美国文学选读名词解释
美国文学选读及赏析名词解释
American Transcendentalism （时间，主要主张和特征，代表人物，代表作）定义Transcendentalism was a religious and philosophical movement that developed during the late 1820s and '30s[1] in the Eastern region of the United States as a protest against the general state of spirituality and, in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School.美国超验主义：它宣称存在一种理想的精神实体，超越于经验和科学之处，通过直觉得以把握。
时间：1830s-Civil War主要主张：（我觉得主张就是特征就写一起了）The Transcendental ists “placed emphasis on spirit, or the Over-soul, as the most important thing in the universe”（1）The importance of intuition.（直觉）The Transcendentalists believed that individuals can intuitively receive higher truths otherwise unavailable through common methods of knowing.(2) The importance of the individual.(3) The importance of the nature.代表人物：Ralph Waldo Emerson 爱默生代表作Nature (《论自然》)“The American Scholar”（《论美国学者》）”Our Intellectual Declaration of Independence““Divinity School Address”(《神学院毕业班演说》)Essays（《论文集》）Essays: Second Series“Representative Men" (《人类代表》)Henry David Thoreau (梭罗)Walden (1854) (《瓦尔登湖》)Nathaniel Hawthorne (霍桑)Twice –Told Tales《尽人皆知的故事》Mosses from an Old Manse《古屋青苔》The Scarlet Letter （《红字》）The House of the Seven Gables （《带有七个尖角阁的房子》）The Blithedale Romance （《福谷传奇》）The Marble Faun （《玉石雕像》）“Young Goodman Brown”(《好小伙布朗》)Henry Wadsworth Longfellow亨利.华兹沃斯.朗费罗Voices of the Night (1839) 《夜籁集》-- catch the attentionBallads and Other Poems (1841) 《歌谣及其它》Evangeline (1847) 《伊凡吉林》Hiawatha or The Song of Hiawatha (1855)《海华莎之歌》Imagism （时间，对Image 的定义，主要主张和特征，代表人物，代表作）定义Imagism was poetic movement of England and the united states, flourishing from 1909-1917. Its credo, expressed in some imagist poets, includes the use of precise language, the creation of new rhythms, absolute freedom in choice of subject matter, and the evocation of concrete images.时间：between the years 1909 and 1917特征：(1) “Direct treatment of the 'thing' whet h er subjective or objective;”(2) “To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation;”(3) “As regarding rhythm: to compose in the sequence of musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome(节拍器).”主张：It came into being as a reaction to the traditional English poetry characterized by cloudy verbiage, and aimed instead at a new clarity and exactness in the short lyric poem.代表人物：Ezra Pound“The Cantos”。
美国文学史及选读18世纪的名词解释
18世纪的名词解释1. Three unities: Principles of dramatic structure proposed by critics and dramatists of the 16th and the 17th centuries, claiming the authority of Aristotle’s Poetics. The three unities are the unity of action (all the action of the work must occur within one continuous plot without extraneous subplot), the unity of time (all the action of the work must occur within 24 hours, or one whole day), and the unity of place (all the action of the work must occur in one place or city).2. Didactic literature: Literary works that are designed to expound a branch of knowledge, or else to embody, in imaginative or fictional form, a moral, religious, or philosophical doctrine or them. Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism and Edmund Spencer’s The Queene are good example of didactic poetry.3. Satire:It is a literary art of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation. Satire uses laughter as a weapon, and against a butt that exists outside the work itself. That butt may be an individual, or a type of person, a class, an institution, a nation or even the entire human race (as in much of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels).4. Mock epic: It is a poem employing the lofty style and the conventions of epic poetry to describe a trivial or undignified series of events; thus a kind of satire that mocks its subject by treating it in an inappropriately grandiose manner, usually at some length. The outstanding examples in English literature are Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock and Dunciad.5. Farce: It is a type of low comedy that employs improbable or otherwise ridiculous situations and mix-ups, slapsticks and horseplay, and crude and even bawdy dialogue. It smacks the audience full-force in the face, aiming simply to entertain and evoke guffaws from the audience.6. Picaresque novel: Derived from the Spanish word picara, meaning “rogue” or “rascal”, the term generally refers to a basically realistic and often satire work of fiction chronicling the career of an engaging, lower-class rogue-hero, who takes to the road for a sidekick. A well-known example of the picaresque novel is Cervantes’Don Quixote (165). Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is another classic example7. Melodrama: Originally, any drama accompanied by music which was used to enhance the emotional impact and mood of the performance. The term derived from the Greek melos, which means “song”. In early nineteenth-century London, melodramas became increasingly popular, which came to emphasize the conflict between pure good and evil. Its heroes and heroines were inevitably completely moral and uypright, but terrorized, harassed, or otherwise troubled by thoroughly despicable villains. The chief concern of melodrama was to elicit the desired emotional response from the audience.8. Persona:The assumed identity or fictional “I” (literary a “mask”) assumed by a writer in a literary work; thus the speaker in a lyric poem, or the narrator in a fictional narrative. Although the persona often serves as the “voice” of the writer, it nonetheless should not be confused with the writer, for the persona may not accurately reflect the writer’s personal opinions, feelings, or perspectives on a subject.9. Epigram:The term is now used for a statement, whether in verse or prose, which is terse, pointed and witty. The epigram may be on any subject, amatory, elegiac,meditative,complimentary, anecdotal, or most often satiric.10. Gothic novel: An alternative term is Gothic romance. It is a story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle of monastery. Following the appearance of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), the Gothic novel flourished in Britain from the 1790s to the 1820s, dominated by Ann Radcliffe, whose The Mysteries of Udolpho had may imitators.11. Graveyard school of poetry: It refers to a group of eighteen-century English poets who emphasized subjectivity, mystery, and melancholy. Death, mortality (immortality), and gloom were frequent subjects of elements of their meditative poem, which were often actually set in graveyards. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is the most famous example.12. Neoclassicism: It is a style of Western literature that flourished from themid-seventeenth until the end of the eighteenth century and the rise of Romanticism. The neoclassicists looked to the great classical writers for inspiration and guidance, considering them to have mastered the noblest literary forms, tragic epic and the epic. Neoclassical writers shared several beliefs. They believed that literature should both instruct and delight, and the proper subject of art was humanity. Neoclassicism stressed rules, reason, harmony, balance, restraint, decorum, order, serenity, realism, and form —above all, an appeal to the intellect rather than emotion. The Restoration in 1660 marked the beginning of the Neoclassical Period in England, whose writers included John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, etc.13. Fiction: In an inclusive sense, fiction is any literary narrative, whether in prose or verse, which is invented instead of being an account of events that in fact happened. In a narrow sense, however, fiction denotes only narratives that are written in prose (the novel and the short story).14. Antihero: It is a protagonist in a modern work who does not exhibit the qualities of the tradition hero. Instead of being a grand and admirable figure—brave, honest, and magnanimous, for example—an antihero is all too ordinary and may even be petty or downright dishonest. The use of nonheroic protagonist occurs as early as the picaresque novel of the sixteenth century, and the heroine of Defoe’s Moll Flanders is a thief and a prostitute.15. Foreshadowing:The use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest what will happen later. Writers use foreshadowing to create interest and to build suspense. Sometimes foreshadowing also prepares the reader for the ending of the story.。
美国文学名词解释完整版
7. Dramatic monologue: A kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem. The occasion is usually a crucial one in the speaker’s personality as well as the incident that is the subject of the poem.
6. American Transcendentalism:Transcendentalists terrors from the romantic literature of Europe. They spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of Americagogopirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the Universe. They stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society. They offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to them, alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Transcendentalism is based on the belief that the most fundamental truths about life and death can be reached only by going beyond the world of the senses. Emerson’s Nature has been called the “Manifesto of American Transcendentalism” and his The American Scholar has been rightly regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”.
