Lectures on American Literature——美国文学讲义

True Relation of Virginia (1608)
Description of New England (1616)
General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624)
我要讴歌基督教创造的 奇迹为逃避欧洲的腐败 堕落，他们来到美洲的 海滩；……感谢上帝的 庇佑，把印第安人的荒 芜之地变得辉煌灿烂。 ---科顿· 马瑟
我们将成为整个世界的山巅 城 ( a city set upon a hill )， 全世界人民的眼睛都将看着 我们。如果我们在实现这一 事业的过程中欺骗了上帝， 如果上帝不再像今天那样帮 助我们，那么我们终将成为 世人的笑柄。
A Puritan Should Be…
务实的理想主义者
教条机会主义者
• “a visionary梦想家 who never forget that two plus two equals four; He was a practical idealist…his conduct was regulated by expediency 私利. He was a doctrinaire教条主义者 and an opportunist.”
• In content
religious writings serving either God or colonial expansion
• In form
imitating English literary tradition
American colonial literature is neither real literature nor American
“life is a test. Failure led to eternal damnation and success to heavenly bliss”
ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ
3. Creeds of Puritanism
• To be ever ready for any misfortune and tragic failure. • Hard-working, thrifty, pious, sober, simple • practical, tough, and optimistic.
Early American Writers and Poets
• South, Jamestown, Virginia: • Captain John Smith ---first American writer • North, New England, Puritan Writers • William Bradford: religious reason to America; separatist, avoid persecution; Mayflower, 2nd governor of Plymouth. • Two Poets: Anne Bradstreet the first noted poet in colonial period, Edward Taylor the most gifted (finest) of the Puritan poets
*To build “City of God on earth”
The Source and Doctrines of Puritanism
1. Source: Puritans follow the ideas of the
French reformer John Calvin. 2. Doctrines: Calvinist=Puritan • • • • • Total depravity 彻底堕落 (In Adam’s fall, we sinned all) Unconditional election 无条件选择 (Earthly success is a sign of election) Limited atonement 有限的代赎 Irresistible grace 不可抗拒的恩典 Predestination 圣徒蒙保守
---约翰· 温思罗普
• • • • • •
所以，让我们选择生活， 这样，我们和我们的后代， 可以聆听上帝的声音， 永不离开上帝， 因为上帝是我们的生命， 和我们的兴旺所在。 -----约翰·温思罗普
Literature in Colonial Period
• Four main reasons why there were few writings before the Revolutionary War:
• 加尔文教与清教的教 义都强调精英思想， 它是美国文化的 “根”. • Elitism： 1. Only the elect chosen by God could go to heaven. 2. Puritans are God’s chosen people, not other nations. 3. America is the land God endows on them.
• Pound, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Morrison…
Lecture one
Introduction
Colonial Period and Early American Literature (1620-1800)
American Indians
The lost Indian Culture
The First View of America
Why did Puritans come to America?
- To reform the Church of England -To have an entirely new church - To escape religious persecution * God’s chosen people *To seek a new Garden of Eden
(3) Simplicity: fresh, simple and direct; plain and honest; imitate the style and language of the Bible.
Where did American people get that air of superiority?
Settlement of planters and puritans
• • • • • • • • 1st Group 1580-1600 led by John Smith Jamestown in Virginia in 1607 Plantation way of life Planters in the south 2nd Group Pilgrims arrived 1610-1620 May Flower Plymouth in Massachusetts in 1620 Puritans in the north
Smith sent a letter to London, praising the merits of the new continent. In 1608, his letter was published, therefore, he became the first American writer.
1. Great Britain discouraged the printing of books in colony. 2. Puritans were too busy to read and write 3. There were very few schools in the colonies. Many people were illiterate. 4. Religious sentiment was strong in this early period
Compare and Contrast Puritanism with Confucianism
Influence of Puritanism in Literature
(1) Myth: Garden of Eden, American dream. (2) Symbolism: the physical world is a symbol of God.
Captain John Smith (1580—1631)
A real adventurer, he had fought in Hungary, where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was sold as a slave and escaped by killing his master. In 1607, he helped to set up Jamestown, the first English colony in America.
The war of independence 1776-1783
• The Age of Realism
• Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, Henry James…
The civil war 1861-1865 WWI WWII 1914-1918 1939-1945
• The Modern Age
• Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles…they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succor ['sʌkə]援助者… • And for the reason it was winter, and they know the winters of that country, know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms …the whole country, full of woods, represented a wide and savage hue. --from William Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation
One of the least explored topics in American studies
• Historical Introduction
• Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent in 1492. • 1497, John Cabot claimed it for England • Immigrants from European: Spanish, Dutch, French, mostly English.
Lectures on
American Literature
Patrick, Spring 2012
An overview of American Literature
• Colonial Period
• Franklin
• The Romantic Age
• Irving, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville…
General Features of the Colonial Literature
• Humble origins
personal writings like diaries, histories, journals, letters, biographies, travel books, experience of Indians’ help etc.