1、（美）现实主义时期Chapter 2 The Realistic Period.本章学习目的和要求通过本章的学习，了解美国 19 世纪中期现实主义文学产生的历史、文化背景，认识该时期文学创作的基本特征、基本主张，及其对同时代和后期美国文学的影响；了解该时期的主要作家的文学创作生涯、人生观及价值观及其代表作品的主题思想、人物刻画、语言风格；同时结合注释，读懂所选作品并了解其思想内容和艺术特色，培养理解和欣赏文学作品的能力。.本章重点和难点1.美国现实主义文学的特点2.现实主义与自然主义的异同，这两种倾向在美国 19 世纪小说中的反映3.主要作家的创作思想、艺术特色、及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻
2、画、语 言风格、艺术手法、社会意义等4.分析选读作品的思想内容及艺术特色、人物刻画.考核知识点和考核要求（一）现实主义时期概述1识记：美国现实主义文学产生的社会和文化背景（a）美国南北战争（b）威廉迪安豪威尔斯：美国现实主义的先驱（c）达尔文主义和法国小说家佐拉的影响2领会：A.美国现实主义文学的特点（a）占主导地位的美国现实主义小说（b）现实主义文学中的地方色彩小说（c）现实主义文学中的自然主义倾向B.现实主义文学和自然主义倾向之异同C达尔文主义、法国自然主义作家的主张以及对现实主义时期美国文学的影响3应用：A. 名词解释：现实主义、达尔文主义、自然主义、地方色彩主义B现实主义文学和自然主义
3、倾向在美国 19 世纪小说中的反映（二）美国现实主义时期的主要作家A马克吐温1一般识记：马克吐温的生平及创作生涯2识记：马克吐温的主要作品汤姆索亚历险记哈克贝利费恩历险记亚瑟王朝廷上的康涅狄格州美国人3领会：马克吐温作品中的地方色彩、幽默及语言特色4应用：（1）选读哈克贝里费恩第三十一章：主题结构、人物刻画、语言特色（2）哈克的性格分析及其社会意义B亨利詹姆斯1一般识记：詹姆斯的生平和创作生涯2识记：詹姆斯的早期作品黛西。米勒，一个美国人贵妇人的画像欧洲人中期作品波士顿人螺丝在拧紧丛林猛兽后期作品专使鸽翼金碗文艺理论著作：小说的艺术3领会：（1）詹姆斯的“现实主义”（2）詹姆斯的小说艺术特色：
4、“视角”与心理分析4.应用：（1）选读黛西米勒 第一章：主题结构、人物刻画、语言风格（2）黛西米勒的主题和人物分析C艾米莉狄金森1一般识记：狄金森的生平及创作生涯2识记：狄金森的诗歌（1）狄金森有关“永恒” 主题的诗（2）狄金森的爱情诗（3）狄金森的自然诗3领会：狄金森诗歌的主题结构，创新和艺术特色4应用：选读狄金森诗歌第 441、465585 和 712 首的结构、主题、语言特色D西奥多德莱塞1一般识记：德莱塞的生平及创作生涯2识记：德莱塞的主要作品嘉丽妹妹珍妮姑娘美国的悲剧“欲望”三部曲：金融家巨头斯多葛3领会：德莱塞小说的语言风格4应用：（1）达尔文主义与德莱塞作品中的自然主义倾向（2）
5、选读嘉丽妹妹的最后一章节选：主题结构、人物刻画、语言风格Chapter 2 The Realistic Period一、识记：1The Age of Realism (How to define the Realistic Period in American literary history?)The period ranging from 1865 to l914 has been referred to as the Age of Realism in the 1iterary history of the United States, which is actually a movem
6、ent or tendency that dominated the spirit of American literature, especia1ly American fiction, from the 1850s onwards. Realism was a reaction against Romanticism or a move away from the bias towards romance and self-creating fictions, and it paved the way to Modernism. Instead of thinking about the
7、irrational, the imaginative, realists touched upon social and political realities and pressures in the post-Civil war society. Three dominant figures are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James.2.The historical and socio-cultural background of American RealismThe American society after the
8、 Civil War provided rich soil for the rise and deve1opment of Realism. This period is characterized with changes, in relation to every aspect of American life, politically, economically, culturally, and religiously. First of all, politically, the Civil War affected both the social and the value syst
9、em of the country. America had transformed itse1f into an industria1ized and commercialized society. Wilderness gave way to civilization. The burgeoning economy and industry stepped up urbanization. However, economically, the changes were not all for the better. The industrialization and the urbaniz
10、ation were accompanied by the incalculable sufferings of the laboring people. Therefore, polarization of the wellbeing between the poor and the rich started to show up. Thirdly, as far as the ideology was concerned, people became dubious about the human nature and the benevo1ence of God, which the T
11、ranscendentalists cared most. What Mark Twain referred to as “ the Gi1ded Age” replaced the frontier and the spirit of the frontiersman, which is the spirit of freedom and human connection. Fourthly, the literary scene after the Civi1 War proved to be quite different a picture. The harsh rea1ities o
12、f life as well as the disillusion of heroism resulting from the dark memories of the Civil War had set the nation against the romance. The Americans began to be tired of the sentimental feelings of Romanticism. Thus, started a new period in the American literary writings known as the Age of Realism,
13、 characterized by a great interest in the realities of life.3.The Gilded AgeIt refers to the period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in the U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earl
14、iest of these, The Gilded Age(1873),written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington D.C., and is peopled with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians. The
15、 political novels of the Gilded Age represent the beginnings of a new strain in the American literature, the novel as a vehicle of social protest, a trend that grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the works of the muckrakers and culminated in the proletarian novelists.二领会1.What is Rea
16、lism?In art and literature, Realism refers to an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures exactly as they act or appear in life. Realism emerged as a literary movement in Europe in the 1850s. In reaction to Romanticism, realistic writers should set down their obser
17、vations impartially and objectively. They insisted on accurate documentation, sociological insight, and avoidance of poetic diction and idealization. The subjects were to be taken from everyday life, preferably from lower-class life. Realism entered American literature after the Civil War. William D
18、ean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James were the pioneers of realism in the U.S. 2.The literary characteristics of the Realistic Period in American literatureGuided by the principle of adhering to the truthful treatment of 1ife, the realists touched upon various contemporary social and political is
19、sues. In their works, instead of writing about the polite, we11-dressed, grammatica1ly correct middle-class young people who moved in exotic places and remote times, they introduced industrial workers and farmers, ambitious businessmen and vagrants, prostitutes and unheroic soldiers as major charact
20、ers in fiction. They approached the harsh realities and pressures in the post-Civil War society either by a comprehensive picture of modern life in its various occupations, c1ass stratifications and manners, or by a psychological exploration of mans subconsciousness.The three dominant figures of the
21、 period are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James. Together they brought to fulfillment native trends in the realistic portrayal of the 1andscape and social surfaces, brought to perfection the vernacular style, and explored and exploited the literary possibilities of the interior life.3.
22、The three dominant figures of the Realistic period differed in their understanding of the “truth ”(1) While Mark Twain and Howells paid more attention to the “life“ of the Americans, Henry James laid a greater emphasis on the“ inner world“ of man. He came to believe that the literary artist should n
23、ot simply hold a mirror to the surface of social life in particular times and places. In addition, the writer should use language to probe the deepest reaches of the psychological and moral nature of human beings. He is a realist of the inner life.(2) Though Twain and Howells both shared the same co
24、ncern in presenting the truth of the American society, they had each of them different emphasis. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class and the way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories, which is known as “ local colori
25、sm”, a unique variation of American literary realism.4.What is Local Colorism?Post-Civil War America was large and diverse enough to sense its own local differences. Regional voices had emerged. “ Local colorism” is a unique variation of American literary realism. Generally, the works by local color
26、ists are concerned with the life of a small, well-defined region or province. This kind of fiction depicts the characters from a specific setting or of an era, which are marked by its customs, dialects, costumes, landscape, or other peculiarities that have eacaped standardizing cultural influence. Y
27、et for all their sentimentality, they dedicated themselves to minutely accurate descriptions of the life of their regions. They worked from personal experience; they recorded the facts of a unique environment and suggested that the native life was shaped by the curious conditions of the loca1e. Thei
28、r materials were necessarily limited and topics disparate, yet they had certain common artistic concerns. Writers whose works are characterized with local colors are Mark Twain, Sarah Orne Jewett, Joseph Kirkland and Hamlin Garland.5.The influence of Darwinism and French naturalist writers on Americ
29、an literature in its Realistic PeriodThe impact of Darwins evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the 19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to yet another school of realism: American naturalism. Darwin, in his The Origin of Species(1859) an
30、d Descent Of Man (187l ),expounded his theory of natural selection. The American naturalists accepted the more negative implications of this theory and used it to account for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were conceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attri
31、butes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces. And consciously or unconsciously the American naturalists followed the French novelist and theorist Emile Zolas call that the 1iterary artist “must operate with characters, passions, human and social data as the chemist and the physicist
32、 work on inert bodies, as the physiologist works on living bodies.” They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of society and portrayed the people who were demonstrably victims of society and nature. And one of the most familiar themes in American Naturalism is the theme of human “bestiality”, e
33、specially as an explanation of sexual desire. For example, Frank Norris, in his McTeague (l899), described the relations of a crude dentist with a superficially refined German-American girl, who, awakened by his desires, is drawn into an animalistic affection. 三应用1.What is Naturalism? (or American N
