美国文学殖民主义时期puritan

Part One

COLONIAL PERIOD AND EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE

(1620-1800)

I. Historical background

1. The native American and their culture– Indians

no written language oral literature

no discourse power话语权

Hegemonism and power politics霸权主义和强权政治

2. The historical background of the colonial Time

Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent in 2:00am, Friday, October 12, 1492.

Amerigo Vespucci

1497, John Cabot claimed it for England

Immigrants from European: Spanish, Dutch, French, mostly English.

question: Why travel all the way across the ocean to the New World?

1). Profit motive

1st Group 1580-1600 led by John Smith

Jamestown in Virginia in 1607

Plantation way of life

Planter in the south

2). Religious motive

2nd Group pilgrims

1610-1620 May flower.

Plymouth in Massachusetts in 1620;

Bradford as governor

Puritans in the north; called “First Americans”

selected reading:

The first view of America

Being thus pa ssed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles…they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succour援助者…savage barbarians were readier to fill their sides with arrows than otherwise. And for the reason it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country , know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms …the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wide and savage hue.

--from William Bradford’s History of Plimmoth Plantation

II. Puritanism

1 Aims of Puritanism

(Why did Puritans come to America?) :

- to reform and purify the Church of England

- to escape religious persecution

- to build Theocracy神治国in the new world

* God’s chosen people

* To seek a new Garden of Eden

* To build “City of God on earth”

2. The Source and doctrines of Puritanism

They follow the ideas of the French reformer and theologian (神学家)John Calvin Doctrines: Calvinist=Puritan

（Total depravity）彻底堕落。

“In Adam’s fall, we sinned all”

（Unconditional election）无条件选择。

（Limited atonement）有限的代赎

（Irresistible grace）不可抗拒的恩典

（predestination）Tulip，即“郁金香”之义。

selected reading:

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

《愤怒的上帝手中的罪人》

God “holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire,…he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.”

如果你向上帝哭诉求救，他决不会理睬你可悲的境地，不会怜悯你，不会给你一丝一毫的恩惠，相反，他要把你踩在脚下。……他会无情地将你踩碎，碾出你的鲜血，让它高高溅到他的衣服上。他不仅会恨你，而且鄙视你，你无处可去，只有被他踩在脚下，踩在大街的泥潭之中。Jonathan Edwards

Need to glorify God, Need to debase man

3) Creeds of Puritanism

“life is a test. Failure led to eternal damnation and success to heavenly bliss”

-to be ever ready for any misfortune and tragic failure. Do with best preparation and worst expectation

-Hard-working, thrifty, pious, sober, simple, practical, tougher, and optimistic. Selected reading:

Puritan

“He was a visionary who never forget that two plus two equals four; he was a soldier of Jehovah who never came out on the losing side of a bargain… He was a practical idealist…his beliefs were handed down on high and his conduct was