美国文学主要时期要点复习
【美国】Chapter 1 The Romantic Period浪漫主义时期
1. From the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of he Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. It is also called“the Ameri can Renaissance”.浪漫主义时期开始于十八世纪末，到内战爆发为止，华盛顿.欧文出版的《见闻札记》标志着美国文学的开端，惠特曼的《草叶集》是浪漫主义时期文学的压卷之作。（也可称为“美国的文艺复兴”）
2. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature.对逃离社会，回归自然的渴求成为美国文学的一个永恒的话题。
3. The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values.美国清教作为一种文化遗产，对美国人的道德观念产生了很大的影响。
4. Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of original sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers.在霍桑，麦尔维尔以及其他一些小作家的作品中，加尔文主义的原罪思想和罪恶的神秘性都得到了充分的表现。
5. The most clearly defined Romantic literary movement in this period is New England Transcendentalism.美国浪漫主义文学运动足能标炳的是新英格兰的超验主义运动。
6. This Transcendentalist group includes two of the most significant writers America has produced so far, Emerson and his young friend, Henry David Thoreau, whose writing has a strong impact on American literature.超验主义文学的主要代表是爱默生和梭罗，他们的作品对美国文学产生了很大的影响。
7. Basically, 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.”超验主义承认“人类具有本能了解或认识真理的能力，能够超过感官获取知识”。
8. Emerson once proclaimed in a speech, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of you own mind.” Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-reliant.爱默生曾说过：“只有人心灵的尊严才是最神圣的”。超验主义还认为自然是高尚的，个人是神圣的，因此人必须自助。
9. It ranges from the comic fables of Washington Irving to the Gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe, from the frontier adventures of James Fenimore Cooper to the narrative quests of Herman Melville, from the psychological romances of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the social realism of
Rebecca Harding.美国浪漫主义时期的小说富有独创性，多样性，与华盛顿.欧文的喜剧性寓言体小说，有爱伦.坡的哥特式惊险故事，有库柏的边疆历险故事，有麦尔维尔的长篇叙事，有霍桑的心理罗曼史，有丽贝卡·哈丁的社会现实小说。
Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis (1831-1910; born Rebecca Blaine Harding) was an American author and journalist. She is deemed a pioneer of literary Realism in American literature. Her most important literary work is the novella Life in the Iron Mills published in the April 1861 edition of the Atlantic Monthly. Throughout her lifetime, Harding Davis sought to effect social change for blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plight of these marginalised groups in the 19th century.
10. To Hawthorne and Melville, everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensable for the improvement of human nature.霍桑和麦尔维尔认为人们在内心上都是罪人，因此需要道德力量来改善人性。
(I). Washington Irving华盛顿.欧文
11. He is regarded as Father of the American short stories.他是美国浪漫主义文学代表作家之一,美国短篇小说之父。
12. With the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Irving won a measure of international fame on both sides of the Atlantic.1819年至1820年，欧文出版了《见闻札记》，该书为欧文获得了欧美两大洲的文学荣誉。
13. A History of New York---He parodies or imitates Homer.《纽约史》在多方面模仿了荷马。
14. Like the two famous personae he created, Diedrich Knickerbocker and Geoffrey Crayon, Irving remained a conservative and always exalted a disappearing past.他所创造的两个人物Diedrich Knickerbocker和Geoffrey Crayon和他一样，都停留在对过去的事情的津津乐道上。
15. We hear rather than read, for there is musicality in almost every line of his prose. We seldom learn a moral lesson because he wants us amused and relaxed.他的作品行文优美流畅，犹如音乐。他的作品寓教于乐，给人以轻松安逸之感，如入梦境。
16. He is worth the honor of being “the American Goldsmith” for his literary craftsmanship.在创作艺术方面他堪称是“美国的哥德斯密”。
17. “Rip van winkle”—Here, Irving’s pervasive theme of nostalgia for the unrecoverable past is at once made unforgettable. “瑞普.凡.温克尔”---欧文在此表达了对一去不复返的东西十分依恋，笔触生动，令人难忘。
(II). Ralph Waldo Emerson拉尔夫.华尔多.爱默生
18. New England Transcendentalism, which is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the Romantic period in the history of American literature.
