美国文学史术语解释terms
美国文学术语
American Literary Terms美国文学术语1. RomanticismThis literary movement started in the late 18th century in Europe. Romanticists take materials or subjects from mythologies or from history. The depiction of individual emotions is emphasized and life is dramatized. Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman are regarded as the representatives of American Romanticism.2. American Romanticism(1) It is one of the most important periods in the history of American literature that stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.(2) Being a period of the great flowering of American literature, it is also called “the American Renaissance”.(3) American romantic works emphasize the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. The strong teddency to eulogize the individual and the common man was typical of this period. Most importantly, the writings of American Romanticism are typically American. Works concentrate on unique characteristics of the American land.(4) New England Transcendentalism is the summit of American Romanticism.(5) Romanticists include such literary figures as Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and some others.3. Transcendentalism(1) Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as “the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses”.(2) Transcendentalism stress the importance of the Over-soul, the Individual and Nature. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is ddivine and, therefore, self-reliant. New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.4. Free Verse(1) Free verse means the rhymed or unrhymed poetry composed without paying attention to conventional rules of meter.(2) Free verse was originated by a group of French poets of the late 19th century.(3) Their purpose was to free themselves from the restrictions of formal metrical patterns and to recreate instead the free rhythms of natural speech.(4) What Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is, perhaps, the most notable example.5. Symbol(1) It means an act, a person, a thing, or a spectacle that stands for something else, usually something less palpable than the named symbol.(2) The relationship etween the symbol and its referent is not often one of simple equivalence. Allegorical symbols usually express a neater equivalence with what they stand for than the symbols found in modern realistic fiction.6. Theme(1) It means the unifying point or meaning of a literary work.(2) It is rarely directly stated, though often it is closely paraphrases by an author’s observation or by a statement made by one of the characters.7. Caroline Meeber(1) Caroline Meeber is the heroine in Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.(2) Caroline Meeber is a pretty, small-town girl who drifts to Chhicago with vague ambition in pursuit of a job and fortune.(3) She is used by men and uses them in turn to become a successful actress. On the other hand, Mr. Hurstwood, a middle-aged, married, comparatively intelligent and cultured saloon manager, elopes with her. However, away from the atmosphere of success on which his life has been based, steadily declines. Abandoned by Carrie, Hurstwood sinks lower and lower. After becoming a beggar, he commits suicide.(4) Caroline Meeber goes unpunished for her wrongdoings against conventional sexual morality.(5) Caroline Meeber is a case in point that shows Dreiser’s naturalistic ideas about human conditions.8. Trilogy of Dreiser(1) It refers to Theodore Dreiser’s three novels: The Fiancier, The Titan and The Stoic.(2) The trilogy is based on the life of Charles T. Yerkes, an American transportation magnate.(3) In his trilogy Dreiser’s focus shifted from the pathos of the helpless protagonists at the bottom of the society to the power of the American financial tycoons in the late 19th century.9. RealismRealism originated in France. In arts, it concerns the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life. It is a literary doctrine or trend that calls for "reality and truth" in the description of ordinary life. Realistic authors want to show life as it is and see art's purpose as that of revealing life to people.10. The Age of Realsim(1) Realism was a reaction against Romanticism and paved the way to Modernism.(2) During this period a new generation of writers, dissatisfied with the Romantic ideas in the older generation, came up with a new inspiration. This new attitude was characterized by a great interest in the realities of life. It aimed at the interpretation of the realities of any aspect of life, free fom subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color. Instead of thinking about the mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism, people’s attention was now directed to the interesting features of everyday existence, to what was brutal or sordid, and to the open portrayal of class struggle.(3) So writers began to describe the integrity of human characters reacting under various circumstances and picture the pioneers of the Far West, the new immigrants and the struggles of the working class.(4) Mark Twain, Howells and Henry James are three leading figures of the American Realism.11. Naturalism(1) Naturalism is a literary movement related to and sometimes described as an extreme form of realism but which may be appropriately considered as a parallel to philosophic naturalism.(2) As a more deliberate kind of realism naturalism usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. In naturalism a more documentary-like approach is in evidence, with a great stress on how environment and heredity shape people.(3) As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France.(4) Naturalism fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fuly researched investigations into unexplored concerns of modern society.(5) Naturalism is principally associated with the French novelist Emile Zola, but is carried on in American fiction by writers such as Theodore Dreiser and Stephen Crane. Like realism, it came from Europe. It was a new and harsh realism. American naturalists attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low and economic classes who were dominated by their environment and heredity. Darwinism, pessimism and determinism pervade the works of naturalism. In American literature, Famous naturalist writers include Dreiser, Crane, Norris and others.12. Darwinism(1) The term comes from Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory.(2) Darwinists think that those who survive in the world are the fittest and those who fail to adapt themselves to the environment will perish. They believe that man has evolved from lower forms of life. Humans are special not because God created them in His image, but because they have successfully adapted to changing conditions and have passed on their survival-making characteristics genetically.(3) Influenced by this theory, some American naturalist writers apply Darwinism as an explanation of human nature and social reality.13. Local Colorists(1) Generally speaking, the writings of local colorists are concerned with the life of a small, well-defined region or province. The characteristic setting is the isolated small town.(2) Local colorists were consciouslynostalgic historians of a vanishing way of life, recorders of a present that faded before their eyes. Yet for all their sentimentality, they dedicated themselves to minutely accurate descriptions of the life of their regions. They worked form personal experience to record the facts of a local environment and suggested that the native life was shaped by the curious conditions of the locale.(3) Major local colorists include Hamlin Garland, Mark Twain, and Kate Chopin, etc.14. First-person narrative(1) First-person narrative is also called first person point of view, which is used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the way in which the writer presents the reader with the materials of the story.(2) The first person point of view relates events as they are perceived by a single character, “I”.(3) The I—narrator may be part of the action or an observer, a major or minor participant in the action.(4) This technique makes you feel part of the story because the narrator’s “I” echoes the “I” already in your own mind.(5) Mark Twain’s novel Huck Finn is presented from the first person viewpoint and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is also a case in point in which the narrator is also the central character.15. American Naturalism(1) The American naturalists accepted the more negative interpretation of Darwin’s evolutionary theory and used it to account for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were regarded as more oe less complex combination of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.(2) Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a gloomy philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence.16. The Lost Generation(1) It is a term first used by Gertrude Stein to describe the post-World War I generation of American writer: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.(2) Full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.(3) The three best-known representatives of Lost Generation are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos.(4) Others usually included amog the list are Sherwood Anderson, Kay Boyle, Hart Crane, Ford Maddox Ford and Zelda Fitzgerald.17. Imagism(1) Imagism came into being in Britain and U.S. around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation.(2) The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, holding that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image. The image is a representation of a physical object, and the reader is made to reader to it.(3) Imagist is characterized by the following three poetic principles: a. direct treatment of “the thing”, whether subjective or objective; b. to use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation; c. as regards rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome.(4) Ezra Pound’s In a Station of the Metro is a well-konown imagist poem18. The Beat Generation(1) The members of the beat generation were new bohemian libertines, who engaged in a spontaneous, sometimes messy, creativity. The beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style.(2) The major beat writers are Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl.19. Expressionism(1) The term refers to a movement in Germany very early in the 20th century (1905) in which a number of painters sought to avoid the representation of external reality and, instead, to project themselves and a highly personal vision of the world. In fine arts it involves such techniques as exaggerating or distorting forms and applying intensified colors to express emotion.(2) In literature expressionism involves the presentation of life and world through intensified impressions and moods of characters. Expressionism is a reaction against realism or naturalism, aiming at presenting a post-war world violently distorted. Often emphasized emotions, subjective reactions of characters and symbolic or abstract representationsof reality are apparent in such literature.(3) Works noted for expressionism include: Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones, James Joyce’s Ulysses and Ginnegans Wake, and T. S. Eiot’s The Waste Land.(4) In a further sense, the term is sometimes applied to the belief that literary works are essentially expressions of their authors’moods and thoughts; this has been the dominant assumption about literature since the rise of Romanticism.20. Hemingway Hero(1) Hemingway Hero, also called code hero, is one who, wounded but strong, more sensitive, enjoys the pleasure of life (sex, alcohol, sport) in face of ruin and death, maintains, through some notion of a code, an ideal of himself.(2) Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, Henry in A Farewell to Arms and Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea aretyical of Hemingway Hero.21. Harlem Renaissance(1) It refers to a period of outstanding literary vigor and creativity that occurred in the United States during the 920s. In the early 1920s, African American writers, painters, photographers, musicians congregated (gathered) In New York City, started magazines, published anthologies (collections of books 文集), and promoted the creative work of the “New Negro.” They came from farms and plantations, villages, towns and cities across the United States. Their work transformed Harlem, an African American neighborhood in New York, into an intellectual and culture center. This movement is known as “Harlem Renaissance.”(2) The Harlem Renaissance changed the images of literature created by many black and white American writers. New black images are no longer obedient and docile, instead they show a new confidence and racial pride.(3) The center of this movement was the vast black ghetto of Harlem, in New York City.(4) The leading figures are Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Wallace Thurman, etc.22. Feminism(1) The deginition incorporates both a doctrine of equal rights for women and an ideology of social transformation aiming to crate a world for women beyond simple social equality.(2) In general, feminism is the ideology of women’s liberation based on the belief that women suffer injustice because of their sex. Under this broad umbrella carious feminisms offer differing analyses of the causes, or agents, of female oppression.(3) Definitions of feminism by feminists tend to be shaped by their training, ideology or race. So, for example, Marxist and Socialsit feminists stress the interaction within feminism of class with gender and focus on social distinctions between men and women. Black feminists argue much more for an integrated analysis which can unlock the multiple system of oppression.23. Black HumorIn literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor is used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce. Black humor abounds in the works of Kurt V onnegut and Joseph Heller.。
美国文学史名词解释
1.Modernism: a general term applied retrospectively to the wide range ofexperimental and avant-garde trends in the literature and other arts of the early 20th century, including symbolism, futurism, expressionism, imagism, Dada, and surrealism, along with the innovations of related writers. Modernist literature is characterized chiefly by a rejection of 19th-century traditions. Modernist writers tended to see themselves as an avant-garde departed with bourgeois values, and disturbed their readers by adopting complex and difficult new forms and styles.Modernist writers often write with an awareness of new anthropological and psychological theories.2.Mark Twain: follow realism. pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne ClemensAmerican humorist, writer, and lecturer who won a worldwide audience for his stories of youthful adventures, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1883), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884).Writing in American colloquialism and subjects with humors and satires, Mark Twain shed great influence upon later writers such as Sherwood Anderson, Earnest Hemingway and Faulkner. Major works:3.Naturalism: American naturalism was a new and harsher realism. Americannaturalism had been shaped by the war; by the social upheavals that undermined the comforting faith of an earlier age. America’s literary 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. Although naturalist literature described the world with sth brutal realism, it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world through social reform. Stephen Crane4.Local colorism: as a trend became dominant in American literature in the 1860sand early 1870s, it is defined by Hamlin garland as having such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native stories of local colorism have a quality of circumstantial authenticity, as local colorists tried to immortalize the distinctive natural, social and linguistic features. It is characteristic of vernacular language and satirical humor. Generally speaking, the writings of local colorists are concerned with the life of a small, well-defined region or province. The characteristic setting is the isolated small town.5.Henry James: One of America’s major novelist and critics.