美国文学 背景知识

What is ToneTone refers to the methods by which the author conveys attitudes.Or: Whatever leads us to infer the author‘s attitude is commonly called tone.To be specific, a manner of speaking or writing that shows a certain attitude on the part of the speaker or writer, consisting in choice of words, phrasing, etc.Misunderstanding about ToneWrong: Tone is the attitude of the author.Clearification: Tone does not refer to attitudes but to those techniques and modes of presentation that reveal or create these attitudes.Why tone is importantTone in fiction is frequently a guide to an author‘s attitude –angry，ironic，humorous，whatever—toward the subject or audience and to his or her intention and meaning.Author influences us through tone.How to infer the author’s toneMake a close and careful study of the various elements within the work, including plot, character, setting, point of view and style.What is style? Style refers to:The revelation of individuality: the individual traits or characteristics of a piece of writingThe revelation of a writer‘s uniqueness: a writer‘s particular ways of managing words that we come to recognize as habitual or customary.Some basis elements of style: Basically, diction and syntaxDiction：choice of words; the use of words in oral and written discourse.Syntax: construction of sentences, in other words, the arrangement of those words and phrases, clauses and sentences.Other devices: i.e. rhythm and sound, allusion, ambiguity, irony, paradox, and figurative language.The functions of DictionIn characterization: the vehicle to express a character‘s ideas, attitudes, and valuesIn dialogue: to reflect the speaker‘s intelligence and sophistication, general level of conscious awareness, and socioeconomic, geographical, and educational backgroundIn description of incidents: to convey the narrator‘s (or the author‘s) attitude and the characters‘involvement.In setting: to create and sustain an appropriate atmosphere.What to consider in the analysis of diction？The denotative (dictionary) meaning of words; The connotative meaning (the ideas associated or suggested by words); The degree of concreteness; The degree of abstractness; The degree of allusiveness; Parts of speech; Length and construction; The level of usage: standard or nonstandard; formal, informal or colloquial; The figurative devices: simile, metaphor, personification; Rhythm and sound patterns: alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia; RepetitionThe syntax of a fictionThe ways the author arranges words into phrases, clauses, and finally whole sentences to achieve particular effects.An author has his own way to shape and control the syntactic elements of styleWhy syntactic study of sentences?Sentences are the major units of thoughtIt is on the crafting of sentences that most authors concentrate their creative energiesConsiderations on syntactic study of sentencesLength: short, spare, economical or long and involvedForm: simple, compound, complexConstruction: loose (cumulative), periodic (suspend), or balancedThe purpose of stylistic study of a given fictionTo understand the distinctive elements that comprises an author‘s styleTo evaluate the various effects that those elements createTo discover the way in which they serve to reveal and reinforce the other elements of the writingWhat is Symbol?Something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance; especially, a visible sign of something invisible.—Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of LiteratureSymbol is a thing or a picture which represents something else often of a larger meaning.What’s the function of symbol?Literary symbol helps to enrich or expand the meaning of a literary work.Usual examples of symbolsSymbol exists widely in our daily life.Our language itself is a symbol.Lion—symbol of courageCross—symbol of christianity.Forms of symbol in literatureWords, images, objects, settings, events, characters, etc.Types of symbolsUniversal or Cultural Symbols （sometimes called Traditional Symbols ）--those whose associations are the common property of a society or culture and are widely recognized and accepted--They embody ideas or emotions that the writer and the reader share in common as a result of their social and cultural heritage.Contextual, Authorial, or Private Symbols--those whose associations are neither immediate nor traditional; instead, they derive their meaning, largely if not exclusively, from the context of the work in which they are used.Examples in literary workThe chariot in Riders in the ChariotThe snake in the ―The Drover ’s Wife ‖The tractor in The Grapes of WrathWhat is allegory ？The terms derives from Greek alle -goria ‗speaking otherwise ‘. As a rule, an allegory is a story in verse or prose with a double meaning; a primary of surface meaning; and secondary or under-the-surface meaning. It is a story, therefore, that can be read, understood and interpreted at two levels (and in some cases at three or four levels).-Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J.A. CuddonA symbolic fictional narrative that conveys a secondary meaning not explicitly set forth in the literal narrative. Allegory encompasses such forms as fable, parable, and apologue and may involve either a literary or an interpretive process.-Encyclopaedia BritannicaAn allegory is to a symbol as a motion picture is to a still picture: allegory puts symbols into consistent and sustained action.Variants of allegoryLiterary allegoryLiterary allegories typically describe situations and events or express abstract ideas in terms of material objects, persons, and actions.Symbolic allegoryAnother variant is the symbolic allegory, in which a character or material thing is not merely a transparent vehicle for an idea, but rather has a recognizable identity or narrative autonomy apart from the message it conveys.The symbolic allegory, which can range from a simple fable to a complex, multilayered narrative, has often been used to represent political and historical situations and has long been popular as a vehicle for satire.Three special types of allegory1. FableThe fable is usually a tale about animals who are personified and behave as though they were humans—Encyclopaedia BritannicaStories featuring animals with human traits are often called ―beast fables‖.