在美国浪漫主义时期的文学中，新英格兰的超验主义是不可或缺的。
19. Emersonian Transcendentalism is actually a philosophical school which absorbed some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism, with its focus on the intuitive knowledge of human beings to grasp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man.爱默生的超验主义实际上是在吸收美国清教思想，强调人类具有本能的掌握宇宙绝对真理和人的神性而形成的一个哲学流派。
20. In his essays, Emerson put forward his philosophy of the over-soul, the importance of the individual, and Nature.爱默生的文章提出了超灵哲学,个人及自然的重要性。
21. Emerson id affirmative about man’s intuitive knowledge, with which
a man can trust himself to decide what is right and to act accordingly.爱默生相信人的直觉知识。人类可以利用自己的直觉决定是非并采取相应得行动。
22. The ideal individual should be a self-reliant man.一个理想的个人应是自助自立的人。
23. “Go back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence and you’ll become spiritually whole again.”“回到自然中去吧，沉浸在自然的影响中吧，你将重新获得精神的完整。”
24. In 1845, a great transcendentalist work Walden was born.1845年，写成了超验主义的伟大作品《瓦尔登》。
25. In general, Emerson was showing to the world a distinctive American style, as he called for in The American Scholar in 1837.总的说来，爱默生的散文表现出明显的美国风格，堪称“美国学者”。
26. “Nature”-the essay discusses the love of nature, the uses of nature, the idealist philosophy in relation to nature evidences of spirit in the material universe, and the potential expansion of human souls and works that will result from a general return to direct, immediate contact with the natural environment. In the essay Emerson clearly expresses the main principles of his Transcendentalist pursuit and his love for nature.“论自然”----全书讨论对自然的爱，对自然的利用，对自然的理性主义哲学，物质宇宙里的精神证据，人类灵魂的潜在扩展。在文章中爱默生表达了超验主义的思想原则及对自然的热爱。
(III) Nathaniel Hawthorne纳萨尼尔·霍桑
27. The Scarlet Letter(1850), always regarded as the best of his works, tells a simple but very moving story in which four people living in a Puritan community.《红字》是霍桑的代表作，讲述的是四个生活在清教社区以不同方式犯有通奸罪的故事，情节简单，但内容感人。
28. According to Hawthorne, “There is evil in every human heart, which
may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity.”霍桑认为，人人内心都有邪恶，这种邪恶也许一生都潜藏在内心，但在一定的条件下就表现出来。
29. “The Birthmark”drives home symbolically Hawthorne’s point that evil is man’s birthmark, something he is b orn with.在《胎记》中他一针见血地指出邪恶就是人类与生俱来的胎记。
30. One source of evil that Hawthorne is concerned most is overreaching intellect, which usually refers to someone who is too proud, too sure of himself.霍桑最关注的一个罪恶之源是一个人过于自尊自负。
31. Calvinistic belief that human beings are basically depraved and corrupted, hence, they should obey God to atone for their sins.加尔文思想认为人类本质是邪恶的，必然向上帝赎罪。
32. Hawthorne is also a great allegorist and almost every story can be read allegorically, as is the case in “Young Goodman Brown.”霍桑擅长隐喻，像《小伙子布朗》一样，他几乎每个故事都可以当作隐喻来读。
33. The scarlet letter A is ambiguous. And the ambiguity is one of the Salient characteristics of Hawthorne’s art.人们对A字究竟是什么意思搞不清楚。这种多重含义和象征意义的模糊性正是霍桑小说的艺术所在。
(IV) Walt Whitman华尔特.惠特曼
34. His aim was nothing less than to express some new poetical feelings and to initiate a poetic tradition in which difference should be recognized.他的目的就是要表达新的诗情，开创一种新的诗歌传统，抒发独特的自我。
35. T he poet’s essential purpose was to identify his ego with the world, and more specifically with the democratic “en-m asse”of America, which is established in the opening lines of “Song of Myself.”诗人的主要目的就是在世界上确定自我，更具体的说就是要在整个美国确定自我。《自我之歌》的开头几行就表现了这种思想。
36. As Whitman saw it, poetry could play a vital part in the process of creating a new nation.惠特曼认为，诗歌可以塑造一个新的民族精神。
37. In celebrating the self, Whitman gives emphasis to the physical dimension of the self and openly and joyously celebrates sexuality.在歌颂自我的同时，惠特曼强调了我的物理存在和性爱。
38. Whitman’s poetic style is marked, first of all, by the use of the poetic “I”.他的诗总用第一人称。
39. “Song of Myself”- In this poem Whitman sets forth two principal belief: the theory of universality, and the belief in the singularity and equality of all beings in value.《自我之歌》---诗中表明了两大信仰：一