“the historian of fineconsciences”. Style: Psychological Realism, Narrative Technique, showing vs. Telling, omniscience vs. limited omniscience and Center of consciousness. Three Stages of James’s Literary Career: International theme, Experimental stage and “Major Phase”which he returns to the international theme. Major works: The American (1877), Daisy Miller (1878), The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), The Princess Casamassima (1886), What Maisie Knew (1897), The Turnof the Screw (1898), The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904)6.Stephen Crane: naturalist/ Maggie, A Girl of the Streets, which is Crane’s firstnovel and the first naturalistic novel written by an American. Representative of American literary naturalism, Precursor of imagist poetry, Considered by his contemporaries the best reporter of war. Crane is also an excellent short story writer. “The Open Boat”, “The Blue Hotel” and “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky”are his best pieces. Crane’s Artistic Features: Isolated immediate moments;Feelings that exist in immediate experience; Direct and simple syntax; Symbols ;Irony ; Detached and scientific observer’s point of view; Vivid color, animal imagery, stereotyped characters, colloquial English and straightforward narration 7.Jazz Age: Prohibition (from 1920 to 1933) banned the sale of alcoholic drinks,resulting in illicit speakeasies becoming lively venues of the "Jazz Age. Jazz started to get a reputation as being immoral and many members of the older generations saw it as threatening the old values in culture and promoting the new decadent values of the decade8.The Lost Generation:The term “Lost Generation” was first used by Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), one of the leaders of this group. It included the young English and American expatriates as well as men and women caught in the war and cut off from the old values and yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilization had go ne mad.It means this generation had lost the beautiful sense of the calm idyllic past. Stein’s comment suggests the ambiguous and pointless lives of expatriates as they aimlessly wandered about the Continent, drinking, making love, traveling from place to place and from party to party. These activities seem to justify their search for new meanings to replace the old ones. Yet in fact, being cut off from their past, disillusioned in reality, and without a meaningful future to fall on, they were lost in disillusionment and existential voids. They indulged in hedonism in order to make their life less unbearable.9.Iceberg theory: If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing abouthe may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.”(His writing is minimalist and sparse, with few adverbs or adjectives. He includes only essential information, often omitting background information, transitions, and dialogue tags such as “he said” or “she said. He often uses pronouns without clear antecedents.10.The Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in NorthAmerica, but also in London, Berlin and Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism. "Normalcy" returned to politics in the wake o f World War I, jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined modern womanhood, Art Deco peaked, and finally the Wall Street Crash of 1929 served to punctuate the end of the era, as the Great Depression set in. The era was further distinguished by several inventions and discoveries of far-reaching importance, unprecedented industrial growth, accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and significant changes in lifestyle and culture.。
美国文学史复习资料(名词解释)
1. American Puritanism: a domination factor in American life. AmericanPuritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thoughts and literature.2. Transcendentalism: time 1836. Features: 1.the transcendentalistsplaced emphasis on spirit, or over soul, as the most important thing in the universe 2. The transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. 3. The transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the spirit of God. The representatives are Emerson and Thoreau.3. Free Verse: like traditional verse, it is printed in short lines instead ofthe continuity of prose, but it has no meter and either lack rhyme or uses it occasionally. A representative is Whitman’s Leave of Grass. 4. Realism: time: 2nd and half of 19th century. Features: verisimilitude ofdetails derived from observation. Representatives are Howells, James, Mark Twain5. Local Colorism: It is a branch of Realism; it refers to detailedrepresentation, in fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress and ways of thinking which are distinctive of a particular region. The representative of Local Colorism is Mark Twain.6. American Naturalism: time: 1890s. Features: 1. naturalists wroteabout the helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world, and his lack of dignity in face of the crushing forces of environment and heredity.2. They reported truthfully and objectively with passion for scientific accuracy and an overwhelming accumulation of factual detail.3. The representatives are Crane, Dreiser.7. Imagism: six principles: momentary, one dominant image, hardpersonal word, direct treatment, concise, free verse. The representatives are Pound.8. Lost generations: it refers to a group of American writers of thedecade following WWI, disillusioned by their War experience or by materialization of American culture, holds a pessimistic new of life.The representatives are Fitzgerald and Hemingway.9. Flashback: interpolating narratives or scenes which represent eventsthat happened before the story began. For example: Miller used flashback in Death of Salesman.10. Black Humor: the tragic absurdity of the human condition is oftenseen in their novels. As a cosmic joke. The response they intend to provoke in the reader to the blackness of modern life is a laughter that is, laughing in face of a tragic situation. The representative work of black humor is Heller’s Catch-22.11. Harlem Renaissance: a period of remarkable creativity in literatureand other arts by African Americans, from the end of WWI in 1917 through the 1920s. The representative is Hughes.12. Irving: 1.He is was the first American writer of imagination literature to gain international fame. 2 The short story as a genre in American literature probably began with Irving’s The Sketch Book.3.The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American romanticism.13. Hawthorne: feature: 1, symbol2, deep analysis of psychology3, gloomy and depressive tone4. evil sides of the world5, super natural element14. The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne): 1, Character: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdable, Roger Chillingworth. 2. Theme: criticizing Puritan suppression/ sin and atonement.15. Emily Dickinson: feature: 1.short and concise2. approximate rhyme and meter3. ungrammatical elements 4. original images5. many poems about death15. Moby Dick (Melville): character: Ishmael (survivor), Ahab (captain) 12.Allan Poe: 1. the poetic principle ①the poem, he says, should be short, at one sitting ②Its chief aim is beauty ③melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetic tone. ④the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.⑤stress rhyme, defines true poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty. 2. Work: to Helen, The Fall of the House of Usher.13. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain): 1. His usually use French, mostly Anglo-Saxon on origin, and his words are short, concrete and direct in effect.2. Most of his sentence structures are simple or compound.3. he use”took”repeatedly.4. There have ungrammatical elements in his work. One of his significant contributions to American literature lies in fact that he made colloquial speech an accepted.14. Frost: the features of his work1.he usually use traditional form 2. His language is plain3. He likes to use symbolism4. Most his poems describe nature of famers’ life.15. Fitzgerald: the Great Gatsby: 1.characters: Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanam, Tom Buchanam, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, Jay Gatsby, 2. Theme: criticizing materialized society, disillusionment of American dream.16. Miller: Death of Salesman: 1.Charaters: Willy &Linda&Biff&Happy Loman, Chalery and Bernard. 2. Theme: a criticizing metalized society/ understanding between parents and children.17. Salinger: The Catch in the①. Setting: 1950s New York2. Plot: Holden Caulfied 1st day: expelled. 2nd day: Sally (shallow). Carl (hypocritical).2nd night: Sneak home—Phoebe, Mr.Antolini. 3rd day: go to the west.②.character: Holden---rebellious, innocent, sincerely③. Style: This novel use colloquial and vulgar worlds. There also has exaggeration in this work ④: theme: growing pain.18: Cath-22: Yossarian, Milo, And Snowden.19. Lolita :( Nabokov): character: Humbert Humbert, Dolores Haze (Lolita), Clare Qulity .。
美国文学名词解释
Part 1:Colonial and Revolutionary PeriodSeparatists①In the colonial period, the Puritans who gone to extreme were known as ―S eparatists‖.②Unlike the majority of Puritans, they saw no hope of reforming the Church of England from within. They felt that the influence of politics and the court had led to corruptions within the church. They wished to break free from the Church of England.③Among them was the Plymouth plantation group. They wished to follow Calvin’s model, and toset up ―particular‖ churches.①It refers to the people who believed in Puritanism.②In England they wanted to ―purify‖ the Church of England and was prosecuted.③They accept the doctrine and practice of predestination, original sin and total depravity and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from god.①They were the people, mostly Puritans, who arrived in New England in 1620 in May Flower.②In a broad sense, they represented the ancestors of the American people.美国清教主义)①It arose in the early 17th century. Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of puritans.②The American puritans, like their English brothers, are idealist. They accept the doctrine andpractice of predestination, original sin and total depravity and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from god.③But due to the grim struggle for living in the new continent, they become more and more practical. Besides, the American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influence over American moral values, and this Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable.原罪)①Original sin, in Christian theology, the sin of Adam: by which humankind fell from divine grace.②It is the central religious belief of the Puritans that people are sinful ever since their birth.③The purpose of baptism(洗礼) is to wash away original sin and to restore the individual to an innocent state, although even after baptism a tendency to sin remains as a result of original sin.神权政体)①It is a state system in which the state and church are combined into one, with the idea that God would govern through the church.②It was the major form of government in colonial American.Literary Journals①A journal is an individual’s day-by-day account of events. It provides valuable details that can be supplied only by a participant or an eyewitness. As a record of personal relations, a journal reveals much about the writers.②While offering insights into the life of the writer, a journal is not necessarily a reliable record of facts. The writer’s impression may color the telling of events, particularly when he or she is a participant.③Journals written for publication rather than private use are even less likely to be objective. TheEuropean encounters with and conquest of the Americas are recorded in the journals of the explorers.John Smith①He was one of England’s most famous explorers by helping to lead the first successful English colony in American,②Stories of his adventures, often embellished by his own pen, fascinated readers of his day and continue to provide details about early explorations of the Americans.①It refers to the literary period roughly from 1776 to 1823 in American literature.②The Enlightenment is the dominant literary movement in this period.③Reason is the key notion for writers of the Enlightenment like Franklin.It is a famous pamphlet by Thomas Paine, which appeared in 1776, and boldly advocates a ―Declaration for Independence‖ and brings the separatist agitation to a crisis.American Enlightenment (美国启蒙运动)th and early 17th centuries.) The American Enlightenment is the intellectual thriving period in America in the mid-to-late 18th century, especially as it relates to American Revolution on the one hand and the European Enlightenment on the other.②Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century and the humanist period during the Renaissance, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature, society, and religion. Politically, the age is distinguished by an emphasis upon liberty, democracy, republicanism and religious tolerance –culminating in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.③The most important leaders of the American Enlightenment include Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.Autobiography（自传）①An autobiography is a person’s account of his or her life.②Generally written in the first person , with the author speaking as ―I‖. It presents life events as the writers views them, and offers insights into the beliefs and perceptions of the author.③Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography set the standard for what was then a new genre. Nonfiction①It refers to any prose narrative that tells about things as they actually happen or that presents factual information about something.②The purpose of this kind of writing is to give a presumably accurate accounting of a person’s life.③Autobiography, biology and essay are among the major forms of nonfiction.Almanac(历书)①An almanac is an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar etc.②Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac is a case in point.①It is an important and interesting literary work by Franklin, an annual collection of proverbs.②Franklin’s pragmatism and sense of humor are fully demonstrated in this work.Persuasion①Persuasion is a writing meant to convince readers to think or act in a certain way.②A persuasive writer appeals to emotions or reason, offers opinions, and urges actions..Part 2: Literature of Romanticism①During Romantic period in American literature, the major writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville and most of the ―fireside school‖ were from New England.②Besides, New England has become the center of literary creation, with Transcendentalism as the most influential literary trend.③Thus critics call this period of literary flourishment in New England the New England Renaissance.美国浪漫主义)①Romanticism refers to an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.②The romantic period in American literature stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil war.③Irving, Whitman and Thoreau are the representatives.New England poets (新英格兰诗人)①The New England poets were representatives of imitation.②They tried to imitate the forms and themes of there English brothers, such as Robert Burns and William Wordsworth.③Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant are some of its representatives.It is a fictitious person Washington Irving created, he was supposed to be the author of A History of New York, by Diedrich knickerbocker, a rollicking burlesque of a current serious history of the early Dutch settlers which became a classic of humor.①It is a serial consisting of five related novels by James Fenimore Cooper—T he Pioneers, The Last of Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer.②The protagonist of the novel, Natty Bumppo, is a frontier hero, a prototype for the Western cowboy.③With the memorable main characters and a vast group of supporting characters, it becomes the greatest American novels about its past.①Natty Bumppo is the protagonist of the Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper, who goes by various names of Leatherstocking, Deerslayer, Pathfinder and Hawkeye.②He is a frontier hero, a prototype for the Western cowboy.美国超验主义)①Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in the history of American literature in the 19th century, which flourished from about 1835 to 1860.②Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Oversoul, the individual and nature. Specifically, they stressed intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind.③The most important representatives are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Ralph Waldo Emerson①Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, philosopher and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid 19th century.②He expressed the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature.③Besides, his The American Scholar was considered to be American’s ―Intellectual Declaration of Independence‖.①It is an all-pervading power for goodness from which all things come of which all things are a part.②It is a key doctrine for Transcendentalists.Self-reliance①Self-reliance is an essay written by American Transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.②It contains the most solid statement of one of his repeating themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas.③These ideas are considered a reaction to a commercial identify. Emerson calls for a return to individual identity.Individualism(个人主义)①Individualism is a moral, political, and social philosophy, which emphasizes individual liberty, the primary importance of the individual, and the “virtues of self-reliance”.②It is thus directly opposed to collectivism, social psychology and sociology, which consider the individual’s rapport to the society or community.③It is often confused with ―egoism‖, but an individualist need not be an egoist.①It is one of the American classics written by Henry David Thoreau.②It records his experiment in living at Walden pond, his sympathetic understanding of nature, his meditation on the meanings of life and his social criticism.