美国文学史概述及选读复习

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美国文学复习资料

美国文学复习资料美国文学复习资料美国文学是世界文学宝库中的重要组成部分，它以其独特的风格和丰富的内容吸引着广大读者和研究者。

在这篇文章中，我们将为大家提供一些关于美国文学的复习资料，希望能够帮助大家更好地了解和掌握这一领域的知识。

一、美国文学的起源美国文学的起源可以追溯到17世纪早期的殖民地时期。

当时，由于殖民者来自不同的国家和文化背景，美国文学呈现出多元化的特点。

早期的美国文学作品主要以宗教和探险为主题，其中最著名的作品包括《普利茅斯故事》和《马萨诸塞湾殖民地的历史》等。

随着时间的推移，美国文学逐渐发展壮大。

18世纪的启蒙时代，美国文学开始借鉴欧洲文学的思想和风格，融合了理性主义和启蒙思想。

这一时期的代表作品有本杰明·富兰克林的《自传》和托马斯·潘恩的《常识》等。

二、美国文学的经典作品美国文学的经典作品数不胜数，下面我们列举一些代表作品，供大家参考。

1. 马克·吐温的《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》：这是一部以南北战争时期为背景的小说，通过主人公哈克贝利的冒险经历，揭示了奴隶制度的黑暗面和人性的复杂性。

2. 纳撒尼尔·霍桑的《红字》：这是一部关于道德与罪恶的小说，讲述了一个女性因婚外情而被判刑的故事。

小说通过对社会道德观念的探讨，揭示了人性的复杂性和社会的偏见。

3. 威廉·福克纳的《喧哗与骚动》：这是一部以南方小镇为背景的小说，通过对人物内心世界的描写，探讨了种族、阶级和家庭关系等社会问题。

4. 埃米莉·狄金森的诗歌：狄金森是美国文学史上最重要的女性诗人之一，她的诗作以独特的风格和深刻的思想而著称，对后世的诗人产生了深远的影响。

三、美国文学的主题与风格美国文学的主题多种多样，涵盖了社会、政治、种族、性别、宗教等各个方面。

在风格上，美国文学也呈现出多样性，既有浪漫主义的热情奔放，也有现实主义的冷静客观。

此外，美国文学还有一些独特的风格流派，如南方文学、黑人文学和美国现代主义文学等。

(0171)《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题答案

（0171）《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题答案I. Write out the authors’ names of the following works. (15)Benjamin Franklin T. S. EliotJames Cooper Walt WhitmanJames Baldwell Ernest HemingwayJoseph Heller John SteinbeckWilliam Faulkner Mark TwainWashington Irving Ernest HemingwayRobert Frost Toni MorrisonRalph Ellison Eugene O’NeillJohn Steinbeck Allan PoeF. Scott Fitzgerald Tennessee WilliamsWashington Irving Robert FrostNathaniel Hawthorne Herman MelvilleEugen e O’Neill Mark TwainWilliam Faulkner Robert FrostArthur Miller James CooperH. D. Thoreau Henry JamesWhitman Jack LondonJack London O’NeillII. Define the following literary terms. (20)Beat generation:The term was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to refer to a group of disillusioned writers following World War Two. Later, this literary and cultural movement continued into the 1960s. The Beat Generation must not be confused with the Lost Generation of writers. Spokesmen and representatives of the Beat Generation were Jack Kerouac, AllenGinsberg and others. They revolted against an America that was materialistic, belligerent and frustrating. Social, intellectual and sexual freedom was advocated. Traditional culture and normal social behavior were attacked and violated. Many of them were drug addicts wearing long hair and dirty clothes. They were fond of slangs and jazz. Masterpieces created by writers of this group include Kerouac‟s On the Road and Ginsberg‟s Howl and Other Poems, which were regarded as pocket Bibles of that generation. Other prominent Beats include William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure, and Neal Cassady. The Beat Generation, had greatly influenced the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the adolescents and adults in other countries. In England, the “angry young men” made an echo and imitated the American “beatnik.”Protagonist: the principal character in a play or story; the central character who serves as a focus fo r the work‟s themes and incidents and as the principal rationale for its development; and one who is opposed to the antagonist. In the beginning of ancient Greek drama, there were only a chorus and one actor—the leader of the chorus. Thespis invented the first actor. Then Aeschylus and Sophocles added the second and third actors to the tragedy respectively. The three actors were names Protagonist, Deuteragonist and Tritagonist. In discussions of modern literature, the protagonist is sometimes referred to as the hero or anti-hero.Biography:an account of a person‟s life written by somebody else, or biographical writing as a form of literature.Novel: Generally speaking, it is an imaginative prose narrative of extended length dealing with fictional characters and events. The constituent elements of a novel include plot, character, conflict, and setting. But there can be exceptions. Some novels are short. Some novels are not fictional. Some novels are in verse. And some novels do not even tell a story. There have been many debates over the appropriate length of a novel. No established length for a novel has been agreed upon. It is generally held, however, that a full-length novel is longer than a novella or short novel, and a short novel is longer than a shot story. A novel should be long enough so as to appear in print in an independent volume. The great length of a novel makes it possible for the characters and themes in it to be developed more fully and subtly.Antihero: a main character in a story, novel, play or film who behaves in a completely different way from what people expect a hero to do. A non-hero is without the qualities and features of atraditional or old-fashioned hero. He is doomed to fail. Antiheroes of early days were Don Quixote, Macbeth, Rip V an Winkle, and Tristram Shandy. Examples of antiheroes in modern literature include Leopold Bloom, Jim Dixon, Jimmy Porter, Herzog, and Y assarian.Free verse:a form of poetry without rhyme, meter, regular line length, and regular stanzaic structure. It depends on natural speech for rhythm. Robert Frost compared it to “playing tennis with the net down.” Though much simpler and less restrictive than conventional poetry and blank verse, free verse does no mean “formlessness.” T. S. Eliot once said that “no verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job.” Though its origin is unknown, it was attempted by such early poets as Surrey, Milton, Blake, and Macpherson. It was Whitman who did the greatest contribution to the development and popularity of free verse. Whitman favored the simplicity and freedom of expression. According to him, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of light of letters is simplicity. Noting is better than simplic ity.”Drama: a form of literature written for actors to perform. A drama is divided into acts. An act can be subdivided into scenes. The constituent elements of a drama include dialogue, plot, characters, setting, stage direction, and others. A drama can be as long as three parts called trilogy, or as short as one act only. Greek drama originated in religious ceremonial in honor of Dionysus. Medieval drama developed out of rites celebrating the life events of Jesus Christ. Dramatists of great importance in literary history include Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Shaw. In America, the firs important dramatist was Eugene O‟Neill who wrote the first serious plays. Before O‟Neill, America had theatre. Starting from O‟Neill, it began to have drama.Jazz age: Jazz is a form of dance music that is derived from early Afro-American folk music, ragtime, and Negro blues. It is marked with exciting rhythm, pronounced syncopation, and constant improvisation. The musical instruments used are mainly drums, trumpets, and saxophones. Major composers of Jazz music include Irvin Berlin and W. C. Handy. The term Jazz Age was specifically employed by Fitzgerald to denote the 1920s, which was characterized by the loss of traditional moral standards, indulgence in romantic yearnings, and great social excitement. According to Malco lm Cowley, the Jazz Age was “a legend of glitter, of recklessness, and of talent in such profusion that it was sown broadcast like wild oats.” F. Scott Fitzgerald‟s Tales of the Jazz Age, like Mark Twain‟s The Gilded Age, was an epoch-making work.Autobiography: a story a writer writes about his or her own life experiences. It is narrated fromthe first-person point of view. The term was probably first used by Southey. But the first important autobiography was Confessions written by Augustine of Hippo. Othe r examples include Franklin‟s Autobiography, Adams‟s The Education of Henry Adams, John Stuart Mill‟s Autobiography, Carlyle‟s Reminiscences, Henry David Thoreau‟s Walden, and so on. Sometimes, an autobiography can be fictionalized. An example of this kind is Rousseau‟s Confessions. Some novels and long poems are used for autobiography. Joyce‟s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Whitman‟s “Song of Myself” and Wordsworth‟s The Prelude fall in this category. Dickens‟s David Copperfield, Lawrence‟s Sons and Lovers and O‟Neill‟s Long Day’s Journey into Night have strong autobiographical elements in them.Blank verse: poetry that does not rhyme but has iambic pentameter lines. Though not originated in England or America, it has been the most important and most widely used English verse form. Blank verse is popular because it is closest to the rhythm of daily English speech. Thus most English poems which are dramatic, reflective or narrative are in the form of blank verse. This verse was probably first used in England by Surrey who translated Aeneid, by Sackville and Norton who composed Gorboduc. It was developed and perfected by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton. In the 18th century, most poets favored heroic couplets. But Y oung and Thomson were able to write in the tradition of blank verse. The 19th century saw a renewed interest in this poetic form. Masters of blank verse included Wordsworth, Coleridge and Bryant. The fact that blank verse is still practiced by writers like T.S. Eliot, Y eats, Frost and Stevens shows how influential and favorable it really is.Black humor:a term frequently used in modern literary criticism. It is sometimes called …black comedy‟ or …tragic farce.‟ It is humor or laughter resulting from great pain, despair, horror and the absurdity of human existence. Black humor is a common quality of modern anti-novels and anti-dramas. Examples are Franz Kafka‟s stories like “Metamorphosis”, “The Castle” and “The Trial”, Joseph Heller‟s novel Catch-22and Albee‟s The Zoo Story. Other writers who did much contribution to the popularity of black humor were Beckett, Camus, Ionesco, V onnegut, Pynchon and so on.Head rhyme: the use in verse or prose of several words close together which all begin with the same letter. It is done for special musical effect comparable to the effects of end rhyme. In mostcases, alliteration is the repetition of identical initial consonant sounds. Examples are Pope‟s “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” Poe‟s “The weary, wayworn wanderer bore,” and Coleridge‟s“Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.” Alliteration of initial vowels is quite limited in number. An example of vowel alliteration is “It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.”Surprise Ending:Also called “O. Henry ending,” it is a completely unexpected turn or revelation of events at the conclusion of a story or play. An example is “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Another instance is O. Henry‟s story “The Gift of the Magi.”III. Give brief answers to the following questions. (15)1.Who is the father of American literature? (Consult your book)2.Who is the father of American poetry? (Consult your book)3.What is Poe‟s theory concerning poetry? (Consult your book)4.What is Poe‟s theory concerning the short story? (Consult your book)5.What are the major characteristics of Twain‟s writing style? (Consult your book)6.What are the major characteristics of Irving‟s writing style? (Consult your book)7.What is “black humor? (Consult your book)8.What is the Harlem Renaissance? (Consult your book)9.What is the New England Renaissance? (Consult your book)10.What are the major characteristics of colonial American literature? (See your book)11.What is the Lost Generation? (Consult your book)12.What are Benjamin Franklin‟s contributions to A merican culture? (See your book)13.Why is colonial American literature neither American nor literary? (See your book)14.What is the Jazz Age? (Consult your book)15.What is American transcendentalism? (Consult your book)16.What is imagism? (Consult your book)17.What is O. Henry Ending? (Consult your book)18.What is free verse? (Consult your book)IV. Read the following poem and try to understand and explain it.(20)FogTHE FOG comesOn little cat feet.It sits lookingOver harbor and cityOn silent haunchesAnd then moves on(An imagist poem by Carl Sandburg; depicting the fog and its movement; free verse written in the tradition of Whiman.)In a Station of the Metro(Ezra Pound)The Apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.( a poem of the Imagist school, written by Ezra Pound.)The Road Not T aken(By Robert Frost)TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Y et knowing how way leads to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.(A poem by Robert Frost. It is about the difficulty of making a choice.)Dreams(by Langston Hughes)Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.(Consult your book)。