是普遍性信仰，二是人类个别性和平等性。
(V) Herman Melville赫尔曼.麦尔维尔
40. Moby-Dick was published in 1851.《白鲸》在1851年出版。
41. Of all these sea adventure stories, Moby Dick proves to be the best.这些有关航海历险的书中，《白鲸》最好，达到了麦尔维尔创作的高峰。
42. Moby Dick is regarded as the first American prose epic.《白鲸》是美国第一部散文体史诗。
43. It turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology.《白鲸》不仅仅是海上生活的生动描述，而且也象征追求宇宙真理的心路历程。
44. The Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes
a search for truth. The white whale, Moby Dick, symbolizes nature for Melville, for it is complex, unfathomable, malignant, and beautiful as well. For the character Ahab, however, the whale represents only evil.这条船佩阔德成了人类社会和追求真理历程的缩影。白鲸则象征着自然，复杂，深不可测，也很美丽。但对埃哈布，白鲸则代表着邪恶。白鲸像一堵墙，隐藏着未知和神秘。
45. Melville’s great gifts of language, invention, psychological analysis, speculative agility, and narrative power are fused to make Moby Dick a world classic.麦尔维尔的语言才华，创造才华，心理分析能力，观察的敏捷及生动地描述都使该书成为世界名著。
【美国】Chapter 2 The Realistic Period现实主义时期
1. This new attitude was characterized by a great interest in the realities of life.由于对现实生活产生了浓厚的兴趣，产生了新的创作灵感。
2. The three dominant figures of the period are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James.这一时期的三个代表作家是豪威尔斯，亨利.詹姆斯和马克.吐温。
3. In short, they set the example and charted the future course for the subjects, themes, techniques and styles of fiction we still call modern.总之，他们为后来的现实文学在题材，技巧和风格上都树立了典范。
4. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class and the way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories.豪威尔斯讨论上升的中产阶级及其生活方式，而马克.吐温则喜欢把他自己家乡的人放在故事的最前沿。
5. In a word, naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less serious and less sy mpathetic but
美国文学考试资料整理
一．The Literature of Colonial America(Puritanism) 1.The first English colony: Jamestown in Virginia in 1607 2.The first American writer: John Smith 3.Anne Bradstreet: first American woman poet; a Puritan poet; once called “Tenth Muse”; 二．Literature of Reason and Revolution War of Independence (1775-1783);The French and Indian War / the Seven Y ears’War(1756-1763) 1..Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography; Richard’s Almanac Maxims from Poor Richard’s Almanac (proverbs that give practical wisdom) 2..Thomas Paine (1737-1809): Common Sense: a strong push for the Revolution W ar; four parts (British enslavement of the colonies; praising democratic election; America’s economic and military potential to protect the rights of people) 3..Philip Freneau (1752-1832) The first American-born poet;“Poet of the American Revolution”, “Father of American Poetry”, the most significant poet of 18th century America W orks:The Wild Honey Suckle《野忍冬花》on mortality, The Indian Burying Ground 《印第安人殡葬地》on the imagined afterlife, The British Prison Ship《英国囚船》about his imprisoned experience. 三．Romanticism The American Romantic period is considered one of the most important periods, the first literary Renaissance, in the history of American literature. It stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil W ar. It started with the publication of W ashington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. 1.Washington Irving (1783-1859) Literary status: the first American to earn an international reputation; Father of the American short stories The Sketch Book: winning him international popularity，the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature. Major works: A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the name of “Diedrich Knickerbocker