③Compared with Emerson’s Nature, it is more radical and social-minded.Calvinism (加尔文主义)①Calvinism refers to the religious teachings of John Calvin and his followers.②Calvin taught that only certain persons, the elect, were chosen by God to be saved, and these could be get only by God’s grace.③It marked the work of Hawthorne and Melville.①It is one of the famous New England experiments in communal living, where some of the region’s most remarkable people gathered.②Hawthorne once lived there for a few months; the experience was reflected in his Blithedale Romance.Ambiguity①Ambiguity means two or more simultaneous interpretation of a word, phrase, action, orsituation, all of which can be supported by the context of a work.②Deliberate ambiguity can contribute to the effectiveness and richness of a work, for example, the open-ended conclusion of Hawthorn e’s Young Goodman Brown.③However, unintentional ambiguity obscures meaning and can confuse readers.①Symbolism is a literary device with which the author deliberately makes concrete objects (the symbols) evolve into some abstractions, usually moralistic or philosophical.②Hawthorne and Melville used this device frequently in their works.①She is a character in The Scarlet Letter.②She was the innocent daughter of Hester and the minister.③She is more of a symbol than a character. To Hester, she was the fruit of human love and physical passion; to Dimmesdale, she was a reminder of his sin; to Chillingworth she was an unforgettable shame and the motivation to take his revenge.①It refers to a novel or story with an allegorical feature, that is, charactering name, an actual or symbolic journey and usually a ―good vs. evil‖ theme.②Hawthorn e’s Young Goodman Brown and Melville’s Moby Dick are typical allegorical novels.①He is the narrator of the Moby Dick.②He is a cool observer and judge of the whole incident.③His thoughtful mind added a strong philosophical notion to the novel and his good knowledge in whaling made the novel an interesting book on whaling.自由体诗歌)①Free verse is a general term referring to the modern form of verse with no fixed foot, rhythm or rime schemes.②It was first written and labeled by a group of French poets of the late 19th century.③Free verse has been characteristic of the work of many American poets, including Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound and Carl Sandburg.①It is the best known poem in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.②It is a celebration of the individual as well as the common people.Edgar Allan Poe suggested that any literary work should have a single effect, that is a single theme, tone and atmosphere.炉边诗人)①William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and James Russell Lowell constituted a group sometimes called the Fireside Poets.②They earned this nickname because they frequently used the hearth as an image of comfort and unity, a place where families gathered to learn and tell stories.③They wrote familiar poems for the common reader and interpreted the aspirations of the age to their countrymen and brought honor to the nation by achieving international fame.关于死亡的感想)①―T hanatopsis‖ is William Cullen Bryant’s best-known poem in the form of blank verse withthe theme of death.②It follows the tradition of the English ―graveyard school‖ and the central image is the ―mighty sepulcher‖, which will bring contentment to the dead.③The title of the poem means ―view of death‖①The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been preferred to as the age of Realism.②It was a literary doctrine that called for ―reality and truth‖ in the depiction of ordinary life. It is, in literature, an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity.③Three dominant figures are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain and Henry James.达尔文主义)①It is a term that comes from Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory.②Darwinists think that those who survive in the world are the fittest and those who fail to adapt themselves to the environment will perish.③Influenced by Darwinism, some American naturalist writers apply it as an explanation of human nature and social reality.Social Darwinism(社会达尔文主义)①It was an application of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory to the field of social relation.②Social Darwinist argued that social progress resulted from conflicts in which the fittest or best adapted individuals, or entire societies, would prevail.心理现实主义)①It is the realistic writing that probes deeply into the complexities of characters’thoughts and motivation.②Henry James’novel The Ambassadors is considered to be a masterpiece of psychological realism.Henry James often wrote about the conflicts, both amusing and serious, between American and European manners and customs. This is widely known as the ―international theme‖.地方特色主义)①Local Colorism is popular in the late 19th century, particularly among authors in the south of the U.S.②This style relied heavily on using words, phrases, and slang that were native to the particular region in which the story took place. The term has come to mean any device which implies a specific focus, whether it is geographical or temporal.③A well-know local colorism author was Mark Twain with his book The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn.①It refers to the period roughly from the Civil War to the beginning of the 20th century, an age of seeming wealth and prosperity.②It comes from a novel, by Mark Twain and Warner, of the same title.Tall story/ Tall tale①It is a humorously exaggerated story of impossible feats.②It flourished in the oral tradition of the American frontier in the 19th century.③Mark Twain is famous for writing tall tale.美国自然主义)①Naturalism is a literary school that originated in France and came to American literature at the end of the 19th century.②The naturalistic writers attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were dominated by their environment and heredity. Besides, their works were usually in an ironic and pessimistic tone.③Theodore Dreiser is a leading figure of this school with his masterpiece Sister Carrie. Determinism(宿命论)①Determinism is the philosophical belief that events are shaped by forces beyond the control of human beings.②Determinism, important to the literature at the end of the 19th century, assigns control especially to heredity and environment, without seeking their origins further than science can trace.③Determinism usually leads to the tragic fate of the characters in novel.Caroline Meeber①She is the heroine in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. She is a pretty, small-town girl who drifts to Chicago with vague ambition in pursuit of a job and fortune.②As a result, she is used by men and uses them in turn to become a successful actress.③She is a case in point that shows Dreiser’s naturalistic ideas about human conditions.①It refers to Theodore Dreiser’s three novels: T he Financer,The Titan and The Stoic.②The trilogy is based on the life of Charles T. Yerkes, an American transportation magnate.③In this trilogy Dreiser’s focus shifted from the pathos of the helpless protagonists at the bottom of the society to the power of the American financial tycoons in the late 19th century.①It is a French poetic form of 19 lines employing only two rhymes.②―The House on the Hill‖ by Edwin Arlington Robinson uses this poetic form.①Nietzsche’s ideal conception of man is to realize his philosophical principle.②It influenced writers like jack London, who created Wolf Larsen to represent this ideal in The Sea wolf.①He is the protagonist of The Sea wolf, who is the ruthless and amoral captain of the Ghost.②He is the embodiment of London’s ideal superman.①It was one of London’s best novels, which show how, in the Alaskan wilderness, a gentle dog gradually reverts to the ways of his wolf ancestors in order to survive.②It was the best expression of his belief in the Darwinistic notion that man also had the capacity to return to his brute beginnings.Slave Narratives①A uniquely American literary genre, a slave narrative is an autobiographical account of life as aslave.②Often written to expose the horrors of human bondage, it documents a slave’s experiences from his or her own point of view.③Encouraged by abolitionists, many freed or escaped slaves published narratives in the years before the Civil War.th①Imagism was a poetic school at the beginning of the 20th century.②Imagist poets strived for a simple, clear and vivid image, which in itself is the expression of art and meaning. The imagist poetry is a kind of free verse shaking of conventional metres and emphasizing the use of common speech and new rhythms.③This movement was led by Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.Imagery (意象)①Imagery means words and phrases that create pictures ,or images in the readers’ mind.②In a literary text, it occurs when an author uses an object that is not really there, in order to create a comparison between one that is, usually evoking a more meaningful visual experience for the reader.③It is useful as it allows an author to add depth and understanding to his work, like a sculptor adding layer and layer to his statue, building it up into a beautiful work of art.①Written by T.S.Eliot, it is a poem of mystical conflict between faith and doubt, beautiful in its language if difficult in its symbolism.②It shows the author’s positive turn toward faith in life.①It is a popular theme in modern American literature derived from the poem The Waste Land by T.S.Eliot.②Terms associated with this theme are dehumanization, infertility of modern civilization and alienation.Waste land Painters(荒原派作家)①Waste land Painters refers to such writers as T.S.Eliot, F. Scott. Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner.②With their writings, all of them paint the post-war Western world as a waste land, lifeless and hopeless.迷失的一代)①It is a term first used by Gertrude Stein to describe the post-World I generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.②Full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.③The three best-known representatives of Lost Generation are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos.①It is Wallace Steven’s most important poetic collection of poems.②It was part of a revolution in American poetry.③He adapted a variety of experimental styles, odd sounds, curious analogies and inscrutable titles.爵士乐时代)①The Jazz Age refers to the 1920s, a time marked by hedonism and excitement in the life of flaming youth.②With the rise of the Great Depression, materially rich, spiritually lost, the generation felt frustrated with life and indulged in pleasure.③Perhaps the most r epresentative literary work of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism.American Dream(美国梦)①The American Dream is the faith held in America that through hard working, courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generation.②Nowadays the American dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and happiness.③The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream.①It is one of the Eggs of Long Island, which are the main settings for The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald.②It was where Nick and Gatsby lived, with a suggestion of roughness and unsophisticated compared with the East Egg where the Buccanans lived.The Snopes Trilogy①It includes The Hamlet, The Town and The Mansion by Faulkner.②It traced the rise of the Snopes family, the representative of the ―poor whites‖and the embodiment of the degraded values.Hemingway code hero(海明威式英雄)①As a concept from Hemingway’s work, code hero is defined by Hemingway as a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honour, courage, and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful.②A code hero is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, a man who is sensitive and intelligent, a man of actions and of new words. This kind of people are usually spiritually strong, with certain skills, and most of them encounter death many times.③Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea is a typical Hemingway code hero.Santiago①Santiago is the protagonist of The Old Man and the Sea, written by American novelist Ernest Hemingway.②He is an old man who hasn’t caught by any fishes for 84 days. On the final journey he has a fight with shakes.③He embodies Hemingway’s definition of courage as ―grace under pressure‖, who never losesdignity in the face of death.Southern Renaissance(南方文艺复兴)①It is the revival of American Southern literature that began in the 1920s until the 1950s.②The writers affirmed their position on the superiority of the Southern lifestyle over that of the industrialized north.③William Faulkner and Katherine Anne Porter are writers of this type.先锋派)①It is a French military and political term for the vanguard of an army or political movement.②This term extended since the late 19th century in literature, which refers to the innovative writer who is ahead of the time both in themes and style.③In the 20th century American literature, writers like Faulkner and e.e.cummings can be called avant-garde writers.Yoknapatawpha(约克纳帕塔法)①Most of Faulkner’s literary works were set in the small county of American South. It is the fictional modification of his hometown, Oxford, Mississippi.②To Faulkner, this small piece of land was worth a life’s work in literary writing and here Faulkner created a world of imagination.③Yoknapatawpha has become an allegory of the Old South, with which Faulkner has managed successfully to show a panorama of the experience of the whole Southern society.Multiple point of view①Point of view is the vantage point from which a narrative is told. Novels sometimes, but infrequently, mix point of views.②William Faulkner is a master at presenting multiple points of view, showing within the same story how characters react differently to the same person or the same events.③The use of this technique gives the story a circular from with one event as the center and various points of view radiating from it. This technique makes it difficult for the reader to see the truth of the story.①A saga is a series of literary works dealing with the history of a family or clan.②Faulkner’s novels and short stories were interrelated by the locality and sometimes by the characters and as a whole they were regarded as sages of the clan or family.①He was an important American novelist of the 1920s and the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature.②His important works include Main Street and Babbitt.Camera eye①It is a literary device developed by John Dos Passos, which provides an autobiographical account of his life corresponding to the time of the fictional narrative.②Written usually in a stream-of-consciousness style, they record the author’s activities and reflections at roughly the same time that events in the fictional narratives are taking place.③These impressionistic accounts recreate his changing moods in a turbulent age, showing that his private life is part of a greater cultural complexity.New Criticism(新批评派)①New criticism was a dominant trend in English and American literary criticism of the mid-20thcentury, from the 1920s to the early 1960s.②Its adherents were emphatic in their advocacy of close reading and attention to texts themselves, and their rejection of criticism based on extra-textual sources, especially biography.③John Crowe Ransom is a leading figure in this literary trend.It refers to the dramatic works produced by the playwrights of the early 20th century represented by Eugene O’Neil.Willy Loman①He is a character in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which is a sad vision of American dream.②He keeps dreaming on success and living in illusions and lies, but he never seems to be aware of that.③It should be noted that his kind of success is never measured except in terms of dollars. Impressionism(印象主义)①It is a style of painting that gives the impression made by the subject on the artist without much attention to details writers accepted the same conviction that the personal attitudes and moods of the writer were legitimate elements in depicting character or setting or action.②Briefly, it is a style of writing characterized by the creation of general impressions and moods rather than realistic moods.哈莱姆文艺复兴)①Harlem Renaissance was a period of remarkable creativity in literature by African-Americans, from the end of the First World War in the 1920s.②They presented new insights into the American experience and paved the way for the flourishment of Black literature in the mid 20th century.③Distinguished writers who were part of the movement included Langston Hughes and Richard Wright.Part 5: After the WWIIThe Black Mountain Poets(黑山派诗人)①It is a loosely associated group of poets that formed an important part of the avant-garde of American poetry in the 1950s.②They published innovative yet disciplined verse in the Black Mountain Review, which became a leading forum of experimental verse.③This school is linked with Charles Olson’s theory of ―projective verse‖, which insisted on an open form based on the spontaneity of the breath pause in speech and the typewriter line in writing.The New York School(纽约派诗人)①The New York School was an informal group of American poets and painters active in 1950s New York City.②Their poetic subject matter was often light, violent, or observational, while writing style was often described as cosmopolitan and world-traveled. The poets often drew inspiration from Surrealism and the contemporary avant-garde art movement, in particular the action painting of their friends in the New York City art circle.。
