe1920sand1930s.ThegroupwasgivenitsnamebytheAmericanwriterGertrudeStein,whoused“alostgeneration”torefertoexpatriateAmericansbitterabouttheirWorldWa

21、rIexperiencesanddisillusionedwithAmericansociety.HemingwaylaterusedthephraseasanepigraphforhisnovelTheSunAlsoRises.ItconsistedofmanyinfluentialAmericanwriters,includingErnestHemingway,F.ScottFitzgerald,WilliamCarlosWilliamsandArchibaldMacLeish.BeatGeneration:groupofAmericanwritersofthe1950swhosewrit

22、ingexpressedprofounddissatisfactionwithcontemporaryAmericansocietyandendorsedanalternativesetofvalues.Thetermsometimesisusedtorefertothosewhoembracedtheideasofthesewriters.TheBeatGenerationsbest-knownfigureswerewritersAllenGinsbergandJackKerouac.Feminisim(女权主义): Feminisim incorporates both a doctrin

23、e of equal rights for women and an ideology of social transformation aiming to create a world for women beyond simple social equality.2in general, feminism is ideology of womens liberation based on the belief that women suffer injustice because of their sex. Under this broad umbrella various feminis

24、ms offer differing analyses of the causes, or agents, of female oppression.3 definitions of feminism by feminists tend to be shaped by their training, ideology or race. So, for example, Marxist and socialist feminists stress the interaction within feminism of class with gender and focus on social di

25、stinctions between men and women. Black feminists argue much more for an integrated analysis which can unlock the multiple systems of oppression.FreeVerse:freeverseispoetrythathasanirregularrhythmandlinelengthandthatattemptstoavoidanypredeterminedversestructure,instead,itusesthecadencesofnaturalspee

26、ch.Whileitalternatesstressedandunstressedsyllablesasstricterverseformdo,freeversedosesoinalooserway.WaltWhitmanspoetryisanexampleoffreeverse.Hemingway Code Hero(海明威式英雄): Hemingway Code Hero ,also called code hero, is one who, wounded but strong more sentitive, enjoys the pleasures of life( sex, alco

27、hol, sport) in face of ruin and death, and maintains, through some notion of a code, an ideal of himself.2 barnes in the sun also Rises, henry in a Farewell to arms and santiago in the old man and the sea are typical of Hemingway Code HeroImpressionism(印象主义):Impressionism is a style of painting that

28、 gives the impression made by the subject on the artist without much attention to details. Writers accepted the same conviction that the personal attitudes and moods of the writer were legitimate elements in depicting character or setting or action.2briefly, it is a style of literature characterized

29、 by the creation of general impressions and moods rather that realistic mood.Modernism(现代主义)：Modernism is comprehensive but vague term for a movement , which begin in the late 19th century and which has had a wide influence internationally during much of the 20th century.2 modernism takes the irrati

30、onal philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical case.3 the term pertains to all the creative arts. Especially poetry, fiction, drama, painting,music and architecture.4 in england from early in the 20th century and during the 1920s and 1930s, in America from shortly before the first world war and on during the inter-war period, modernist tendencies were at their most active and fruitful.5as far as literature is concerned, Modernism reveals a breaking away from established rules, traditions and conventions.fresh ways