1、Lecture A Brief Introduction to American Literature1.Basic features of American writersIndependent, Individualistic, Critical, Innovative, Humorous2.Part I The Literature of Colonial and American PuritanismThe first American writer: Capitan John Smith.Philip Freneau:( Father of American Poetry)3.Par
2、t II The Literature of Reason and Revolution, EnlightenmentJonathan Edwards: First modern American and the countrys last medieval manBenjamin Franklin: The Autobiography Thomas Paine :The American CrisisThomas Jefferson (“The Declaration of Independence” first established the identity of American pe
3、ople) John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and Jefferson4.Part III The Literature of RomanticismWashing Irving 欧文: His first book was “A History of New York ”. “The Sketch Book 美国信札” made him international famous James Fenimore Cooper: 库伯“Leatherstocking Tales”, 皮袜子故事集 a series of five novels about the
4、 frontier life of American settlers. Deerslayer (1843), Pathfinder (1841), Last of the Mohicans (1825), The Pioneer (1823), The Prairie ( 1827), Edgar Allan Poe 艾伦坡: Poe was sensitive enough to feel the pressure of a world where science and reason reign supreme, and one where there is neither joy, n
5、or love, nor light, nor peace, nor help from God.“The Raven”, “Israfel”, “Sonnetto Science” and “To Hellen”.His short stories: “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Purloined Letter”, “The Gold Bug” and “The Mystery of Marie Roget”5.Features of Transcendentalism 先验主义先验主义A. Emphasis on Spirit (Overso
6、ul) B. Emphasis on individuals C. Taking nature as the symbol of the Spirit (Oversoul) D. Brotherhood of man (equal and liberty)Ralph Waldo Emerson 爱默生: Emerson created the school of transcendentalism. His famous essay “American Scholar” established the independence of American intellectual.“Nature”
7、Henry David Thoreau 梭罗: Walden 瓦尔登湖Nathaniel Hawthorne 藿桑Twice-Told Tales ; Moses from an Old Manse, Scarlet Letter 红字; The House of Seven Gables; The Blithedale Romance; The Marble FaunHerman Melville 麦尔维尔:Moby Dick 大白鲸Walt Whitman 惠特曼: leaves of grass 草叶集, song of myselfEmily Dickinson 狄金森6.Part I
8、V The Literature of RealismBeecher Stowe 斯托夫人: “Uncle Toms Cabin 汤姆叔叔的小屋”Henry James 詹姆斯 and international theme: The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl,7.Part 5: American NaturalismStephen Crane 克兰: Maggie: A Girl of the StreetsTheodore Dreiser 德莱塞: Siste
9、r CarrieJack London 杰克伦敦: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf Martin Eden O. Henry 欧 亨利 The Gift of the Magi, The Cop and the Athem8.Part 6 Twentieth-Century LiteratureEzra Pound 庞德: In a Station of the MetroRobert Frost 弗罗斯特: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningScott Fitzgerald 菲茨杰拉德 and
10、 The American Dream: The Great GatsbyErnest Hemingway 海明威 and Iceberg Principle: The Sun Also Rises. A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the SeaSteinbeck 斯坦贝克: The Grape of WrathWilliam Faulkner 福克纳: The Sound and the Fury ,Light in AugustSherwood Anderson 安德森: Winesburg, Oh
11、ioSinclair Lewis 路易斯: Main Street9.American Puritanism（清教主义）（清教主义） Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. Puritans wanted to purity their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a
12、 special infusion of grace from God. predestination（命运天定）, original sin（原罪） , total depravity（人类是完全堕落的，所以人要处处小心自己的行为，要尽可能做到最好以取悦上帝）, limited atonement（有限救赎，只有被上帝选中的人才能得到上帝的拯救）10.Enlightenment（启蒙运动）an intellectual movement in the seventeenth century and eighteenth. The common element was a trust in h
13、uman reason as adequate to solve the crucial problems and to establish the essential norms in life, together with the belief that the application of reason was rapidly dissipating the remaining feudal traditions. 11.Imagism（意象派）1912 and 1917. The typical Imagist poetry is written in free verse and u
14、ndertakes to be as precisely and tersely as possible. Meanwhile, the Imagist poetry likes to express the writers momentary impression of a visual object or scene and often the impression is rendered by means of metaphor without indicating a relation. 12.Local Colorism 地方色彩文学地方色彩文学 a literary trend b
15、elonging to Realism. It refers to the detailed representation in prose fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress and ways of thinking and feeling which are distinctive of a particular region. 13.Postmodernismthe literature and art after WWII. Postmodernism involves not only a continuation, som
16、etimes carried to an extreme, of the countertraditional experiments of modernism, but also diverse attempts to break away from modernist forms which had, inevitably, become in their turn conventional, as well as to overthrow the elitism of modernist “high art” by recourse to the models of “mass art”