美国文学史复习名词解释
I. Explain the following literary terms. 1.Romanticism The most most profound profound and comprehensive idea idea of of of romanticism romanticism is is the the the vision vision of of a a greater personal freedom for the individual. Appeals to imagination; Stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism, geniality. Subjectivity: in form and meaning. 2American transcendentalism American American transcendentalism transcendentalism was an important movement in in philosophy philosophy and literature that flourished during the early to middle years of the nineteenth century (about 1836-1860). For the transcendentalists, the soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains. 3Realism : “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.” the Civil war a. verisimilitude of details derived from observation b. representative in plot, setting and character c. an objective rather than an idealized view of human experience 4. Modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. The general term covers many political, cultural and artistic movements rooted in the the changes changes changes in in in Western Western Western society society at at the the the end end of of the the the nineteenth nineteenth and beginning of of the the the twentieth twentieth century. American American modernism modernism modernism is is an artistic and cultural movement in in the the United States starting at at the the turn of of the the 20th 20th century century with with its its core core period period between between World World World War War I I and and World World War War II and continuing into the 21st century. II. Questions and Answers. Give brief answers to each of the following questions in English. 1.What is local color ？ an amalgam of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things immediately observable: the dialects, customs, sights, and sounds of regional America”2. What is American Puritanism 1). Total Depravity - the concept of Original Si 2). Unconditional Election - the concept of predestination 3). Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone. 4). Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. 5). Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God. 3. Analyze Benjamin Franklin ’s Autobiography. themes in autobiography: Self- Improvement Mind: Self-education Body: Physical Activity Behavior: Moral Perfection Religion: The best service to God is to be good to man Benjamin Franklin and aspects of The American Dream Rags to Riches: Impotence to Importance: A Philosophy of Individualism: Freewill vs. Determinism: Hope and Optimism: The Autobiography is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. Benjamin Franklin was a spokesman for the new order of the 18th century enlightenment The Autobiography is a how-to-do-it book, a book on the art of self-improvement. (for example, Franklin ’s 13 virtues) Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream. The Autobiography is in the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision 4. What is Imagism? It is is a a movement of of English English and American American poets poets in in revolt revolt from from Romanticism, Romanticism, which which flourish flourish 1910-1917. The characteristic products of of the the movement are are more more easily recognized than than its its theories defined: they tend to to be be be short short ,composed ,composed of of of short short lines of of musical musical cadence cadence rather rather than than metrical metrical regularity, to avoid abstraction, and to treat the image with a hard, clear precision rather than with overt symbolic intent. As part of the modernist movement, away from the sentimentality and moralizing tone of nineteenth-century Victorian poetry, imagist poets looked to many sources to help them create a new poetic expression, aiming aiming at at at clarity clarity of of expression expression through the use use of of of precise precise visual images. III. Topic discussion. 1. Discuss Allen Poe ’s literary achievements with his works.famous American poet, short-story writer and critic father of detective story master of gothic novel forerunner of symbolism a father of detective story Poe introduced of a new form of short fiction--- the detective story. The word The word ““detective ” did not exist in English at the time that Poe was writing, but the genre has become a )fundamental mode of twentieth-century literature and film. b ) master of gothic novel Gothic novel, a genre that rose with Romanticism in Britain in the late eighteenth century, explores the dark side of human experience —death, alienation, nightmares, ghosts, and haunted landscapes. Poe brought the Gothic to America. Gothic novels originated from The Castle of Otranto, written by Horace Walpole in Britain at the end of the 18th century, which created the early classical Gothic novel mode. It leads habitually with darkness and horror. Gothic elements include horror, mystery, supernatural phenomenon, misfortune, death, haunted houses, and family curses. c Literary critic Poe is one of the few American writers who not only wrote poetry, but also wrote about how to write poetry. His critical essays on poetry include The Poetic Principle, and The Philosophy of Composition. Poe remained the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature.2. Analyze Freneau ’s The Wild Honeysuckle.野金银花Philip Freneau as Father of American Poetry as Leader of 18th Century Naturalism The following poem was published in his Poems (1786) and was virtually unread in the time when he was living. In the poem the poet expresses his keen awareness of the liveliness and transience of nature celebrating the beauty of the frail forest flower, thus showing his deep love for nature. The poem was written in six-line iambic tetrameter stanzas rhymed on ababcc pattern. The poem is said to anticipate the nineteenth-century romantic use of simple nature imagery. It is considered one of the author ’s finest nature poems. Comments on The Wild Honey Suckle 1. A flower may be the most beautiful and overlooked piece of nature. Cherish it while it lasts for by the change of each season it may dissipate only to become a desire. Perhaps Freneau knew of a beauty that only nature could describe, provoked by the insincerity of the British people. 2. Philip Freneau, in this poem, was expressing his dream of a paradise in nature, or rather, on the new continent of of America. America. His His dream dream was the originality of of the the paradise on the earth, i.e, USA. The wild honey suckle is something of freedom, tranquility, nature, and of no convention, no suppression, no traditional or anything beyond the pure nature. This poem poem is is not only a mere description of nature, but something ideal in the poet's construction of a real paradise of human beings. This paradise is of real freedom, pure nature, total independence, grand beauty. As we know, Freneau was against the British interference in the independence of the new land, and was hoping to establish a real free country of the people on the new Continent. So in my opinion, this poem was in fact the beautiful bode of a paradise in in nature(on nature(on the the earth), earth), in in very very very brief brief and true words. words. This This This paradise paradise is is independent independent without meeting any vicious interference, beautiful without catering to any viewer, tranquil but fearful of no hardships, wild in nature without any vulgar provocation. in this poem the poet expressed a keen awareness of the loveliness and transien ce of nature.he not only meditated on mortality but also celebrated nature.it im plies that life and death are inevitable law of nature, "the wild honey suckle"is philipfreneau's most widely read natureal lyric with th e theme of transience.the central image is a nativewild flower,which makes a dra stic difference from elite flower images typical of tradition english poems. the poem showed strong feelings for the natural beauty,which was the characteristic of romantic. 3. Analyze Poe ’s To Helen and translate the third stanza in your own words.The theme of this short poem is the beauty of a woman with whom Poe became acquainted when he was 14. Apparently she treated him kindly and may have urged him –or perhaps inspired him –to write poetry. Beauty, as Poe uses the word in the poem, appears to refer to the woman's soul as well as as her her her body. body. On the one one hand, hand, hand, he he he represents represents her her as as as Helen Helen Helen of of of Troy Troy –the quintessence of of physical physical beauty –at at the the the beginning beginning of of the the poem. poem. On On the other, he he represents represents her her as as as Psyche Psyche –the quintessence of soulful beauty –at the end of the poem. In Greek, psyche means soul. It was first published in 1831 collection Poems of Poe then reprinted in 1836 in the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe revised the poem in 1845, making several improvements, most notably changing "the beauty of fair Greece, and the grandeur of old Rome" to "the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome." These improved lines are the most well-known lines of the poem. Imagery and Summary of the Poem Poe opens opens the the poem with with a a simile –“Helen, thy beauty is to to me me / / Like Like those Nic éan barks barks of of of yore yore ”–that compares compares the the beauty of of Helen Helen Helen (Mrs. (Mrs. Stanard) with small sailing boats (barks) that carried home travelers in ancient times. He extends this boat imagery into the second stanza, when he says Helen brought him home to the shores of the greatest civilizations of antiquity, classical Greece Greece and and Rome. It may well have have been been been that that Mrs. Mrs. Stanard Stanard ’s s beauty beauty and other admirable qualities, as well as her taking notice of Poe ’s writing ability, helped inspire him to write poetry that mimicked in some ways the classical tradition of Greece and Rome. Certainly the poem ’s s allusions allusions to to mythology mythology and the the classical classical age age suggest suggest that he he had had a grounding in, and a fondness for, ancient history and literature. In the final stanza of the poem, Poe imagines that Mrs. Stanard (Helen) is standing before him in a recess or alcove in front of a window. window. She She She is is holding an agate lamp, lamp, as as as the the the beautiful beautiful Psyche Psyche did did did when when she she discovered discovered the identity of Eros (Cupid). in the first stanza,helen's beauty is soothing.it provides security and safety.perhaps the reader is expected to associate marlowe's famousline:was this the face that launched a thousand ships? to helen's beauty,for her beauty is as hypnotic for the speaker as the ships that transported another wanderer-Ulysses-home from Troy. throughout the poem,Poe uses allusions to classical names and places,as well as certain kinds of images to create the impression of a far-off idealized,unreal w oman,like a Greek statue.words that support the image of an ideal woman are "hy acinth"and"classic""Naiad airs"and"statued like.helen stands,not like a real woman,bu t like a saint in a "windows-niche.she becomes a symbol both of beauty and of frustration,a romantically idealized,yet inaccessible image of the heart's desire. it's believed that few american poets can surpass Poe's ability in the use of english as a medium of pure musical and rhythmic beauty.Poe made good use of rhythm is not regular,which shows the poet was excited,the poem is a haunting melody done with extreme artistry of alliteration as in "weary"and"way-worn",assonanc e as in "wont to roam"and masculine end rhyme,for example,with"me"rhythm with "se a",the rhyme scheme is ababb,cdcec,fggfg.in the poem words containing vowels or diphthongs were used to bring about the slow rhythm which reveals the speaker's admiration and deep regret and suggest a theme that beauty is soothing yet inaccessible.in light of analysis above,the general tone of the poem is passionate a nd regretful. 4. Discuss Mark Twain Discuss Mark Twain’’s art of fiction: the setting, the language, and the characters, etc., based on his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn (1884) was first considered adult fiction. Huck Finn, which painted a picture of of Mississippi Mississippi frontier life, was intended as as a a sequel to to Tom Tom Sawyer. Huck, Huck, who who could could not not not possibly possibly write a story, tells us the story. Twain wrote a novel that embodies the search for freedom. He wrote during the post-Civil War period when there was an intense white reaction against blacks. According to some critics,[who?] Twain took aim squarely against racial prejudice, increasing segregation, lynchings, and the generally accepted belief that blacks were sub-human. He "made it clear that Jim was good, deeply loving, human, and anxious for freedom."[12] However, others have criticized the novel as racist, citing the use of the word "nigger" and Jim's Sambo-like character.[2][3] Throughout the story, Huck is in moral conflict with the received values of the society in which he he lives, lives, and while he he is is unable to to consciously consciously refute those values even even in in in his his thoughts, he he makes makes a moral moral choice choice based based on on his own valuation of of Jim's Jim's friendship and human worth, a decision in in direct direct opposition to the things he has been taught. Mark Twain in his lecture notes proposes that "a sound heart is a surer guide than an ill-trained conscience," and goes on to describe the novel as "...a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat."[13]5. Discuss James Cooper ’s literary contributions. Contributions of Cooper The creation of the famous Leather stocking saga has cemented his position as our first great national novelist and his influence pervades American literature. In his thirty-two years (1820-1851) of authorship, Cooper produced twenty-nine other long works of fiction and fifteen books - enough to fill forty-eight volumes in the new definitive edition of his Works. Among his achievements: 1. The first successful American historical romance in the vein of Sir Walter Scott (The Spy, 1821). 2. The first sea novel (The Pilot, 1824). 3. The first attempt at a fully researched historical novel (Lionel Lincoln, 1825). 4. The first full-scale History of the Navy of the United States of America (1839). 5. The first American international novel of manners (Homeward Bound and Home as Found, 1838). 6. 6. The The first trilogy in in American American American fiction fiction (Satanstoe, 1845; 1845; The The Chainbearer, 1845; 1845; and and The Redskins, 1846). 7. The first and only five-volume epic romance to carry its mythic hero - Natty Bumppo - from youth to old age. James Fenimore Fenimore Cooper Cooper was one of of the the the first first novelists to to enjoy enjoy enjoy great great fame as a result of of his his his literary literary career and although some may argue argue that that this is is because because because the the the subject subject matter was entertaining (rather than than instructive instructive or or socially socially conscious, for for example) example) example) the the the fact fact remains remains that that he was able able to to to introduce introduce Americans to their own frontier . A writer in the style of romanticism, James Fenimore Cooper was enamored with with tales tales of of the the the outdoors outdoors and encounters with with strange strange and often hostile people people or or or forces. forces. This material was well-received and because of his literary success James Fenimore Cooper was able to produce his large body of works throughout his lifetime. 6. Analyze Whitman Analyze Whitman’’s One s One’’s Self I Sing. Analysis of One ’s Self I Sing In In 1855 1855 he he published published Leaves Leaves of of of Grass Grass Grass by by by himself himself at at his his own expense. His His intention intention was to to create create a truly American poem, one "proportionate to our continent, with its powerful races of men, its tremendous historic events, its great oceans, its mountains, and its illimitable prairies." In fact, his his poem poem g oes goes goes beyond beyond beyond American American American subject subject to to deal deal deal with with with the the the universal universal themes themes of of of nature, nature, fertility, and mortality. "One "One’’s-Self I sing, a simple separate person," run the opening lines of Leaves of Grass from 1871 on, "Yet utter the word Democratic." A poetic universe of productive tension is hinted by that "Yet"; the tense equipoise between individualism and democracy, this poem suggests, is the foundational theme of Whitman’s book. The poem then goes on to introduce the site and symbol for this reconciliation of of individual individual to to mass: mass: mass: the the body, "physiology from from top top top to to to toe." toe." We receive individual identity through our body, . . . yet at the same time, physicality, and especially physical affection, are universal, binding us together in common humanity. Much of the boldly progressive politics of Whitman ’s poetry will follow from this emphasis on the body; thus his introduction of the theme of "physiology" is followed by his (then quite radical) insistence on the political equality of male and female. In In Whitman Whitman Whitman’’s s ““One ’s Self I I Sing Sing ”, , the the the theme theme theme of of of the the the poem, poem, namely namely the the the celebration celebration of of both both both oneself oneself and the whole human beings, is realized at various levels. In this renowned short poem, Whitman trumpets the individualism that underlies American democracy and society, interpreting the politics of democracy into terms of everyday life. The poem is also presented as a drama of democratic identity in which the poet seeks to balance and reconcile major conflicts in the body politic of America: the conflict between "separate person" and "en masse," individualism and equality, liberty and union, female and male, or even alluding to the conflict with the South and the North, the farm and the city, labor and capital, black and white, religion and science. In In Whitman Whitman Whitman’’s s ““One ’s Self I I Sing Sing ”, , the the the theme theme theme of of of the the the poem, poem, namely namely the the the celebration celebration of of both both both oneself oneself and the whole human beings, is realized at various levels. In this renowned short poem, Whitman trumpets the individualism that underlies American democracy and society, interpreting the politics of democracy into terms of everyday life. The poem is also presented as a drama of democratic identity in which the poet seeks to balance and reconcile major conflicts in the body politic of America: the conflict between "separate person" and "en masse," individualism and equality, liberty and union, female and male, or even alluding to the conflict with the South and the North, the farm and the city, labor and capital, black and white, religion and science. 。