美国文学史及选读考研复习笔记6.

History And Anthology of American Literature （6）附：作者及作品一、殖民主义时期The Literature of Colonial America1．船长约翰·史密斯Captain John Smith《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》“A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony”《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》“A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country”《弗吉尼亚通史》“General History of Virginia”2．威廉·布拉德福德William Bradford《普利茅斯开发历史》“The History of Plymouth Plantation”3．约翰·温思罗普John Winthrop《新英格兰历史》“The History of New England”4．罗杰·威廉姆斯Roger Williams《开启美国语言的钥匙》”A Key into the Language of America”或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》Or “A Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New England ”5．安妮·布莱德斯特Anne Bradstreet《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》”The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America”二、理性和革命时期文学The Literature of Reason and Revolution 1。

美国文学史及选读第一册复习摘要

美文学摘要Puritanism(清教,清教徒主义): doctrines (dɔktrin n. 教条, 教义, 学说), values, features of Am. Puritans, influence on Am. Literature,Features of colonial poetsThe 1st Am. Writer：Captain John SmithKey Points of Enlightenment movement●Originated in Europe in the 17th century●Basic principles: Stressing education; Stressing Reason; Concerns for civil rights●Significance: Accelerating加速social progress; freeing people from the limitations set by prevailing(1．占优势的;主要的2．流行的;普遍的 )Puritanism; Making spiritual preparation for American Revolution Influence on literature:In form: imitating English classical writersIn content: utilitarian ([ju:ˌtɪlɪˌteəri:ən] adj. 1．有效用的;实用的 2．功利(主义)的 n. 功利主义者;实用主义者) tendency (for political or educational purpose)What lessons can we d raw from the poem “the wild honeysuckle”（野金银花）?The wild can also be beautiful. Everyone should take an active attitude toward life. Never avoid challenges for fear of losing something. One can’t achieve anything under the shelter（shelter －简明英汉词典D.J.[ˌʃeltə]n. 1．遮蔽; 保护 2．避难所; 庇护所vt. 掩蔽; 庇护, 保护vi. 躲避, 避难）and protection.Features of American Romanticisma. Imitative: Some of the American Romantic writings were modeled on English and European works. The Romantic Movement proved to be a decisive influence. Without it, the rise of Romanticism would have been impossible. Romanticism writers such as Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron all made a stimulating impact on American literature.b. Independent: From the very beginning, American Romanticism exhibited（陈列，展览；显示，显出；展览品，陈列品，在法庭提出的证物）distinct（截然不同的，完全分开的；清晰的，明白的，明显的）features of its own. It originated from（来自，源于…）a mixture of factors which were altogether American rather than anything else. American Romanticism was in essence（本质上，大体上，事实）the expression of a real new experience and contained “an alien（外国的，外国人的，陌生的，性质不同的）quality”. E.g., the American national experience of pioneering（开发，创始）into the west is a rich fund of material for American writers. It is these Romanticism writers that created an indigenous（土生土长的，生来的，固有的）American literature.c. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize（vi论道德，说教）than writers in England.American Transcendentalism（超验主义，先验论；顿悟）Background:In 1836 a little book Nature came out. It was written by Emerson. It was considered “the Manifesto （ˌmænəˌfestəʊ宣言）of Transcendentalism（ˌtrænsenˌdentl超验主义）”.It started with Emerson’s Nature and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855) The Transcendentalists set up a club called “Transcendentalist（trænsen'dentlist] adj. 先验论者的,超越论者的)Club”. They expressed their views published their journal Dial. The center place is New England and Concord( concord －简明英汉词典D.J.[ˌkɔnˌkɔ:d, ˌkɔŋ-]n. 和谐, 一致, 和睦).Major features1) Emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul as the most important thing in the universe2) The individual as the most important element of society3) Nature as symbolic of the Spirit or GodLimitations:1) The shallow (shallow [ˌʃæləu] adj. 1．浅的2．肤浅的) optimism(n. 乐观, 乐观主义) made itimpossible for them to understand human suffering.2) They cut themselves from life and were trapped by empty talk. They stressed too much on human intuition (in tuition [ˌɪntjuˌiʃən] n.1.直觉2.凭直觉感知的知识).3) They failed to provide solution to problem they found.课后部分习题1. Early in the 17th century, the England settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.settlers in America included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians, and3. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.4. There was little of the religious ferment（骚乱，动荡）and zeal（热心，热忱，热情）that inspired such a tide of literature to flow Puritan New England.5. The Puritans had come to New England for the sake of religious freedom, while Virginia had been planted mainly as a commercial venture.6.Hard work，thrift（节约，节俭），piety（虔诚，虔敬）and sobriety（清醒，未醉，严肃，节制）were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing, including the sermons（布道，说教）,books , and letters of such noted Puritan clergymen as John Cotton and Cotton Mather.True or false: The first American literature was neither American nor really literature.（T）It was not American because it was the work mainly of immigrants from England. It was not literature as we know it---in the form of poetry, essays, or fiction---but rather an interesting mixture of travel accounts and religious writings. The earliest colonial travel accounts are records of the perils（极大危险；危险的事或环境）and frustrations that challenged the courage of America’s first settlers. (P2)1. What are the influences of American Puritanism on American Literature?①Basis of American literaturedreamed of living under a perfect order；worked with courage；hoped to build an Eden of Garden on earth；faced the worst of life with optimism--went into the making of American literatureAll literature is based on a myth--Garden of Eden②Contributing to the development of Symbolism（象征主义）: a technique, widely used。

美国文学史复习资料(DOC)

附：作者及作品（第一、二册）一、殖民主义时期The Literature of Colonial America1．船长约翰•史密斯Captain John Smith 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》“A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony”《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》“A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country”《弗吉尼亚通史》“General History of Virginia”2．威廉•布拉德福德William Bradford 《普利茅斯开发历史》“The History of Plymouth Plantation”3．约翰•温思罗普John Winthrop《新英格兰历史》“The History of New England”4．罗杰•威廉姆斯Roger Williams《开启美国语言的钥匙》”A Key into the Language of America”或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》Or “ A Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New England ”5．安妮•布莱德斯特Anne Bradstreet 《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》”The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America”二、理性和革命时期文学The Literature of Reason and Revolution1。

本杰明•富兰克林Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)※《自传》“The Autobiography ”《穷人理查德的年鉴》“Poor Richard’s Almanac”2。

