英美国家概况Unit 6 British Literature (英国文学)

Unit 6　British Literature (英国文学)

　

一、本单元重点内容

1. Beowulf {贝奥武夫(一首古英文史诗的名字，同时也是此诗中的英雄的名字)}

2. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (杰弗里·乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》)

3. Stories about King Arthur (关于亚瑟王和他的骑士们的故事)

4. William Shakespeare (威廉·莎士比亚)

5. the Romance writers in the 19th century (19世纪浪漫派作家)

6. The Brontes (布朗特三姐妹)

7. Charles Dickens (查理·狄更斯)

8. Sir Walter Scott (瓦尔特·司各特)

9. Robert Louis Stevenson (罗伯特·路易斯·斯蒂文森)

10. Modernism (现代主义)

11. Postmodernism (后现代主义)

12. Joseph Conrad (约瑟夫·康拉德)

13. Virginia Woolf (维吉尼亚·吴尔夫)

14. wrence (D.H.·劳伦斯)

15. E.M Foster (EM·福斯特)

二、本单元重、难点辅导

1. early writing

1). British literature concerned with Christianity: Anglo-Saxons’ illustrated versions of the bible: the most famous--- the Book of Kells

2). Beowulf --- a long poem, one of the oldest of these early “Old English”(AD 6th C. —AD 11th C.的盎格鲁˙撒克逊的英语) literary works (古英语文学作品指8th C. AD—11th C. AD)

3). Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)

The most important work in Middle English (中古英语：11th C. AD—15th C. AD) Literature. It’s made up of a series of stories told by 31 pilgrims to entertain each other on their way to the Christian Church at Canterbury in south-east England. It’s quite noticeable for its diversity, not only in the range of social status among the pilgrims, but also in style of the stories they tell.　

杰弗里·乔叟 的《坎特伯雷故事集》是中古英语文学中最重要的作品。故事讲述了31个朝圣者结伴到英格兰东南部的坎特伯雷去朝圣.途中,每个人讲一个故事,来缓解旅途的劳顿. 值得注意的是,这部故事集体现的多样性,这些朝圣者来自不同的阶层,几乎涵盖了当时的所有社会阶层,他们讲故事的风格也各不相同. (中古英语：指11世纪到15世纪的英语)

4). the stories of King Arthur and his knights

King Arthur was the King of England in the 5th Century and was the central figure of many legends. History of the Kings of Britain published in 1138 well established King Arthur in literary form. The book invented material to fill the broad gaps in the historical record. The stories of King Arthur’s court, his knights and their famous round table and the search for the Holy Grail were mainly based on a very few vague “facts”. The ruined castle at Tintagel in Cornwall mentioned in the legends of King Arthur is now a popular tourist destination.

2. Elizabethan Drama (伊丽莎白一世:1533.9.7—1603.5.24)

---a general flowering of cultural and intellectual life in Europe dur

ing 15th and16th C. which is known as “The Renaissance”

--- drama: the most successful and long-lasting expressions of this development

--- the 1st professional theatre opened in London in 1576

--- the great trio (the best of the famous playwrights)

1) Christopher Marlowe (克里斯托弗·马洛)—the earliest of the trio Dr Faustus 《浮士德博士》

2) William Shakespeare (1564--1616)— an English dramatist and poet in the Elizabethan age. He is generally regarded as the greatest playwright in English literature. His plays fall into three categories: tragedies (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, etc.), comedies (Merchant of Venice, The Dreams of the Midsummer Night, etc.) and history plays (Henry VI, Charles II etc. )　

威廉·莎士比亚是伊丽莎白时期的英国剧作家和诗人。他通常被认为是英国文学中最伟大的剧作家。他的作品分为三类：悲剧、喜剧和历史剧，悲剧有《哈姆莱特》、《罗密欧与朱丽叶》等，喜剧有《威尼斯商人》、《仲夏夜之梦》等，历史剧有《亨利6世》《查理二世》等。

3) Ben Jonson

3. the 19th C. literature

Roughly the first third of the 19th century makes up English literature’s romantic period. Writers of romantic literature are more concerned with imagination and feeling than with the power of reason.粗略地讲，19世纪的前30几年构成英国文学的浪漫主义时期。浪漫派作家更多地关注人类的想象力和情感，而不是理性的力量。 A volume of poems called Lyrical Ballads written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is regarded as the romantic poetry’s “Declaration of Independence.” Keats, Byron and Shelley, the three great poets, brought Romantic Movement to its height. The spirit of Romanticism also occurred in the novel.威廉·华兹华斯和塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治合编的《抒情歌谣集》被认为是浪漫派诗歌的“独立宣言”。济慈，拜伦和雪莱这三位伟大的诗人把浪漫主义运动推向高潮。浪漫主义的精神在小说中也有体现。

The Romantics saw themselves as free spirits, emphasizing nature, originality, the emotional and personal, rather than the “rational” in their work. This was a change from the emphasis on imitating classical (meaning Ancient Greek and Roman) conventions and forms.

