美国文学大纲

苏州科技学院外国语学院___美国文学史___(课程名称)课程考试大纲一、课程性质与特点美国文学史为“英语”和“英语（师范）”专业任意选修课，属于考查课，共24学时，1.5学分。

本课程涵盖美国文学史上从殖民地时期、浪漫主义、现实主义、现代主义、后现代主义至当代各个时期重要的文学思潮、流派及其发生的社会、文化、哲学背景以及各个时期重要作家的代表性作品。

本课程所讲授的知识是英语专业本科生知识结构不可或缺的一部分，是英语专业学生人文素养必要的组成成分，也是英语专业八级考试“人文知识”部分考核的内容之一。

鉴于本课程学时短，内容多，本课程的特点是以史为经，以作家作品为纬，详讲浪漫主义、现实主义和现代主义部分，略讲其它部分。

二、课程目标与基本要求学生在学习本课程后应该对美国文学史上殖民地时期、浪漫主义、现实主义、现代主义、后现代主义至当代各个时期重要的文学思潮、流派及其发生的社会、文化、哲学背景以及各个时期重要作家的代表性作品有个宏观的了解，能解释相关的名词，熟悉各个时期的主要特点和重要作家及其重要作品，并能结合文学外在与内在因素对文学作品做出初步评论。

三、教材及主要参考书教材：童明：《美国文学史》[增订版] ( A History of American Literature, Revised and expanded edition).北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2010.主要参考书：常耀信：《美国文学简史》[第二版](A Survey of American Literature,2nd edition).天津：南开大学出版社，2003.四、考核内容与考核目标Part 1Early American Literature: Colonial Period to 1815 Chapter 1 The literature of the New World1. “discoverer” of America: Christopher Columbus, 1492; Amerigo Vespucci ( Hence“America”,1507 world map) （识记，次重点）2.Native (Indian) American Oral literature: origin stories, trickster tales ,historical narratives (理解，次重点)Chapter 2 The Literature of Colonial America: 1620-17633. Jamestown: first English settlement in North America（识记，重点）5. Captain John Smith: First author in the history of American literature (aboutJamestown) （识记，一般）6.William Bradford: Father of American history, author of Of Plymouth Plantation（识记，一般）7. In 1620, the Bradford party sailed on the Mayflower and came to Cape Cod,Massachusetts. （识记，次重点）8. Anne Bradstreet: the first poetess in the colonial period:The Tenth Muse LatelySprung up in America（识记，一般）9.Jonathan Edwards: the great thinker of the “Great Awakening”（识记，一般）Chapter 3 Literature and American Revolution:1764—181510. American Puritanism (重点，理解)11. The 18th century, in America, as in Europe, is known as the Age of Reason andEnlightenment. （识记，次重点）12. Enlightenment in America （理解，次重点）13. Deism and Unitarianism（理解，一般）14. Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanacs; Autobiography（理解，重点）15.Thomas Paine: Common Sense; The American Crisis; The Rights of Man（识记，重点）16. Thomas Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence（理解，重点）17. Alexander Hamilton: The Federalist Papers (co-author) （识记，一般）18. Philip Freneau: the poet of “American Revolution”: The Wild Honey Suckle, TheIndian Burying Ground（识记，重点）Part 2American Romanticism 1815—1865Chapter 4 The Age of American Romanticism1.definition and characteristics of American Romanticism （应用，重点）2.First flowering of American literature（识记，次重点）Chapter 5 Early Romanticism1. The three early romanticists: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, andWilliam Cullen Bryant （识记，重点）3.Washington Irving: The Sketch Book, in which two of Irving’s best known stories“Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are included（理解，重点）; A History of New York（识记，一般）; A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus（识记，一般）4.James Fenimore Cooper: The Leather-stocking Tales ( The Pioneers, The Last ofthe Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer), the mythic hero of this series is Natty Bumppo (理解，重点)5.William Cullen Bryant: Poems : Thanatopsis (meaning meditation on death); Toa Waterfowl (about Nature’s power) (识记，次重点)Chapter 6 Transcendentalism and Symbolic Representation1.The Transcendental Club: 1) published 16 issues of The Dial; 2) establishedBrook Farm, a utopian community （识记，一般）2.Transcendentalism as a philosophy （应用，重点）3.Ralph Waldo Emerson:1)the leading spokesman for Transcendentalism (识记，重点).2)Nature: “the manifesto of American transcendentalism” (理解，重点).;3)Essays (First serirs,1941, Second series,1844): “The Over-soul”,“Compensation”, Self- Reliance ( from which comes the idea “Trust thyself’);“The Poet”.