美国文学选读复习

History And Anthology of American Literature (VolumeⅠⅡ)美国文学史及选读1、2PartⅠThe Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学(at the beginning of 17th century)Part Ⅱ The Literature of Reason And Revolution理性和革命时期文学(by the mid-18th century)1．Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence 独立宣言(1776年18世纪中后期)（仔细阅读知道意思）Benjamin Franklin: The AutobiographyThomas Paine: The American Crisis*一、Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林1706-1790Symbol of America in the Age of Enlightenment殖民地时期作家。

独立战争前惟一的杰出的美国作家in the colonial period, the only good American author before the Revolutionary War.1．其还是美国第一位主要作家the first major writer非凡表达能力，简洁明了，有点幽默，还是一位讽刺天才as an author he had power of expression, simplicity, a subtle humor. He was also sarcastic.2．他最好作品收录在《自传》“Autobiography”。

“对这个年青的国家来说，他的损失比其它任何人的都要大“his shadow lies heavier than any other man’s on this young nation.二、Thomas Jefferson托马斯·杰弗逊（1743-1826）1．美国历史上最为广泛影响人物his thought and personality have influenced his countryman more deeply and remained more effectively alive.同富兰克林一样具人道主义精神vigorous humanitarian sympathies.启蒙运动的产物a product of the Enlightenment.2．1776年同约翰·亚当斯、本杰明·富兰克林、罗杰·谢尔曼、罗伯特·R·利文斯顿一起起草《独立宣言》with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R Livingston, he drafted the Declaration of Independence.3．1790-1793任华盛顿内阁中第一任国务卿，as the first American secretary of state. 1800起担任两届美国总统。

美国文学史及选读考研复习笔记2

History And Anthology of American Literature（2）Part ⅡThe Literature of Reason And Revolution理性和革命时期文学1．托马斯·佩因《常识》Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”;托马斯·杰弗逊《独立宣言》Thomas Jefferson “Declaration of Independence”2．在经济方面，英国要求美出口原材料，后从英国购回高成本的机器they hampered colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country.3．在政治方面，要求他们归英国政府统一管理，交各种税收但在议会中却没有代表by ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.4．美独立战争持续了八年（1776-1783）The War for Independence.诺亚·韦伯斯特（Noah Webster）说：文化上的独立，艺术上的著名。

5．文学上独立的代表作：1785年杰弗逊：《弗吉尼亚洲的声明》Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia”;1791年巴特姆：《旅行笔记》“Travels” by BartramⅠ. Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林1706-1790殖民地时期作家。

美国文学史复习要点手动

美国文学史复习要点手动1.早期美国文学（17世纪-18世纪）-早期美国文学的发展受到清教徒移民和殖民地环境的影响。

-早期作品主题包括宗教信仰、苦难和恐惧。

-著名作家有威廉·布拉德福和乔纳森·爱德华兹。

2.启蒙时期文学（18世纪）-美国启蒙时期的文学受到欧洲启蒙思想的影响。

-作品主题包括理性、自由和平等。

-著名作家有本杰明·富兰克林和汤玛斯·潘恩。

3.罗曼主义时期文学（19世纪早期）-罗曼主义时期美国文学反对启蒙时期的理性主义。

-作品主题包括个人感情、自然和超自然。

-著名作家有华盛顿·欧文和爱默生。

4.特拉华文学（19世纪中期）-特拉华文学是19世纪中期美国文学的重要流派。

-作品主题包括农民和工人的生活以及美国西部探险精神。

-著名作家有赫尔曼·梅尔维尔和华尔特·惠特曼。

5.现实主义和自然主义时期文学（19世纪末-20世纪初）-现实主义和自然主义时期的文学关注社会问题和个人命运。

-作品主题包括工业化、城市化和阶级冲突。

-著名作家有马克·吐温和斯蒂芬·克莱恩。

6.现代主义时期文学（20世纪初-中期）-现代主义时期的文学反对传统形式和价值观。

-作品表现迷失、不安和心理困惑。

-著名作家有欧内斯特·海明威和F·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德。

7.后现代主义时期文学（20世纪中期-现在）-后现代主义时期的文学拒绝一切形式的正统和稳定性。

-作品表现多样化的语言和视觉实验。

-著名作家有托尼·莫里森和大卫·福斯特·华莱士。

美国文学史复习资料前4章

美国文学史复习资料前4章美国文学史复习1（colonialism)第一部分殖民主义时期的文学一、时期综述1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作内容：1）their voyage to the new land2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops3) About dealing with Indians4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit3、清教徒的思想：1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位来源：(/doc/2f10857166.html,/s/blog_5d7e2e330100 blsr.html) - 美国文学史复习1（colonialism)_苗苗_新浪博客3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。

美国文学史概述及选读复习资料

美国文学史American Literature in the colonical and Revolutionary:Franklin(本杰明.富兰克林)Freneau 菲利普·费瑞诺Benjamin Franklin(本杰明.富兰克林)1)"Poor Richard's Almanac" 穷人查理德的年鉴(以笔名Richard Sunders)2)“annual collection of proverbs “流行谚语集 (It soon became the mostpopular book of its kind, largely because of Franklin's shrewd humor, and first spread his reputation)3)The Way to Wealth (Father Abraham’s Sermon)致富之道(as the “perface to PoorRichard Improved)4)The Autobiography自传 (18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传)5)Founded the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic andpolitical ideas. 建立了一个秘密俱乐部，讨论的主题是政治、经济和科学等时事方面的问题.6)established America's first circulating library, founded thecollege--University of Pennsylvania. 建立了美国第一个可租借的图书馆，还创办了一所大学——就是现在的宾夕法尼亚大学.7)first applied the terms "positive" and "negative" to electrical charges.8)Writer,printer,publisher,scientist,philanthropist,and diplomat,he was themost famous and respected private figure of his time.The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地(1)poet and political journalist 诗人和政治方面的新闻记者(2)perhaps the most outstanding writer of the post-revolutionary period.(3)has been called the "Father of American Poetry" 美国诗歌之父(4)Imaginative and melancholy treatment of nature and human life,and sharp satire against the British tyranny19th Century American LiteratureWashington Irving(华盛顿.欧文)1．James Fenimore Cooper(詹姆斯.芬尼莫.库珀)2．Nathaniel Hawthorne(纳萨尼尔.霍桑)3．Edgar Allan Poe （埃德加.阿伦.坡）4．Henry Daived Thoreau(亨利.戴维.梭罗)5．Herman Melville(赫尔曼.麦尔维尔)6．Walt Whiteman(沃尔特.惠特曼)The Rise of American RomanticismOne of the most important periods in the history of American literature, stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War(1861-65).It started with the publication of Washington Irving's e The h Sketch Book(1820) and ended with Whitman's s Leaves f of Grass(1855)..Romanticism的特点：frequently shared certain general characteristics, moralenthusiam, faith in the value of individualism andintuitive perception, and a presumption that he naturalworld was a source of corruption.浪漫主义之间大多是相通的，都注重道德，强调个人主义价值观和直觉感受，并且认为自然是美的源头，人类社会是腐败之源。

《美国文学史及选读》考研吴伟仁版考研复习笔记和真题

《美国文学史及选读》考研吴伟仁版考研复习笔记和真题第一部分殖民地时期的美国文学第1章约翰·史密斯1.1 复习笔记I. Historical Introduction (历史背景)(1) At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the vast continental area that was to become the United States had been probed only slightly by English and European explorers. At last early in the seventeenth century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.(2) The colonies that became the first United States were for the most part sustained by English traditions, ruled by English laws, supported by English commerce, and named after English monarchs and English lands.(3) The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of the settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, about adapting to new life and dealing with Indians; they wrote letters, contracts, government charters, religious and political statements.(4) The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Among the members of the small band of Jamestown settlers was Captain John Smith, an English soldier of fortune.His reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been described as the first distinctly American literature written in English. (1) 直到17世纪初，美国所在的广袤大陆才被英国及少数几个欧洲国家的探险家涉足。