美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial America I．Historical Introduction The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.) II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: 1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration 2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American Writer The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians. Captain John Smith is the first American writer. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608) A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612) General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England Literature William Bradford and John Winthrop John Cotton and Roger Williams Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor V．Puritan Thoughts 1. The origin of puritan In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of
文学概论考试资料总结
文学观念与文学本体 1、美国学者艾布拉姆斯在哪部着作中提出了文学四要素，分别是什么 《镜与灯——浪漫主义文论及批评传统》 艾布拉姆斯的文学研究座标：强调文学研究要从世界、作者（艺术家）、作品、读者（欣赏者）四个角度进行，这就是着名的“四要素”说。 2、模仿说与表现说 模仿说：【从文学与生活的关系上界定文学的特点，西方有古老的“模仿说”。模仿最初是指祭祀活动中祭司表演的歌舞，后来从祭典术语转化为哲学术语，表现对外在世界的再造或复制，“模仿说”就是在这个意义上解释什么是文学的。】 模仿说的文学观在亚里士多德的《诗学》中得到了详尽、系统的阐述。亚里士多德认为，模仿是艺术的本质，一切艺术都是模仿的产物，并强调不同的艺术在模仿的对象、媒介和方式上具有各自的特点。在这个基础上，他进一步提出，史诗与戏剧的模仿对象是人，是人的“行动和生活”。显然，与前人偏重于模仿自然的说法相比，他更关注文学与社会生活的联系。 表现说：“表现说”的文学观认为，“一件艺术品本质上是内心世界的外化，是激情支配下的创造，是诗人的感受、思想、情感的共同体现。因此，一首诗的本原和主题，是诗人心灵的属性和活动，如果以外部世界的某些方面作为诗的本质和主题，那必须先经诗人心灵的情感和心理活动由事实而变为诗”。 表现说认为文学是对主体心灵与情感的表现和抒发。中国古代文论倾向于表现说。中国古代的“诗言志”和“诗缘情”的理论与上述的观点非常接近，特别是“诗缘情”的认识，不仅注意到主体在文学创造中的作用，而且把情感视为文学表现的主要对象，这大大推进了中国古代文论对文学特质的认识。（1）“言志说”。《庄子天下篇》最早提出：“诗以道志”。（2）“缘情说”。陆机《文赋》：“诗缘情而绮靡”。 由于叙事文学长期居于主导地位，表现说的文学观在西方产生的比较晚，直到18世纪末随着浪漫主义运动的兴起，才对文学实践发生广泛的影响。表现论是近现代西方占主导地位的文学观。（1）情感表现说。华兹华斯：诗是强烈情感的自然流露。（2）本能表现说。弗洛伊德：“艺术即做梦”，是作家愿望的实现。合理性与不足：本能表现说重视创作主体的能动性、自主性，和丰富的心理蕴涵，对文学的性质和规律有不少新的发现。但片面强调艺术的自我表现性，忽视了文学与广阔社会生活的密切关联。
外国文学史之浪漫主义文学概述
外国文学史之浪漫主义文学概述 一、浪漫主义思潮的产生： 1.浪漫主义思潮是法国大革命和欧洲民主、民族解放运动高涨时期的产物，浪漫主义的主导特征是表现自我、抒发主观情感。 2.浪漫主义与当时欧洲一些国家的政治时局有着一定关系。19世纪前30年，法国政治领域出现了资产阶级自由主义思潮，贡斯当和斯达尔夫人是其中的代表人物。自由主义思潮中强调的个人独立、极端自由成为19世纪浪漫主义文学的核心。 3.德国古典哲学为浪漫主义文学奠定了哲学基础。 4.浪漫主义：浪漫主义作为文学创作的方法和艺术风格，从艺术产生之日起就已存在，早在古希腊时期的《荷马史诗》中就开始运用。至于中世纪的骑士传奇则与浪漫主义有直接渊源。近代的浪漫主义概念源于中世纪的“罗曼司”，指中世纪的骑士生活、骑士与贵妇的爱情故事和风流韵事等。文艺复兴时期，塔索、斯宾塞的叙事诗继承了罗曼司的不少特点。到18世纪下半叶，浪漫主义一词开始在英德法流行开来，在文学传统上浪漫主义与18世纪启蒙文学，特别是伤感主义文学有紧密联系。德国的“狂飙突进”运动被认为是浪漫主义的前奏，而英国兴起的伤感主义则被称为前浪漫主义。 二、浪漫主义文学基本特征： 作为一个具有共同社会历史背景和哲学理论基础的文艺流派，欧洲浪漫主义文学具有以下一些共同特征： 1、首先，强调主观感情，注重抒发自我。这是浪漫主义文学最突出、最本质的特征。浪漫主义作家都认为古典主义所宣扬的理性对文艺创作是一种束缚，于是强调创作自由，把情感和想象提到首要的地位，华兹华斯在《抒情歌谣集·序》中声称“诗歌是强烈情感的自然流露”。因此，浪漫主义文学的主要成就是诗歌。 2、其次，推崇想象力。浪漫主义作家在创作中抒发自我情感时，其笔下大胆的想象也着实令人折服。比如雪莱在致友人葛德文的信中对自己的才能评价道：“我一向认为我自己的才能就是在于这一点：在于同情心，在于跟感情和深思相互联系的那种想象力。”所以在浪漫主义文学中，作家可以在作品中驰骋想象、尽情发挥，天上人间无所不写。 3、再次，热爱大自然、赞美大自然。由于资本主义物质文明和城市工业化的丑恶，浪漫主义作家响应卢梭“回到自然”和18世纪伤感主义文学“返回自然”的口号，着力描写自然景物，描绘山岭、湖泊、海洋和森林，抒发作家对大自然的感受。在他们笔下，充满了对城市文明的诅咒，往往同城市生活的丑恶、庸俗卑下只是为了衬托大自然的美和崇高，借以寄托对自由的理想。例如湖畔派的诗歌、普希金的《茨冈》、《致大海》等。现在，浪漫主义作家创作的歌颂、赞美大自然的作品已成为生态批评笔下的热门话题。 4、第四，重视中世纪的民间文学，提出“回到中世纪”的口号。“浪漫主义”一词本来就是由中世纪的浪漫传奇演变来的，浪漫主义文学也是从搜集中世纪民间文学开始的。由于中世纪民间文学不受古典主义的清规戒律的束缚，想象丰富、情感真挚、表达方式自由、语言通俗，这些特点正符合浪漫主义的理想追求。此外，中世纪民间文学充分体现了各国民族文化传统，为广大群众所喜闻乐见，有助于唤起民族的觉醒。因此，由于浪漫派作家的倡导，民间文学对革新当时文学内容和形式都起了重大作用。 5、第五，夸张的手法、强烈地对比、离奇的情节。这是浪漫主义文学在艺术形式和表现手法上最鲜明的特点。雨果就是对比艺术的倡导者和大师，他在《克伦威尔序言》中提出了著名的美丑对照原则：“丑就在美的旁边，畸形靠近着优美，崇高的背后藏着粗俗，善与恶并存，黑暗与光明相共。”这样，强烈地对比，离奇的情节，鲜明夸张的人物形象，神话色彩以及奇特的异域情调和平凡的日常景象的交织、对照，就构成了浪漫主义文学艺术上的鲜明特征。
美国文学期末考试复习必备(精)
美国文学期末考试复习必备（精） 1. What’s Puritanism? A religious and political movement which appeals to the right of the individual to political & religious independence. It includes three parts: a code of values, a point of view & a philosophy of life 2. What are the basic Puritan beliefs? 1). Total Depravity 2). Unconditional Election 3). Limited Atonement 4). Irresistible Grace 5). Perseverance of the "saints" 3. What are American Puritan values? Sobriety thrift, Self-reliance Diligence, Struggle, simple tastes 4. What are the features of American literature in the Colonial Period? A. Humble origins: diaries, journals, histories, letters. Its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period. B. in content: serving either god or colonial expansion or both C. in form: imitating English literary traditions. D. in style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery and simplicity of diction. E. Symbolism formed in this period ------To the pious Puritan, the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of God. F. Simple, fresh and direct style