美国文学 下学期 名词解释 Term
Terms in American Literature1. Free Verse: Free verse is poetry without fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. The length of its lines is irregular, as is its use of rhyme. Instead of a regular metrical pattern it uses more flexible cadences or rhythmic groupings, sometimes supported by anaphora and other devices of repetitions. Free verse was originated by a group of French poets of the late 19th century. Their purpose was to free themselves from the restrictions of formal metrical patterns and to recreate instead the free rhythms of natural speech. Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is, perhaps, the most notable example.2. Local Colorism: Local Colorism or Regionalism as a trend first made its presence felt in the late 1860s and early seventies in America. It may be defined as the careful depictions in speech, dress or behavior peculiar to a geographical locality. Local colorists concerned themselves with presenting and interpreting the local character of their regions. They tended to idealize and glorify, but they never forgot to keep an eye on the truthful color of local life. Although it lost its momentum toward the end of the 19th century, the local spirit continued to inspire and fertilize the imagination of author.3. American Realism: In American literature, the Civil War brought the Romantic Period to an end. The Age of Realism came into existence. It came as a reaction against the lie of romanticism and sentimentalism. Realism turned from an emphasis on the strange toward a faithful rendering of the ordinary, a slice of life as it is really lived. It expresses the concern for commonplace and the low, and it offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience.4. Naturalism: The term naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. American naturalism emphasizes the role of heredity and environment upon human life and character development roughly between 1890’s and early1900’s. The naturalist writers report the life of the helpless people truthfully and objectively. There are less happy ending in the naturalistic fictions, where human is controlled by laws of heredity and environment and has no free will or choice. Life became a struggle for survival. American naturalism had a blooming development in the works of Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London, and it reached its peak in the novels of Theodore Dreiser.5. The Jazz Age:The Jazz Age refers to the period of the 1920s when traditional values of the previous period declined while the American stock market soared. The age takes its name from popular music, which saw a tremendous surge in popularity. The characters of Jazz Age novels live in restless pursuit of stimulus and pleasure and wallow in heavy drinking, fast driving and casual sex. The phrase was coined byFitzgerald, who greatly criticized this new era of relaxation in novels such as The Great Gatsby.6. The Lost Generation:Defined as a sense of moral loss or aimless apparent in literary figures during the 1920s. World War I seemed to have destroyed the idea that if you acted virtuously, good things would happen. Many good young men went to war and died, or returned home either physically or mentally wounded (for most both), and their faith in moral guideposts that had earlier given them hopes, were no longer valid, they were “lost”.7. Imagism: It’s a poetic movement of England and the U.S. flourished from 1909 to 1917.The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the direct treatment of the thing”and the economy of wording. The leaders of this movement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell.。
美国文学重点名词解释
2.6.Transcendentalism: is literature，philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to1860. It originated among a small group of intellectuals who were reaching against the orthodoxy of Calvinism and the rationalism of the Unitarian Church, their own faith centering on the divinity of humanity and the natural world instead. Transcendentalism derived some of its basic idealistic concepts from romantic German philosophy, and from such English authors as Carlyle，Coleridge, and Wordsworth. The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature and Self-Reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden..Symbolism象征主义：It is the writing technique of using symbols. It’s a literary movement that arose in France in the last half of the 19th century and that greatly influenced many English writer, particularly poets, of the 20th century. It enables poets to compress a very complex idea or set of ideas into one image or even one word. It’s one of the most powerful devices thatpoets employ in creation.8.American naturalism：this term was cr eated by Emile Zola. Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory played an important role in naturalism. In the works off naturalism，characters were conceived as complex combinations of inherited attributes and habits conditioned by social and economic forces. At the end of the 19th century，this pessimistic form of realism appeared in america. Naturalism attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness. Characters in the works of naturalism were dominated by their environment and heredity. Naturalism emphasized：the world was around；men had no free will；religious“truth”were illusory；the destiny of human beings was misery in life and oblivion in death. The dominant figures in naturalism were Stephen crane，Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser.3.The lost generation: included the young English and American expatriates as well as men and women caught in the war and cut from the old value and yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilization had gone mad. These writers adopted unconventional style of writing and reacted against the tendencies of the older writers in the 1920s. The term came from Gertrude Stein who said in Hemingway's presence that“you are all a lost generation.”4.Local colorismAs a trend became dominant in American literature in the 1860s and early 1870s，it is defined by Hamlin Garland as having such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native stories of local colorism have a quality of circumstantial(详细的) authenticity(确实性), as local colorists tried to immortalize(使不朽) the distinctive natural, social and linguistic features. It is characteristic of vernacular(本.国语) language and satirical(讽刺的) humor. The major local colorist is Mark Twain.5.Jazz age: the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term"Jazz Age" retroactively to refer to the decade after World War I and before the stock market crash in 1929, during which Americans embarked upon what he called "the gaudiest spree in history". Jazz Age is inextricably associated with the wealthy white"flappers" and socialites immortalized in Fitzgerald's fiction.6.Free verse: is a poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure, instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech. While it alternates stressed and unstressed syllables as stricter verse forms do, free verse does so in a looser way. Whitman's poetry is an example of free verse at its most impressive. It has since been used by Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and other major American can poets of the 20th century.7.The iceberg analogy: The Iceberg Theory is a writing theory by American writer Ernest Hemingway, as follows：if a writer of a prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader，if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.1.Poe's Poetic IdeasA.His conviction that the function of poetry is not to summarize and interpret earthly experience,but to create a mood in which the soul soars toward supernal beauty.B.He insists that poetry must be disembarrassed of that moral sense.C.Poe believes that the elevation of excitement of the soul should be “the poetic principle” thuspoe try must concern itself only with “supernal beauty”.D.Poe defines poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty” a definition giving unexampledemphasis upon the importance of the rhythmical or musical element in poetry.2．Whitman's style1) The sprawling lines of the poems are often extremely long.2) Parallelism: the parallel lines say the same thing but use different words.3) Envelope structure: the first line begins with the subject, and then more and more lines list modifiers till the verb appears in the last line of the stanza. This is like enclosing a whole list of ideas in an envelope.4) Catalogue technique: means listing. Typical poems by Whitman make long, long lists of images, ofsights, sounds, smells, taste, and touch.5) No regular pattern.6) The verse unit is usually an independent clause.3．Formal features of Dickinson's poetryA.Dickson's poems are usually based on her own experience, her sorrows and joys. Dickinson wasoriginal. She sounded idiosyncratic, sometimes.B.Love is another subject Dickinson dwells on.C.Many poems Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her general skepticism about therelationship between man and nature is well-expressed. Dickinson sees nature as both gailybenevolent and cruel.D.Dickinson's poetry is unique and unconventional in its own way. Her poems have no titles, henceare always quoted by their first lines.E.On the ethical level Dickinson emphasizes free will and human responsibility.All these characteristics of her poetry were to become popular through Stephen Crane with the Imagists such as Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell in the 20th century. She became, with Stephen Crane, the precursor of the Imagist moverment.4．The theme and techniques in Eliot's "The Waste Land"Theme：The theme is modern spiritual barrenness, the despair and depression that followed the WWI, the sterility and turbulence of the modern world, and the decline and break-down of western culture. It also shows the search for regeneration by people living in a chaotic world.Technique：The poem’s noti ceable characteristics are varied length and rhythm to harmonize with the changing subject matter, the unrhymed lines, lots of borrowings from some thirty-five different writers, the employment of materials such as the legends of the Holy Grail, Frazer’s a nthropological work The Golden Bough several popular songs, and passages in six foreign languages, including Sanskrit. The poem, therefore, is obscure and hard to understand, needless to say its absence of logical continuity. The poem The Wast Land by T. S. Eliot, nevertheless, is broadly acknowledged as one of the most recognizable landmarks of modernism.5．Analysis of "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson"Richard Cory" is a short dramatic poem about a man whose outward appearance belies his inner turmoil. The tragedy in the poem reflects in its spirit the tragedies in Edwin Arlington Robinson's own life: Both of his brothers died young, his family suffered financial failures, and Robinson himself endured hardship before his poetry gained recognition—thanks in part to praise from an influential reader of them, Theodore Roosevelt.Robinson published the poem himself in 1897 as part of a poetry collection called Children of the Night. The poem is a favorite of students and teachers because of the questions it poses about the the title character.6．Comment on"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert FrostA.It is a peaceful poem and makes man feel relaxed when we read the lines: "The only other sounds the sweep of easy wind and downy flake." Frost also uses alliteration and repetition in his poems. The rhyme scheme he uses is a-a-b-a.B.It is one of the most quietly moving of Frost’s lyrics. On the surface, it seems to be simple, descriptive verses, records of close observation, graphic and homely pictures.C.It uses the simplest terms and commonest words. But it is deeply meditative, adding far-reaching meanings to the homely music. It uses its superb craftsmanship to come to a climax of responsibility: the promises to be kept, the obligation to be fulfilled. Few poems have said so much in so little.7.Theme and technique in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald1. Themes of The Great Gatsby: It resents the decline of the American dream in1920s, the hollowness of the upper class and the falseness of ideals and moves toward disillusion.2. Now Gatsby’s life follow a clear pattern: there is, at first, a dream, then disenchantment, and finallya sense of failure and despair. Gatsby’s personal experience approximates the whole of the American experience up to the first few decades of the 20th century.3. The novel is the presentation of the 1920s, and of what has become known as American Dream. 8.ment on Hemingway's style and Farewell to Arms"1. Hemingway was a glamorous public hero of sorts whose style of writing and living was probably more imitated than any other writers in human memory.2. In one sense Hemingway wrote all his life about one theme, which is neatly summed up in the famous phrase, “grace under pressure”, and created one hero who acts that theme out.3. In the same way that Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age becomes a symbol for an age, Hemingway’s book paints the image of a whole generation, the Lost Ge neration.4. Lieutenant Henry in A Farewell to Arms stands the Hemingway hero, an average man of decidedly masculine taste sensitive and intelligent, a man of action; and with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotion under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place where one cannot have happiness.5. Hemingway’s world is a world essentially chaotic and meaningless, in which man fights a solitary struggle against a force he does not even understand.6. The war dominates so that the love story represents a mere dream and the brutal and atrocious realities of life do not allow materializing it.10.Analyze "Dry September" by William Faulkner11.“Dry September” was written in 1931, and is a well-known story of Faulkner.This story touches upon the strange relationship between sex and violence, examines the psychological state of the main characters, and exposes the crime of racial discrimination which makes one bristle with anger.The tone of this story contributes much to its effectiveness, particularly to the imagery of infernal heat and dryness and to the setting itself.From the character Miss Minnie the reader could perceive the obvious impact of Freud’s ideas on William Faulkner.。
美国文学史名词解释
