常耀信《美国文学简史》笔记和考研真题详解(二战后美国小说(1))【圣才出品】

第23章二战后美国小说（1）
23.1 复习笔记
I. Overview of postwar novel（二战后小说简介）
1. Historical Background（历史背景）
The postwar prosperity’s optimism was vitiated by the “Cold War”. The life of 1950s was poisoned at the root by McCarthyism, and that of the sixties enriched by the Civil Rights movement, the appearance of a counter culture, and an upsurge of feminism and feminist power. Whereas the Vietnam War weighted all the time on the consciousness of the people, life was complicated by violence, political or radical, including the assassinations of John. F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Everything seemed to be subjected to a prevailing skepticism. New advances in science and technology have given people an increasing sense of power, but have also further deprived life of its mysteries.
在二战后的一代中的乐观情绪，很快就被大国之间的冷战削弱了。

麦卡锡主义从根本上毒害了人们的50年代的生活。

民权运动，反主流文化的出现，女权主义的风起云涌则极大地丰富了60年代的生活。

而越南战争使人们的思想沉重。

生活因政治上的或激进的暴力行径而变得错综复杂，例如，肯尼迪和马丁·路德·金的遇刺身亡。

一切都陷入被质疑中。

科学技术方面的进步使人们感觉到力量，但同时也使生活失去了神秘感。

2. Features of postwar novels（战后小说特点）
The war novel, the southern novel, the Jewish novel, the Beat novel and alienation, the Black novel, and satire and the novel of manner, came to public notice in the years from the end of the war through 1960. And the period after that has been one in which American fiction is noted for its fantasy and surrealism, its nonfiction, black or absurd humor, parody and pop, and its experimental novelistic techniques. Themes such as the tyranny of society, the subjugation of the individual, the quest of self-identity, and the self-indulgence of the writer relation to his environment.
战末至1960年末期间，战争小说、南方小说、犹太小说、垮掉派小说、黑人小说、讽刺与世俗小说，引起了人们的广泛关注。

这之后，又有梦幻与超现实主义小说、非虚构小说、科幻小说、黑色或荒诞幽默小说、模仿与通俗小说、试验小说等。

主题则包括社会专制，个人被征服，寻求个人认同，作家在自我环境下的自我放纵等。

II. Saul Bellow (1915- 2005)（索尔·贝洛）
1. Life（生平）
Saul Bellow was about the best-known writer of his generation. He was born into a Russian Jewish family in Canada, he grew up in Chicago. His first book, Dangling Man, was published in 1944, and for over a half a century, he wrote a good number of novels, short stories and plays, and won a good number of awards. His career reached its exciting climax in 1976 when he was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature.
索尔·贝洛是当代美国最著名的小说家。

他出生于加拿大一个俄国犹太移民家庭。

他在芝加哥长大。

他的第一部小说《摇来晃去的人》发表于1944年。

在接下来的半个多世纪，他创作了大量的长篇小说、短篇小说和剧本，赢得了众多的奖项。

1976年他的创作事业到达巅峰，他同时被授予普利策奖和诺贝尔文学奖。

2. His Themes（主题）
Saul Bellow’s basic themes are essentially Three-fold: first, he views contemporary society as a threat to human life and human integrity. Then living in such an environment, people tend to become paranoid, high-strung, and impotent, and so lose their sanity. Finally, there is the quest motif, a quest for truth and values, difficult, excruciating, but successful in a way.
索尔·贝洛的主题主要是如下三方面：首先，他认为当代社会对人们的生活和独立人格是个威胁。

因此，生活在这种环境中，人们容易偏执多疑、精神紧张、虚弱无能以至失去理智。

最后，他的作品中总会有追寻真理及价值观的主题，追寻的过程是困难的、痛苦的，但最终结果却是成功的。

3. Major works（主要作品）
Dangling Man《摇来晃去的人》
The Victim《受害者》
The Adventures of Augie March《奥吉·马奇历险记》
Seize the Day《只争朝夕》
Henderson the Rain King《雨王汉德森》
Herzog《赫索格》
Mosby’s Memoirs《莫斯比的回忆》
Mr. Sammler’s Planet《塞姆勒先生的行星》
Humboldt’s Gift《洪堡的礼物》
The Dean’s December《院长的十二月》
More Die of Heartbreak《更多的人死于伤心》
The Bellarosa Connection《贝拉罗莎暗道》
A Theft《偷窃》
Something to Remember Me《以此记住我》
The Last Analysis《最后的分析》
III. Norman Mailer (1923-2007)（诺曼·梅勒）
Norman Mailer was a multi-faceted talent. He is a philosopher-metaphysician, a poet, a playwright, a filmmaker, a journalist, a politician, and a performer, in addition to being a novelist. His best-known works is The Naked and the Dead.
诺曼·梅勒是多方面的天才。

除了是小说家之外，他还是形而上学哲学家、诗人、剧作家、电影制作人、记者、政治家、演员。

他最知名的作品是《裸者与死者》。

◆Major works（主要作品）
The Naked and the Dead《裸者与死者》
Barbary Shore《北非之岸》
The Deer Park《鹿园》
The Armies of the Night《夜幕下的大军》
Marilyn:A Novel Biography《玛莉琳：小说体传记》
The Execution’s Song《刽子手之歌》
Ancient Evening《古老的夜晚》
Tough Guys Don't Dance《硬汉不跳舞》
Harlot’s Ghost《哈洛特的鬼影》
The Gospel According to the son《圣子福音》
Advertisement for Myself《我自己的广告》
An American Dream《美国梦》
Why Are We in Vietnam?《我们为什么在越南？》
Miami and the Siege of Chicago《迈阿密和芝加哥之围》
Existential Errands《存在主义的使命》
Genies and Lust《天才与欲望》
“The White Negro”《白色黑人》
IV. J. D. Salinger (1919-2010)（杰罗姆·大卫·塞林格）
1. Life（生平）
J. D. Salinger was born into a Jewish middle class family in New York City. As a child, he was shy and unsociable. He entered Valley Forge Military Academy at 15 and felt out of place there. The acedemy became the prototype for Pency, the high school, in The Catcher in the Rye, and some aspects of Holden’s life were to
replicate some of young Salinger’s experience there. He was a unique writer. He wrote one novel and became famous for it. Then for the last few years he was a recluse in his New Hampshire home, refusing interviews or any forms of contact with the press and the world outside. He died on January 27th, 2010, at the age of 91.
塞林格出生于纽约市一个犹太中产阶级家庭。

他幼时腼腆、不爱交际。

15岁时进入瓦利福奇军校，在这里他感觉不能适应。

这所学校后来成为《麦田里的守望者》的原型。

主人公霍尔顿生活的诸多方面复制了塞林格在这所学校的经历。

塞林格是一位独特的作家。

他只写过一部长篇小说，并因此而扬名。

之后数十年，他隐居在新罕布什尔的家中，拒绝采访和其他与媒体及外界联系的方式。

他死于2010年1月27日，享年91岁。

2. Major works（主要作品）
The Catcher in the Rye《麦田里的守望者》
“The Young Folks”《年轻人》
“Slight Rebellion off Madison”《麦迪逊街边的小乱子》
“I’m Crazy”《我疯了》
Nine Story《九篇故事》
Franny and Zooey《弗拉尼和佐伊》
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters; and Seymour: An Introduction《木工们，升高顶梁；及西摩介绍》
V. Bernard Malamud (1914-1986)（伯纳德·马拉穆德）。