美国文学简史常耀信版讲义1

Soon, he became the most active printer and was appointed the official printer of Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Franklin - Librarian
Some fellow printers and Benjamin Franklin , known as the Leather Apron Club (because most of us wore leather aprons) started a lending library that was open to everyone. They would pool their money and buy books, which people could borrow. In 1731, the first lending library in America opened. Soon, other towns began to imitate the library, until reading became fashionable.
Benjamin Franklin
When Franklin died in 1790, one of his fellow Americans said, “His shadow lies heavier than any other man’s on this young nation.” As an author, Franklin’s style is quite modern, and his works show a return to their “plain style”. At the same time, there is something “anti-literary” about Franklin. He had no liking for poetry and felt that writing should always have a practical purpose. In the language of his writing, Franklin admirably reflects both Locke’s psychology and Locke’s political theory, and influences other writers in their choices of language, subject matter and worldview.
Colonial Period
Background information Writers and works

New England

New England 's composed of six states, including from north to south : Maine缅因州, New Hampshire新罕布什尔州, Vermont佛蒙 特州, Massachusetts马萨诸塞州, Rhode Island罗德岛州, Connecticut康涅狄格州.
Benjamin Franklin - Inventor
At the age of forty-two, Benjamin Franklin retired from printing to explore his other interests. He devoted this time to inventing.
American Literature
Outline of American Literature
Colonial Period American Romanticism The Age of Realism American Naturalism The Modern Period The Post-War Period: 50s & 60s American Drama Black American Literature



Overview of the literature 1. types of writing diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons 2. writers of colonial period (1) Anne Bradstreet (2) Edward Taylor (3) Roger Williams (4) John Woolman (5) Benjamin Franklin (6) Thomas Paine (7) Thomas Jefferson (8) Philip Freneau
1. Features of Puritanism (1) Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred. (2) Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. (3) Total depravity (4) Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved.


Historical Background
American literature begins with the orally transmitted myths, legends, tales, and lyrics (always songs) of Indian cultures. ---- no written literature The Indian’s contribution to America Indian words in everyday American English today such as “canoe”, “tobacco”, “potato”, “moccasin” 软鞋，鹿皮鞋, “raccoon” 浣熊 “persimmon” 柿子 “moose” 麋鹿 “tomahawk” 战斧 “totem” 图腾
Benjamin Franklin (1706----1790)
In many ways Franklin's life illustrates the impact of the Enlightenment on a gifted individual. Self-educated but well-read in John Locke, Joseph Addison, and other Enlightenment writers, Franklin learned from them to apply reason to his own life and to break with tradition---in particular the old-fashioned Puritan tradition----when it threatened to smother his ideals.

Puritanism



Puritans was the name given in the 16th century to the more extreme Protestants（新 教徒，基督教徒） who thought the English Reformation （英国宗教改革）had not gone far enough. They wanted to purify their national church. In the 17th century many Puritans emigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy Commonwealth in New England. Puritanism remained the dominant cultural force in that area into the 19th century.
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Major Writers and Literary Works
Thomas Paine
Philip Freneau
Benjamin Franklin, --- America's "first great man of letters,” embodied the Enlightenment ideal of human rationality. Franklin recorded his early life in his famous Autobiography.
the famous voyage of an Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus in 1492. European settlers came to American continent. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.
Librarian
Printer
Inventor
statesman
Benjamin Franklin - Printer
At the age of twelve, he started as an apprentice with his older brother James. At the age of twenty-two, he opened his own printing shop. His newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette [ɡə'zet] became very popular and profitable. A few years later, Poor Richard’s Almanack was released and soon became the best selling book in the colonies, selling over 10,000 copies a year..





2. Influence (1) A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. (2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden. (3) Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. (4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.