美国文学史及选读第一册复习摘要

美国⽂学史及选读第⼀册复习摘要美⽂学摘要Puritanism(清教,清教徒主义): doctrines (d?ktrin n. 教条, 教义, 学说), values, features of Am. Puritans, influence on Am. Literature,Features of colonial poetsThe 1st Am. Writer：Captain John SmithKey Points of Enlightenment movement●Originated in Europe in the 17th century●Basic principles: Stressing education; Stressing Reason; Concerns for civil rights●Significance: Accelerating加速social progress; freeing people from the limitations set by prevailing(1．占优势的;主要的2．流⾏的;普遍的 )Puritanism; Making spiritual preparation for American Revolution Influence on literature:In form: imitating English classical writersIn content: utilitarian ([ju:?t?l??te?ri:?n] adj. 1．有效⽤的;实⽤的 2．功利(主义)的 n. 功利主义者;实⽤主义者) tendency (for political or educational purpose)What lessons can we d raw from the poem “the wild honeysuckle”（野⾦银花）?The wild can also be beautiful. Everyone should take an active attitude toward life. Never avoid challenges for fear of losing something. One can’t achieve anything under the shelter（shelter －简明英汉词典D.J.[??elt?]n. 1．遮蔽; 保护 2．避难所; 庇护所vt. 掩蔽; 庇护, 保护vi. 躲避, 避难）and protection.Features of American Romanticisma. Imitative: Some of the American Romantic writings were modeled on English and European works. The Romantic Movement proved to be a decisive influence. Without it, the rise of Romanticism would have been impossible. Romanticism writers such as Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron all made a stimulating impact on American literature.b. Independent: From the very beginning, American Romanticism exhibited（陈列，展览；显⽰，显出；展览品，陈列品，在法庭提出的证物）distinct（截然不同的，完全分开的；清晰的，明⽩的，明显的）features of its own. It originated from（来⾃，源于…）a mixture of factors which were altogether American rather than anything else. American Romanticism was in essence（本质上，⼤体上，事实）the expression of a real new experience and contained “an alien（外国的，外国⼈的，陌⽣的，性质不同的）quality”. E.g., the American national experience of pioneering（开发，创始）into the west is a rich fund of material for American writers. It is these Romanticism writers that created an indigenous（⼟⽣⼟长的，⽣来的，固有的）American literature.c. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize（vi论道德，说教）than writers in England.American Transcendentalism（超验主义，先验论；顿悟）Background:In 1836 a little book Nature came out. It was written by Emerson. It was considered “the Manifesto （?m?n??fest??宣⾔）of Transcendentalism（?tr?nsen?dentl超验主义）”.It started with Emerson’s Nature and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855) The Transcendentalists set up a club called “Transcendentalist（tr?nsen'dentlist] adj. 先验论者的,超越论者的)Club”. They expressed their views published their journal Dial. The center place is New England and Concord( concord －简明英汉词典D.J.[?k?n?k?:d, ?k??-]n. 和谐, ⼀致, 和睦).Major features1) Emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul as the most important thing in the universe2) The individual as the most important element of society3) Nature as symbolic of the Spirit or GodLimitations:1) The shallow (shallow [l?u] adj. 1．浅的2．肤浅的) optimism(n. 乐观, 乐观主义) made itimpossible for them to understand human suffering.2) They cut themselves from life and were trapped by empty talk. They stressed too much on human intuition (in tuition [?? ntju?i??n] n.1.直觉2.凭直觉感知的知识).3) They failed to provide solution to problem they found.课后部分习题1. Early in the 17th century, the England settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.settlers in America included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians, and3. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.4. There was little of the religious ferment（骚乱，动荡）and zeal（热⼼，热忱，热情）that inspired such a tide of literature to flow Puritan New England.5. The Puritans had come to New England for the sake of religious freedom, while Virginia had been planted mainly as a commercial venture.6.Hard work，thrift（节约，节俭），piety（虔诚，虔敬）and sobriety（清醒，未醉，严肃，节制）were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing, including the sermons（布道，说教）,books , and letters of such noted Puritan clergymen as John Cotton and Cotton Mather.True or false: The first American literature was neither American nor really literature.（T）It was not American because it was the work mainly of immigrants from England. It was not literature as we know it---in the form of poetry, essays, or fiction---but rather an interesting mixture of travel accounts and religious writings. The earliest colonial travel accounts are records of the perils（极⼤危险；危险的事或环境）and frustrations that challenged the courage of America’s first settlers. (P2)1. What are the influences of American Puritanism on American Literature?①Basis of American literaturedreamed of living under a perfect order；worked with courage；hoped to build an Eden of Garden on earth；faced the worst of life with optimism--went into the making of American literatureAll literature is based on a myth--Garden of Eden②Contributing to the development of Symbolism（象征主义）: a technique, widely used。

美国文学选读复习资料

美国文学选读复习资料美国文学选读复习资料美国文学是世界文学宝库中的一颗璀璨明珠，承载着美国历史、文化和社会的精华。

作为文学爱好者和学生，对于美国文学的了解和掌握是必不可少的。

本文将为大家提供一份美国文学选读的复习资料，帮助大家更好地理解和欣赏美国文学的经典之作。

一、美国文学的起源与发展美国文学的起源可以追溯到十七世纪的殖民地时期。

最早的美国文学作品是早期殖民者的日记、教会纪实和历史记录，如《普利茅斯纪事》和《马萨诸塞纪事》。

随着殖民地的发展和美国独立战争的爆发，美国文学逐渐形成了自己的独特风格和主题，如《飘》、《红字》和《汤姆·索亚历险记》等。

二、美国文学的主题与特点美国文学的主题广泛而多样，涵盖了对自由、平等、个人主义和社会正义的探索。

美国文学作品常常关注社会问题和人类命运，如种族歧视、性别平等、战争和社会阶级等。

同时，美国文学也以其写实主义和现实主义的风格著称，力求真实地描绘社会生活和人物形象。

三、美国文学的代表作品1.《钢铁是怎样炼成的》这是美国作家海明威的代表作之一，通过描写一战期间的士兵们的生活和战争的残酷性，展现了人性的脆弱和战争的荒谬。

2.《了不起的盖茨比》这是美国作家菲茨杰拉德的代表作之一，以20世纪20年代的纽约社交圈为背景，描绘了财富、爱情和欲望的交织，对美国梦的追求和破灭进行了深刻的探讨。

3.《杀死一只知更鸟》这是美国作家哈珀·李的代表作之一，通过一个小女孩的视角，揭示了种族歧视和社会不公的问题，以及人性的复杂性和善恶的边界。

4.《老人与海》这是美国作家海明威的另一部代表作品，通过一个老渔夫与大海的搏斗，探讨了生命的意义和人与自然的关系。

5.《傲慢与偏见》这是英国作家简·奥斯汀的作品，虽然不是美国文学，但对美国文学的影响深远。

通过描写女主角伊丽莎白·班纳特的成长和婚姻观念的转变，探讨了社会等级、婚姻和爱情的主题。

四、美国文学的影响与意义美国文学不仅仅是一种艺术形式，更是美国文化和民族精神的重要组成部分。

美国文学史及选读复习笔记(1-2册)

History And Anthology of American Literature (VolumeⅠⅡ)美国文学史及选读1、2PartⅠThe Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学1.17世纪早期English and European explorers开始登陆美洲。

在他们之前100多年Caribbean Islands, Mexico andother Parts of South America已被the Spanish占领。

2.17th早期English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts(弗吉尼亚和马萨诸塞)开始了美国历史3.美国最早殖民者(earliest settlers)included Dutch ,Swedes ,Germans ,French ,Spaniards ,Italians and Portuguese(荷兰人，瑞典人，德国人，法国人，西班牙人，意大利人及葡萄牙人等)。

4.美国早期文学主要为the narratives and journals of these settlements采用in diaries and in journals(日记和日志)，他们写关于the land with dense forests and deep-blue lakes and rich soil.5.第一批美国永久居民：the first permanent English settlement in North America was established atJamestown,Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿)。

6.船长约翰·史密斯Captain John Smith他的作品(reports of exploration)17th早期出版，被认为是美国第一部真正意义上的文学作品in the early 1600s,have been described as the first distinctly American literature written in English.他讲述了filled with themes, myths, images, scenes, character and events,吸引了朝圣者和清教徒前往lure the Pilgrims and the Puritans.7.美国第一位作家：1608年Captain John Smith写了封信《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》“A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony”.8.他的第二本书1612年《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》“A Map of Virginia: with a Description of theCountry”.9.他一共出版了八本书，其中有关于新英格兰的历史及描述。

