美国文学选读复习资料

American Puritanism 殖民地时期

( roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th)

一、Benjamin Franklin 本杰明•富兰克林

作品:

1、Poor Richard's Almanac 《格言历书》--- A Collection of maxims, or proverbs, on the value of work and savings for success、

2、The Autobiography 《自传》---“美国梦”得根源

3、参与起草《独立宣言》

浪漫主义American Romanticism

The Romantic Period stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War、It is a period of the great flowering of American literature、

The social and cultural background of Romanticism

The young Republic was flourishing into a politically, economically and culturally independent country、

The Romantic writings revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands、

The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature、

The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values、

Romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in va lue of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a sourc e of goodness and man’s societies as a source of corruption、

二、Edgar Allan Poe 埃德加·爱伦·坡

---poet, short story writer and literary critic (48 poems,70 short stories)

He greatly influenced the devotees of “Art for art’s sake、”

He was father of psychoanalytic criticism (心理分析批评), and the detective story、诗歌得精髓就就是追求美

小说得主题常常就是恐怖与死亡,其中还运用了象征手法。

The Poetic Principle :

1、 The poem, should be short, readable at one sitting;

2、 Beauty (the rhythmical creation of beauty);

3、 Melancholy 忧伤(especially the death of a beautiful woman)、

代表作:The Fall of the House of Usher 《厄舍大厦得倒塌》

Ligeia 《莉盖亚》

Annabel Lee 《安娜贝尔·李》

The Raven 《乌鸦》

The Cask of Amontillado 《阿芒提拉多得酒桶》---gothic novel

人物:蒙特利瑟Montresor, 弗图纳多Fortunato ,筵席上男人将喝醉得死对头哄骗至地窖并砌墙活埋得故事。

三.爱默生

Emerson = The chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism 超验主义

He was a descendent(后裔) of a long line of New England clergymen牧师【pastor】、

散文家、诗人、超验主义得哲学得主要倡导者。

American Transcendentalism

As a philosophical and literary movement, American Transcendentalism (also known as “American Renaissance”) flourshed in New England from the 1830s to the Civil War、It is the high tide of American romanticism and its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates

in Emerson and Thoreau、 Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society、

Transcendentalism 超验主义(+ H、D、Thoreau; Nathaniel Hawthorne; )

The major features of Transcendentalism:

①The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important

thing in the universe、思想超灵宇宙

②The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual、 To them, the individual

is the most important element of Society、个体+社会

③The Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God、Nature was not purely matter、It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence、自然+上帝

代表作:Nature《论自然》---the Bible of Transcendentalism by Emerson ;

Self-Reliance 《论自助》 ---就是表达她得超验主义观点得最重要作品之一

一The American Scholar《论美国学者》 ;

The Over-soul 《论超灵》

四、Nathaniel Hawthorne纳撒尼尔·霍桑 --- effected by 超验主义

He was born into a prominent Puritan family、

One of the most ambivalent(矛盾得)writers in the American literary history、

主要成就: 美国心理分析小说得开创者浪漫主义小说家心理小说家

代表作:Mosses from an Old Manse 《古宅青苔》;

Twice-Told Tales 《故事重述》;

The Marble Faun 《玉石雕像》;

The House of the Seven Gables 《带有七个尖角阁得房子》

The Scarlet Letter《红字》

Many of his earlier stories had treated themes that led to The Scarlet Letter、

Theme: