1、A History of British Literature,Unit One,Orientation: A General Introduction to Literature and British Literature,Tasks,English Language and Literature The Use of Literature Literature: Some Related Concepts Possible Methods of Studying Literature An Introduction of British LiteratureSuggested Readi
2、ngs,English Language and Literature,The need to study language &literature English as major or tool The nature of literary language,The Need to Study:,the Use of English Language and Literature,Two views of English learning,English as a technical language learned only for practical and professional
3、purposes,English as a discipline of the humanities, one of the major fields of academic inquiry,Express your opinion,Do you think English should be a major and a discipline of the humanities or nothing but a tool for practical ends such as finding a nice job in the future?,English language and liter
4、ature,both a technical language becoming more and more important in our daily work and life, and a language for aesthetic enjoyment and high thinking,Literature as Elevated Language,literature as creative writing of artistic value Deliberate,deviated, creative use of language a form of elevated lang
5、uage, refined by writers of every generation, kept and handed down from one generation to another in the cultural tradition of every nation,The nature of literary language,Evolution of literary language Literariness Defamiliarization Russian Formalist theorist Victor Shklovsky 语不惊人死不休,Literature is
6、useless ?,A dream told by an idiot?-Macbeth,The course is not for immediate practical purposes The purposefulness of purposelessness The usefulness of uselessness,Literature and Language Competence,make you more sensitive to the refined use of English languagediversifies and enriches your ways of ex
7、pression,Literature and Human Wisdom,emotionally sensitive intellectually sophisticated and morally sound Pessimism of intellect, optimism of will. (Antonio Gramsci) Freedom of thought ( to criticize) reason,Enlightenment is mans release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is mans inability to
8、 make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. “Have courage to use your own reason!”that is the motto of enlightenment.- Immanuel
9、Kant “What is Enlightenment?”,engages the reader in a complex set of emotional, symbolic, moral, intellectual, and social considerations explores the texture and meaning of human experience in a complex, compelling way, and leads us to insight and rich reflection, hence wisdom, concerning our lives
10、and the nature of human experience,it was the writers duty to “help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.” （William Faulkner),福克纳：文学使人的心灵变得高尚，使人的勇气、荣誉感、希望、尊严、同情心、怜悯心和牺
11、牲精神复活起来 文学不能直接贡献GDP，却可以直接制造幸福。,Literature: Some Related Concepts,Literature, History, Philosophy (Aesthetics) Chinese Literature and British Literature Literature: Ancient and Contemporary,Literary historyLiterary criticismLiterary theory,Literature, History, Philosophy (Aesthetics),Accumulation of
12、historical memory:Historical knowledge provides background knowledge for better reading(Bertrand Russell) Philosophical insights of generations: Philosophical wisdom helps think deeply about the meaning of a piece of work( Socrates, Plato, Aristotle),Chinese Literature and British Literature,British
13、 literature cannot be studied independently of other national literatures A comparative and relational perspective Some masters of comparative literature :钱锺书七缀集，范存忠中国文化在启蒙时期的英国，乐黛云，张隆溪,Literature: Ancient and Contemporary,Whether reactionary to or inherited from works of before time, literary histo
14、ry needs a historical consciousness. Do you have any preference for literature in different periods? Both in Chinese and English,Literary History,the historical development of writings in prose or poetry attempts to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction, as well as the use of literary
15、 techniques in the composition of works of literature in a period of time,Literary Criticism,a view or opinion on what a particular written work means a description, analysis, evaluation, or interpretation of a particular literary work or an authors writings as a whole,Literary theory,the theory (ph
16、ilosophy) of the interpretation of literature and literary criticism classical Greek poetics and rhetoric the 18th century: aesthetics and hermeneutics The 20th century: explosion of theory（critical theory） as an umbrella term for a variety of scholarly approaches to reading texts, informed by Conti
17、nental philosophy(France and Germany),Methods for study literature,study of literature: the study of human beings, their characters, their histories, their thoughts, their feelings, joy and sadness 文学=人学 ( Sigmund Freud 厨川白村的苦闷的象征 Appreciation and study: no formula,Four approaches,Formal approach (e
18、lemental approach) its internal relationships and the mechanism making a piece of writing literary plot, character, setting, point of view, symbol, style, and tone, meter, rhyme,Thematic approach,theme: a works controlling idea, or its central insight into life human nature (selfishness, greed, vani
19、ty, jealousy, ambition)Love and hate, marriage, peace and violence, alienation and death, society and individual,Biographical Approach,Studying the authors life adds insights to our understanding of the work The style is the man,Historical and political approach,Literature: Representation of life an
20、d societyNew Historicism: history is a fiction because there are so many possible ways of telling the story of a time A re-interpretation of the literary cannon,British Literature: A Brief Introduction,Why British Literature rather than English Literature,Great Britain: England, Scotland, Wales, and
21、 Northern Ireland. British literature: defined in terms of its geographical coverage (neutral),English literature : all literatures written in the English language, such as those produced in its former colonies regardless of ethnic, national identities,Periods (arbitrary),Medieval Literature (cf. 5t
22、h century1485)epics, religion, poetry The Renaissance (late 15th centuryearly 17th century) humanism Literature of the 17th century Bourgeois revolution,The Enlightenment Period (the late 17th centurymiddle of 18th century) neo-classicism The Romantic Period (1798-1832) romanticism Victorian Period
23、(1830s-1918) realism,Modernist Period (1918-1945)modernism Contemporary (1945-)postmodernism,What we do,main literary schools and currents the basic historical facts of authors biography and their literary careers Interpretation ad analysis of works and possible topics for your BA thesis,Aim and Tas
24、k,general knowledge of English Literature for students in colleges and universities to outline the development of the literature with due regard to national life, and to give appreciative interpretation of the work of the most important authors Division of chapters: Chronology+genre,Suggested Readin
25、gs,王守仁.英国文学选读.北京:高等教育出版社,2001. 张伯香. A Course Book of English Literature. 1997. 武汉: 武汉大学出版社, 2004. 陈嘉. 英国文学史. 北京: 商务印书馆, 1986. 王佐良.英国文学史. 北京: 商务印书馆, 1996. Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. 1994. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. 牛津文学术语词典 上海外语教育出版社, 2000 .M. H. Abrams, eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.,