美国文学史及选读期末复习题

1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer.5.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.6.The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton,sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”7.Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, and she wasnicknamed the tenth Muse.8.Poor Richard’s Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.9.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration forIndependence”.10.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, BenjaminFranklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.11.Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in suchnature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle” and “The Indian Burying Ground”.12.Philip Freneau has been called the “Father of American Poetry”.13.In Washington Irving’s Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first greatAmerican juvenile literature.14.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprisethe Leatherstocking tales.15.“To a Waterfowl” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s wok.16.“Thanatopsis”, William Cullen Bryant’s best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambictetrameter abab. The title means “view of death”.17.Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothicstories”.18.Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.19.In Walden, Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and therest of the time could be devoted to thought.20.Hawthorne’s stories touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature.21.Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seeminglysupernatural white whale.22.After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’sCorner of Westminster Abbey.23.Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, had become an American institutionand the most famous literary woman in the world.24.William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middleclass.25.William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life” as being themore “American.”26.The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will,that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.27.The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.28.O·Henry’s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for theirsurprising end.29.Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confrontingthe complexity of European life.30.Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.31.Dreiser’s greatest and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young manwho acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth—through marriage if necessary.32.Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “LostGeneration,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.33.Wallace Stevens’ work is primarily motivated by the belief that “ideas of order”.34.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway became the spokesman for whatGertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Terms1.TranscendentalismTranscendentalism refers to the religious and philosophical doctrines of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others in New England in the middle 1800’s, which emphasized the importance of individual inspiration and intuition, the Oversoul, and Nature. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-reliant. New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.2.NaturalismNaturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France and it came to be led by Zola, who claimed at “scientific” status for his studies of impoverished characters miserably subjected to hunger, sexual obsession, and hereditary defects. Natural fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored corners of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English being Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.3.American DreamThe American Dream is the faith held by many people in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations.4.The Lost GenerationThe term Lost Generation was coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to a group of American Literary notables who lived in Paris from the time period which saw the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Significant members included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, T. S. Eliot, and Gertrude Stein herself. Hemingway likely popularized the term, quoting Stein (“You are all a lost generation”) as epigraph to his novel The Sun Also Rises. More generally, the term is being used for the young adults of Europe and America during World War I. They were “lost”because after the war many of them were disillusioned with the world in general and unwilling to more into a settled life5. ModernismModern writing is marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression; it believes that we create the world in the act of perceiving it. Modernism implies historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, and of despair. Itelevates the individual and his inner being over social man and prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious.6. RomanticismRomanticism as a literary movement came into being in England in the later half of the 18th century. It first made its appearance in England as a renewed interest in medieval literature. William Blake and Robert Burns represented the spirit of what is usually called Pre-Romanticism. With the publication of W illiam Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with S. T. Coleridge, romanticism began to bloom and found a firm place in history of English literature. In fact, the first half the 19th century recorded the triumph of Romanticism.7. PuritanismThe principles and practices of puritans were popularly known as Puritanism. Puritanism accepted the doctrines of Calvinism: the sovereignty of God; the supreme authority of the Bible; the irresistibility of God’s will for man in every act of life from cradl e to grave. These doctrines led the Puritans to examine their souls to find whether they were of the elect and to search the Bible to determine God’s will.8.Hemingway Heroes / Code Hero“Hemingway Heroes” refer to some protagonists in Hemingway’s works. Such a hero usually is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent. And usually he is a man of action and of a few words. He is such an individualist, alone even when with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place where one can not get happiness. The Hemingway heroes stand for a whole generation. In a world which is essentially chaotic and meaningless, a Hemingway hero fights a solitary struggle against a force he does not even understand. The awareness that it must end in defeat, no matter how hard he strives, engenders a sense of despair. But Hemingway heroes possess a kind of “despairing courage” as Bertrand Russell terms. It is this courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert his dignity in face of adversity. Surely Hemingway heroes differ, one from another, in their view of the world. The difference which comes gradually in view is an index to the subtle change which Hemingway’s outlook had undergone.Identify the fragments.1. These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly—This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.(1)Which book is this passage take from?(2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language?Answer:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it”, it referring to “the service of their country”. In themeantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis. (4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. From morning suns and evening dewsAt first thy little being came;If nothing once, you nothing lose,For when you die you are the same;The space between, is but an hour,The frail duration of a flower.(1) Who is the writer of these verses?(2) What is the title of this poem?(3) Give a brief comment on this poems.Answer:(1) Philip Freneau(2) The Wild Honeysuckle(3) Here Freneau offers a version of an abundant America with potential for providing a good life for all. The poem is also an indication of his dedication to American subject matter as he examined peculiarly American characteristics of the countryside.3.From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. Drowsy and dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Question:(1) Who is the writer of this short story from which the passage is taken?(2) What is the title of this short story?(3) Give a definition of “short story”?Answer:(1) Washington Irving(2) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(3) A short story is a brief prose fiction, usually one that can be read in a single sitting. It generally contains the six major elements of fiction—characterization, setting, theme, plot, point of view and style.4. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho’s story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its ownparticular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates…Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod’s main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.Question:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answer:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.5. To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generation the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these preachers of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.Question:(1)This paragraph is taken from a famous essay. What is the of the essay?(2)Who is the author?(3)What does the author say would happen if the stars appeared one night in a thousand years?(4)Give a peculiar term to cover the author’s belief.Answer:(1) Nature(2) Ralph Waldo Emerson(3)Then, the men cannot believe and adore the God, cannot preserve the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown.(4)Transcendentalism6. Isabel always felt an impulse to pull out the pins; not that she imagined they inflicted any damage on the tough old parchment, but because it seemed to her her aunt might make better use of her sharpness. She was very critical herself-it was incidental to her sex, and her nationality butshe was very sentimental as well, and there was something in Mrs. Touchett’s dryness that set her own moral fountains flowing.Questions:(1) This passage is taken from a well-known novel. What is the name of the novel?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) Make a brief comment on the heroine of this novel?(4) What is theme of the author? Tell something about it.Answer:(1) The Portrait of a Lady(2) Henry James(3) She is one of the Jamesian American girls. She arrives in Europe, full of hope, and with a will to live a free and noble life, but in fact, she only falls prey to the sinister designs of two vulgar and unscrupulous expatriates, Madam Merle and Gilbert Osmond.(4) Jamesian theme refers to Henry James’s handling of his major fictional theme, “the international theme”: the meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and Psychological complications arising there from.7.When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answer:(1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.Give brief answers to the following questions.1.What are the characteristics of the Colonial Literature?In a real sense, there were no literal works in the early colonial period. They were just personalliterature in the form of diaries, travel books, letters, journals, sermons, histories and prose.(1) In content, they wrote about the voyage to the new land, about adopting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops, about dealing with Indian, and especially about religion.(2) In form, English traditions were imitated.ment briefly on Emily Dickinson’s themes?(1)By far the largest portion of Dickinson’s poetry concerns death and immortality, theme which lie at the centre of Dickinson’s world.(2)Dickinson’s nature poems are also great in number and rich in matter. Natural phenomena, changes of seasons, heavenly bodies, animals, birds and insects, flowers of various kinds, and many other subjects related to nature find her way into her poetry.(3)Dickinson also wrote some poems about love. Like her death and nature poems, her love poems were original.(4)Besides deaths and immortality, nature and love, Dickinson’s poems are concerned about ethics, with respect to which, she emphasizes free will and human responsibility.3. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser’s themes and writing style?Theme: Dreiser’s works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected and faithfully recorded, is a technique of power. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge—to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that has made him one of America’s foremost novelists.4 Henry James is a great realistic writer. Name two of his major works. Do you know anything about his narrative “point of view”? What is it for? How does James employ it in his works? Briefly discuss this question.(1) Henry James’s major works include Daisy Miller and The Portrait of A Lady, etc.(2) One of Henry James literary techniques is his narrative “point of view.” As the author, James avoids the authorial omniscience as much as possible and makes his characters reveal themselves with his minimal intervention. So it is often the case that in his novels we usually learn the main story by reading through one or several minds and share their perspectives. This narrative method proves to be successful in bringing out his themes.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1)Directly treat poetic subjects.(2)Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3)Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6.Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1)Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2)Emily Dickinson is “regional”, while Walt Whitman is “national” in his outlook.(3)Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.7. Briefly discuss Hemingway’s Iceberg PrincipleIceberg principle is that the full meaning of the text is not limited to moving the plot forward:there is always a web of association and inference, a submerged reason behind the inclusion (or even the omission) of every detail.In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway outlined his “theory of omission” or “iceberg principle.”He states: “is a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know only makes hollow places in his writing.”8. Briefly discuss the Jazz Age“The Jazz Age” describes the period the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the years between World War I and World War II, particularly in North America; with the rise of the Great Depression, the values of this age saw much decline. Perhaps the most representative literary work of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term “The Jazz Age”. It can also be known as “The Roaring Twenties” and “The Dollar Decade.”9. Jack Landon’s themes(1) London was logically inconsistent in his viewpoint.On the one hand, he took faith in Darwin’s surviv al of the fittest, evolutionary concept of progress, and on the other hand, he embraced the socialists’ doctrines of Marx.(2) London wrote on many subjects and themes which centered around primitive violence, Anglo-Saxon supremacy(至上), biological evolution, class warfare, and mechanistic determinism. His heroes are physically robust and rugged but often psychologically harried(苦恼). His heroines are athletic, daring, yet intensely feminine. They are man’s intellectual equal and his emotional superior.10. Briefly discuss ImagismImagism was one of the modern literary movements which expressed the modern spirit, the sense of fragmentation（破裂）and dislocation（错位，混乱）. It came as a reaction to the traditional English poetics. The first Imagist theorist is the English writer T.E. Hume. He suggests that modern art deal with expression and communication of momentary（瞬间的）phases in the poet’s mind.Poetic techniques should become subtle enough to record exactly the momentary impressions. The most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through one dominant image. Each word must be an image seen. Each sentence should be a lump(团,块), a piece of clay, a vision seen. Hulme advises the poet to seek the hard, personal word for expression. The Imagist movement lasted from 1908 to 1917.。