美国文学史及选读的名词解释（全）
1. American Puritanism it it comes comes comes from from from the the the American American American puritans, puritans, puritans, who who who were were were the the the first first first immigrants immigrants immigrants moved moved moved to to American continent in the 17th century. Original sin, predestination （预言）（预言） and salvation （拯救） were the basic ideas of American Puritanism. And, hard-working, piousness （虔诚,尽职）， thrift and sobriety （清醒）（清醒）（清醒） were praised. 2. Romanticism: the literature term was first applied to the writers of the 18th century in Europe who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used used in in in American American American literature literature literature it it it referred referred referred to to to the the the writers writers writers of of of the the the middle middle middle of of of the the 19th century century who who who stimulated stimulated （刺激）（刺激） the the sentimental sentimental sentimental emotions emotions emotions of of of their their their readers. readers. They wrote of the mysterious of life, love, birth and death. The Romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint. They wrote all all kinds kinds of materials, poetry, essays, plays, fictions, history, works of travel, and biography. 3. 2. 2. Transcendentalism Transcendentalism Transcendentalism ((先验说,超越论): ): is is is a a a philosophic philosophic philosophic and and and literary literary literary movement movement that that flourished flourished flourished in in in New New New England, England, England, particular particular particular at at at Concord, Concord, Concord, as as as a a a reaction reaction reaction against against Rationalism Rationalism and and and Calvinism Calvinism Calvinism ((理性主义and 喀尔文主义). ). Mainly Mainly Mainly it it it stressed stressed intuitive intuitive understanding understanding understanding of of of God, God, God, without without without the the the help help help of of of the the the church, church, church, and and and advocated advocated independence of the mind. The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau. 4. Local colorism: as a trend became dominant in American literature in the 1860s and early 1870s ，it is defined by Hamlin Garland as having such quality of texture and and background background background that that that it it it could could could not not not have have have been been been written written written in in in any any any other other other place place place or or or by by anyone else than a native stories of local colorism have a quality of circumstantial(详细的) authenticity(确实性), as local colorists tried to immortalize(使不朽) ) the the the distinctive distinctive distinctive natural, natural, natural, social social social and and and linguistic linguistic linguistic features. features. features. It It It is is characteristic of vernacular(本国语本国语) language and satirical(讽刺的) humor 5. Stream of consciousness （意识流）： It is one of the modern literary techniques. It is is the the the style style style of of of writing writing writing that that that attempts attempts attempts to to to imitate imitate imitate the the the natural natural natural flow flow flow of of of a a a character’s character’s thoughts, thoughts, feelings, feelings, feelings, reflections, reflections, reflections, memories, memories, memories, and and and mental mental mental images images images as as as the the the character character experiences experiences them. them. them. It It It was was was first first first used used used in in in 1922 1922 1922 by by by the the the Irish Irish Irish novelist novelist novelist James James James Joyce. Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and and skillfully skillfully skillfully the the the unconscious unconscious unconscious activity activity activity of of of the the the mind mind mind fast fast fast changing changing changing and and and flowing flowing incessantly 。
陶洁《美国文学选读》(第3版)考研真题精选-名词解释及作品分析题【圣才出品】
三、名词解释1.Edgar Allan Poe（北航2007研）Key:Edgar Allan Poe(1809—1849)was an American writer,poet,editor and literary critic,considered part of the American Romantic Movement.Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre,Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre.He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone,resulting in a financially difficult life and career.2.Santiago（北航2009研）Key:Santiago is the protagonist of The Old Man and the Sea,written by American novelist Ernest Hemingway.He is an old man who hasn’t caught any fishes for eighty-four days.On the final journey he has a fight with sharks.This character depicted by Hemingway is a typical“tough guy”.Santiago embodies Hemingway’s definition of courage as“grace under pressure”.He never loses dignity in the face of death.The glory and honor Santiago comes not from the battle itself but from his pride and determination to fight.His famous words are “A man is not made for defeat...a man can be destroyed but not defeated.”3.Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass（南开大学2010研）Key:Walt Whitman(1819—1892)was a great American poet in the19th century. He added to the literary independence of the new nation and devoted all his life to the creation of the“single”poem,Leaves of Grass.In this giant work, openness,freedom,and above all,individualism are all that concern him. Whitman broke from the traditional iambic pentameter and wrote“free verse”. His long“catalogs”of lines gave free rein to his imagination in his life-long attempt to celebrate life in the new life.4.The Southern Renaissance in American Literature（四川大学2011研；北航2008研）Key:The Southern Renaissance(also known as Southern Renascence)was the reinvigoration of American Southern literature that began in the1920s and1930s with the appearance of writers such as William Faulkner,Tennessee Williams,and Robert Penn Warren and so on.Before the Southern Renaissance,the Southern literature was dominated by writers who supported the“Lost Cause”—the heroism of the Confederate army and civilian population during the Civil War and the supposedly“idyllic culture”that existed in the South before the war.The Southern Renaissance changed this by addressing three major themes in their works.they are1)The burden of history in a place where many people still remembered slavery,Reconstruction,and a devastating military defeat,2)theSouth’s conservative culture,specifically on how an individual could exist without losing a sense of identity in a region where family,religion,and community were more highly valued than one’s personal and social life,3)the South’s troubled history in regards to racial issues.They also brought new modernistic techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex narrative techniques to their works(as Faulkner did in his novel As I Lay Dying).5.Transcendentalism（南开大学2008研，北二外2010研；北航2010研）Key:Transcendentalism is a New England movement,which flourished from about1835to1860.It had its roots in romanticism and in post-Kantian idealism by which Coleridge was influenced.It had a considerable influence on American art and literature.Basically religious,it emphasized the role and importance of the individual conscience,and the value of intuition in matters of moral guidance and inspiration.The actual term was coined by opponents of the movement,but accepted by its members.The group of people was also social reformers.Some of the members,besides Emerson,were famous,including Bronson Alcott,Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne.6.Henry James（四川大学2009研）Key:Henry James(1843-1916)is a famous American writer and one of the key figures of19th century literary realism.In his novels,he usually describes the upper class of the American society.He is also famous for psychological realism.His major works include:The Portrait of a Lady,The Ambassadors,Daisy Miller etc.7.Imagism（北外2009研；南开大学2009研；北京邮电大学2010研）Key:Imagism is a literary movement which came into being in Britain and U.S. around1910as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation.The imagists,with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles:i)direct treatment of subject matter;ii) economy of expression;iii)as regards rhythm,to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase,not in the sequence of metronome.Ezra Pound’s“In a Station of the Metro”is a well-known imagist poem.8.Black humor（厦门大学2010研）Key:It is a kind of writing that places grotesque elements side by side with humorous ones in an attempt to shock the readers,forcing him or her to laugh at the horrifying reality of a disordered world.It is a humor out of despair and laughter out of tears.Black humor conveys anguish and fury at conditions in which institutionalized absurdity gets the upper hand.It intends to satirize hypocrisy,racial prejudice,and above all the dehumanization of the individual by a modern society.Black humor prevails in modern American Literature.JosephHeller’s Novel Cater-22is considered a superb example of the use of Black humor.Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five is also a case in point.9.Avant-Garde（上海交大2007研）Key:Avant-garde,the French military and political term for the vanguard of an army or political movement,extended since the late19th century to avant-garde that body of artists and writers who are dedicated to the idea of art as experiment and revolt against tradition.Ezra Pound’s view that‘Artists are the antennae of the race,is a distinctly modern one,implying a duty to stay ahead of one’s time through constant innovation in forms and subjects.10.Ezra Pound and The Cantos（南开大学2009研）Key:Ezra Weston Loomis Pound(1885–1972)was an American expatriate poet, critic and intellectual who was a major figure of the Modernist movement in the first half of the20th century.His significant contributions to poetry begin with his promotion of Imagism.The Cantos by Ezra Pound is a long,incomplete poem in120sections,each of which is a canto.Most of it was written between1915and1962,although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos,as finally published, date from1922onwards.Strong claims have been made for it as the most significant work of modernist poetry of the twentieth century.The most striking feature of the text,to a casual browser,is the inclusion of Chinese characters aswell as quotations in European languages other than English.11.“Self-reliance”（北二外2009研）Key:“Self-Reliance”is an essay written by American Transcendentalist philosopher and essayist,Ralph Waldo Emerson.It contains the most solid statement of one of Emerson’s repeating themes,the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency,and follow his or her own instincts and ideas.Emerson’s ideas are considered a reaction to a commercial identity;he calls for a return to individual identity.12.First-person narrative（上海交大2003研）Key:First-person narrative is also called first person point of view,which is used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the way in which the writer presents the reader with the materials of the story.The first person point of view relates events as they are perceived by a single character,“I”.The narrator“I”may be part of the action or an observer,a major or minor participant in the action.As readers,we cannot know or witness anything the narrator does not tell us.We therefore share all the limitations of the narrator.This technique has the advantage of a sharp and precise focus.Moreover,you feel part of the story because the narrator’s“I”echoes the“I”already in your own mind”.Mark Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is presented from the first person viewpoint.