英美文选读2

Chapter 2: The Neoclassical PeriodGeneral Introduction考核要求:1. 识记：（1）新古典主义时期的界定（2）政治经济背景（3）启蒙运动的意义与影响2. 领会：（1）启蒙运动的主张与文学的特点（2）新古典主义时期文学的艺术特点3. 应用：启蒙运动，新古典主义，英雄双行诗，英国现实主义小说等名词的解释考点串讲:1. Duration:Neoclassical period is the one in English literature between the return of Stuarts to the English throne in 1660 and the full assertion of Romanticism which came with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1978. It’s in fact a turbulent period.2. Political Background:The marking events:The restoration of Charles II in 1660The Glorious Revolution in 1689Constant strife between the monarch and the parliamentConstant strife between big parties—the Tories and WhigsConstant strife between ruling class and the laboring poorConstant strife between religious sects, such as the Roman Catholicism and protestants (church of England)The eighteenth century saw the fast development of England as a nation3. Social Background:The eighteenth century saw the fast development of England as a nation. Abroad, a vast expansion of British colonies in North America, India, the West Indies, and a continuous increase of colonial wealth and trade provided England with a market for which the small-scale hand production methods of the home industry were hardly adequate, towards the middle of the eighteenth century; England had become the first powerful capitalist country in the world. The British bourgeois or middle class also grew rapidly. It was the major force of the Revolution and was mainly composed of city people. The British bourgeois or middle class believed in self – reliance, self – restraint and hard work.The marking events:Industrial revolutionA vast expansion of British coloniesA continuous increase of colonial wealth 4. Cultural Background::(Enlightenment)The 18th-century England is known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.Definition: The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France & swept through the whole Western Europe at the time.The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15th & 16th centuries. (Function) Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modem philosophical & artistic ideas.The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality, equality & science. They called for a reference to order, reason & rules & advocated universal education.Famous among the great enlighteners in England were those great writers like John Dryden, Alexander pope & so on.In the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism.5. Viewpoints on literature:According to the neoclassicists:①All forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers (Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, etc.)②They believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy,③Literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity. This belief led them to seek proportion, unity, harmony and grace in literary expressions,④In an effort to delight, instruct and correct human beings, primarily as social animals. Thus a polite urbane, witty, and intellectual art developed.6. Fixed laws and rule on literature:Neoclassicists had some fixed laws and rules for almost every genre of literature.①?? Prose should be precise, direct, smooth and flexible.②Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic, and each class should be guided by its own principles.③Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets.7. The literature forms and streams during this period:essay: Alexander Pope John Bunyan Daniel Defoe Realism novel Jonathan Swift Henry FieldingSamuel Johnsonpoetry: Thomas Graydrama: Richard Brinsley SheridanHorace WalpoleNeoclassicism: Ann Radcliffenovel gothic storyClara ReeveSentimentalism M.G. LewisJames Thomasonpoetry William Collins graveyard school William CowperRomanticismIn the last few decades of the 18th century however, the neoclassical emphasis upon reason, intellect, wit and form was rebelled against or challenged by Sentimentalists, and was, in due time, gradually replaced by Romanticism.The neoclassical period witnessed the flourishing of English poetry in the classical style from Restoration to about the second half of the century, climaxing with John Dryden, Alexander Pope and the last bearer of the school, Samuel Johnson.The middle of 18th century was, however, predominated by a newly rising literary form ---- the modern English novel, which, contrary to the traditional romance, gives a realistic presentation of life of common English people.8. Gothic novels:Gothic novels are mostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dilapidated Middle Class castles. They appeared from the middle part of the 18th century and were turned out profusely by male and female writers.During this period, Richard Brinsley Sheridan was the leading figure among a host of playwrights.And of the witty and satiric prose, those written by Jonathan Swift are worth studying, and his A Modest Proposal is generally regarded as the best model of the satire.【例题】The British bourgeois or middle class believed in the following notions EXCEPT ______. (0904)A. self - esteemB. self - relianceC. self - restraintD. hard work【答案】A (P80.para.2)【解析】十八世纪晚期到十九世纪早期，英国的工业革命正在进行中，而工业革命的主角——英国次产阶级自信，自强，自制的特点为其积累财富奠定了基础，也为英国文学发展的现实主义奠定了基础。