美国文学史概述及选读复习资料

美国文学史American Literature in the colonical and Revolutionary:1.Benjamin Franklin(本杰明.富兰克林)2.hilip Freneau 菲利普·费瑞诺Benjamin Franklin(本杰明.富兰克林)1)"Poor Richard's Almanac" 穷人查理德的年鉴(以笔名Richard Sunders)2)“annual collection of proverbs “流行谚语集(It soon became the most popular bookof its kind, largely because of Franklin's shrewd humor, and first spread his reputation) 3)The Way to Wealth (Father Abraham’s Sermon)致富之道(as the “perface to Poor RichardImproved)4)The Autobiography自传(18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传)5)Founded the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and politicalideas. 建立了一个秘密俱乐部，讨论的主题是政治、经济和科学等时事方面的问题.6)established America's first circulating library, founded the college--University ofPennsylvania. 建立了美国第一个可租借的图书馆，还创办了一所大学——就是现在的宾夕法尼亚大学.7)first applied the terms "positive" and "negative" to electrical charges.8)Writer,printer,publisher,scientist,philanthropist,and diplomat,he was the most famousand respected private figure of his time.The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地(1)poet and political journalist 诗人和政治方面的新闻记者(2)perhaps the most outstanding writer of the post-revolutionary period.(3)has been called the "Father of American Poetry" 美国诗歌之父(4)Imaginative and melancholy treatment of nature and human life,and sharp satire against the British tyranny19th Century American LiteratureWashington Irving(华盛顿.欧文)1．James Fenimore Cooper(詹姆斯.芬尼莫.库珀)2．Nathaniel Hawthorne(纳萨尼尔.霍桑)3．Edgar Allan Poe （埃德加.阿伦.坡）4．Henry Daived Thoreau(亨利.戴维.梭罗)5．Herman Melville(赫尔曼.麦尔维尔)6．Walt Whiteman(沃尔特.惠特曼)The Rise of American Romanticism• One of the most important periods in the history of American literature, stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War(1861-65).• It started with the publication of Washington Irving's e T he h Sketch Book(1820) and ended with Whitman's s Leaves f of Grass(1855)..Romanticism的特点：frequently shared certain general characteristics, moral enthusiam,faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and apresumption that he natural world was a source of corruption.浪漫主义之间大多是相通的，都注重道德，强调个人主义价值观和直觉感受，并且认为自然是美的源头，人类社会是腐败之源。

美国文学史及选读复习重点

Captain John Smith (first American writer).Anne Bradstreet；The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America （colonists living）Edward Taylor(the best puritan poet)John Cotton ”the Patriarch of New England” teacher spiritual leader Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography Poor Richard’s Almanack Thomas Jefferson：Political Career Thoughts The Declaration of Independence we hold truth to be self-evidencePhilip Freneau“Father of American Poetry” The Wild Honey Suckle American Romanticism optimism and hopeNationalism Washington Irving“Father of American Literature short story”The first “Pure Writer” A History of New York The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American Romanticism! “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Rip Van WinkleJames Fenimore Cooper Father of American sea and frontier novels Leather stocking Tales The Last of the Mohicans The Pioneers The Prairie The Pathfinder The DeerslayerEdgar Allan Poe father of detective story and horror fiction Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque “MS. Found in a Bottle” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”“The Fall of the House of Usher”“The Masque of the Red Death”“TheCask of Amontillado”效果论art for arts sake诗歌The Raven 《乌鸦》Annabel Lee 《安娜贝尔•李》To Helen 《致海伦》•Henry Wadsworth Longfellow be honored by having his bust placed in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey.the first American poet to write the narrative poems.•Works:•Voices of the Night《夜吟》•Ballads and Other Poems《民谣及其他》• A Psalm of Life《人生礼赞》•The Slave’s Dream《奴隶的梦》•The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls《潮起潮落》•My Lost Youth《逝去的青春》•The Song of Hiawatha《海华沙之歌》•The Courtship of Miles Standish《迈尔斯斯坦迪什的求婚》••New England Transcendentalism summit of American •Romanticism.Leaders: Emerson and Thoreau“The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.”•Ralph Waldo Emerson New England Transcendentalism. •Nature (论自然) American Scholar （美国学者）Divinity School Address （神学院演说）Representative Men 代表English Traits（英国人的特征）•The Over-Soul (论超灵) Self-Reliance（论自立）•Henry David Thoreau Walden, or Life in the Woods Civil Disobedience•Transcendentalism Emerson Thoreau •Nathaniel Hawthorne Twice-Told Tales Mosses from an Old Manse The Scarlet Letter•The House of the Seven Gables 1851••The Blithedale Romance 1852••The Marble Faun 1860g)“Young Goodman Brown”(Mosses from an Old Manse)g)“The Minister’s Black Veil”（Twice-Told Tales ）g)“Dr. Rappacini’s Daughter” (Mosses from an Old Manse)Herman Melville Typee the whaler Acushnet Omoo Mardi Pierre White Jacket Billy Budd Moby Dick RedburnHenry Wadsworth Longfellow be honored with a bust in the Poet’s corner of Westminster Abbey.Naturalism：自然主义 a new and harsher realism Deterministic 决定论，宿命的pessimism代表作家：Stephen Crane 史蒂芬.克莱恩, Frank Norris 弗朗克.诺里斯, Jack London 杰克.伦敦, Theodore Dreiser 西奥多.德莱塞.Darwinism: 达尔文主义:an evident influence on naturalism, stress the animality of manWalt Whitman Leaves of Grass the first genuine epic poem •Emily Dickinson•Because I could not Stop for Death•I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died•My Life Closed Twice before its Close•I Died for Beauty—but was ScarceHarriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom’s CabinMark Twainn 1.The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865) (卡拉弗拉斯县的著名跳蛙)n 2.Innocents Abroad (1869)（成功傻子出国记）n 3.Roughing It (1872) （艰苦岁月）n 4.The Gilded Age (with Charles Dudley waenner,1873) （镀金时代）n 5.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)（汤姆索耶历险记）The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn realismO. Henry The Gift of the Magi the cop and AnthemHenry James Daisy Miller The Portrait of a Lady 国际化Jack London The Call of the Wild Martin Eden”(autobiographical novel自传体小说)•Theodore Dreiser•Sister Carrie 1900•An American Tragedy 1925 the greatest successful•The Financier 1912•The Titan 1914•The Stoic the protagonist Trilogy of desire欲望三部曲•Dreiser Looks at Russia 1928•F. Scott Fitzgerald•This Side of Paradise (1920)•Flappers and Philosophers (1920)•The Beautiful and Damned (1920)•Tales of the Jazz Age (1922)•The Great Gatsby (1925)•Tender Is the Night (1934)•The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story)•Ernest Hemingway representative of “The Lost Generation •The Sun Also Rises(1926)• A Farewell to Arms(1929)•eg. For Whom the Bell Tolls(1937)•eg. The Old Man and the Sea(1952)T. S. Eliot The Waste LandO.Henry the gift of Magi the cop and the AnthemJack London The call of the wild Martin EdenEzra pound in a station of the metroEdwin Arlington Robinson Richard CoryRobert Frost the road not taken stopping by woods on a snowy evening 崇尚自然Carl Sandburg fogWallace Stevens Anecdote of the jarJohn Steinbeck the grapes of wrathWilliam Faulkner the sound and the fury as I lay dying sanctuary light in August Absalom the Hamlet go down Moses50stars 13stripes任期8年New England northeast1492 哥伦比亚发现新大陆。