（识记，一般）4)Representative Men（识记，一般）5)Address: “The American Scholar”( called America’s “ intellectualDeclaration of Independence”); “Divinity School Address”. (识记，次重点)6)His poetry（识记，一般）7)His style（识记，一般）4.Margret Fuller: first editor of The Dial, author of Woman in the NineteenthCentury (advocating for women’s rights) （识记，一般）5.Henry David Thoreau:1)today primary remembered for two of his works: Walden and the essay “CivilDisobedience”. (识记，重点)2)Nature and Implications of Thoreau’s revolt as revealed in Walden and“Civil Disobedience”（理解，重点）3)Thoreau’s style: thinking in imagery （理解，一般）Chapter 7 Hawthorne, Melville and Poe1.Hawthorne, Melville and Poe are masters of “negative capability”. （理解，重点）2. Nathaniel Hawthorne1)Hawthorne’s moral vision（理解，次重点）2)Hawthorne’s themes: sin and evil, internal contradiction, male withdrawalfrom marriage（识记，重点）3)Hawthorne’s style: 1) elevated in diction and restrained in rhetoric, thusgraceful and polished; 2) allegory and symbol; 3) irony and ambiguity（识记，重点）4)Novels: Scarlet Letter （应用，重点）; The House of Seven Gables（识记，一般）; The Blithedale Romance（识记，一般）; The Marble Faun（识记，一般）5)Short stories: Young Goodman Brown; The Minister’s Black Veil; MajorMolineux; Rappcinni’s Daughter; The Birthmark（识记，一般）3.Herman Melville1)His major works: Moby Dick（应用，重点）2)Other works: Typee; Omoo; Mardi; Redburn（识记，一般）; Billy Budd（理解，次重点）4.Edgar Allen Poe1)Father of American detective stories（识记，重点）;2)His only novel: Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym（识记，一般）3)Gothic fiction: E.g. The Fall of the House of Usher（识记，一般）;4)Short stories: Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque（识记，一般）5)Theme of his poems: Beauty associated with sadness (melancholy)（应用，重点）. E.g. The Raven; To Helen; Ulalume; Annabel Lee（识记，一般）Chapter 8 Whitman and Dickinson1.Walt Whitman1) free verse （理解，重点）2) Collected poems: Leaves of Grass（识记，重点）E.g.Song of Myself (celebrating the Self and Individualism) （理解，重点）O Captain! My Captain! (in mourning of Lincoln) （识记，次重点）2. Emily Dickinson; wrote nearly 2000poems,but fewer than 20 were published1) Recluse of Amherst（识记，重点）2) Themes of her poems: individualism and spirituality; suffering, dying and death（识记，次重点）3) style: short words and phrases separated and joined by dashes. （识记，一般）Chapter 9 A House Divided: Writing Against Slavery1. Harriet Beecher Stowe (Lincoln called her “the little lady who made this big war),author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1851-1852) （理解，重点）2. Frederick Douglass: Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845)（识记，次重点）3. Harriet Ann Jacobs : Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) （识记，一般）Part 3American Realism 1865—1914Chapter10 The Age of Realism1. subdivided into two periods: the period of an expanding continental nation from1865 till the 1890s and the “progressive period” from the 1890s to 1914. （识记，一般）2. Realism as a broader term is also inclusive of naturalism, regionalism and localcolor writing. （识记，一般）3. Parameters (characteristics ) of Realism （运用，重点）Chapter 11 Regional and Local color Writing1. Mark Twain1) Four Types of his writing:A) personalized fiction ( The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; The Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn; The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day; The Tragedy ofPuddd’nhead Wilson) （理解，重点）B) Travel fiction (The Innocents Abroad; Roughing It; A Tramp Abroad; Life onthe Mississippi; Following the Equator) （识记，一般）C) Historical romance ( T he Prince and The Pauper; A Connecticut Yankee in KingArthur’s Court; Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc by the Sieur Louis Conte) （识记，一般）D) Tall tales (The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County; The Man thatCorrupted Hadleyburg) （识记，次重点）2）“All Modern literature come from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”(Ernest Hemingway) （识记，重点）Chapter 12 Henry James and William Dean Howells1.William Dean Howells1)held a central position in the development of American realism,representative of Mid-western realism. （识记，重点）2)His long essay of criticism: Criticism and Fiction（识记，一般）3)Novels: The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) （识记，重点）; A Hazard of NewFortune (1890) （识记，一般）2.Henry James1) Themes of his novels: （识记，重点）A. The international theme;B. the emotion-of-life theme;C. The artist theme;D. psychological realism2) Novels: Three of the best:The Wings of Dove; The Ambassadors; The Golden Bowl（识记，次重点）3) The two best-known novellas: Daisy Miller; The Turn of the Screw（识记，一般）4) Other works: The American; The Portrait of a Lady（识记，次重点）Chapter 13 Literary Naturalism1. Philosophical elements and literary characteristics of Naturalism（应用，重点）2. Hamlin Garland’s “veritism”（理解，次重点）3. Stephen Crane (1871-1900)1) Two of his well-known novels: Maggie of the Streets（理解，次重点）; The RedBadge of Courage（理解，重点）2) Three well-known short stories: The Open Boat; The Monster; The Bride Comesto Yellow Sky. （识记，一般）4. Frank Norris (1870-19020: American Zola1) The naturalist characteristics of Frank Norris’s “Romance “（理解，次重点）2) Novels: McTeague（理解，重点）; Octopus（识记，一般）; The Pit（识记，一般）5. Jack London(1876-1916)1) London’s naturalist view of life and Man（应用，重点）2) Works：The Call of the Wild（应用，重点）; White Fang（识记，一般）; The SeaWolf（识记，一般）; Martin Eden（识记，一般）; Iron Heel（识记，一般）6. Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)1) Major theme of Dreiser’s fiction（应用，重点）2) Works: Sister Carrie（应用，重点）; Jennie Gerhart;The Genius（识记，一般）; An American Tragedy（理解，次重点）;Trilogy of Desire: a. The Financier; b. The Titan; c. The Stoic（识记，次重点）Chapter 14 Women Writing on the “Woman Question”1. “Woman question” in the late 19th century and early 20th century（理解，一般）2. Kate Chopin (1851-1904)1) Her theme （理解，一般）2) Her work: The Awakening（理解，重点）3. Edith Wharton (1862-1937)1) Her theme（理解，一般）2) Works: The Age of Innocence（应用，重点）; The House of Mirth（理解，次重点）;T he Great Inclination（识记，一般）; Ethan Frome（识记，一般）Part 4American ModernismChapter 15 Modernism in American Grain1.American modernism: Second flowering of American Literature（识记，次重点）2.General observation （理解，一般）3.The formal dimensions（理解，一般）4. Philosophical paradigms for modernism（理解，次重点）5.Two short-hand definitions（理解，一般）Chapter 16 The Evolution of Modernism1.Robert Frost (1874-1963)1)His vision and Style（理解，一般）2)Poems: The Road Not Taken (depicting a choice made that makes all thedifference)（理解，重点）; Mending Wall ( criticizing the famous line: Good fences make good neighbors) （理解，重点）; “ Stopping by the woods on a Snowy Evening（理解，重点）; A Boy’s Will（识记，一般）; After Apple-picking（识记，一般）; The Overn Bird（识记，一般）; Ice and Fire（识记，一般）2.Willa Cather (1873-1947): Author of My Ántonia（识记，重点）3.Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941): “The grotesques”in Winesburg, Ohio（理解，重点）.Chapter 17 American Modernism in Europe1.Gertrude Stein (1874-1946): the coiner of “The lost Genration”.2.Ezra Pound (1885-1972)1)Imagist movement (eg. “In a Station of the Metro”) （运用，重点）2)The Cantos （some themes）（理解，次重点）Chapter 18 Modern Fiction Between the Wars1.William Faulker (1897-1962)1）Style and Themes ( perspectivism / polyphonic novel; psychoanalysis/ “stream of consciouness”; types of families and characters in the South) （理解，次重点）2）Novels: The Sound and Fury（应用，重点）; As I Lay Dying（理解，次重点）;Light in August（理解，次重点）; Absalom, Absalom!（理解，次重点）3）Short story: “A Rose for Emily”（应用，重点）2.Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)1）recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954,one of the finest literary stylist of the 20th century.（识记，一般）2）Spokesman for “The Lost Generation”（应用，重点）3）His style (diction and syntax; the Iceberg Principle) （理解，重点）4）Hemingway Code Hero （应用，重点）5）Works: The Sun Also Rise（ a fine example for “The Lost Generation”，理解，重点）s; A Farewell to Arms（理解，重点）; For Whom the BellTolls（理解，重点）; The Old Man and the Sea（理解，重点）; In Our Time（识记，一般）; Death in the Afternoon（识记，一般）; The Green Hillsof Africa（识记，一般）; A Clean, Well-lighted Place（识记，一般）;The Snow of Kilimanjaro（理解，一般）; To have and Have not（识记，一般）; Indian Camp（识记，一般）3. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)1）spokesman for “The Jazz Age” and “The Roaring Twenties”.（识记，重点）2）Works: The Great Gatsby（应用，重点）; Tender is the Night（识记，重点）4.John Dos Passos (1896-1970): author of USA, a trilogy consisting of TheForty-second Parallel; 1919, and The Big Money (理解，次重点)5.John Steinbeck (1902-1968): recipient of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962,primarily remembered for three of his many novels: In dubious Battle; （识记，一般）Of Mice and Men; （识记，一般）The Grapes of Wrath(理解，重点)Chapter 19 Modern American Poetry1.T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)1）His visionary of The Waste Land （理解，重点）2）His poems: The Waste Land（应用，重点）; The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock （应用，重点）; Ash Wednesday（识记，一般）; The Hollow Men（识记，一般）;Four Quartets（识记，一般）2.Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)1)“ Of Modern Poetry” is Stevens’s carefully considered statement ofmodernism. （识记，一般）2)“Sunday Morning” is one of the best-known poem by Stevens (depicting awoman not going to church but enjoy the sunshine and contemplating whatdivinity is.) （识记，一般）3.William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)1)His themes（理解，一般）2)The Red Wheelbarrow（应用，重点）4. e.e.cummings (1894-1962): His themes and style（eg. “ Buffalo Bill’s）(识记，一般）Chapter 20 African American Literature and Modernism1.Harlem Renaissance (理解，重点)ngston Hughes ( 1902-1967): leading writer of the Harlem Renaissance, andone of the most original and versatile black writers in the 20th century;remembered for his poetry. (识记，一般）3.Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)1) a major figure in the Harlem/New Negro Renaissance; (识记，一般）2)Her most important novel: Their Eyes were Watching God (1937) (识记，一般）5.Richard Wright (1908-1960): Author of Native Son(理解，重点); Black Boy(识记，一般）; The Man Who Lived Underground(识记，一般）.Part 5 American Literature Diversified: 1945 to the New MillenniumChapter 21 Literature Diversified Under New Conditions1.Existentialism （理解，一般）2.Postmodernism（理解，一般）Chapter 22 American Theater: Three Major Playwrights1.Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller are unanimously the bestspecimens of American theater in the 20th century.（识记，重点）2.Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953): Winner of 1936 Nobel Prize for Literature（识记，一般）1）Expressionism（理解，一般）2）His plays: The Hairy Ape (理解，重点); The Emperor Jones(理解，次重点);Desire Under the Elms(理解，次重点); Beyond the Horizon（识记，一般）; TheIceman Cometh（识记，一般）; Long Day’s Journey into Night（识记，一般）3.Tennessee Williams （1911-1983）: the most important dramatist that emergedafter WWII.1）The Glass Menagerie: Tennessee Williams’s autobiographical play. （识记，重点）2）A Streetcar Named Desire（识记，重点）4.Arthur Miller (1915-2005): Author of All My Sons（识记，一般）; Death of aSalesman（理解，重点）; The Crucible（识记，一般）Chapter 23 Major Fiction Writers: 1945 till 1960s1.Ralph Ellison(1914-1994): Black novelist, author of Invisible Man（识记，重点）2.James Baldwin (1924-1987): black writer, author of Go Tell it on the Mountain（识记，一般）3.Flannery O’Conner (1925-1964): a southern writer, author of Wise Blood. （识记，一般）4.Saul Bellow (1915-2005): Jewish writer1)winner of 1976 Nobel Prize for Literature.2)Works: Dangling Man（识记，重点）; The Victim（识记，一般）; The Adventuresof Augie March（识记，重点）; Henderson Rain King（识记，重点）; Seize theDay（识记，一般）; Herzog（识记，重点）; Humbolt’s Gift（识记，重点）;Mr. Sammler’s Planet（识记，重点）; The Dean’s December（识记，一般）; MoreDie of Heartbreak.（识记，一般）5.Bernard Malamud (1914-1986): Jewish writer, author of The Natural; TheAssistant; The Tenants; The Fixer; Dubin’s Lives（识记，一般）6.J.D. Salinger (1919-2010): author of The Catcher in the Rye（理解，重点）.7.Joseph Heller (1923-1999)1)Black Humor（理解，重点）2)Catch-22（理解，重点）Chapter 24 Poetic Tendencies Since 19451.Sylvia Plath (1932-1963): a confessional poet（识记，一般）2.Allan Ginsberg (1926-1997)1)Beat Generation （应用，重点）2)Best and most influential poem: “Howl”（理解，重点）Chapter 25 Fictional Inclinations Since the 1960s1.John Barth (1930-): postmodern writer, related with the term “metafiction”（识记，一般）2.Thomas Pynchon (1938-): postmodern writer, author of V（识记，重点）;Gravity’s Rainbow (识记，重点）; The Crying of Lot 49（识记，一般）3.John Updike（1932-2009）: author of the Rabbit series: Rabbit, Run (1960) （识记，重点）; Rabbit Redux (1971) （识记，重点）; Rabbit is Rich (1981) （识记，重点）; Rabbit at Rest (1990) （识记，重点）Chapter 26 Contemporary Multi-ethic literature and Fiction1.Toni Morrison (1931-)1)African American novelist, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.（识记，一般）2)Novels: The Bluest Eyes（识记，重点）; Sula（识记，一般）; Song of Solomon（识记，一般）; Tar Baby（识记，一般）; Beloved（识记，重点）.2.Alice Walker (1944-): African American novelist, author of The Color Purple（识记，次重点）.3.Maxine Hong Kingston (1940-): Chinese American writer, author of The WomanWarrior（识记，重点）;China Men（识记，重点）; Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book（识记，一般）4.Amy Tan (1952-): Chinese American writer, author of The Joy Luck Club（识记，重点）Chapter 27 Globalization of American Literature: Diasporic Writers1.Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977): author of Lolita（识记，重点）2.Issa Bashevis Singer (1904-1991): 1978 winner of The Nobel Prize for Litearture,author of The Magician of Lublin; Gimpel the Fool（识记，重点）五，考试方式及试卷结构1．考试类型：闭卷、笔试2．记分方式：五级等级制（五等）3．考试时长：考查课、100分钟4．试题类型及比例：填空：20%；选择：30%；名词解释：20%；问答题：30%5．难度等级及比例：易：50%，中等难度：30%，难：20%；识记：50%，理解：30%，应用：20%6．课程总评成绩构成：平时成绩占60%，期末考试占40%。