美国文学选读期末考试重点
1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765） American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th) 北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱) Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical） 2、The Enlightenment and Revolution Period Benjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源 3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war） American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. 早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature
欧洲浪漫主义文学的形成和基本特点
欧洲浪漫主义文学的形成和基本特点 19世纪浪漫主义文学产生于18世纪末，19世纪上半叶为繁荣时期。这一阶段，欧洲由封建社会向资本主义社会急剧过渡，上升的资产阶级与没落的封建贵族进行了激烈的、反复的搏斗。1789年爆发的法国大革命不仅彻底摧毁了法国封建制度的根基，而且震撼了几百年来由封建贵族盘踞的整个欧洲。1815年，俄、普、奥等国组成了“神圣同盟”，联合波旁王朝的残余势力，扑向革命的法国。拿破仑与封建列强之间爆发的战争，既维护资产阶级取得的成果，传播了资产阶级思想和法国大革命的精神，同时又演变为掠夺性的战争。由“神圣同盟”扶上复辟宝座的波旁王室，只维持了十五六年，在1830年7月26至28日的三天中，就被人民群众摧枯拉朽地推翻了。随着资本主义的上升发展，英法等国贫富两极分化的现象日益严重。19世纪40年代，各国无产阶级争取生存权利的斗争如火如荼；各民族争取自由独立的斗争日益高涨，终于发展成席卷欧洲的1848年革命运动。自此以后，欧洲其他各国先后向资本主义过渡。19世纪欧美的浪漫主义文学就是在这样的背景下产生的。 首先，它是法国大革命催生的社会思潮的产物。法国大革命不仅产生了巨大的政治影响，而且带来了激烈的思想文化斗争。新兴的资产阶级思想和陈旧的封建意识在文化、思想领域产生猛烈碰撞，这种碰撞在作家头脑中敏感地表现出来，有各种各样的反映。其一，法国大革命标榜的“自由、平等、博爱”不胫而走，迅速传遍欧洲，深入到人们的意识之中。自由、平等、博爱的思想推动了个性解放和情感抒发的要求。在法国，执政府时期出现了自由主义思潮，贡斯当和斯塔尔夫人就是其中的代表人物。这一思潮主张保证个人自由和独立性，要求国家保证个人的人身、信仰、言论、职业、经营、选举、集会等自由，它反映了资产阶级关系确立后“自由竞争不能忍受任何限制，不能忍受任何国家监督”的现实。对个人独立和极端自由的强调，成为浪漫主义文学的核心思想。浪漫派作家往往从个性受压抑，个人才能得不到发展，个人愿望和抱负得不到实现等角度，表现人物与社会的矛盾，表现人物在这种矛盾状态中的感情、行动和悲剧。浪漫主义文学描写的以个人的失望与忧郁为内容的“世纪病”，以个人与社会的徒劳对立为表现形式的“个人反抗”，都是由此而产生的。其二，《人权宣言》所宣布的自由竞争的法则，形成了一种社会心理：资产者、小资产者都企图通过巧取豪夺，有朝一日达到权力和财富的顶峰；在革命中破产落魄的贵族，也力图利用新的社会法则来改善自己的地位。人们对飞来好运的期望变得更加炽热，耽于好梦和幻想成为普遍的社会心理状态。其三，对贵族来说，大革命使他们失去了天堂，于是，悲观颓唐、消沉阴郁的情绪，人生虚幻、命运多舛的感慨以及对神秘彼岸的热烈向往，便纷然杂呈；对资产者、小资产者来说，启蒙思想家所描绘的理想社会的图景在资本主义现实面前破灭，不免使他们失望、苦闷和彷徨。这种社会现象和心理为浪漫主义的盛行提供了肥沃的土壤。其四，法国大革命对一些作家直接产生了影响。在德国的图宾根，为了祝贺攻克巴士底狱，在大学里竖立了一尊自由神胸像，歌德、谢林和荷尔德林在城郊植下了自由树，《耶拿文学报》刊载了有关大革命的政治著作，《柏林月刊》征集对人权的争论文章。 其次，德国古典哲学和空想社会主义为欧美浪漫主义文学提供了思想理论基础。康德的形而上学区分了本体和现象，认为自在之物是不可认识的，人是自然法则的制订者，人的精神具有天生的几种能力：对时空的直觉，对原因、现实、实体和整体的理解。他认为世界本身不像反映在人的头脑里那样。人在建造世界时也形成了认识，由此证明了世界的理想性质和神秘性质。浪漫主义的非理性在康德那里找到了合理的解释。在道德方面，康德认为只有自由人的选择才能决定一切，任何外在的或更高的法则都不能主宰人，人的尊严在于获得理性自由。康德的继承者费希特认为现实只是人的一种创造，反对自在之物能限制人的悟性。
美国文学期末考试重点
名词解释： 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. Beat generation: The term was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to refer to a group of disillusioned writers following World War Two. Later, this literary and cultural movement continued into the 1960s. The Beat Generation must not be confused with the Lost Generation of writers. Spokesmen and representatives of the Beat Generation were Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and others. They revolted against an America that was materialistic, belligerent and frustrating. Social, intellectual and sexual freedom was advocated. Traditional culture and normal social behavior were attacked and violated. Many of them were drug addicts wearing long hair and dirty clothes. They were fond of slangs and jazz. Masterpieces created by writers of this g roup include Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, which were regarded as pocket Bibles of that generation. Other prominent Beats include William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure, and Neal Cassady. The Beat Generation, had greatly influenced the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the adolescents and adults in other countries. In England, the “angry young men” made an echo and imitated the American “beatnik.” 二、1. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature: it is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism. The American Scholar:it has been regarded as “America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence”. 2. Henry David Thoreau: Walden 3. Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter: 主题：Hawthorne focuses his attention on the moral, emotional, and psychological effects or consequences of the sin on the people in general and those main characters in particular, so as to show us the tension between society and individuals. To Hawthorne, everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensable for the improvement of human nature. 4. Herman Melville: Moby Dick A. 作品分析： （1）Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived. It is at once godless and purposeless. The loss of faith and the sense of futility and meaningless which characterize modern life of the West were expresse d in Melville’s work so well that the twentieth century has found it both fascinating and great. (2) One of the major themes of this novel is alienation, which exists in the life of Melville on different levels, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Melville also criticizes New England Transcendentalism of its emphasis on individualism and Oversoul. Another theme of this novel is “rejection and quest.” (3) The novel is highly symbolic. The voyage itself is a metaphor for “search and discovery, the search for the ultimate truth of experience.” Moby Dick is the most conspicuous symbol in the book and it is capable of many interpretations. It is a symbol of evil to some, one of goodness to others, and both to still others. Its whiteness is a paradoxical color, signifying as it does death and corruption as well as purity, innocence, and youth. It represents the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from pursuing. (4) Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple views of his narratives. He tends to write periodic sentences. His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic power have been profusely commented upon and praised. B. what does the white whale in Moby Dick symbolize? Why do you think so? For Captain Ahab, the white whale represents evil. After the loss of his leg in his encounter with the white whale, Ahab begins to hate Moby Dick and tries his best to kill the whale. It seems that he embodies all of the evil he once consigned to the white whale. For other members on the whaling ship, the white whale symbolizes the unknown, mysterious natural force of the universe. For the readers, the white whale is capable of many interpretations, for it is “paradoxically benign an d malevolent, nourishing and destructive,” “massive, brutal, monolithic, but at the same time protean, erotically beautiful, infinitely variable.” C. Major themes: obsession, religion, and idealism versus pragmatism, revenge, racism, sanity, hierarchical relationships, and politics. D. the Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truth. Moby Dick is a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe, and the voyage of the mind will forever remain a search, not a discovery, of the truth. The whole story turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology. 5. Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass.It has been praised as “Democ ratic Bible”, and as American Epic. 主题：(1)he shows concern for the whole hard-working people and the burgeoning life of cities. (2) realization of the individual value. (3) pursuit of love and happiness. (4) Before and during the Civil War, Whitman expressed much mourning for the sufferings of the young lives in the battlefield and showed a determination to carry on the fighting dauntlessly until the final victory. 