17、.14.Transcendentalism（超验主义）（超验主义） in 1830s in US；emphasis on spirit or oversoul and stressing importance of the individual；regarding nature as symbols of the spirit or God and emphasis on brotherhood of man；representatives: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau15.Lost Generation（迷惘的一代）（迷惘的一代）
18、American writers of the decade following the end of WWI, disillusioned by their war experience and alienated by what they perceived as the crassness of American culture are often tagged as Lost Generation. Their representatives are F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. 16.Naturalism（自然主义）（自然主义）
19、Naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. In presenting the extremes of life, the naturalists emphasized t
20、hat the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. Lecture 2 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)1. The theme in the scarlet letterThe sin of Puritanism on human natu
21、re(1)Sin: Hawthorne is haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life. Evil seems to be mans birthmark. Sin will be punished. Hawthorne was predominantly concerned with the moral, emotional, and psychological effect of the sin on people in general. The story of Adam and Eve; Dimmesdales “Fall“ is a de
22、scent from apparent grace to his own damnation; Chillingworths misshapen body reflects the anger in his soul Pearl embodies the poison of her parents guilt(2)Puritan legalism: Another theme is the extreme legalism of the Puritans and how Hester chooses not to conform to their rules and beliefs Becau
23、se they rejected Hester, she spent her life mostly in solitude, and wouldnt go to church. As a result, She still sees her sin, but begins to believe that a persons earthly sins dont necessarily condemn them. She even thinks that their sin has been paid for by their daily penance and that their sin w
24、ont keep them from getting to heaven, however, the Puritans believed that such a sin surely condemns. When Dimmesdale dies, she knows she has to move on because she can no longer conform to the Puritans strictness. Her thinking is free from religious bounds and she has established her own, different
25、 moral standards and beliefs(3)Past and present: Sins of Hawthornes ancestors. The wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones.2. The symbolism in scarlet letter“A”-adultery, able, angelPearl-the unique pure person in the puritan communityChillingworth-a bad guyDimmesdale-someone wh
26、o should be condemned for his evil and sinsLecture 3 Herman Melville 1819-18911. Themes in Moby-Dick:The world is Godless and purposelessThe loss of faith and the sense of futility and meaninglessnessAlienation between man and man, man and society, man and natureDeath-spiritual, emotional and physic
27、alThis work also reveals the basic pattern of nineteenth century American life: loneliness and suicidal individualism in a self-styled democracy. 2. Symbolism in Moby DickAhab（圣经中的异教徒国王，昏庸暴虐，在小说中过分自信，在船上如同一个独裁的暴君）and Ishmael （圣经中被抛弃的人，是一个流浪者，在小说里他也是一个被社会所抛弃的人）the voyage: the search for the ultimate
28、truth of experienceMoby Dick: evil or goodness; corruption, purity, innocence, youth, the final mystery of the universe Pequod: the American soulLecture 4 Walt Whitman (The father of Free Verse) (1819-1892)1. The definition of Free Verse:Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent m
29、eter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern What is the difference between free verse and blank verse? (blank verse has no rhyme, but it should be iambic pentameter) 2. The theme of Leaves of GrassIn spite of the unconventionality of his poetic form and ideas, Whitman is related to the past i
30、n many ways. Whitman embraces idealism. Whitman extols the ideals of equality and democracy and celebrates the dignity, the self-reliant spirit and the joy of the common man. Parallelism.3. The features of Leaves of GrassA. He extols the ideals of equality and democracy and celebrates the dignity, t
31、he self-reliant spirit and the joy of the common man.B. employing “free verse” as the form of his poems with two characteristics: parallelism; phonetic recurrence C. frankness of the commonplace and the ugly sides in human lifeD. direct, plain and even vulgar languageE. “untold latencies” (his poetr
32、y suggests rather than tell)F. great influence on the 20th century American poetsEmily Dickinson (1830-1886)4. The themes in Emily DickinsonFlowers and gardens The Master , Jesus or Godillness, dying and death, immortality the mind and spirit A religious certainty, Gods help and good lifeNature, bot
33、h kind and cruelIndividuality, free will, human responsibilitySympathy for the poor and the weakBeauty, truth and goodnessLecture5 Edgar Allan Poe (1819-1849)1. IntroductionThe father of detective fiction. He is the first professional writer.Poems:“The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, “To Helen”Lecture 6 Amer