34、aturalism)In literature, the term refers to the theory that literary composition should aim at a detached, scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man. The movement is an outgrowth of 19th century scientic thought, following in general the biological determinism of Darwins theory, or the
35、economic determinism of Karl Marx. American Naturalism is a more advanced stage of realism toward the close of the 19th century. The American naturalists accepted the more negative implications of Darwins theory and used it to account for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were c
36、onceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces. And consciously or unconsciously the American naturalists followed the French novelist and theorist Emile Zolas call that the 1iterary artist “must operate with characters,
37、passions, human and social data as the chemist and the physicist work on inert bodies, as the physiologist works on living bodies.” They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of society and portrayed the people who were demonstrably victims of society and nature. And one of the most familiar the
38、mes in American Naturalism is the theme of human “bestiality”, especially as an explanation of sexual desire. Artistically, naturalistic writings are usually unpo1ished in language, lacking in academic skills and unwieldly in structure. Philosophically, the naturalists believe that the real and true
39、 is always partially hidden from the eyes of the individual, or beyond his control. Devoid of rationality and caught in a process in which he is but a part, man cannot fully understand, let alone contro1, the world he lives in; hence, he is left with no freedom of choice.In a word, naturalism is evo
40、lved from realism when the authors tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more detached, ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a different philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence. Notable writers of naturalistic fiction were Frank Norris, Sherwood An
41、derson, and Theodore Driser.2.The distinction between Realism and NaturalismNaturalism is evolved from realism when the authors tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more detached, ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a different philosophical approach to reality,
42、or to human existence.The distinction lies, first of all, in the fact that Realism is concerned directly with what is absorbed by the senses; Naturalism, a term more properly applied to literature, attempts to apply scientific theories to art. Second, Naturalism differs from Realism in adding an amo
43、ral attitude to the objective presentation of life. Naturalistic writers, adopting Darwins biological determinism and Marxs economic determinism, regard human behavior as controlled by instinct, emotion, or social and economic conditions, and reject free will. Third, Naturalism had an outlook often
44、bleaker than that of Realism, and it added a dimension of predetermined fate that rendered human will ultimately powerless.3.What is (Social) Darwinism?Social Darwinism is a belief that societies and individual human beings compete in a struggle for existence in which natural selection results in “s
45、truggle of the fittest.” Social Darwinists base their beliefs on theories of evolution developed by British naturalist Charles Darwin. Social Darwinists typically deny that they advocate a “law of jungle.” But most propose arguments that justify imbalances of power between individuals, races, and na
46、tions because they consider some more fit to survive than others. The theory had produced a big impact on Naturalism. The major writers in the Realistic PeriodI. Mark Twain (1835-19l0)Mark Twain is a great literary giant of America, whom H.L.Mencken considered “the true father of our national litera
47、ture.” With works like Adventure of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and Life on the Mississippi (1883) Twain shaped the worlds view of America and made a more extensive combination of American folk humor and serious literature than previous writers had ever done.（一）一般识记Mark Twains life and writing:Mark Twai
48、n, Pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was born on November 30, 1835, in Missouri, and grew up in the river town of Hannibal. After his father died, he began to seek his own fortune .He once worked as a journeyman printer, a steamboat pilot, a newspaper colunist and as a deadpan lecturer. Twains w
49、riting took the form of humorous journalism of the time, and it ennabled him to master the technique of narration. (二) 识记Mark Twains major works:In l865, he pub1ished his frontier tale “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” which brought him recognition from a wider public. But his full literary career began to blossom in 1869 with a travel book Innocents Abroad, an account of American tourists in Europe which pokes fun at the pretentious, decadent and undemo