写作风格：(1) Whitman wrote “free verse”, that is, poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. (2) There is a strong sense of the poems being rhythmical. Parallelism and phonetic recurrence at the beginning of the lines contribute to the musicality of his poems. (3) Most of the pictures he painted with words are honest, undistorted images of different aspects of America of the day. (4) Whitman’s language is relatively simple and even rather crude. Another characteristic in Whitman’s language is his strong tendency to use oral English. Whitman’s vocabulary is amazing. He would use powerful, colorful, as well as rarely-used words. Leaves of Grass的分析： (1). Grass, the most common thing with the greatest vitality, is an image of the poet himself, a symbol of the then rising American nation and an embodiment of his ideals about democracy and freedom. (2). In this giant work, openness, freedom, and above all, individualism are all that concerned him. (3). In this book he also praises nature, democracy, labor and creation, and sings of man’s dignity and equality, and of th e brightest future of mankind. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-masse” and self as well. 6. Emily Dickinson: 诗歌的主要内容：love, nature, death and immortality. 7. Edgar Allen Poe: 短篇小说家和诗人。 Poe is the father of psychoanalytic criticism and the father of detective story. 主题：death of one’s beloved lover of great intelligence and beauty. He also writes about horror (Gothic) stories, murder, and insanity. 8. Henry James: The turn of the screw The founder of psychological realism. He was the first American writer to conceive his artistic work in international themes. 9. Mark Twain:The adventures of Huckleberry Finn Hemingway described it as the book from which “all modern American literature comes”. The style of this book is quite simple. The book is written in the colloquial style. Though a local book, it touches upon the human situation in a general, indeed universal way: humanitarianism ultimately triumphs. It tells a story about the United States before the Civil War, around 1850, when the great Mississippi Valley was still being settled. Here lies an America, wit its great national faults, full of violence and even cruelty, yet still retaining the virtues of “some simplicity, some innocence, some peace.” 10. Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser: 自然主义的代表人物。 11. F. Scott Fitzgerald:The Great Gatsby 迷惘一代的代表人物 12. Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms; For Whom the Bell Tolls; The Old Man and the Sea The title of For Whom the Bell Tolls comes from John Donne’s Meditation. 13. William Faulkner: stream of consciousness的写作手法 14. Ezra Pound: 意象派代表人物。 意象派基本主张： (1) Direct treatment of the “thing”, whether subjective or objective. (2) To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation (3) As regarding rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome. 15. Robert Frost: natural poet. 16. Eugene Glastone O’Neill: Desire Under the Elms Long Days Journey into Night: Mark Twain H. L. Mencken considered "the true father of our national literatu re” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884) and Life on the Mississippi(1883) Twain shaped the world's view of American and made a more extensive combination of American folk humor and serious literature than previous writers had ever done. Mark Twain’s sty le 1) Twain is also known as a local colorist, who preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions 2) Another fact that made Twain unique is his magic power with language, his use of vernacular. His words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect, and his sentence structures are simple, even ungrammatical, which is typical of the spoken language 3) Mark Twain's humor is remarkable, too. Most of his works tend to be funny, containing some practical jokes, comic details, witty remarks. 