美国文学选读复习.docx

1、美国文学选读复习History And Anthology of American Literature (Volume)美国文学史及选读1、2PartThe Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学(at the beginning of 17th century)Part The Literature of Reason And Revolution理性和革命时期文学(by the mid-18th century)1 Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence 独立宣言 (1776年 18世纪中后期)（

2、仔细阅读知道意思）Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography Thomas Paine: The American Crisis*一、 Benjamin Franklin 本杰明富兰克林1706-1790Symbol of America in the Age of Enlightenment殖民地时期作家。独立战争前惟一的杰出的美国作家in the colonial period, the only good American author before the Revolutionary War.1 其还是美国第一位主要作家the first major wr

3、iter非凡表达能力，简洁明了，有点幽默，还是一位讽刺天才as an author he had power of expression, simplicity, a subtle humor. He was also sarcastic.2 他最好作品收录在自传“Autobiography”。“对这个年青的国家来说，他的损失比其它任何人的都要大“his shadow lies heavier than any other mans on this young nation.二、 Thomas Jefferson托马斯杰弗逊（1743-1826）1 美国历史上最为广泛影响人物his thoug

4、ht and personality have influenced his countryman more deeply and remained more effectively alive.同富兰克林一样具人道主义精神vigorous humanitarian sympathies.启蒙运动的产物a product of the Enlightenment.2 1776年同约翰亚当斯、本杰明富兰克林、罗杰谢尔曼、罗伯特R利文斯顿一起起草独立宣言with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R Livingston

5、, he drafted the Declaration of Independence.3 1790-1793任华盛顿内阁中第一任国务卿，as the first American secretary of state. 1800起担任两届美国总统。4 教材作品：独立宣言(1776年7月4日)：“The Declaration of Independence”。三、 Thomas Paine 托马斯佩因（1737-1809）*1 1776-1783美国危机“American Crisis” signed “Common Sense” was a series of sixteen pamph

6、lets. 2 战争结束后perfecting the model of an iron bridge without piers。(1791-1792)人权“Rights of Man”。3 理性的时代“The Age of Reason”1794-1795, 他最后一部作品1797土地公平“Agrarian Justice”.4 教材作品：美国危机：“The American Crisis”.四、 Philip Freneau 菲利浦弗瑞诺（1752-1832）*1 革命战争后期最杰出作家perhaps the most outstanding writer of the Post-Rev

7、olutionary period “美国革命诗人”（the poet of the Revolution）;“美国诗歌之父”（Father of American Poetry）.2 1770年第1部作品想象的力量（The Power of Fancy）.1775年因出版有关讽刺英国人作品而被认可as a satirist of the British.3 1776年出版夜屋（The House of Night）哥特式小说the Gothic mood. 4 1781写下名诗英国囚船(The British Prison Ship)5 教材作品：野忍冬花： “The Wild Honey

8、Suckle” 印第安人的坟地： “The Indian Burying Ground” 致凯提迪德： “To a Caty-Did”Part The Literature of Romanticism浪漫主义文学(1810-1860)1. 浪漫主义共同点romantics shared certain general characteristics:他们都注重道德，强调个人主义价值观及直觉感觉，并且认为自然是美的源头，人类社会是腐败之源moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception,

9、 and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and mans societies a source of corruption.3 超验主义（1830sthe Civil War）：(1830-1850) 既不讲究逻辑，也不讲究系统，它只强调超越理性的感受，超越法律和世俗束缚的个人表达，他们相信精神上的超越，相信无所不能的善的力量，强调善为万物之源，万物都是善的一部分Transcendentalism: (1830-1850) Defined as the recognition in man of th

10、e capacity of acquiring knowledge transcending the reach of the five senses, or of knowing truth intuitively, or of reaching the divine without the need of an intercessor. It had some basic principles that were generally shared by its adherents. They believed that God is immanent in each person and

11、in nature and that individual intuition is the highest source of knowledge led to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance and rejection of traditional authority.1. Stress the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five

12、senses and from the inner world by intuition.2. Place spirit (oversoul) first and matter second3. Take nature as symbolic of spirit or God. Nature could exercise a healthy and restorative influence on human mind. People should come close to nature for instructions4. Stress the importance of the indi

13、vidual (the ideal kind of individual is self-reliant and unselfish (individuality).5. Exalt feeling (subjectivity, imagination, heart thinking) over reason (rationalism, head thinking), individual expression over the restraints of law and custom.代表：Ralph Waldo Emerson：Nature, Self-reliance；Henry Dav

14、id Thoreau：Walden As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematized. It exalted feeling over reason, individual expression over the restraints of law and custom. They believed in the transcendence of the “Oversoul”, an all-pervading power for goodness from which all thing

15、s come and of which all things are a part. 4 Dark Romanticism?19 century America (often conflated with Gothicism or called American Romanticism) is a literary?subgenre centered on writers?Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven(death, beauty),?Nathaniel Hawthorne: The scarlet letter?and?Herman Melville: Moby Dic

16、k(dark, glooming, mysterious). As opposed to the perfectionist beliefs of?Transcendentalism, the Dark Romantics emphasized human fallibility and proneness to?sin?and?self-destruction, as well as the difficulties inherent in attempts at?social reform. The Dark Romantics adapted images of anthropomorp