美国文学史与选读(上册)复习笔记

美国文学史及选读复习笔记整理by Daisy Part one. The literature of colonial AmericaI. Introduction of American literature1. Definition of American LiteratureLiterature produced in American English by American citizens2. Basic Qualities of American Writers1) IndependentA. no close hold; free from its controlB. an independent actionC. free-lance writer 自由作家D. their independence and their right to make up their own minds2) IndividualisticA. their own efforts for successB. the initiative; not give in easilyC. free from political prejudice and ideological conformityD. their literary career; successful through their individual effortsE. the rights of individuals; their own rights and interestF. a means of self-expression; a way of expressing their personal views about life andsociety, of advocating liberty, democracy and independent action of the individual.G. a devotion to self-realization, to protection of environment and to suspicion of amass society and power3) CriticalA. not satisfied with the contemporary societyB. question the prevailing valuesC. discern flaws in societyD. criticize American societyE. a literary tradition in America4) InnovativeA. the least restraints and bondage to the pastB. the new ideas, new attitudes, and new cultural facesC. experiments in writingD. different from others as much as possible; a new trend almost every ten yearsE. Ameri ca’s changing values5) HumorousA. a strictly national characteristic; part of their life, their character, and their styleB. the ludicrous and mirthfulC. enrich American literature with humor of all kindsII. Native American Literature1. Background1) A rich store of oral literature2) Different literary taste2. Three stages of development1) Traditional Indian LiteratureA. the category of oral literatureB. a regularity of metric patternC. an organic part of everyday lifeD. functional2) Transitional Indian LiteratureA. translations of the great Indian orators; memoirs of the Indian experienceB. related by Indians to white audiences.3) Modern Indian LiteratureA. novels, short stories, and poetryB. more good Indian poets than fiction writersC. both their rich heritage and their tragic loss of identityIII. Literature of Colonial Settlements1. Background1) Neither American nor really literaturenot American: the work mainly of immigrants from Englandnot literature: an interesting mixture of travel accounts and religious writings2) The austere 简朴的Pilgrims to reform the Church of England2. Puritanism1) The New England settlements:A. religious controversyB. an urge for religious freedom and determinationC. fleeing from religious and political oppression and persecutionD. human thirst for greater economic opportunity, for land, and for adventure2) Puritans -to “purify” the religious practice in the church3) Their own religious and moral principlesAmerican Puritanism — one of the enduring influences in American thoughtand American literature.4) Predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement 补偿fromGod’s grace5) Their way of life — hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety3. Literature (In the colonial period, much of the literature was produced by Puritanwriters.)1) A literary expression of the Puritan idealismThe Puritan optimism — enormous impact on American literature2) A literature of discoveryThe potentialities of the New World; The harsh reality.3) The types of writing produced in the colonial settlements histories, travelaccounts, biographies, diaries, letters, autobiographies, sermons and poems4) The purpose of writingto record their experiences and to express their views and feelings5) Writers in this period includeWilliam Bradford(1590-1657)，John Winthrop(1588-1631),Ann Bradstreet(1612-1672), one of the most interesting of the early poetsEdward T aylor(1642-1729). the best of the Puritan poets.A and E: They can be called servants of God. Their writings served either Godor colonial expansion.Some other colonial writers wrote for civil and religious freedom, and somewrote for America shaking off the fetters of the savage British colonial rule.4. Characteristics1) utilitarian功利主义的, polemical好争论的, or didactic说教的2) teach some kind of lesson3) served either God or colonial expansion or both4) a practical consideration of the sort impression— each writer wanted to make upon a selected group of readers5) symbolism as a technique6) plainness7) fresh, simple, direct, and with a touch of nobility8) as much a product of continuities as an indigenous creation补充American PuritanismAmerican Puritanism is one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature.The term “puritan” was first applied to those Protestant reformers who rejected QueenElizabeth’s religious settlements of 1560 because they were determined to “purify” their religion.Puritan BeliefsTwo covenants:1. the agreement made between God and Adam“original sin”(原罪）2. the agreement made between God and Abraham“grace”（恩典）The Puritans believed that they were descendents of Abraham: they were the “elect group” redeemed by the suffering of Jesus Christ and chosen to receive God’s “grace”.1. Origin of PuritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th C, the English King Henry VIII, at that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope’s permission. Henry VIII wanted to divor ce his wife because she couldn’t bear him a son. But the Pope didn’t allow him to divorce because his wife is the Pope’s niece. Henry VIII became very dissatisfied with the Pope, so he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of England. But there was no radical彻底地difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans… Of cours e they had different religious belief from that of the Catholic Church.2. Puritanism---based on Calvinism•1)predestination: God’s electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They b elieved the success of one’s business is the sign to show he is the God’s elect.So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for thefuture business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.•2)original sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans’ pessimistic attitude toward life. •3)limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)•4)theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one. The Puritans established Am tradition---intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment.Puritanism & ConfucianismConfucianism (修身齐家治国平天下) )3. Influence on Am literature•1)its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage.It can be said American literature is bases on the Biblical myth of the Gardenof Eden.(Adam and Eve used to live a carefree life in the Garden of Eden. luredby the snake, they ate the Forbidden Fruit in the apple tree. A peice of applechoked in Adam’s throat , then came Adam’s apple. After knowing the truth,God became very angry and drove them all out of the Garden of Eden. Thesnake used to walk like man but after that the God force him to crawl. Thenman was forced to suffer the labor to keep the whole family and Woman wasforced to suffer the agony of baby bearing.) After that, man have an illusionto restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believeing thatGod must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise , tobuild the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strongsense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism.The optimistic Puritans has exerted a great influence on American literature, •2)Puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism问题American colonial literature is neither real literature nor Americanwhy?1.Diaries,histories,journals,letters,etc. personal literature in various forms2.Colonial Literature is mainly English literature tradition imitated & transplanted.Part two. The Literature of Reason and RevolutionⅠ.Background1. The American War for Independence 1775-1783The formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic: the United States ofAmerica2. EnlightenmentA) The spiritual life in the colonies during the period was to a great degree moldedby the bourgeois Enlightenment.(PS. The Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used todescribe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon theeighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source andlegitimacy for authority.)(1) Originated in Europe in the 17th century; Center of Enlightenment: France(2) Sources: Newton’s theory;deism（自然神教派); French philosophy (Rousseau, Voltaire)(3) Basic principles:Stressing education; stressing Reason (Order) (The age has been called theAge of Reason.); employing Reason to reconsider the traditions and socialrealities; concerns for civil rights, such as equality and social justice; the ideaof progress.(4)Representatives:孟德斯鸠(Montesquieu, 1689—1755) Spirit Law division of power 三权分立伏尔泰(Voltaire,1694－1778) Philosophical(哲学通信）、思想：naturalfreedom and equality人生而自由平等狄德罗(Diderot, 1713-1784)让·雅各·卢梭(Jean-Jacques Rousseau,1712—1778) Social Contrac t康德(Kant, 1724-1804)霍布斯(Hobbs, 1588-1679)洛克(John Locke, 1632-1704)B) At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely dueto journalism. All the leaders of the revolution were influenced by the Enlightenment;Representatives: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, etc.The representatives of the Enlightenment set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.They also actively participated in the War for Independence.C) The new nation was set on the basic ideas and principles of the Enlightenment.Influence of the Enlightenment(1) American Enlightenment dealt a decisive blow upon the Puritan traditionsand brought to life secular education and literature.(2) The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the lifeand career of Benjamin Franklin.Ⅱ. LiteratureLiterature in the period of American Revolution was predominately public utilitarian 1. Call for America’s independence in literatureIn 1783, Noah Webster declared, “America must be as independent as she is in politics, as famous for the arts as for arms”.Yet throughout the century American literature was largely patterned on the writing of 18th century Englishmen.2. Literary achievements: great political pamphleteering and state papersEssayists and journalists had shaped the nation’s beliefs with reason dressed in clear and forceful prose.3. Representative worksThomas Jefferson: Declaration of IndependenceThomas Paine: The American Crisis; Rights of Man; The FederalistBenjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac;The AutobiographyBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790)---a jack of all tradesA patriot, diplomat, author, printer, scientist, and inventor in the eighteenth century; One of the Founding Fathers of the United States.An embodiment of the “American Dream”1. His lifeBorn in a poor candle maker’s family in Boston and had no regular education; Became an apprentice to a printer when he was 12;An editor of a newspaper and published lots of essays when he was 16;He went to Philadelphia when he was 17 and became a successful printer and publisher;Found the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and political ideas;Established America’s first circulating library;Founded the college — University of Pennsylvania;Retired when he was 42.【successful in business, renowned in science, national affairs (politics)writer (literature): power of expression, simplicity, a subtle humor, sarcastic】2. Representative worksAs an author he had power of expression.His works are well-known for their simplicity, subtle humor and being sarcastic.(1)Poor Richard’s AlmanacModeled on farmers’ annual calendar; kept publishing for many years; includes many classical sayings, such as:“A penny saved is a penny earned.”“A plowman on his legs is higher than a gentlem an on his knees.”“God help them that help themselves.”“Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”(2) The Autobiographywritten when he was 65;an introduction of his life to his own son;including four parts written in different times;the first success story of self-made Americans.In The Autobiography we will be able to notice:1) Puritanism’s influence, such as self-examination and self-improvement(timetable, thirteen virtues, life style)2) Enlighte nment spirits (man’s nature is good, rights of liberty, virtues include“order”)3. His style: simple, clear in order, direct, concise and humorous(“Nothing should be expressed in two words that can as well be expressed in one.”) (Puritanism’s influence);First of its kind in literature and set the autobiography as a genre;Popular, still well-read today4. His influence------His values and style influenced lots of AmericansHe was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the treaty of peace with England, and the constitution.“His shadow lies heavier than any other man’s on this young nation.”“The new Promethe us who had stolen fire [electricity in this case] from heaven”—Kant(康德) He was a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador“Jack of all trades, master of each and mastered by none—the type and genius of hisland”—Herman Melville Thomas Paine (1737-1809)---Great Commoner of Mankind Revolutionary War patriot and pamphleteer,Born in Thetford, England. Paine immigrated in 1774 to Pennsylvania, where he gravitated toward those who supported colonial independence.1. Paine's pamphlet Common Sense appeared in January 1776 and caused an immediate sensation. In it, Paine both supported American independence and attacked the corruption of the British hereditary (世袭的) monarchy. He fought in the Revolutionary War and continued to publish, including his 1776 essay The American Crisis.2. Major works(1).The Case of the Officers of the Excise (1772)--- His first pamphlet, a petition to Parliament for a living wage for the excise collectors(2). Common Sense (1776)--- signed simply “By an Englishman”, to urge the colonies to declare independence;Pain became forthwith the most articulate spokesman of the American Revolution.(3). The American Crisis (1776-1783)---Paine’s chief contribution was a series of 16 pamphlets (1776-1783) entitled The American Crisis and signed “Common Sense” which dealt directly with the military engagements to inspire the Continental Army.(4). The Rights of Man (1791 - 92)--- an answer to Burke’s Recent Reflections on the French Revolution, which not only championed Rousseau’s doctrines of freedom, but also suggested the overthrow of the British monarchy. Paine was indicted for treason and was forced to seek refuge in France.(5). The Age of Reason (1795)---a deistic treatise advocating a rationalistic view of religion.(6). Analysis of The American Crisis(1776–1783)---a series of pamphlets published in London from 1776–1783 during the American Revolution. It decried British actions and Loyalists, offering support to the Patriot cause.Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)1. His mind ranged curiously over many fields of knowledge---law, philosophy, government, architecture, education, religion, science, agriculture, mechanics---and whatever he touched, he enriched in some measure.2. He was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of The Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States.3. As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France.4. He is a humanist looked to merit and ability alone, not to privilege.5. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793) and second Vice President (1797–1801).6. A polymath (学识渊博的人), Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist (古生物学者), author, inventor and founder of the University of Virginia.Philip Morin Freneau (1752-1832)---the most outstanding writer of the post-Revolutionary period He was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. Remembered as the poet of the American Revolution and the father of American poetry, he was a transitional figure in American literature.1. His political and satirical poems have value mainly for historians, but his place as the earliest important American lyric poet is secured by such poems as “The Wild Honeysuckle”, “The Indian Burying Ground”, and “Eutaw Springs”.2. His poems areStrongly lyrical; with clear imagery; neoclassical in form, and romantic in spirit.3. He is a deistic (自然神论的) optimist.(PS. Deism (自然神论, 自然神教派) is a religious philosophy and movement that derives the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience. This is in contrast to fideism [哲]信仰主义, 一种认为知识取决于信仰的学说which is found in many forms of Christianity. Islam, Judaism and Catholic teachings hold that religion relies on revelation in sacred scriptures or the testimony of other people as well as reasoning.)4. “The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Wild Honey Suckle”(1786) , is considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist (超验主义的) movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.In this poem the poet expressed a keen awareness of the loveliness and transience of nature. He not only meditated on Mortality but also celebrated nature.The poem implies that life and death are inevitable law of nature.“The Wild Honey Suck le”is Philip Freneau's most widely read natural lyric with the theme of transience.The central image is a native wild flower, which makes a drastic difference from elite flower images typical of traditional English poems.The poem showed strong feelings for the natural beauty, which was the characteristic of romantic poets.The poem was written in regular 6-line tetrameter stanzas, rhyming: ababcc. The structure of the poem is regular, so it has the neoclassic quality of proportion (比例;均衡) and balance.The line“ the space is but an hour“ contains a hyperbole stressing the transience of life. The tone of the poem is both sentimental and optimistic.Part three. The literature of romanticismⅠ.General Introduction1. What is Romanticism?(English Romanticism, as a historical phase of literature, is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott’s death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament. It appeared in England in the 18th century; a reaction against the prevailing neoclassical spirit and rationalism during the Age of Reason.)2. General features of RomanticismA. Stressing emotion rather than reasonB. Stressing freedom and individualityC. Idealism rather than materialismD. Writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elementsⅡ.Historical Introduction of American Romanticism:(1)Time: from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War(2)Reasons (Why Romanticism emerged?)A. Fast development of the new nation (flood of immigrants; pioneers pushing thefrontier further west; industrialization; economic boom; a promising new land with prevailed optimistic moods)B. Development of journalism (Some influential periodicals appeared, such as TheNorth American Review, The New York Mirror, The American Quarterly Review, The New England Magazine, The Southern Review, The Southern Literary Messenger, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Magazine and Knicker bockers. They need more literary productions.)C. Foreign influence (Review history of English literature.)(From the 18th centuryclassicismTo sentimentalism to Pre-Romanticism to Romanticism which can be divided into passive group and active group) (most influential British writers to American Romanticists-Walter Scott)(3)Features of American RomanticismA. ImitativeB. Independenta. peculiar American experience (landscape, pioneering to the West, Indiancivilization, new nation's democracy and dreams)b. Puritan heritage (more moralizing, edifying more than mere entertainment)(careful about love and sex. example: Scarlet Letter)(4)Two periods and representativesAmerican romanticism can be divided into the early period and the late period.A. 1770s to 1830s - Early periodRepresentatives: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper and New England poetsTwo famous poets: William Cullen Bryant (first distinctive American lyric poet;writing about nature, religion and life; famous poems -"Thanatopsis" and "To a Waterfowl") and Henry WadsworthLongfellow (balancing Romantic spirits with classical andChristian taste; famous poem - "A Psalm of Life")B. 1830s to 1860s - Late periodFlowering of American literatureRepresentatives: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Poe etc.(5) SignificanceCreative period of a Native American culture and literatureⅢ. Transcendentalism超验主义1. American Romanticism entered a new phase around the middle 1830s andculminated around the 1840s in what has come to be known as “New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance” (1836-1855). In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson published a book entitled Nature, which says that “The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul” and that “Spirit is present everywhere.”Nature has been called “The Manifesto of American Transcendentalism” and its voice pushed American Romanticism into the phase of New England Transcendentalism. With the publication of Nature and of Emerson’s “The American Scholar” in 1837, American literature began to enter its formative period of an indigenous national literature, with liberal and nationalistic, among others, as its most distinct features.2.Transcendentalism, as Emerson defined in his essay “The Transcendentalist,” is“idealism as appears in 1842” when some New Englanders formed themselves into an informal club, which came to be called , and met to discuss matters of interest to the life of the nation as a whole. It appeared in America as a kind of reaction against the materialistic-oriented life of the time, and was, in actuality, Romantic idealism.3. Major Features of New England TranscendentalismNew England Transcendentalism represented a new way of looking at the world, man, and nature. Its major features can be summarized as follows:(1) The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the oversoul, as the mostimportant thing in the universe. The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It existed in nature and man alike and constituted the chiefelement of the universe.This kind of view of the universe represented a new way of looking at the world and was a reaction to the eighteenth-century Newtonian concept of the universe as consisting of matter and a reaction against the popular tendency to get ahead in world affairs to the neglect of spiritual welfare.(2) The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society. As the regeneration of society could only come about through the regeneration of the individual, his perfection, his self-culture, and self-improvement should become the first concern of his life.A). the ideal type of man was the self-reliant individual whom Emerson never stopped talking about in his life. So people could depend on themselves for spiritual perfection.B). this new notion of the individual and his importance represented a new way of looking at man. It was a reaction against the Calvinist concept that man is totally depraved, sinful, and can not be saved except through the grace of God. It was also a reaction against the process of dehumanization that came in the wake of developing capitalism.C). the industrialization of New England was turning men into nonhuman. People were losing their individuality and were becoming uniform. By asserting the importance of the individual, the Transcendentalists emphasized the significance of men regaining their lost personality.(3) The Transcendentalists saw nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Naturewas, to them, not purely matter. It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. It was the garment of the Oversoul. They believed that things in nature tended to be symbolic, and the physical world was a symbol of the spiritual.A). this is in turn added to the tradition of literary symbolism in Americanliterature. New England Transcendentalism was important to American literature.It inspired a whole new generation of famous authors such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman and Dickinson.4. The Influence of Transcendentalism(1) It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about theidea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.(2) It advocated idealism that was greatly needed in a rapidly expanded economywhere opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on”obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.(3) It helped to create the first American Renaissance – one of the most prolificperiod.5. Major WritersNew England Transcendentalist Prose writers:Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)Novelists of American Renaissance:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)Herman Melville (1819-1891)Poets of American Renaissance:Walt Whitman (1819-1892)Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)THE BIG THREE:Ralph Waldo EmersonHenry David ThoreauMargaret FullerWriters of the Early periodWashington Irving (1783-1859)American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist. Irving has been called the father of the American short story. He is best known for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in which the schoolmaster Ichabold Crane meets with a headless horseman, and “Rip Van Winkle”, about a man who falls asleep for 20 years.1. Several names attached to Irving(1) First writer of American imaginative literature(2) The beginning of short story as a genre(3) The messenger先驱sent from the new world to the old world。

