美国文学史期末考试资料

一. 殖民时期的美国: Colonial America 17c早——18c末

1. 从英国探险者和殖民者在新大陆的作品开始，描述他们在新大陆真实而精力充沛的冒险。

2. 另一类为清教作品

Philip Freneau 菲利普·费瑞诺：第一位美国抒情诗人兼记者“Father of American Poetry”(美国诗歌之父)

Puritanism: 清教主义

American Puritanism influences on American literature:

1. Idealism and optimism 理想主义和乐观主义

2. Symbolism 象征主义

3. Simplicity. 简洁

1.Edwards爱德华兹：the first modern American can the country’s last medieval man.

“the current of Transcendentalism, originating in the piety of the Puritans, vecoming a philosophy in Jonathan Edwards, passing through Emerson.”

超验论由清教徒的虔诚演变而来在乔纳森·爱德华兹的哲理得到发展继而传给爱默生

2.Franklin富兰克林

Jack of all trades (杂家)

1) He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the U.S.:

①The Declaration of Independence ②The Treaty of Alliance with France美法

同盟条约

英美和平条约④Constitution

His claim to a place in literature rests chiefly on his Poor Richard’s

)

文学史上该类作品开山之

简单、直接、明朗)

Edwards & Franklin:

Edwards represents the upper levels of the American mind.

1.不同点

Franklin represents the lower levers. Tradition of religious idealism理想主义的宗教信仰2 the American Puritanism is a two faceted

the levelheaded common sense—明智冷静的判断力F

3.The one was as a good Puritan as the other. 两人均是虔诚的宗教徒

American Romanticism: 浪漫主义

1. Irving欧文：美国第一个获得国际声誉的浪漫主义作家

① The first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame.

② The father of American literature.

Rip V an Winkle

The Sketch Book见闻札记

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 睡觉的传说

The Sketch Book见闻札记

1). The short story as a genre in American literature开创美国短片小说先河

2). The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American Romanticism标志着浪漫主义的开始

Irving stories are among the best of American short stories 美国短篇小说之最

Irving’s charecters:

a. Irving’s style can be described as beautiful.It is imitative,but he was a hightly skillful writer

b. He avoids moralizing as much as possible 尽量避免说教

c. He is good at enveloping his stories in an atmosphere.擅长将故事在一个内涵丰富的环

境下展开

d. His characters are vivid and true 生动，真实

e. Humor

f. The finished and musical language 音乐般优美的语言

2. Cooper库珀

1). He was one of the first authors to write about the American Westward movement.

2). “Leatherstocking Tales”《皮袜子故事集》主人公Natty Bunppo

The Pioneers 《拓荒者》The Last of the Mohicans 《最后的莫西干人》

The prairie《大草原》 The Pathfinder《探鹿者》The Deerslayer 《猎鹿者》

3) He was a mythic writer. And he was good at inventing plots. 神话作家，编造故事的能力The greatness of cooper

1. He created a myth about the formative period of American nation创造美国格式时代的神话

2. He wrote with increasing awareness of the importance to fiction of the Western Frontier.

3. He was at once devoted to principles of social order and responsive to the idea of nature and freedom in the eilderness.他马上接受了新的社会规则，对自然和子偶的理念做出了回应

4. He is a mythic writer and good at inventing plots.

New England Transcendentalism:超验主义

Definition

Authors: Emerson & Thoreau; Hawthorne & Melville; Whiteman & Dickenson; Allen Poe

1. Emerson：强调“oversoul” (超灵)

作品：1. Nature 2. The American Scholar 3. Self-reliance

Nature regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism新英格兰超验主义的圣经The American Scholar regarded as American’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence Emerson’s 文艺观点optimistic

1）True poetry and true art should ennoble. It should serve as a moral purification and a passage toward organic unity and higher reality 真正的诗歌和艺术是高贵的，是为净化灵魂使之达到有机统一儿通向更高的现实而服务的

2）Emerson places emphasis on ideas, symbols, and imaginative words.他注重信念，象征和有想象力的词语

3）As to theme, emerson called upon American authors to celebrate America which was to him a long poem in itself, to celebrate the life of today. 他号召美国作家为美国和今天的生活写作，对他来说，美国本身就是一首长诗

Emerson’s 写作特点

He placed emphasis on spirit or the oversoul, which is the most important thing in the university He stressed the importance of the individual.

He regarded Nature as the symbol of spirit.

Emerson’s importance in the intellectual history of America lies in the fact that he make the nation have its own feature.标志着美国文化有了自己的地位，特色

2. Thoreau 梭罗强调“nature”

His masterpiece, Walden, is the first and foremost, is the book on self-culture and human perfectibility. 最重要的，这是一本关于自我修养与完善的书。It is about man. What he is, what he should be and must be. 这本书是关于什么是人，他应该怎样做，必须怎么做的Hawthorne, Melville & Dickenson were the three great American authors of the 19c who had no contemporary readers and yet became great in 20c 是美19c三个没有同时代读者，知道20c才备受好评的作家

Hawthorne 霍桑：dark romantic悲剧式人文主义

The Scarlet Letter《红字》novel Young Goodman Brown《好人布朗》short story

The House of Seven Gables七个尖角阁的房子

Young Goodman Brown中的象征

1）His wife’s name “Faith”: a. the strong relifious beliefe

b.it also means Brown lived with “faith” everyday

2）His name “Goodman Brown”: “Goodman” could mean “farmer”, and “Brown” is a very common name. “Young Goodman Brown”: a very common young farmer.

3）Forest: The evil of internal world of everybody.

4）Sky, stars: Heaven and connection with God.

5）Colors: White-purity Red-sin Brown-the symbol of common people(neutral color)

Melville悲观主义悲剧式人文主义tragic humanism

Moby Dick