1、t h e L o s t G e n e r a t i o n In general, the post-World War I generation, but specifically a group of U.S. writers who came of age during the war and established their literary reputations in the 1920s. The term stems from a remark made by Gertrude Stein to Ernest Hemingway, “You are all a lost generation.” Hemingway used it as an epigraph to The Sun Also Rises (1926). The generation was “lost” in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and because of its spiritual alienation from a U.S. that, b asking under President Harding's “back to normalcy” policy, seemed to its members to be hopelessly provincial, materialistic, and emotionally barren. The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, e.e. cummings and many other writers who made Paris the centre of their literary activities in the '20s. They were never a literary school. In the 1930s, as these writers turned in different directions, their works lost the distinctive stamp of the postwar period. The last representative works of the era were Fitzgerald's TenderLost generationThe lost generation is a term first used by Stein to describe the post-war I generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.2>full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.3>the three best-known representatives of lost generation are F.Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway and John dos Passos.Lost generationThe Lost Generation is a group of expatriate American writers residing primarily in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s. The group was given its name by the American writer Gertrude Stein, who used “a lost generation” to refer to expatriate Americans bitter about their World War I experiences and disillusioned with American society. Hemingway later used the phrase as an epigraph for his novel The Sun Also Rises. It consisted of many influential American writers, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Carlos Williams and Archibald MacLeish.2、Iceberg TheoryIt is a term used to describe the writing style of American writer Ernest Hemingway. The meaning of a piece is not immediately evident, because the crux of the story lies below the surface, just as most of the mass of a real iceberg similarly lies beneath the surface.Iceberg TheoryErnest Hemingway’s “iceberg theory” suggest s that the writer include in the text only a small portion of what he knows, leaving about ninety percent of the content a mystery that grows beneath the surface of the writing. If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or actionThere is seven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you knowyou can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn’t show. (1938)（PPT）3、Code heroThe Hemingway hero is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent, a man of action, and one of few words. That is an individualist keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place. These people are usually spiritual strong, people of certain skills, and most of them encounter death many times. The heroes in his book are all have something in common which Hemingway values: they have seen the cold world and for one cause or another, they boldly and courageously face the reality; whatever the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure. The Hemingway code hero has an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life, though he is pessimistic that is Hemingway.4、Stream?of?consciousness?The?continuous?flow?of?sense-perceptions,?thoughts,?feelings,?and?memories?in?th e?human?mind:?or?a?literary?method?of?representing?such?a?blending?of?mental?p rocesses?infictional?characters,?usually?in?an?unpunctuated?or?disjoint?form?of?int erior?monologue.注：sense-perceptions：认知，观念?blending：混合物?unpunctuated:未加标点的?Disjoint：脱节5、ImagismA poetic movement of England and the U.S. that flourished from 1909 to 1917. The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the direct treatment of the thing” and the economy of wording. “poetic techniques to record exactly the momentary impressions”The leaders of this movement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell.Three main principles of the Imagist Movement (1912) :[1] direct treatment of poetic subjects[2] elimination of merely ornamental or superfluous words, to use no word that does not contribute to the presentation.[3] rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of a metronome.[4]pound’s In a Station of the M etro is a well-known poem.Major features:--- it was one of the most essential technique of writing poetry in modern period.--- with a spirit of revolt against conventions, imagism was anti—romantic and anti-victorian--- In a sense, imagism was equivalent to naturalism in fiction--- it produced free verse without imposing a rhythmical pattern.--- Imagism tried to record objective observations of an object or a situation without interpretation or comment by the poet.--- it produced free verse without imposing a rhythmical pattern.--- Imagism tried to record objective observations of an object or a situation without interpretation or comment by the poet.The most outstanding figures:Ezra Pound Amy Lowell Hilda DoolittleThe form of free verse (Ezra Loomis Pound)影响its influence1)the imagist theories call for brief language, describing the precise picture in as few words as possible. This new way of poetry composition has a lasting influence in the 20th century poetry.2)the second lasting influence of Imagism is the form of free verse. There are no metrical rules. There are apparent indiscriminate line breaks, which reflects the discontinuity of life itself. That is art of the poem. The poet uses the length of the lines and the strange groupings of words to show how life itself can be broken up into somehow meaningless clusters6、ModernismModern writing is marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression; it believes that we create the world in the act of perceiving it. Modernism implies historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, and of despair. It elevates the individual and his inner being over social man and prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious.Modernism（来自老师的PPT)A general term applied retrospectively to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in the literature and other arts of the early 20th century, including Symbolism, Futurism, Expressionism, Imagism, V orticism, Dada, and Surrealism, along with the innovations of unaffiliated writers.7、The Harlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of literature (and to a lesser extent other arts) in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s, has long been considered by many to be the high point in African American writing. It probably had its foundation in the works of W.E. B. Du Bois who believed that an educated Black elite should lead Blacks to liberation. He further believed that his people could not achieve social equality by emulating white ideals; that equality could be achieved only by teaching Black racial pride with an emphasis on an African cultural heritage. Although the Renaissance was not a school, nor did the writers associated with it share a common purpose, nevertheless they had a common bond: they dealt with Black life from a Black perspective. Among the major writers who are usually viewed as part of the Harlem Renaissance are Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Rudolph Fisher, James Weldon Johnson, and Jean Toomer.Harlem Renaissance主要作品：The Weary Blues, The Dream keeper and Other Poems, Fine Clothes to the Jew8、Postmodernism(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)Postmodernism is a term which describes the postmodernist movement in the arts, its set of cultural tendencies and associated cultural movements. It is in general the era that follows Modernism.It frequently serves as an ambiguous overarching term forskeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, economics,architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. It is often associated with deconstruction and post-structuralism because its usage as a term gained significant popularity at the same time as twentieth-century post-structural thought.后现代主义是一个术语，它描述了后现代主义运动在艺术，文化倾向和相关的文化运动。
美国文学史术语解释
美国⽂学史术语解释Stream of consciousness（意识流）：It is one of the modern literary techniques. It is the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly Imagism（意象派）: It?s a poetic movement of England and the U.S. flourished from 1909 to 1917.The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the direct treatment of the thing”and the economy of wording. The leaders of this movement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell. Modernism（现代主义）: It is term referring to the art, poetry, literature, architecture, and philosophy of Europe and America in the early twentieth-century. In general, modernism is marked by the following characteristics: (1) the desire to break away from established traditions, (2) a quest to find fresh ways to view man's position or function in the universe, (3) experiments in form and style, particularly with fragmentation--as opposed to the "organic" theories of literary unity appearing in the Romantic and Victorian periods.The Lost generation：The term Last Generation was coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to a group of American literary notables who lived in Paris from the time period which saw the end of Word War I to the beginning of the Great Depression .Significant members included Ernest Hemingway ,F.Scott Fitzgerald ,Ezra Pound ,Sherwood Anderson ,T.S .Eliot ,and Gertrude Stein herself .Hemingway likely popularized the term ,quoting Stein as epigraph to his novel ,The Sun Also Rises .More generally ,the term is being used for the young adults of Europe and America during World War I.They were“lost”because after the war many of them were disillusioned with the world in general and unwilling to move into a settled life .The Beat Generation :The Beat Generation applied to certain American artists and writers who were popular during the 1950s.Essential anarchic ,member of the beat generation rejected traditional social and artistic forms.The beats sought immediate expression in multiple ,intense experiences and beatific illumination like that of some Eastern religions .In literature they adopted rhythms of simple American speech and of jazz.Among those associated with the movement were the novelist Jack Kerouac and numerous poets as Allen Ginsberg ,and Gregory Corso ,and others,many of whom worked in and around San Francisco.Harlem Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of the arts in the 1920?s and 30s.African Americans used writing, music, and art to demonstrate strong beliefs.Many of these beliefs were mphasized the necessity of black liberation, retaining black cultural pride, and not giving into white standards.Especially the awareness of the black?s identity.//Harlem became the biggest hot spot in America for any aspiring African American artist. The city came alive at night as bars and clubs burst with music and dancing.//Responding to the heady intellectual atmosphere of the time and place, writers and artists, many of whom lived in Harlem, began to produce a wide variety of fine and highly original works dealing with African-American life.//These works attracted many black readers.//HR was more than just a literary movement: it included racial consciousness, …the back to Africa? movement led by Marcus Garvey, racial integration, the exploring of music particularly jazz, spirituals and blues, painting, dramatic revues, and others. It was a huge leap for black liberation and culture.Black Humor: In literature ,is drama ,novel ,and film ,grotesque or morbid humor used toabsurdity,insensitivity,paradox ,and cruelty of modern world.Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony.Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce .The novels of such writers as Kurt V onnegut ,Thomas Pynchon ,John Barth ,Joseph Heller ,and Philip Roth contain elements of black humor.Iceberg Principle:It is a term used to describe the writing style of American writer Ernest Hemingway. The meaning of a piece is not immediately evident, because the crux of the story lies below the surface, just as most of the mass of a real iceberg similarly lies beneath the surface. Southern Renaissanceb:1) In the 20th century, southern literature became not only distinguished but very diverse, yet it has often root its works in the south 2)By 1920s’, a literary movement known as the southern Renaissance emerged. There was a domination of southern literature for at least 4 decades in American Literature. Magic realism :It is a kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and fantastical events are included in a narrative that otherwise maintains the German fiction of the early 1950s ,but is now associated chiefly with certain leading novelties of Central and south American .The term has also been extended to works from very different cultures ,designating a tendency of the modern novel to reach beyond the confines of realism and draw upon the energies of fable ,folktale and myth while retaining a strong contemporary social relevance .Jazz age: The Jazz age describes the period from 1918-1929; the years after the end of WWI, continuing through the Roaring Twenties and ending with the rise of the Great Depression.The traditional values of the previous period saw great decline while the American stock market soared. The focus of the elements of the Jazz Age, in some contrast with the Roaring Twenties, in historical and cultural studies, are somewhat different, with a greater emphasis on all Modernism. The age takes its name from jazz, which saw a tremendous surge in popularity among many segments of society. Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period are the public embrace of technological developments (typically seen as progress)-cars, air travel and the telephone, as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture.Feminism: It is the belief that women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights to men. It involves various movements, theories, and philosophies, all concerned with issues of gender difference, that advocate equality for women and that campaign for women's rights and interests. Feminism has altered predominant perspectives in a wide range of areas within Western society, ranging from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's legal rights ; for women's right to bodily integrity and autonomy, for abortion rights, and for reproductive rights ; for protection from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape;for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of discriminationCode hero: The Hemingway hero is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent, a man of action, and one of few words. That is an individualist keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place. These people are usually spiritual strong, people of certain skills, and most of them encounter death many times. The heroes in his book are all have something in common which Hemingway values: they have seen the cold world and for one cause or another, they boldly and courageously face the reality; whatever the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure. The Hemingway code hero has an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life, though he is pessimistic that is Hemingway.。
美国文学史及选读的名词解释（全）
1. American Puritanism it it comes comes comes from from from the the the American American American puritans, puritans, puritans, who who who were were were the the the first first first immigrants immigrants immigrants moved moved moved to to American continent in the 17th century. Original sin, predestination （预言）（预言） and salvation （拯救） were the basic ideas of American Puritanism. And, hard-working, piousness （虔诚,尽职）， thrift and sobriety （清醒）（清醒）（清醒） were praised. 2. Romanticism: the literature term was first applied to the writers of the 18th century in Europe who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used used in in in American American American literature literature literature it it it referred referred referred to to to the the the writers writers writers of of of the the the middle middle middle of of of the the 19th century century who who who stimulated stimulated （刺激）（刺激） the the sentimental sentimental sentimental emotions emotions emotions of of of their their their readers. readers. They wrote of the mysterious of life, love, birth and death. The Romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint. They wrote all all kinds kinds of materials, poetry, essays, plays, fictions, history, works of travel, and biography. 3. 2. 2. Transcendentalism Transcendentalism Transcendentalism ((先验说,超越论): ): is is is a a a philosophic philosophic philosophic and and and literary literary literary movement movement that that flourished flourished flourished in in in New New New England, England, England, particular particular particular at at at Concord, Concord, Concord, as as as a a a reaction reaction reaction against against Rationalism Rationalism and and and Calvinism Calvinism Calvinism ((理性主义and 喀尔文主义). ). Mainly Mainly Mainly it it it stressed stressed intuitive intuitive understanding understanding understanding of of of God, God, God, without without without the the the help help help of of of the the the church, church, church, and and and advocated advocated independence of the mind. The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau. 4. Local colorism: as a trend became dominant in American literature in the 1860s and early 1870s ，it is defined by Hamlin Garland as having such quality of texture and and background background background that that that it it it could could could not not not have have have been been been written written written in in in any any any other other other place place place or or or by by anyone else than a native stories of local colorism have a quality of circumstantial(详细的) authenticity(确实性), as local colorists tried to immortalize(使不朽) ) the the the distinctive distinctive distinctive natural, natural, natural, social social social and and and linguistic linguistic linguistic features. features. features. It It It is is characteristic of vernacular(本国语本国语) language and satirical(讽刺的) humor 5. Stream of consciousness （意识流）： It is one of the modern literary techniques. It is is the the the style style style of of of writing writing writing that that that attempts attempts attempts to to to imitate imitate imitate the the the natural natural natural flow flow flow of of of a a a character’s character’s thoughts, thoughts, feelings, feelings, feelings, reflections, reflections, reflections, memories, memories, memories, and and and mental mental mental images images images as as as the the the character character experiences experiences them. them. them. It It It was was was first first first used used used in in in 1922 1922 1922 by by by the the the Irish Irish Irish novelist novelist novelist James James James Joyce. Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and and skillfully skillfully skillfully the the the unconscious unconscious unconscious activity activity activity of of of the the the mind mind mind fast fast fast changing changing changing and and and flowing flowing incessantly 。
美国文学史及选读的名词解释(全)
The American Enlightenment is the intellectual thriving period in America in the mid-to-late 18th century (1715–1789), especially as it relates to American Revolution on the one hand and the European Enlightenment on the other. Influenced by the scientific revolution of the17th century and the humanist period during the Renaissance, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature, society, and religion.Politically, the age is distinguished by an emphasis upon liberty, democracy, republicanism and religious tolerance – culminating in the drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Attempts to reconcile science and religion resulted in a rejection of prophecy, miracle and revealed religion, often in preference for Deism. Historians have considered how the ideas of John Locke and republicanism merged to form republicanism in the United States. The most important leaders of the American Enlightenment include Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.1.2. American Puritanismit comes from the American puritans, who were the first immigrants moved to American continent in the 17th century. Original sin, predestination（预言）and salvation（拯救）were the basic ideas of American Puritanism. And, hard-working, piousness（虔诚,尽职），thrift and sobriety（清醒）were praised.3. Romanticism: the literature term was first applied to the writers of the 18th century inEurope who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used in American literature it referred to the writers of the middle of the 19th century who stimulated（刺激）the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote of the mysterious of life, love, birth and death. The Romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint. They wrote all kinds of materials, poetry, essays, plays, fictions, history, works of travel, and biography.4. Transcendentalism (先验说,超越论): is a philosophic and literary movement thatflourished in New England, particular at Concord, as a reaction against Rationalism and Calvinism (理性主义and喀尔文主义). Mainly it stressed intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind. The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau.5. Local colorism: as a trend became dominant in American literature in the 1860s and early1870s，it is defined by Hamlin Garland as having such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native stories of local colorism have a quality of circumstantial(详细的) authenticity(确实性), aslocal colorists tried to immortalize(使不朽) the distinctive natural, social and linguistic features. It is characteristic of vernacular(本国语) language and satirical(讽刺的) humor 6. Stream of consciousness（意识流）：It is one of the modern literary techniques. It is thestyle of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly。
考研英美文学名词解释
英美文学名词解释T erms in English and American Literature1. Aestheticism/the Aestheticism Movement (唯美主义)A European phenomenon during the middle of the 19th century that had its chief headquarters in France. This movement was introduced to late Victorian England mainly Walter Pater as a reaction against the materialism and commercialism of an industrialized society. It was also a reaction against the Victorian convention of art for morality’s sake, or art for money’s sake. The major tenets of this movement include the belief in the autonomy of a work of art, the emphasis on craft and artistry--the theory of “art for art’s sake”. The most outstanding Victorian representatives of this movement included Oscar Wilde.2. Allegory（寓言）A tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. An allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.寓言：用诗歌或散文讲的故事，在这个故事中人物、事件或背景往往代表抽象的概念或道德品质。
美国文学史及选读名词解释
美国文学史及选读名词解释本文出自网络，作者不详1. Transcendentalism19th-century movement of writers and philosophers in New England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. In their religious quest, the Transcendentalists rejected the conventions of 18th-century thought; and what began in a dissatisfaction with Unitarianism developed into a repudiation of the whole established order.2. Langston HughesAmerican poet and writer emphasized on lower-class black life. He established himself as a major force of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1926, in the Nation, he provided the movement with a manifesto when he skillfully argued the need for both race pride and artistic independence in his most memorable essay, 'The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." In many ways Hughes always remained loyal to the principles he had laid down for the younger black writers in 1926. His art was firmly rooted in race pride and race feeling even as he cherished his freedom as an artist. He was both nationalist and cosmopolitan. As a radical democrat, he believed that art should be accessible to as many people as possible. He could sometimes be bitter, but his art is generally suffused by a keen sense of the ideal and by a profound love of humanity, especially black Americans.3. Henry David ThoreauAmerican essayist, poet, and practical philosopher, renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism as recorded in his masterwork, Walden (1854), and for having been a vigorous advocate of civil liberties, as evidenced in the essay “Civil Disobedience” (1849).In his writings Thoreau was concerned primarily with the possibilities for human culture provided by the American natural environment. He adapted ideas garnered from the then-current Romantic literatures in order to extend American libertarianism and individualism beyond the political and religious spheres to those of social and personal life. He demanded for all men the freedom to follow unique lifestyles, to make poems of their lives and living itself an art. In a restless, expanding society dedicated to practical action, he demonstrated the uses and values of leisure, contemplation, and a harmonious appreciation of and coexistence with nature. Thoreau established the tradition of nature writing later developed by the Americans4. the Harlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of literature (and to a lesser extent other arts) in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s, has long been considered by many to be the high point in African American writing. It probably had its foundation in the works of W.E. B. Du Bois who believed that an educated Black elite should lead Blacks to liberation. He further believed that his people could not achieve social equality by emulating white ideals; that equality could be achieved only by teaching Black racial pride with an emphasis on an African cultural heritage. Although the Renaissance was not a school, nor did the writers associated with it share a common purpose, nevertheless they had a common bond: they dealt with Black life from a Black perspective. Among the major writers who are usually viewed as part of the Harlem Renaissance are Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Rudolph Fisher, James Weldon Johnson, and Jean Toomer.5. Mark Twainpseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens American humorist, writer, and lecturer who won a worldwide audience for his stories of youthful adventures, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1883), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Writing in American colloquialism and subjects with humors and satires, Mark Twain shed great influence upon later writers such as Sherwood Anderson, Earnest Hemingway and Faulkner.6. Walt WhitmanAmerican poet, journalist, and essayist whose verse collection Leaves of Grass is a landmark in the history of American literature. Whitman's greatest theme is a symbolic identification of the regenerative power of nature with the deathless divinity of the soul. His poems are filled with a religious faith in the processes of life, particularly those of fertility, sex, and the “unflagging pregnancy” of nature: sprouting grass, mating birds, phallic vegetation, the maternal ocean, and planets in formation. The poetic “I” of Leaves of Grass transcends time and space, binding the past with the present and intuiting the future, illustrating Whitman's belief that poetry is a form of knowledge, the supreme wisdom of mankind.7. the Lost GenerationIn general, the post-World War I generation, but specifically a group of U.S. writers who came of age during the war and established their literary reputations in the 1920s. The term stems from a remark made by Gertrude Stein to Ernest Hemingway, “You are all a lost generation.” Hemingway used it as an epigraph to The Sun Also Rises (1926). The generation was “lost” in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and because of its spiritual alienation from a U.S. that, basking under President Harding's “back to normalcy” policy, seemed to its members to be hopelessly provinc ial, materialistic, and emotionally barren. The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, e.e. cummings and many other writers who made Paris the centre of their literary activities in the '20s. They were never a literary school. In the 1930s, as these writers turned in different directions, their works lost the distinctive stamp of the postwar period. The last representative works of the era were Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night (1934).8. Ralph Waldo Emerson:American lecturer, poet, and essayist, the leading exponent of New England Transcendentalism. Nature, “The American Scholar,” and Address—had rallied together a group that came to be called the Transcendentalists, of which he was popularly acknowledged the spokesman. Emerson helped initiate Transcendentalism by publishing his Nature. Emerson felt that there was no place for free will in the chains of mechanical cause and effect that rationalist philosophers conceived the world as being made up of. This world could be known only through the senses rather than through thought and intuition; it determined men physically and psychologically; and yet it made them victims of circumstance, beingswhose superfluous mental powers were incapable of truly ascertaining reality. Emerson asserts the human ability to transcend the materialistic world of sense experience and facts and become conscious of theall-pervading spirit of the universe and the potentialities of human freedom. Emerson's doctrine of self-sufficiency and self-reliance naturally springs from his view that the individual need only look into his own heart for the spiritual guidance that has hitherto been the province of the established churches. The individual must then have the courage to be himself and to trust the inner force within him as he lives his life according to his intuitively derived precepts.9. Edgar Allen PoePoe's work owes much to the concern of Romanticism with the occult and the satanic. It owes much also to his own feverish dreams, to which he applied a rare faculty of shaping plausible fabrics out of impalpable materials. With an air of objectivity and spontaneity, his productions are closely dependent on his own powers of imagination and an elaborate technique. His keen and sound judgment as appraiser of contemporary literature, his idealism and musical gift as a poet, his dramatic art as a storyteller, considerably appreciated in his lifetime, secured him a prominent place among universally known men of letters. The outstanding fact in Poe's character is a strange duality. Much of Poe's best work is concerned with terror and sadness. His yearning for the ideal was both of the heart and of the imagination. His sensitiveness to the beauty and sweetness of women inspired his most touching lyrics He is regarded as the father of detective stories.10. Black Humoralso called Black Comedy, writing that juxtaposes morbid or ghastly elements with comical ones. The term did not come into common use until the 1960s. Then it was applied to the works of the novelists Nathanael West, Vladimir Nabokov, and Joseph Heller. The latter's Catch-22 (1961) is a notable example, in which Captain Yossarian battles the horrors of air warfare over the Mediterranean during World War II with hilarious irrationalities matching the stupidities of the military system. The term black comedy has been applied to playwrights in the Theatre of the Absurd.11. Benjamin FranklinAmerican printer and publisher, author, inventor and scientist, and diplomat. Franklin, next to George Washington possibly the most famous 18th-century American. He established the Poor Richard of his almanacs as an oracle on how to get ahead in the world, and become widely known in European scientific circles for his reports of electrical experiments and theories and wrote his Autobiography which is a great contribution to the American literature.12. Ernest HemingwayAmerican novelist and short-story writer, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was noted both for the intense masculinity of his writing and for his adventurous and widely publicized life. His succinct and lucid prose style exerted a powerful influence on American and British fiction in the 20th century. The main characters of The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls are young men whose strength and self-confidence nevertheless coexist with a sensitivity that leaves them deeply scarred by their wartime experiences. War was for Hemingway a potent symbol of the world, which he viewed as complex, filled with moral ambiguities, and offering almost unavoidable pain, hurt, and destruction. To survive in such a world, and perhaps emerge victorious, one must conduct oneself with honour, courage, endurance, and dignity, a set of principles known as “the Hemingway code.”13. Sherwood Andersonauthor who strongly influenced American writing between World Wars I and II, particularly the technique of the short story. His writing had an impact on such notable writers as Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner, both of whom owe the first publication of their books to his efforts. His prose style, based on everyday speech was markedly influential on the early Hemingway. His best work is generally thought to be in his short stories, collected in Winesburg, Ohio, The Triumph of the Egg (1921), Horses and Men (1923), and Death in the Woods (1933).。
美国文学史术语解释terms