美国文学期末复习资料

美国文学期末复习资料美国文学作为一个重要的学科，涉及的内容很广，题材也很多。

为了帮助大家更好地进行期末复习，本文将为大家提供一些有用的资料和复习方法。

一、美国文学的历史概述美国文学的历史可以分为几个时期：殖民时期、启蒙时期、浪漫主义时期、现实主义时期、自然主义时期、现代主义时期等。

每个时期都有不同的题材和文学流派，需要我们进行详细的了解和掌握。

二、重要的美国文学作品在美国文学中，有很多重要的作品，如《飘》、《百年孤独》、《了不起的盖茨比》、《老人与海》、《麦田里的守望者》等。

这些作品的作者都是文学史上的巨匠，他们的作品对之后的文学创作产生了很大的影响，也是重要的考题。

三、主要的美国文学流派美国文学中有很多流派，如现代主义、后现代主义、现实主义、自然主义、浪漫主义等。

每个流派都有不同的特点和代表作品，需要我们对其进行深入的了解，从而更好地掌握美国文学的发展历程。

四、美国文学中的重要人物美国文学历史上有很多重要的人物，如沃尔特·惠特曼、马克·吐温、欧内斯特·海明威、海伦·凯勒等。

这些人物都是文学史上的重要人物，他们的作品对于美国文学的发展产生了深远的影响。

五、复习方法在复习美国文学的时候，我们可以采取以下几种方法：1. 将美国文学的历史概述、重要作品、主要流派、重要人物等内容进行系统的总结，形成属于自己的笔记。

2. 阅读相关作品，在了解作品的同时，结合自己的理解，形成自己的见解和思考。

3. 参加相关讲座和研讨会，向专业人士请教，深入了解美国文学的相关知识和技能。

4. 做好考试的准备，根据历年考题，进行模拟练习，找到自己的薄弱环节，进行针对性的复习。

总之，在进行美国文学的复习时，我们需要深入了解相关内容，同时养成良好的阅读习惯和思考习惯，不断加强对美国文学的理解和掌握，从而有效提高自己的成绩。