四、作品分析题Passage1（人大2007研）“Prophet!”said I,“thing of evil!—prophet still,if bird or devil!—Whether tempter sent,or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate yet all undaunted,on this desert land enchanted—On this home by horror haunted—tell me truly,I implore—Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me,I implore!”Questions:1.Give the title of the work and the full name of the author.2.Explain the implications of the underlined parts.Key:1.“The Raven”by Edgar Allan Poe2.Prophet:The speaker here calls the raven as a prophet,who can give him someclues to his puzzle of his beloved one.Implore:This word means that the speaker appeals the raven to tell him whether there are ways to cure his pain.Balm in Gilead:This sentence is quoted from the Bible,which means that whether there are some medicines to reduce the speaker’s pain.Passage2（北二外2009研）The following poem is written for the mourning of the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.Read it and answer the questions.O Captain!My CaptainO Captain!My Captain!Our fearful trip is done,The ship has weather’d every rack,the prize we sought is won,The port is near,the bells I hear,the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel,the vessel grim and daring;But O heart!heart!heart!O the bleeding drops of red!Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.O Captain!My Captain!Rise up and hear the bells;Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores crowding,For you they call,the swaying mass,their eager faces turning;Here,Captain!Dear father!This arm beneath your head;It is some dream that on the deckYou’ve fallen cold and dead.My Captain does not answer,his lips are pale and still,My father does not feel my arm,he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchor’d safe and sound,its voyage closed and done;From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;Exult,O shores!And ring,O bells!But I,with mournful tread,Walk the deck my captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.1.The writer of this famous poem is one of the most influential poets at the age of romanticism.Can you give out his name and present his contribution in literature briefly?2.Can you enlist at least two major figures of speech used in this poem and illustrate their functions respectively?Key:1.The author of this poem is Walt Whitman.Whitman’s influence over modern poetry is great in America as well as in the world.His best works have been part of the common property of Western culture.Many poets in England,France,Italy and Latin America are in his debt.Modern American poets like T.S.Eliot and Ezra Pound would not have been what they were without Whitman.Contemporary American poetry,whatever school or form,bears witness to his great influence. For his innovations in diction and versification,his frankness about sex,his inclusion of the commonplace and the ugly and his censure of the weaknesses of the American democratic practice—these have paved his way for a share of。
【英美文学选读】名词解释笔记总结
01. Humanism（人文主义）Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.It emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life，but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.02. Renaissance（文艺复兴）The word “Renaissance”means “rebirth”，it meant the reintroduction into western Europe of the full cultural heritage of Greece and Rome.2>the essence of the Renaissance is Humanism. Attitudes and feelings which had been characteristic of the 14th and 15th centuries persisted well down into the era of Humanism and reformation.3> the real mainstream of the English Renaissance is the Elizabethan drama with William Shakespeare being the leading dramatist.03. Metaphysical poetry（玄学派诗歌）Metaphysical poetry is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.2>with a rebellious spirit，the Metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry.3>the diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the Neoclassical periods，and echoes the words and cadences of common speech.4>the imagery is drawn from actual life.04. Classicism（古典主义）Classicism refers to a movement or tendency in art，literature，or music that reflects the principles manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Classicism emphasizes the traditional and the universal，and places value on reason，clarity，balance，and order. Classicism，with its concern for reason and universal themes，is traditionally opposed to Romanticism，which is concerned with emotions and personal themes.05. Enlightenment（启蒙运动）Enlightenment movement was a progressive philosophical and artistic movement which flourished in France and swept through western Europe in the 18th century.2> the movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance from 14th century to the mid-17th century.3>its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas.4>it celebrated reason or rationality，equality and science. It advocated universal education.5>famous among the great enlighteners in England were those great writers like Alexander pope, Jonathan Swift, etc.06.Neoclassicism（新古典主义）In the field of literature，the