美国文学史术语解释termsAmerican RealismThe American literature from 1865 to 1918 is called the American Realism.From American Civil War to the World War I, America witnessed a great development in politics, economy, culture, religion etc. Although everything seemed prosperous, the lower class’ life was miserable due to the capitalists’ exploitation. The American Dream was vanished. Under this circumstance, American Realism appeared. American Realism is largely opposite to the Romanticism. American Realists abandoned subjectivity, idealism and romanticism, and they tried to explain life with objective and realistic attitude. Henry James, Mark Twain were important representative writers.American NaturalismThe main American literature school at the end of 19th century is the American Naturalism. It was the literature outcome of the rural America gradually transited to industrial America. During this transition, the Americans were mentally shocked and puzzled. The main genres are social reform literature, rural literature, local literature and realistic literature.In the further explanation of Realism, American Naturalists were aware of the correctness of Darwinism. As one of the values and ethos of the US, American Naturalism is an important school in American literature history. Theodore Dreiser and Jack London were the representatives.American ModernismThe American Modernism lasted from the World War I to Depression to the World War II. The American Modernism wasinfluenced by Freud’s psychoanalysis, Henry James’ stream of consciousness and other ideologies. The American Modernists adopted new techniques, forms and styles for literature creation. They focused on the characters’ inner t houghts. American Modernism Movement was called the second American Renaissance. Ezra Pound, Earnest Hemingway and William Faulkner were the representatives.American Local ColorismFor American local cultures vary in different places, America appeared many novels with local color in the latter half of the 19th century. This period was the early phase of American Realism. In a novel, the settings, dialects, customs, dress, ways of thinking and feeling are distinctive to a particular region of America. Most of the novels are optimistic and positive. The most representative writer is Mark Twain, who mainly wrote about areas along the Mississippi.ImagismImagism is a literature movement by English and American poets during 1910s. It is a branch of Symbolism. Imagism writers should use distinct, precise and vivid images to portrait things, and devote emotions to every line of poetry. The representative poet is Ezra Pound.Jazz AgeJazz Age refers to the time between World War I and Depression. During this period, the traditional Puritan ethics was faded, while the Epicureanism prevailed. F. Scott Fitzgerald named this time the Jazz Age, so he was called the Chronicler and Poet Laureate of Jazz Age.Lost GenerationLost Generation refers to a postwar Generation in the UnitedStates; some of the writers went to the European battlefield with the ideal of democracy, but witnessed unprecedented holocaust and suffering. Deceived by the slogan: Democracy, Glory and sacrifice, they were sorely disappointed at the society. This generation has experienced confusion and depression, setbacks and pain in their life. This is a kind of lonely lost; this is a "lost generation" in the confusion.The Hemingway HeroesThis refers to the main characters in Earnest Hemingway’s works. These characters mostly are boxer, hunter, fisherman, etc. They are courageous, strong and indomitable. When facing violence, bad fate and death, they are brave, calm and grace. Like Santiago said, a man can be destroyed but not defeated. The Hemingway Heroes are tough men.Iceberg PrincipleEarnest Hemingway first mentioned Iceberg Principle in his book Death in the Afternoon--The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.The Iceberg principle means use simple words to describe vivid image, and hide writer’s feeling, so that the readers can dig deep as they read and think deep. The four important elements of Iceberg principle are simple words, vivid images, rich emotions and profound ideas, and these became Heming way’s writing style.。
美国文学术语解释
美国文学术语解释American puritanism(美国清教主义)Colonial American(殖民时期的美国)Great Aweaking(宗教大觉醒运动)American Romanticism(美国浪漫主义)Gothic tradition(哥特传统) Historical novel(历史小说)Civil War（美国内战）Transcendentalism(超验主义) Individualism(个人主义) Unitarianism(上帝一位论) Allegory(寓言)American Renaissance(美国文艺复兴)Original Sin(原罪)American Enlightenment(美国启蒙运动)Free verse(自由诗) Alliteration(头韵) Assonance(类韵) Consonance(和音)Lyric(抒情诗)Sonnet(十四行诗)Point of view(视角)Realism(现实主义)Local Colorism(地方特色主义) Irony(反讽)Naturalism(自然主义)Social Darwinism(社会达尔文主义)Dadaism(达尔文主义) Expressionism(表现主义) Harlem Renaissance(哈姆雷特文艺复兴)Imagism(意象主义)Jazz Age(爵士乐时代) Surrealism(超现实主义)V orticism(漩涡派)Dramatic Monologue(戏剧性独白)Lost Generation(迷惘的一代) Metaphysical poets(玄学派诗人) Narrator(叙述者)Stream of Consciousness(意识流) The Beat Generation(垮掉的一代) The 1930s(美国30年代)New Criticism(新批评主义) Theatre of the Absurd(荒诞剧) Postmodernism(后现代主义) Metafiction(元小说) Confessional poetry(自白派诗歌) The New York School(纽约派诗人)The absurd(荒谬派)Parody(戏讽)Magic realism(魔幻现实主义) The National Association for the Advancement of ColoredPeople(NAACP)(美国有色人种协进会)The Native American Renaissance(土著美国人文艺复兴)。
美国文学 Terms 名词解释(详细)
Terms:1. Naturalism designates a literary movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in France, America and England. It applies the principles of scientific determinism or mechanism to fiction and drama. It views human beings as animals in the natural world responding to environmental forces and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they have control and none of which they fully understand. Here are the major features of naturalism. (1) Humans are controlled by laws of heredity遗传and environment. (2) The universe is cold, godless, indifferent and hostile to human desires. (3) Naturalistic writers are pessimistic. They choose their subjects from the lower ranks of the society, and portray misery and poverty of the “underdogs” who demonstrably victims of society and nature.•Naturalism：自然主义 a new and harsher realism, 新型的更为冷峻的现实主义，产生悲观的流派，产生于the end of the century 十九世纪末，因为Perception of society’s disorders 对社会无序的感知。
美国文学史复习资料（名词解释）
美国文学史复习资料（名词解释）1. American Puritanism: a domination factor in American life. AmericanPuritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thoughts and literature.2. Transcendentalism: time 1836. Features: 1.the transcendentalistsplaced emphasis on spirit, or over soul, as the most important thing in the universe 2. The transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. 3. The transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the spirit of God. The representatives are Emerson and Thoreau.3. Free Verse: like traditional verse, it is printed in short lines instead ofthe continuity of prose, but it has no meter and either lack rhyme or u ses it occasionally. A representative is Whitman’s Leave of Grass. 4. Realism: time: 2nd and half of 19th century. Features: verisimilitude ofdetails derived from observation. Representatives are Howells, James, Mark Twain5. Local Colorism: It is a branch of Realism; it refers to detailedrepresentation, in fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress and ways of thinking which are distinctive of a particular region. The representative of Local Colorism is Mark Twain.6. American Naturalism: time: 1890s. Features: 1. naturalists wroteabout the helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world, and his lack of dignity in face of the crushing forces ofenvironment and heredity.2. They reported truthfully and objectively with passion for scientific accuracy and an overwhelming accumulation of factual detail.3. The representatives are Crane, Dreiser.7. Imagism: six principles: momentary, one dominant image, hardpersonal word, direct treatment, concise, free verse. The representatives are Pound.8. Lost generations: it refers to a group of American writers of thedecade following WWI, disillusioned by their War experience or by materialization of American culture, holds a pessimistic new of life.The representatives are Fitzgerald and Hemingway.9. Flashback: interpolating narratives or scenes which represent eventsthat happened before the story began. For example: Miller used flashback in Death of Salesman.10. Black Humor: the tragic absurdity of the human condition is oftenseen in their novels. As a cosmic joke. The response they intend to provoke in the reader to the blackness of modern life is a laughter that is, laughing in face of a tragic situation. The representative work of black humor is Heller’s Catch-22.11. Harlem Renaissance: a period of remarkable creativity in literatureand other arts by African Americans, from the end of WWI in 1917 through the 1920s. The representative is Hughes.12. Irving: 1.He is was the first American writer of imagination literature to gain international fame. 2 The short story as a genrein American literature probably began with Irving’s The Sketch Book.3.The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American romanticism.13. Hawthorne: feature: 1, symbol2, deep analysis of psychology3, gloomy and depressive tone4. evil sides of the world5, super natural element14. The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne): 1, Character: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdable, Roger Chillingworth. 2. Theme: criticizing Puritan suppression/ sin and atonement.15. Emily Dickinson: feature: 1.short and concise2. approximate rhyme and meter3. ungrammatical elements 4. original images5. many poems about death15. Moby Dick (Melville): character: Ishmael (survivor), Ahab (captain) 12.Allan Poe: 1. the poetic principle ①the poe m, he says, should be short, at one sitting ②Its chief aim is beauty ③melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetic tone. ④the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.⑤stress rhyme, defines true poetry as “t he rhythmical creation of beauty. 2. Work: to Helen, The Fall of the House of Usher.13. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain): 1. His usually use French, mostly Anglo-Saxon on origin, and his words are short, concrete and direct in effect.2. Most of his sentence structures are simple or compound.3. he use”took”repeatedly.4. There have ungrammatical elements in his work. One of his significant contributions to American literature lies in fact that he made colloquial speech an accepted.14. Frost: the features of his work1.he usually use traditional form 2. His language is plain3. He likes to use symbolism4. Most his poems describe nature of famers’ life.15. Fitzgerald: the Great Gatsby: 1.characters: Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanam, Tom Buchanam, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, Jay Gatsby, 2. Theme: criticizing materialized society, disillusionment of American dream.16. Miller: Death of Salesman: 1.Charaters: Willy &Linda&Biff&Happy Loman, Chalery and Bernard. 2. Theme: a criticizing metalized society/ understanding between parents and children.17. Salinger: The Catch in the①. Setting: 1950s New York2. Plot: Holden Caulfied 1st day: expelled. 2nd day: Sally (shallow). Carl (hypocritical).2nd night: Sneak home—Phoebe, Mr.Antolini. 3rd day: go to the west.②.character: Holden---rebellious, innocent, sincerely③. Style: This novel use colloquial and vulgar worlds. There also has exaggeration in this work ④: theme: growing pain.18: Cath-22: Yossarian, Milo, And Snowden.19. Lolita :( Nabokov): character: Humbert Humbert, Dolores Haze (Lolita), Clare Qulity .。
美国文学史名词解释
美国文学史名词解释1. American Puritanism: is a code of values, a philosophy of life, and a point of view；in essence, it is an idealism；it is the basis of American dream, but it is also concerned with business and profit.3. Realism: is a reaction against "the lie" of Romanticism and sentimentalism in the later half of the 19th century. It expressed the concern for the world of experience, of the commonplace, and for the familiar and the low.5. Local colorism: a trend first made its presence felt in the late 1860s and early seventies. Local colorists concerned themselves with presenting and interpreting the local character of their regions. They formed an important part of the realistic movement.6. American Naturalism: is a branch and a furtherance of American Realism in the late 19th century. Naturalists tore the mask of gentility to pieces and wrote about the helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world and his lack of dignity in face of the crushing forces of environment and heredity（遗传）；they reported truthfully and objectively, with a passion for scientific accuracy and an overwhelming accumulation of factual detail；Naturalists reveal a bitter and wretched world where human beings battle hopelessly against overwhelming odds in a cold, harsh and at best apathetic environment.7.Imagism: Imagist movement came as a reaction to the traditional English poetics to meet the need of expressing the temper of the age, the sense of fragmentization and dislocation.（three phases: ① It first began in London in the years 1908-1909. T. E. Hulme founded a Poets' Club which met in Soho everyWednesday to dine and discuss poetry. ②The second phase of the movement was the period of some three years 1912-1914 when Ezra Pound took over and championed the new poetry. ③ The third phase of Imagism（1914-1917）was when Amy Lowell took over from Pound and pushed the movement into the period of "Amygism," as Pound called it.）8. The Lost Generation: is a term coined by Gertrude Stein. It is a label for the group of American young expatriate writers born at turn 20th century and reached maturing after World War I. These writers felt profound cut off from tradition, disillusioned and alienated with society and cynical idealism. To them, life is meaningless and futile. F. Scott. Fitigerald, Ernst Hemingway, T. S. Eliot are the most important representatives.9. Iceberg Theory: If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those as strongly as though the writer had said. The dignity of the movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it begin above water.10. The Y oknapatawpha county series：It have overall pattern in which the fate of a ruined homeland always focus on the collision of Faulkner’s intelligence sensitive and isealistic protagonist with the society of the 20th century. Most of the major themes are the confrontation.11. The Hemingway hero: the typical Hemingway hero is one who wounded but strong, more sensitive and wounded because stronger, enjoys the pleasures of life (sex, alcohol, sport) in face of ruin and death and maintains, through some notion of a code, an ideal of himself.。
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American Realism
The American literature from 1865 to 1918 is called the American Realism.
From American Civil War to the World War I, America witnessed a great development in politics, economy, culture, religion etc. Although everything seemed prosperous, the lower class’ life was miserable due to the capitalists’ exploitation. The American Dream was vanished. Under this circumstance, American Realism appeared. American Realism is largely opposite to the Romanticism. American Realists abandoned subjectivity, idealism and romanticism, and they tried to explain life with objective and realistic attitude. Henry James, Mark Twain were important representative writers.
American Naturalism
The main American literature school at the end of 19th century is the American Naturalism. It was the literature outcome of the rural America gradually transited to industrial America. During this transition, the Americans were mentally shocked and puzzled. The main genres are social reform literature, rural literature, local literature and realistic literature.
In the further explanation of Realism, American Naturalists were aware of the correctness of Darwinism. As one of the values and ethos of the US, American Naturalism is an important school in American literature history. Theodore Dreiser and Jack London were the representatives.
American Modernism
The American Modernism lasted from the World War I to Depression to the World War II. The American Modernism was influenced by Freud’s psychoanalysis, Henry James’ stream of consciousness and other ideologies. The American Modernists adopted new techniques, forms and styles for literature creation. They focused on the characters’ inner thoughts. American Modernism Movement was called the second American Renaissance. Ezra Pound, Earnest Hemingway and William Faulkner were the representatives.
American Local Colorism
For American local cultures vary in different places, America appeared many novels with local color in the latter half of the 19th century. This period was the early phase of American Realism. In a novel, the settings, dialects, customs, dress, ways of thinking and feeling are distinctive to a particular region of America. Most of the novels are optimistic and positive. The most representative writer is Mark Twain, who mainly wrote about areas along the Mississippi.
Imagism
Imagism is a literature movement by English and American poets during 1910s. It is a branch of Symbolism. Imagism writers should use distinct, precise and vivid images to portrait things, and devote emotions to every line of poetry. The representative poet is Ezra Pound.
Jazz Age
Jazz Age refers to the time between World War I and Depression. During this period, the traditional Puritan ethics was faded, while the Epicureanism prevailed. F. Scott Fitzgerald named this time the Jazz Age, so he was called the Chronicler and Poet Laureate of Jazz Age.
Lost Generation
Lost Generation refers to a postwar Generation in the United States; some of the writers went to the European battlefield with the ideal of democracy, but witnessed unprecedented holocaust and suffering. Deceived by the slogan: Democracy, Glory and sacrifice, they were sorely disappointed at the society. This generation has experienced confusion and depression, setbacks and pain in their life. This is a kind of lonely lost; this is a "lost generation" in the confusion.
The Hemingway Heroes
This refers to the main characters in Earnest Hemingway’s works. These characters mostly are boxer, hunter, fisherman, etc. They are courageous, strong and indomitable. When facing violence, bad fate and death, they are brave, calm and grace. Like Santiago said, a man can be destroyed but not defeated. The Hemingway Heroes are tough men.
Iceberg Principle
Earnest Hemingway first mentioned Iceberg Principle in his book Death in the Afternoon--The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.
The Iceberg principle means use simple words to describe vivid image, and hide writer’s feeling, so that the readers can dig deep as they read and think deep. The four important elements of Iceberg principle are simple words, vivid images, rich emotions and profound ideas, and these became Hemingway’s writing style.。