英美文学专业课复试面试题准备

英美文学专业课复试题准备What’s you favorite writer?Jane Austin is one of my favorite writers. Maybe some critics will think her themes of novels are limited in the relationship between man and women. But in my opinion, in this field, seldom writers can surpass her. Her advancing ideas about love and marriage and her dexterity in writing techniques attracts me a great d eal. She wrote several famous novels like Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion. But, her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice is my favorite one. The novel is well embodied her view towards love and marriage. It reveals the beauty of women more than physical beauty and their longing for freedom in marriage. What’s more, in Pride and Prejudice, her writing techniques are extraordinary. I like the first sentence: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wif e. After finishing the novel, the readers will find that it is actually about husband hunting. In fact, the novel conveys that it’s a woman in possession of little fortune must be in want of a wealthy husband. It’s just the opposite of the point he gets in the beginning of the story.Jane Austin’s writing techniquesHer wit and humor. In her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice, the first sentence, you will find the use of the bathos. It makes a big contrast and makes people burst into laughter.She writes in gentle irony and satir e. Take an scenery as example in Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy and Mrs Binley took part in a dance part, but most of people think Mr Darcy is more handsome than Mr Binley just because he have a lager fortune than Mr Binley. It show Austin’s satire to the public prejudice towards the higher rank though it may be a not good man.Her exactness in the portrait of characte rs. Proper words are used in proper character. Every character has their unique spoken manner. For example, Mrs Bennet is fussy, fawning and boastful. Like, My dear Mr Bennet, have you heard that Netherfield is let at last?Her bright and witty dialogue s.I also likes the bestseller novels like Flipped, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. When it comes to this novel, the hazy but a bit blissful love occurs in my mind. At the same time, it teaches me something precious, which is exactly the charm of the protagonist, Juliana. She is the girl who sees things not just through the surface, but through the whole. Nowadays, every time I start to comment one event, I will ruminate on whether I have considered it comprehensively.What do you think English and American Literature? Are they useful to learn at this age?I think literature plays an unparalleled role in our life.First of all, we can know the society at that time. Life is the source of the art.Compared with history, literature can give us more vivid and detailed information of at that age.Secondly, it’s a quite good method to learn langua ge.Thirdly, reading literature can cultivate our rational thinking. At the information age, we are overwhelmed by massive fragmented information. When we are devoted to finish one book, it will calm us down and carefully think of the story.Fourthly, some literature figures will inspire us to pursue self-perfection. Like Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, she is a woman with independent wit and thought. She read lots of books to perfect herself.Why do you like academic research?Firstly, academic research is a necessary and wonderful way to dig into the deeper connotation of literature.Secondly, it’s my curiosity. Know internal implication.Thirdly, it’s influenced by my teacher. encourageThe Renaissance, humanism, neoclassicism, romanticism, realism, modernism Answer the question point by point. You can make use of conjunction words like, in terms of , what’s more, actually, besidesCharles Dickson’s writing techniques,George Eliot’s writing features,William Wordsworth’s nature view,His status: the representative of romanticism, worshipper of natureView about nature: human being, knowledge and strength in peaceMasterpiece: I wandered lonely as a cloud (All good poetry is arising from emotions recollected in tranquility.) There is a vivid description of the daffodils here, showing poet’s view that it’s a bliss to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind while he is in solitude.William Shakespeare’s achievement,His works: prolific and productive. 31 plays, 2 narrative poems and 159 sonnets ( Four Great Comedies and four great tragedies)The theme:Historical plays: national unity under a might ruler is necessaryRomantic comedies: an optimistic attitude towards love, friendship and youth Tragedies: portrays some nobles heroes, who faces the injustice of life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of his nation. To language: common language and phrases come from his work.To literature: many literary figures are inspired by his achievement.To literary achievement: the creation of Shakespeare Sonnet, characters, plot construction, free verseFrancis Bacon’s achievementThe first essayist in English literature.The founder of materialistic philosophy: investigation, discovery, the verification Washington Irving’s writing characteristics,Emerson’s transcendentalismHis fame:His opinions: the over soul- base his region on an intuitive belief in an ultimate unity The significance of individualismNature as the symbol of spiritual world, nature mediates the god and human.The power of intuitionThoreau’s WaldenIt’s not only demonstrates the Emersonian ideas of self-reliance but also develops and tests Thoreau’s own transcendental philosophy.Nature is not merely symbolic but also divine in itself and human can receive precise communication from itThe importance of individual, even holds society fetters the freedom of individuals Self-culture and self-reliance to achieve the spiritual perfection.Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.Black vision of life and human beings-concern human sins and evil;His concern is moral issues of sin and guilt and his psychological analysis of people; theme: the universality of guilt and explores the complexities and ambiguities of man’s choices;Writing techniques: symbolism, ambivalence;Language: clarity, directness, firmness, surenessHerman Melville’s Mobby DickIts surface and deep meaningIts romanticism and realismSymbolism and allegoryWalt Whitman’ democratic view (fame, content, masterpiece)Emily Dickson’ writing techniquesHer concernHer style: personal and meditativeI hear a fly buzz- when I diedStress pattern- dash, capital lettersOstential formal simplicity_variety, subtlety and richnessShort, on single imageAmerican Romanticism,It started (The Sketch of Book, The Leaves of Grass)They share common characteristics: moral enthusiasm, the importance the individual, intuitive perception and a resumption that natural world, Man’s societyAmerican transcendentalism is the summitEmerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, MelvilleAmerican TranscendentalismThe summit of American RomanticismAbsolute good, unspotted innocent nature, humanity is godlike and that evil was nonexistent.They stresses the oversoul, the importance of individual, nature as the symbol of spiritual world.Nature asAmerican PuritanismThe beliefs and practices of the members ofPredestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonment through the infusion of the grace.As a cultural heritage, it exerted an influence on theWhat’s the difference between American Romanticism and English Romanticism?They share some commons including emphasis on imagination, individualism, nature and the exalt of the commonplace.American literature has unique features: describe their native nation, local language, puritanism, transcendentalism and Calvinism of original sin are are the influential elements.What’s the biggest achievement you have made during you undergraduate period? What’s literature?Definition: Literature is an art formTypes: poem, prose, essay, novel, fable and allegory.Functions: cultural exchange, a way to learn language, an indispensable role in life to calm us downLiterature is an art to vividly present social life and author’s inner thoughts by means of language. Literature includesWhat’s the characteristic of prose? What do you think of Bacon’s essayProse is all forms of writing and speech which have no structured mete r. Prose is the representative of several forms of communication, including dramatic, fiction,nonfiction and correspondent.It’s noted for its brevity, compactness and powerfulness.The essays are well arranged and enriched by biblical allusions, metaphors and cadence.What’s the difference between Chinese and American culture?EducationThinking modeCollectivism and individualismCan you tell us something about you research paper?Reason: Inspired by the study confusion, I started the researchMain contents: the current situation including teaching faculty, curriculum, book resources and language atmosphere.Measures:from the following aspects including the government, the teaching faculty, the resources for minority languageCan you tell me the concept of “wasteland” in relation to the works of those writers in 20th century?The Waste Land is a poem written by T.S Eliot with the theme of physical disorder and spiritual chaos in the contemporary world, in a mood of despair, frustration and disillusion, criticizing the civilized society.Fitzgerald describe the spiritual waste world where people are lost in disillusion and decadency amid grandeur and extravagance.Ernest Hemingway dramatized the sense of loss and despair he tried his ideaWilliam Faulkner exemplified the T. S Eliot’s concept modern society as the waste land. He created his mystical kingdom that mirrored the decline of south American and spiritual wasteland of the whole American society.Stream of consciousnessmultiple points of view,the lost generation,Imagist Movement,symbolismLocal colorismRealistic writing techniqueThey present the society through the portrait of characters in his region including the landscape, people living in that region and other peculiarities like customs, dialects and costumes.They emphasize the objectivityThey worked from their personal experiences to record the facts of unique environment.Mark Twain, Henry JamesThe gilded age,Gross materialism and blatant political corruptionCaricature of leading figuresthe Jazz Age,It refers to years from the the end of World War I to the great depressionIt’s an age of the roaring 1920sAmerican dreamIt is widely considered to be achieved by massive wealthMaterial pleasureHedonismUtilitarianismThe criterion of utilityThe exploitationdramatic monologueDramatic moment or crisis, talk about their minds and heartsThe readersRobert BrowningExpressionismA revolt against realism and naturalism, a seeking to achieve psychological reality rather than to record the external events.In dream, the expressionistic works are characterized by a bizarre distortion of reality. Eugene O’Neil’s The Hairy Ape is the typical work.Thomas HardyHis novels are also set in Wessex, the fictional primitive and crude region, which is threatened by the invading capitalismInfluenced by Darwin’s theory: Naturalism: pessimistic view of life dominates his workLocal colorist: rustic dialect and poetic flavorTess of the D’UrbervillesAlec, Tess, ClareTheme: the cruel capitalist exploitation in English countryside and the hypocritical morality in bourgeois society.Pessimism by attributing Tess’s tragedy to chance and fate.整理复习面试内容NaturalismEvolve from realism when the author’s tone become less serious, less sympathetic but more detached, ironicThe theme is often about human bestialityNaturalistic writing is often unpolished in language, lacking in academic skills and unwieldly in structurePresent a detached and scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man American ModernismMovement against realismTheoretical base: irrational philosophy and psycho- analysisTheme: relationship between man and man...Concern: private, internal, psychologicalIt implies a sense of fragmentation and alienationWhy modernism is different from realism?RationalismStress internal, private, psychologicalExperiment on new forms and expression, cast all the traditional forms, including story, characters, plots, setting, narrative points of view, themeModernism works are considered as anti-novels, anti-poetryWhat’s the difference between neoclassicism and romanticism?1.Romanticism is against neoclassicism. Romanticism show negative attitudes towards the existing social and political condition.2.Romanticism emphasizes the individual while neo stresses the society3.Rom embraces the inner world of the human beings, while Neo celebrated science, rationality, equality of the outside world.4.In literature, Neoclassicism has fixed laws of each type, which is often didactic and moralizing, While the expressions should be free from all rules.5.The most important form in rom is poem, neo in prose.What characters does it have in Victorian Literature?(coincide with the rein of Victoria who ruled over England from 1836 to 1901)Darwin’s theory shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faithUtilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced, devalue of culture, cold indifference to human feelingsVictorian literature represents the reality of the age, criticize the corrupting society: money worship, widespread poverty and injustice and defended for the mass and concern the common peopleCharles DicksonWriting career:youthful optimistic: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Oliver TwistExcitement and irritation: American Notes, David CopperfieldIntensifying pessimissism: Hard Times, Bleak House, Great Expectation, The Tale of Two CitiesTechniques:Character sketches and exaggerationBoard human and penetrating satire。