(0171)《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题答案

（0171）《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题答案I. Write out the authors’ names of the following works. (15)Benjamin Franklin T. S. EliotJames Cooper Walt WhitmanJames Baldwell Ernest HemingwayJoseph Heller John SteinbeckWilliam Faulkner Mark TwainWashington Irving Ernest HemingwayRobert Frost Toni MorrisonRalph Ellison Eugene O’NeillJohn Steinbeck Allan PoeF. Scott Fitzgerald Tennessee WilliamsWashington Irving Robert FrostNathaniel Hawthorne Herman MelvilleEugen e O’Neill Mark TwainWilliam Faulkner Robert FrostArthur Miller James CooperH. D. Thoreau Henry JamesWhitman Jack LondonJack London O’NeillII. Define the following literary terms. (20)Beat generation:The term was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to refer to a group of disillusioned writers following World War Two. Later, this literary and cultural movement continued into the 1960s. The Beat Generation must not be confused with the Lost Generation of writers. Spokesmen and representatives of the Beat Generation were Jack Kerouac, AllenGinsberg and others. They revolted against an America that was materialistic, belligerent and frustrating. Social, intellectual and sexual freedom was advocated. Traditional culture and normal social behavior were attacked and violated. Many of them were drug addicts wearing long hair and dirty clothes. They were fond of slangs and jazz. Masterpieces created by writers of this group include Kerouac‟s On the Road and Ginsberg‟s Howl and Other Poems, which were regarded as pocket Bibles of that generation. Other prominent Beats include William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure, and Neal Cassady. The Beat Generation, had greatly influenced the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the adolescents and adults in other countries. In England, the “angry young men” made an echo and imitated the American “beatnik.”Protagonist: the principal character in a play or story; the central character who serves as a focus fo r the work‟s themes and incidents and as the principal rationale for its development; and one who is opposed to the antagonist. In the beginning of ancient Greek drama, there were only a chorus and one actor—the leader of the chorus. Thespis invented the first actor. Then Aeschylus and Sophocles added the second and third actors to the tragedy respectively. The three actors were names Protagonist, Deuteragonist and Tritagonist. In discussions of modern literature, the protagonist is sometimes referred to as the hero or anti-hero.Biography:an account of a person‟s life written by somebody else, or biographical writing as a form of literature.Novel: Generally speaking, it is an imaginative prose narrative of extended length dealing with fictional characters and events. The constituent elements of a novel include plot, character, conflict, and setting. But there can be exceptions. Some novels are short. Some novels are not fictional. Some novels are in verse. And some novels do not even tell a story. There have been many debates over the appropriate length of a novel. No established length for a novel has been agreed upon. It is generally held, however, that a full-length novel is longer than a novella or short novel, and a short novel is longer than a shot story. A novel should be long enough so as to appear in print in an independent volume. The great length of a novel makes it possible for the characters and themes in it to be developed more fully and subtly.Antihero: a main character in a story, novel, play or film who behaves in a completely different way from what people expect a hero to do. A non-hero is without the qualities and features of atraditional or old-fashioned hero. He is doomed to fail. Antiheroes of early days were Don Quixote, Macbeth, Rip V an Winkle, and Tristram Shandy. Examples of antiheroes in modern literature include Leopold Bloom, Jim Dixon, Jimmy Porter, Herzog, and Y assarian.Free verse:a form of poetry without rhyme, meter, regular line length, and regular stanzaic structure. It depends on natural speech for rhythm. Robert Frost compared it to “playing tennis with the net down.” Though much simpler and less restrictive than conventional poetry and blank verse, free verse does no mean “formlessness.” T. S. Eliot once said that “no verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job.” Though its origin is unknown, it was attempted by such early poets as Surrey, Milton, Blake, and Macpherson. It was Whitman who did the greatest contribution to the development and popularity of free verse. Whitman favored the simplicity and freedom of expression. According to him, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of light of letters is simplicity. Noting is better than simplic ity.”Drama: a form of literature written for actors to perform. A drama is divided into acts. An act can be subdivided into scenes. The constituent elements of a drama include dialogue, plot, characters, setting, stage direction, and others. A drama can be as long as three parts called trilogy, or as short as one act only. Greek drama originated in religious ceremonial in honor of Dionysus. Medieval drama developed out of rites celebrating the life events of Jesus Christ. Dramatists of great importance in literary history include Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Shaw. In America, the firs important dramatist was Eugene O‟Neill who wrote the first serious plays. Before O‟Neill, America had theatre. Starting from O‟Neill, it began to have drama.Jazz age: Jazz is a form of dance music that is derived from early Afro-American folk music, ragtime, and Negro blues. It is marked with exciting rhythm, pronounced syncopation, and constant improvisation. The musical instruments used are mainly drums, trumpets, and