34、ican realism (the late 19th century, esp. 1870s, 1880s)1. Features of American RealismA. reaction against “the lie” of Romanticism (considering Romanticism made people escape from the social realities)B. theme: the world of experience of the commonplace and the familiar and the lowC. style: genteel,
35、 graceful prose by Howells and Henry James; plain and rough by Mark TwainD. vivid description of details from observation of actual lifeE. a reliance on the representative characterF. trying to hold an objective view of human nature and society2. Father of American realism:William Dean Howells (1837
36、 1920)3. Features of Henry Jamess work The international theme:“the international theme”: the meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence, and its moral and psychological complications.Special point of view: internal monologue (illumination of th
37、e situation and characters through one or several minds)Lecture 7 Local Colorism1. Mark Twains real nameSamuel Langhorne Clemens2. 4 classical novels: The Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Man that Corrupted HadleyburgRoughing It3. Trilogy of MississippiLife on the missis
38、sippiThe Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn4. The features of Mark Twains languageAnglo-Saxon in origin, short, concrete and direct in effect; sentence structure is mostly simple or compound; repetition of words; ungrammatical elements Mark Twain made the colloquial speech an
39、 accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of America.Lecture 8 Ernest Hemingway1. 4 novels of Ernest Hemingway:The Sun Also RisesFor Whom the Bell TollsThe Old Man and the SeaA Farewell to Arms2. The symbolism of The old man and the sea:Santiago mankind; sea nature and environme
40、nt; marlin purpose of life; shark the evil force which control humans fate3. The features in Ernest Hemingway:Hemingway situation: characterized by chaos and brutality and violence, by crime and death, by sports and sexHemingway theme: “grace under pressure”Lecture 9 American Naturalism1. Major feat
41、ure of Naturalism godlessDeterminismThe universe is cold, indifferent, godless and hostile to human desires; life becomes a struggle for survivalThemes: social systems that destroy and dehumanize; individual experience of loss and failure3. differences between Realism and Naturalism4. The trilogy of
42、 fate:The Financier The TitanThe Stoic5. Masterpiece of Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie6. The real name of Jack London:John Ariffith London7. The masterpiece of O.HenryThe Gift of the MagiLecture 10 The southern renaissance1. 4 novels of William Faulkner:The Sound and the FuryLight in AugustAbsalom!
43、 Absalom!Go Down, MosesAs I lay Dyingthe Marble Faun2. The features of his novels:Theme: in praise of eternal virtues in human history, love, pity, honor and self-sacrifice (despair and destruction)multiple points of viewdislocation of timethe modern stream of consciousnesswords are often run togeth
44、er, with no capitalization and no proper punctuationinterior monologuescolloquial and regional dialectsone fragment runs into another without proper noticeLecture 11 American Drama1. 4 novels of Eugene ONeill:Beyond the HorizonLong Days Journey into NightThe Emperor JonesThe Hairy Ape2. Themes of Th
45、e Hairy Ape:The industrial environment is presented as toxic and dehumanizing; the world of the rich, superficial and dehumanized. Yank has also been interpreted as representative of the human condition, alienated from nature by his isolated consciousness, unable to find belonging in any social grou
46、p or environment.3. Major themes in A Streetcar Named Desire:Fantasy/IllusionBlanche dwells in illusion; fantasy is her primary means of self-defense. Fantasy has a liberating magic that protects her from the tragedies she has had to endure. Blanches dependence on illusion is contrasted with Stanley
47、s steadfast realism, and in the end it is Stanley and his worldview that win. To survive, Stella must also resort to a kind of illusion, forcing herself to believe that Blanches accusations against Stanley are false so that she can continue living with her husband.4. Themes in Death of a Salesman:Th
48、e American DreamAbandonmentBetrayalLecture 12 Postwar American Literature1. The definition of black humor:Black humor is a way to criticize the army, the bureaucracy and government. Humordeep, strong, melancholy, self-mocking; to express the most helpless feeling by using seemingly light-hearted tre
49、atment;2. Features of the beat generation:free from all formalities anti-reasonbreaking down the limitations between poetry and prose They shock their listeners by reading their works aloud in coffee houses and bars.They lived in a wild way, anti-traditional and rebellious. They cherished a rebellious attitude toward sex, living in groups and engaging themselves in homosexual activities.3. Definition of postmodernism:In general, the postmodern view is cool, ironic, and accepting of the fragmentation of contemporary existence. It tends to co