4) Paid more attention to the "life" of the Americans, Concerned with the life of a small, well-defined region and the lower-class people 5) Nostalgic in a vanishing way of life and recorders of a present that faded before their eyes Adventures of Huckleberry Fin The character analysis and social meaning of Huck Finn Huck is a typical American boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience”. He appears to be vulgar in language and in manner, but he is honest and decent in es sence. His remarkable raft’s journey down on the Mississippi river can be regarded as his process of education and his way to grow up. Huck is the son of nature and a symbol for freedom and earthly pragmatism. Through the eye of Huck, the innocent and reluctant rebel, we see the pre-Civil War American society fully exposed. Twain contrasts the life on the river and the life on the banks, the innocence and the experience, the nature and the culture, the wilderness and the civilization. Ernest Hemingway A Nobel Prize winner for literature His style, the particular type of hero in his novels, and his life attitudes have been widely recognized, not only in English-speaking countries but all over the world Hemingway shot himself with a hunting gun In Our Time (1925)is the first book to present a Hemingway hero--Nick Adams The Sun Also Rises(1926) is Hemingway's first true novel. A vivid portrait of "The Lost Generation," -- a group of young Americans who left their native land and fought in the war and later engaged themselves in writing in a new way about their own experiences. Hemingway's second big success is A Farewell to Arms, telling us a story about the tragic love affair of a wounded American soldier with a British nurse -- emphasizes his belief that man is trapped both physically and mentally, but goes to some lengths to refute the idea of nature, man is doomed to be entrapped For Whom the Bell Tolls clearly represents a new beginning in Hemingway's career as a writer, which concerns a volunteer American guerrilla Robert Jordan fighting in the Spanish Civil War, this work Caps his career and leads to his receipt of the Nobel Prize The Old Man and the Sea, Men Without Women(1927), Death in the Afternoon(1932), The Snows of Kilimanjaro, To Have and Have Not (1937) Hemingway develops the style of colloquialism initiated by Mark Twain Hemingway was highly praised by the Nobel Prize Committee for "his powerful style-forming mastery of the art" of creating modern fiction. Indian Camp The title indicates that the material is contemporary and to some extent, representative of the early twentieth-century experience A reference to the well-know phrase from the Book of Common Prayer:" Give us peace in our time, O Lord," the title is very ironic because there is no peace at all in the stories In a chronological order, introduces Nick Adams to readers from his childhood to adolescence and manhood Nick watches his father deliver an Indian woman of a baby by Caesarian section, with a Jack-knife and without anesthesia. This incident brings the boy into contact with something that is perplexing and unpleasant, and is actually Nick's initiation into the pain and violence of birth and death. Most of Hemingway's later works are merely variations of the Nick Adams stories in In Our Time The Hemingway code heroes and grace under pressure They have seen the cold world, and for one cause, they boldly and courageously face the reality. They have an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life. Whatever the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure. No matter how tragic the ending is, they will never be defeated. Finally, they will be prevailing because of their indestructible spirit and courage. The iceberg technique Hemingway believes that a good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action. The one-eighth is presented will suggest all other meaningful dimensions of the story. Thus, Hemingway’s language is symbolic and suggestive.