enlightenment movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works.2>this tendency is known as neoclassicism. The Neoclassicists held that forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers such as Homer and Virgil and those of the contemporary French ones.3> they believed that the artistic ideals should be order，logic，restrained emotion and accuracy，and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity.07. The Graveyard School（墓地派诗歌）The Graveyard School refers to a school of poets of the 18th century whose poems are mostly devoted to a sentimental lamentation or meditation on life. Past and present，with death and graveyard as themes.2>Thomas Gray is considered to be the leading figure of this school and his Elegy written in a country churchyard is its most representative work.08. Romanticism（浪漫主义）1>In the mid-18th century， a new literary movement called romanticism came to Europe and then to England.2>It was characterized by a strong protest against the bondage of neoclassicism，which emphasized reason，order and elegant wit. Instead，romanticism gave primary concern to passion，emotion，and natural beauty.3>In the history of literature. Romanticism is generally regarded as the thought that designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and experience. 4> The English romantic period is an age of poetry which prevailed in England from 1798 to 1837. The major romantic poets include Wordsworth，Byron and Shelley.09. Byronic Hero（拜伦式英雄）Byronic hero refers to a proud，mysterious rebel figure of noble origin.2> with immense superiority in his passions and powers，this Byronic Hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corruptsociety. And would rise single-handedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government，in religion，or in moral principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies.3> Byron‘s chief contribution to English literature is his creation of the “Byronic Hero”10. Critical Realism（批判现实主义）Critical Realism is a term applied to the realistic fiction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.2> It means the tendency of writers and intellectuals in the period between 1875 and 1920 to apply the methods of realistic fiction to the criticism of society and the examination of social issues.3> Realist writers were all concerned about the fate of the common people and described what was faithful to reality.4> Charles Dickens is the most important critical realist.11. Aestheticism（美学主义）The basic theory of the Aesthetic movement——“art for art‘s sake” was set forth by a French poet，Theophile Gautier，the first Englishman who wrote about the theory of aestheticism was Walter Pater.2> aestheticism places art above life，and holds that life should imitate art，not art imitate life.3> According to the aesthetes，all artistic creation is absolutely subjective as opposed to objective. Art should be free from any influence of egoism. Only when art is for art‘s sake，can it be immortal. They believed that art should be unconcerned with controversial issues，such as politics and morality，and that it should be restricted to contributing beauty in a highly polished style.4> This is one of the reactions against the materialism and commercialism of the Victorian industrial era，as well as a reaction against the Victorian convention of art for morality‘s sake，or art for money’s sake.美学运动的基本原则“为艺术而艺术”最初由法国诗人西奥费尔。
美国文学史名词解释_综合版
美国文学史名词解释_综合版第一篇：美国文学史名词解释_综合版美国文学选读复习资料the settlement of North American continent by English started in the early 17th century.Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and fourth decades of the seventeenth century to the northern English colonies in the New World—a migration that laid the foundation for the religious, intellectual, and social order of New England.Puritanism, however was not only a historically specific phenomenon coincidentwith the founding of New Zealand;it was also a way of being in the world—a style of response to lived experience—that has reverberated through American life ever since.As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind.American Puritanism also had a enduring influence on American literature.American Romanticism The Romantic Period stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War.• Romanticism was a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism.(subjectivity)• For romantics, the feelings, intuitions and emotions were more important thanreason and common sense.• They emphasized individualism, placing the individual against the group,against authority.• The affirmed the inner life of the self, and wanted to be free to develop andexpress his own inner thoughts.New England Poets: William Cullen Bryant;Henry Wadsworth Longfellow;Writers: James Fenimaore Cooper The Spy(1821)The Leatherstocking Tales(1823—1841)The Pilot(1824)The Red Rover(1827)Washington Irving（“The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Grayon” “Bracebridge Hall”“Tales of a Traveller”“The History of the Life and Voyages of ChristopherColumbus ”）American TranscendentalismIn the realm of art and literature it meant the shattering of pseudo-classic rules and forms in favor of a spirit of freedom, the creation of works filled with the new passion for nature and common humanity and incarnating a fresh sense of the wonder, promise, and romance of life.Transcendentalism① The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe.② The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual.To them, the individual is the most important element of Societ y.