(Fable is) A short narrative in prose or verse which points a moral. Non-human creatures or inanimate things are normally the characters. The presentation of human beings as animals is the characteristic of the literary fable--Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J.A.Cuddon2. ParableA short and simple allegory, which points a moralIn the West, the conventions of parable were largely established by the teachings of Christ.3. MythIn general a myth is a story which is not ‗true‘ and which involves (as a rule) supernatural beings –or at any rate supra-human beings Myth is always concerned with creation. My explains how something came to exist. --Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J.A. Cuddon Myths are specific accounts of gods or superhuman beings involved in extraordinary events or circumstances in a time that is unspecified but which is understood as existing apart from ordinary human experience.—Encyclopaedia BritannicaMyth is associated with the religion, philosophy, and collective psychology of various groups of cultures.Myths sometimes embody scientific truths for pre-scientific societies; they codify the social and cultural values of the civilization in which they were composed.What is StructureStructure is the contrivance of a fictional work, contributing to the artistic expression of the theme. It is like an architecture skillfully designed to be an art of charm.The general framework into which the plot of a work is organizedUsual function of structureTo establish literary situationTo directly relate the reader to the workTo place the reader in the work by supplying enough information on who, what, when, or why so as to engage his attentionTo mystify the reader so as to keep holding his reading interestUltimately, to charm the readerAristotle’s dramatic structureIn Poetics, Aristotle gave a formula for dramatic structure that can be generalized to apply to most literature:--presentation—development—complication—crisis--resolutionThree unitiesNeoclassical dramatists and critics, especially in 17th-century France, derived from Aristotle what they called the unities of time, action and place. This meant the action of a play should notspread beyond the events of one day and, best of all, should be confined within the actual time of performance. Nor should the action move about too much from place to place—best only to go from indoors to outdoors and back. There should be only one plot line, which might be relieved by a subplot, usually comic.Some usual types of structure now in fictionA journeyA place of Gathering (a microcosm0The Warring (Conflicting) PartiesA Chronological StoryA Cross Section of LifeEtc.What is irony?The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning (as when expressions of praise are used where blame is meant)—Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of LiteratureLanguage device, either in spoken or written form (verbal irony), in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the literal meaning of the words, or in a theatrical situation (dramatic irony) in which there is an incongruity between what is expected and what occurs.--Encyclopaedia BritannicaAny definition of irony –though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted – must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same.—Henry Watson Fowler, The King’s EnglishTypes of irony: situational irony (irony of fate, historical irony (verbal irony, dramatic irony(tragic irony)))Situational irony (or circumstantial irony)In situational irony, the discrepancy is between what the reader or a character—or hopes—will occur, and what does happen.A discrepancy between the expected result and actual results when enlivened by ‗perverseappropriateness‘Irony of fate (cosmic irony)Irony of fate derives from the notion that the gods (or the Fates) are amusing themselves by toying with the minds of mortals, with deliberate ironic intent.Closely connected with situational irony, it arises from sharp contrasts between reality and human ideals, or between human intentions and actual results.Historical irony (cosmic irony through time)When history is seen through modern eyes, it sometimes happens that there is an especially sharp contrast between the way historical figures see their world and the probable future of their world, and what actually transpired.Historical irony is therefore a subset of cosmic irony, but one in which the element of time is bound up.Verbal ironyA statement in which the meaning that a speaker implies differs sharply from the meaning that isostensibly expressed.The ironic statement usually involves the explicit expression of one attitude or evaluation, but with indications in the overall speech-situation that the speaker intends a very different, and often opposite, attitude or evaluation.Distinguished from situational irony and dramatic irony in that it is produced intentionally by speakers.Dramatic ironyThe device of giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the narrative is unware of (at least consciously), thus of placing the spectator a step ahead of at least one of the characters.Dramatic irony has three stages--installation, exploitation and resolution (sometimes called preparation, suspension and resolution)--producing dramatic conflict is produced in what one character relies or happens to rely upon a fact, the contrary of which is known by observers (especially the audience; sometimes to other characters within the drama) to be true. Dramatic irony also includes tragic irony (which some people would classify under situational irony)Tragic ironyTragic irony is a special category of dramatic irony.In tragic irony, the words and actions of the characters belie the real situation, which the spectators fully realize.Ancient Greek drama was especially characterized by tragic irony because theaudiences were so familiar the legends that most of the plays dramatized.。