常耀信《美国文学简史》(第3版)笔记和考研真题详解(5-8章)【圣才出品】

第5章霍桑•麦尔维尔

5.1复习笔记

I.Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)（纳撒尼尔·霍桑）

1.Life（生平）

Hawthorne was born in Salem,Massachusetts.Some of his ancestors were men of prominence in the Puritan theocracy.One of his ancestors was a colonial magistrate,notorious for his part in the persecution of the Quakers,and another was a judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trial in1692.Gradually,the family fortune declined.Hawthorn was intensely conscious of the wrongdoing of his ancestors,and this awareness led to his understanding of evil being at the core of human life,so he seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil in his life.

霍桑出生于马萨诸塞州的萨勒姆镇，他的一些祖先是17世纪新英格兰清教神权统治中的显赫人物。他的一位祖先是殖民地行政官，因参与迫害贵格党人而臭名昭著。另一位祖先则是1692年萨勒姆审巫案的法官。家族渐渐走向没落。霍桑强烈地意识到他祖先的恶性，这也让他明白了邪恶存在于人生命的核心部分，因此他的一生心中的罪恶感都挥之不去。

2.Ideas（思想）

(1)He was haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life,therefore we see“black vision”in his works—the power of blackness.Evil seems to be man’s birthmark.In almost every book he wrote, Hawthorne discussed sin and evil.

(2)He rejected the Transcendentalists'transparent optimism about the potentialities of human nature.

(3)Whenever there is sin,there is punishment.Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation.In his opinion,evil educates.

(4)He believed that romance was the predestined form of American narrative.He took a great interest in history and antiquity.To him these furnished the soil on which his mind grew to fruition.

(5)Hawthorne had a negative attitude toward science.

(1)霍桑一生心中都萦绕着罪恶感，因此我们可以在他的作品中感受到“黑色视觉”——邪恶的力量。他认为罪恶是人生来所带的标记。几乎他的每一部作品都涉及到了罪与恶。

(2)他反对超验主义者对人性抱着纯粹乐观的态度。

(3)罪行必遭惩罚，罪或者恶都会代代相传。他相信罪恶起教化的作用。

(4)他认为传奇是美国小说叙事的注定形式。他对历史和文物古迹有浓郁的兴趣。认为这些可以滋养思想的成长。

(5)霍桑对科学持消极的态度。

3.Writing style（写作风格）

(1)He is the most ambivalent writer,a consummate romantic in the American literature history.One salient feature of Hawthorne’s art is his ambiguity,of which the technique of multiple views employed in the last part of his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter offers a good illustration.

(2)He is good at exploring of the complexity of human psychology.He is anatomist of"the interior of the heart".His works are full of mental activities.

(3)Allegory is used to hold fast against the crushing blows of reality,the symbolism serves as

a weapon to attack and penetrate it.Hawthorne is a master of symbolism,which he took from the Puritan tradition and bequeathed to American literature in a revivified form.The symbol can be found everywhere in his writing,and his masterpiece,The Scarlet Letter,provides the most conclusive proof.

(1)霍桑是美国文学历史上思想最为矛盾、写作手法娴熟的浪漫主义作家。矛盾性是霍桑写作艺术的一个显著特征，在他的代表作《红字》的最后一部分作家运用了多重视角的写作技巧。

(2)他善于探究人的复杂心理，是人物内心的剖析师。他的作品有着丰富的心理活动描写。

(3)寓言是对现实沉重的打击，象征主义则是揭露和抨击的武器。霍桑是象征主义大师，他继承了清教的传统并光复了美国文学。象征在他的作品中随处可见，尤其在他的代表作《红字》中找到确证。

4.Influence（影响）

Hawthorne’s influence has been great.He was accorded due recognition by his contemporary James Russell Lowell in the latter’s A Fable for Critics.He changed Herman Melville’s original scheme for his Moby Dick.William Dean Howells learned to use Hawthorne’s