17、hized evil in the form of Satan, devils, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and ghouls, as more telling guides to mans inherent nature.5 American Renaissance (1836-1855): American Romanticism culminated达到顶峰 around the 1840s in what has come to be known as “New England Transcendentalism” or “American Rena

18、issance”6 The differences of American Romanticism and British Romanticism.The UK is one of the earliest countries of romantic literature. The British romanticism writers discontented in the development of the capitalist urban civilization, and they tended to be cynical and have the tendency of going

19、 back to nature and live in seclusion. In mid-to-late 18th century poet Robert burns (1759-1796) and William Blake (1757-1827) was a pioneer of the romantic literature. And the American romantic literature is influenced by western European romantic literature. In the early 19th century, (1810-1840)

20、the American capitalism developed rapidly, which caused strong national consciousness and patriotic enthusiasm of Americans. They wanted to get rid of the bondage of British literature and American romanticism attaches great importance to the spirit of creation and the pursuit of free transcendental

21、ism. Although?greatly?influenced?by?their?English?counterparts，?the?American?romantic?writers?revealed?unique?characteristics?of?their?own?in?their?works?and?they?grew?on?the?native?lands.?For?examp1e，1.The?American?national?experience?of?pioneering?into?the?west?proved?to?be?a?rich?source?of?materi

22、al?for?American?writers?to?draw?upon.?They?celebrated?Americas?landscape?with?its?virgin?forests，?meadows，?groves，?endless?prairies，?streams，?and?vast?oceans.?The?wilderness?came?to?function?almost?as?a?dramatic?character?that?symbolized?moral?1aw.?2.The?desire?for?an?escape?from?society?and?a?retur

23、n?to?nature?became?a?permanent?convention?of?American?literature.?Such?a?desire?is?particularly?evident?in?Coopers?Leather?Stocking?Tales，?in?Thoreaus?Walden?and，?later，?in?Mark?Twains?Adventures?of?Huckleberry?Finn.?3.With?the?growth?of?American?national?consciousness，?American?character?types?spea

24、king?local?dialects?appeared?in?poetry?and?fiction?with?increasing?frequency.?4.Then?the?American?Puritanism?as?a?cultural?heritage?exerted?great?influences?over?American?moral?values?and?American?Romanticism.?One?of?the?manifestations?is?the?fact?that?American?romantic?writers?tended?more?to?morali

25、ze?than?their?English?and?European?counterparts.?5.Besides，?a?preoccupation?with?the?Calvinistic?view?of?origina1?sin?and?the?mystery?of?evil?marked?the?works?of?Hawthorne，?Melville?and?a?host?of?lesser?writers.?一、 Washington Irving华盛顿欧文1783-18591. 他是美国第一位浪漫主义散文文体作家，大众化风格was the first great prose st

26、ylist of American romanticism familiar style.2. 1819-1820他第一部见闻札记是现代文学史上的第一部短篇小说，也是美国第一部伟大的青少年文学读物，他把历史与传说当作娱乐形式来写，把大众化的散文引入美国his “Sketch Book” appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature to write good history and biography as literary entertainment. He i

27、ntroduced the familiar essay to America 3. 1809年以迪德里奇尼克博克的名字出版纽约外史，轻松欢快的滑稽戏形式讲出了早期荷兰殖民者在美洲殖民时的真实历史成为了幽默作品中的经典“A History of New York” by Diedrich Knickerbocker a rollicking burlesque of a current serious history of the early Dutch settlers, has become a classic of humor.14教材作品：作者自叙：“The Authors Accou

28、nt of Himself”; 睡谷传奇：“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.二、 Edgar Allan Poe埃德加阿伦坡1809-18491. 1833年，在一次小说比赛中他的金瓶子城的方德先生获奖he won a contest with his story “Ms. Found in a Bottle” .2. 发表了鄂榭府崩溃记“The Fall of the House of Usher”.3. 1840 年，第一部短篇小说集述异集his first collection of short stories “Tales of the Grotesque a

29、nd Arabesque”.4. 教材作品：给海伦：“To Helen”乌鸦：“ The Raven”安娜贝尔李“ Annabel Lee”鄂榭府崩溃记“The Fall of the House of Usher”三、 Ralph Waldo Emerson 拉尔夫沃尔多爱默生1803-18821 他是把超验主义思想引入新英格兰的先驱，被看作是超验主义运动的领袖he was responsible for bringing Transcendentalism to New England and was recognized throughout his life as the leader

30、 of the movement 爱默生首先强调的是个人主义、思想独立和自强 he believed above all in individualism, independence of mind and self-reliance他崇尚英勇，并不忌讳变化和有冲突的思想he admired courage, he was not afraid of changing or clashing ideas.2 The Style of Emersons Essays Emersons essays often have a casual style, for most of them were

31、derived from his journals or lectures. They are usually characterized by a series of short, declarative sentences, which are not quite logically connected but will flower out into illustrative statements of truth and thoughts. Emersons philosophical discussion is sometimes difficult to understand bu

32、t he uses comparisons and metaphors to make the general idea of his work clearly expressed.Well-read in the classics of Western European literature,Emerson often employed these literary sources to make and enrich his own points but never let them take the full reins of his discussion. In general, Emerson was showing to the world a distinctive American style.3 1836 年出版了第一本书论自然“Nature”, 1847年他的诗集问世. Many of his lectures were later distilled