saxophones. Major composers of Jazz music include Irvin Berlin and W. C. Handy. The term Jazz Age was specifically employed by Fitzgerald to denote the 1920s, which was characterized by the loss of traditional moral standards, indulgence in romantic yearnings, and great social excitement. According to Malco lm Cowley, the Jazz Age was “a legend of glitter, of recklessness, and of talent in such profusion that it was sown broadcast like wild oats.” F. Scott Fitzgerald‟s Tales of the Jazz Age, like Mark Twain‟s The Gilded Age, was an epoch-making work.Autobiography: a story a writer writes about his or her own life experiences. It is narrated fromthe first-person point of view. The term was probably first used by Southey. But the first important autobiography was Confessions written by Augustine of Hippo. Othe r examples include Franklin‟s Autobiography, Adams‟s The Education of Henry Adams, John Stuart Mill‟s Autobiography, Carlyle‟s Reminiscences, Henry David Thoreau‟s Walden, and so on. Sometimes, an autobiography can be fictionalized. An example of this kind is Rousseau‟s Confessions. Some novels and long poems are used for autobiography. Joyce‟s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Whitman‟s “Song of Myself” and Wordsworth‟s The Prelude fall in this category. Dickens‟s David Copperfield, Lawrence‟s Sons and Lovers and O‟Neill‟s Long Day’s Journey into Night have strong autobiographical elements in them.Blank verse: poetry that does not rhyme but has iambic pentameter lines. Though not originated in England or America, it has been the most important and most widely used English verse form. Blank verse is popular because it is closest to the rhythm of daily English speech. Thus most English poems which are dramatic, reflective or narrative are in the form of blank verse. This verse was probably first used in England by Surrey who translated Aeneid, by Sackville and Norton who composed Gorboduc. It was developed and perfected by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton. In the 18th century, most poets favored heroic couplets. But Y oung and Thomson were able to write in the tradition of blank verse. The 19th century saw a renewed interest in this poetic form. Masters of blank verse included Wordsworth, Coleridge and Bryant. The fact that blank verse is still practiced by writers like T.S. Eliot, Y eats, Frost and Stevens shows how influential and favorable it really is.Black humor:a term frequently used in modern literary criticism. It is sometimes called …black comedy‟ or …tragic farce.‟ It is humor or laughter resulting from great pain, despair, horror and the absurdity of human existence. Black humor is a common quality of modern anti-novels and anti-dramas. Examples are Franz Kafka‟s stories like “Metamorphosis”, “The Castle” and “The Trial”, Joseph Heller‟s novel Catch-22and Albee‟s The Zoo Story. Other writers who did much contribution to the popularity of black humor were Beckett, Camus, Ionesco, V onnegut, Pynchon and so on.Head rhyme: the use in verse or prose of several words close together which all begin with the same letter. It is done for special musical effect comparable to the effects of end rhyme. In mostcases, alliteration is the repetition of identical initial consonant sounds. Examples are Pope‟s “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” Poe‟s “The weary, wayworn wanderer bore,” and Coleridge‟s“Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.” Alliteration of initial vowels is quite limited in number. An example of vowel alliteration is “It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.”Surprise Ending:Also called “O. Henry ending,” it is a completely unexpected turn or revelation of events at the conclusion of a story or play. An example is “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Another instance is O. Henry‟s story “The Gift of the Magi.”III. Give brief answers to the following questions. (15)1.Who is the father of American literature? (Consult your book)2.Who is the father of American poetry? (Consult your book)3.What is Poe‟s theory concerning poetry? (Consult your book)4.What is Poe‟s theory concerning the short story? (Consult your book)5.What are the major characteristics of Twain‟s writing style? (Consult your book)6.What are the major characteristics of Irving‟s writing style? (Consult your book)7.What is “black humor? (Consult your book)8.What is the Harlem Renaissance? (Consult your book)9.What is the New England Renaissance? (Consult your book)10.What are the major characteristics of colonial American literature? (See your book)11.What is the Lost Generation? (Consult your book)12.What are Benjamin Franklin‟s contributions to A merican culture? (See your book)13.Why is colonial American literature neither American nor literary? (See your book)14.What is the Jazz Age? (Consult your book)15.What is American transcendentalism? (Consult your book)16.What is imagism? (Consult your book)17.What is O. Henry Ending? (Consult your book)18.What is free verse? (Consult your book)IV. Read the following poem and try to understand and explain it.(20)FogTHE FOG comesOn little cat feet.It sits lookingOver harbor and cityOn silent haunchesAnd then moves on(An imagist poem by Carl Sandburg; depicting the fog and its movement; free verse written in the tradition of Whiman.)In a Station of the Metro(Ezra Pound)The Apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.( a poem of the Imagist school, written by Ezra Pound.)The Road Not T aken(By Robert Frost)TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Y et knowing how way leads to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.(A poem by Robert Frost. It is about the difficulty of making a choice.)Dreams(by Langston Hughes)Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.(Consult your book)。