---novels

1). Jane Austen—6 novels Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma

2). Bronte sisters—daughters of the vicar of a village church in Yorkshire. Though poor, they were educated and respectable. They all died young, but were remembered long after their death for their contribution to English literature. —Charlotte (Jane Eyre), Emily (Wuthering Heights) and Ann. 她们是约克郡一个乡村教会的牧师的女儿，分别叫夏洛特，爱米莉和安。虽然很穷，但她们都受过良好的教育，非常受人尊敬。她们很年轻就去世了

，但是由于她们对英国文学的贡献，在她们去世后那么久都没有被人遗忘。夏洛特的名篇是《简爱》，爱米莉的名篇是《呼啸山庄》。为了书出版，她们都得用男性化的笔名。

3). Elizabeth Gaskell (盖斯凯尔，a woman writer) (friend of Charlotte; represent a more realistic aspect of the 19th C.; supported in her work by the greatest British storyteller of the 19th C., Charles Dickens) — North and South

4). Charles Dickens (1812－1870)—is now regarded as one of the greatest English writers. His works were characterized by vivid comic characterization and social criticism. He wrote many well-known novels, including Bleak House, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, just to name the best known. 查尔斯·狄更斯是英国最伟大的作家之一。他的作品以生动幽默的人物刻画和社会评论为特征。他写了很多部小说，包括《荒凉山庄》,《雾都孤儿》,《双城记》, 《大卫·科坡菲尔》.在此只列举最好的几部。

* Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens are regarded as novelists first and social critics second in the 19th C.

5). Sir Walter Scot —the most famous Scottish novelist and wrote many novels in the early decades of the 19th C. Some of the novels were concerned with Scottish history. Some remain popular today and several have been made into films. Rob Roy(《罗布˙罗伊》concerned with Scottish history), Ivanhoe(《艾凡赫》a story of conflict between Saxon and Norman )

6). Robert Louis Stevenson—wrote Scottish historical romances, Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(《吉基尔医生与海德先生》), a novel concerned with the conflict between the rational and the emotional. (The Island of Treasure《金银岛》)

4. 20th C. literature

Two stylistic periods: Modernism and Postmodernism

1) Modernism— Modernism in literature began before the WWII (1919—1945). Modernism in literature can be seen as a reaction against the 19th C. form, which can be considered as assuming understanding between writer and reader. This approach to writing is called “realism”. However, modernist writers express the difficulty they see in understanding and communicating how the world works. Modernist writing seems disorganized and hard to understand. Two of the most famous English Modernist writers are Joseph Conrad and Virginia Woolf. 现代主义主要是指二战前写的文学作品的一种形式。它的特点是试验性很强。它可以被看作是对19世纪的现实主义的一种反叛。现代派作家表现了他们在了解这个世界和相互交流过程中遇到的困难。现代派的作品看起来好像是杂乱无章的，很难理解。它经常从一个思绪混乱的个人的角度来描绘情节，而不是从一个情节之外的不带任何感情色彩的全知叙事者的角度来描绘。英国最有名的现代派作家包括约瑟夫·康拉德和维吉尼亚·伍尔

夫.

① Joseph Conrad (约瑟夫·康拉德1857-1924) — one of the most famous Modernist writers. Polish-born, Conrad was brought up in Poland and was in his twenties before he knew any English. After becoming a British subject, he wrote brilliant novels in English. His most well-known novel is The Heart of Darkness(《黑暗的中心》)

?② Virginia Woolf(维吉尼亚·吴尔夫1882--1941) — is regarded as a modernist writer and one of the most famous writers of the century. Her works are concerned with the individual consciousness, especially female consciousness. Her novels have become important to feminists for the way they show women’s personalities to be limited by society. In her writing, she uses the technique called the stream of consciousness(意识流). One of the best novels is Mrs. Dalloway（《黛洛维夫人》）.

③ D.H. Lawrence (劳伦斯，1879-1970)— one of the most famous modernist writers in English literature. His novels were critical of the modern world, especially of the modern industrial society. In his writing, he gave up the conventions and forms that had been typical of the 18th C. One of the features of his writing was that his language was easy and sentences were short. Son and the Lovers 《儿子与情人》.

④ E.M Foster—Howard’s End (《霍华德庄园》)

2) Postmodernism—generally refers to literature after the WWII. It’s characterized by a high degree of experimentation. George Orwell’s 1984 begins “Postmodernism” in English literature. The horrors of the Second World War weakened ideas of human progress, and of meaning in life. One of the characteristics of Postmodernism is to give up the search for meaning in life. In the Postmodernist novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles, the reader is offered a choice of endings. 后现代主义一般指二战以后60至70年代出现的文学新流派。特点是试验性极强。乔治·奥威尔于1948年写的1984开启了英国文学的后现代主义的先河。

二战的恐怖阴影削弱了人们追求人类进步和生活的意义想法。后现代主义的特色之一是放弃寻求生活的意义。约翰·福尔斯的在其后现代主义小说《法国中尉的女人》

中设置了多重结局，给读者提供了选择的机会。