③ The Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God.Nature was not purely matter.It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence.Writers Emerson’s：Nature；Self-Reliance；The American Scholar；The Over-soul；H.D.Thoreau：WaldenHenry Wadsworth LongfellowWalt Whitman：Leaves of Grass Emily Dickinson：I Died for Beauty；Because I couldnot stop for DeathWilliam Faulkner(1897-19621949 Nobel priceAs I Lay Dying(1930)Light in the August(1932)Absalom, Absalom(1936)Go Down Moses(1942)Ernest HemingwayIceberg Principle(Theory)“grace under pressure”Major Works:The Sun Also Rises 1926(Jake Barnes)A Farewell to Arms 1928(a tragic story about war and love)(Frederic Henry andCatherine Barkley)For Whom the Bell Tolls 1940(Spanish civil war)(Robert Jordan)The Old Man and the Sea 1952(Santiago)Herman Melville代表作：白鲸Moby DickOther Works are: Billy Budd,Typee, Omoo, Mardi.Nathaniel HawthorneThe Scarlet LetterMosses from an Old Manse;Twice-Told Tales;The Marble Faun;The House of theSeven GablesRealismAs a literary movement, the Age of Realism came into existence after Romanticismwith the Civil War It was a reaction against “the lie” of Romanticism andsentimentalism, and paved the way to Modernism.This literary interest in the so-called “reality” of life started a new period in theAmerican literary writing known as The Age of Realism.local colorism is a type of writing that was popular in the late 19th(1860s—1870s).The feature of local colorism are:(1)presenting a localedistinguished from the outside world;(2)describing the exoticof the picturesque;(3)glorifying the past;(4)showing things as they are;(5)influence of setting oncharacters.The well known local colorism authors were Mark Twain with his bookTom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Bret Harte’s with his TheLuck of the Roaring Camp.American naturalists accepted the more negativeinterpretation of Darwin’s evolutionary theory and used it to accout for the behaviorof those characters in literary works who were regarded as more or less complexcombinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economicforces.2)naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writingbecomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic.It isno more than a gloomy philosophical approach to reality, or to humanexistence.3>Dreiser with his Sister Carrie is a leading figure of his school.1917.The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the directtreatment of the thing” and the economy of wording.“poetic techniques to recordexactly the momentary impressions”Three main principles of the Imagist Movement(1912):[1] direct treatment of poetic subjects[2] elimination of merely ornamental or superfluous words,to use no word that doesnot contribute to the presentation.[3] rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in thesequence of a metronome.4> pound’s In a Station of the Metro is a well-knownpoem.The Modern PeriodPart I The 1920s-1930s(the second renaissance of American literature)l The Roaring Twenties(economically)l The Jazz Age(socially)l“lost” and “waste land”(spiritually)There had been a big flush of new theories and new ideas in both social and naturalsciences.Darwinism(Darwin), Socialism(Karl Marx), Psychoanalysis(Sigmund Freud)The lost generation is a term first used by Stein to describe thepost-war I generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense ofbetrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.2>full ofyouthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, hadlove affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.3>the threebest-known representatives of lost generation are F.Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway andJohn dos Passos.The Beat Generation is a group of American young writersand artists popular in the 1950s and early 1960s.the member of the beat generationwere new bohemian libertines, who engaged in a spontaneous, sometimes messy,creativity.The beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non conformity and for its non conforming style.The major writing are jack Kerouac’s on the road and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl.American DreamThe is the idea held by many in the United States that through hard work, courage and determination one could achieve prosperity.These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations.The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America.IMAGERY: A common term of variable meaning, imagery includes the “mental pictures” that readers experience with a passage of literature.It signifies all the sensory perceptions referred to in a poem, whether by literal description, allusion, simile, or metaphor.PuritanismAmerican Puritanism was practice and belief of Puritans.Puritans were the people who wanted to purify the Church of England and then were persecuted in England.They came to America for various reasons.But because they were a group of serious and religious people, they carried a code of value and a philosophy of life.To them, religion was the most important thing.They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original s in, total depravity and limited atonement for God’s grace.They also believed in hard working, piety and sobriety.In a word, American Puritanism exerted great influences upon American thought and literature.第二篇：美国文学史名词解释It were flourishing from the beginning of 17th to the middle period of 18th.They stressed predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement from God‟s grace.They went to America to prove that they were God‟s chosen people who would enjoy God‟s blessings on earth and in Heaven.Finally, they built a way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.Both doctrinaire and an opportunist.Its Influence on literary were as follows:（影响）(1)American Literature is based on a myth------the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden.(2)The American Puritan‟s metaphorical made of perception----symbolism.The representatives were Edwards(The Freedom of the Will), Franklin(On the Art of Self-improvement), Crevecoeur(Letters from an American Farmer).代表作家及代表作：Captain John SmithTrue Relation of Virginia(1608)Anne Bradstreet“To My Dear and Loving Husband”Benjamin Franklin:The Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinRomanticism was a complex artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution.Elements of Romanticism1.Frontier: vast expanse, freedom, no geographic limitations.2.Optimism: greater than in Europe because of the presence of frontier.不要这么多，我就删掉了3、4、5条。
(完整版)美国文学史及选读名词解释
美国文学史及选读名词解释1。
Transcendentalism19th—century movement of writers and philosophers in New England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. In their religious quest， the Transcendentalists rejected the conventions of 18th—century thought； and what began in a dissatisfaction with Unitarianism developed into a repudiation of the whole established order.2。
Langston HughesAmerican poet and writer emphasized on lower—class black life。
He established himself as a major force of the Harlem Renaissance。
In 1926， in the Nation, he provided the movement with a manifesto when he skillfully argued the need for both race pride and artistic independence in his most memorable essay， 'The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” In many ways Hughes always remained loyal to the principles he had laid down for the younger black writers in 1926。
美国文学史及选读的名词解释(全) (2)
Colonial Period:1.American Puritanismit comes from the American puritans, who were the first immigrants moved to American continent in the 17th century. Original sin, predestination（预言）and salvation（拯救）were the basic ideas of American Puritanism. And, hard-working, piousness（虔诚,尽职），thrift and sobriety（清醒）were praised.Romanticism Period:2.Romanticism: the literature term was first applied to the writers of the18th century in Europe who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used in American literature it referred to the writers of the middle of the 19th century who stimulated（刺激）the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote of the mysterious of life, love, birth and death. The Romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint. They wrote all kinds of materials, poetry, essays, plays, fictions, history, works of travel, and biography.3.Gothic tradition (哥特传统): Gothic novel or Gothic romance is a storyof terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. In an extended sense, many novels do not have a medievalized setting, but which share a comparably sinister, grotesque, or claustrophobic atmosphere have been classed as Gothic. It contributed to the new emotional climate of Romanticism.4.Transcendentalism (先验说,超越论): is a philosophic and literarymovement that flourished in New England, particular at Concord, as a reaction against Rationalism and Calvinism (理性主义and喀尔文主义). Mainly it stressed intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind. The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau.5.Stream of consciousness（意识流）：It is one of the modern literarytechniques. It is the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly。
美国文学史及选读_部分名词解释 解释详细,备有汉语解释
Free V erse:is poetry that is based on irregular rhythmic cadence（抑扬顿挫，节奏）recurring ,withvariations of phrases ,image ,and syntactical patterns rather than the conventional use of meter . In other word ,free verse has no rhythm scheme, pattern or line length, new form, new subject, message was always moreimportant than form .However ,much poetic language and devices（手段，策略）are found in free verse .It is used in Walt Whitman’s poems.Local Colorism: is defined by Hamlin Garland加兰in his Crumbling Idols as having “such quality of texture（手感，质感）and background that is could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native”Texture refers to the elements which characterize（是---特征，以----为特征）a local culture , elements such as speech , customs , and mores peculiar to one particular place.Background covers physical身体setting and those distinctive qualities of landscape which human thoughtand behavior.Other definition: a trend first made its presence felt in the late 1860s and early 1870s in America. It may be defined as the careful attention in speech, dress or behavior peculiar to a geographical locality.The ultimate aim of the local colorists is to create the illusion错觉，幻想of an indigenous土生土长的，固有的little word with qualities that tell it apart from the world outside.Major Local Colorists: Mark Twain; Hamlin Garland (Main Travelled Roads)Imagism:1) It is a Movement in U.S and English poetry characterized by the use of concrete明确的，实体的language and figures of speech, modern subject matter主旨, metrical韵律freedom, and avoidance of romantic or mystical themes, aiming at clarity of expression through the use of precise精确的visual看得见的images.2) It grew out of the symbolism movement in 1912 and was initially led by Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and others.3) The Imagist manifesto宣言came out in 1912 showed three Imagist poetic principles:A: Direct treatment of the “thing” whether subject or objective.B: To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.C: As regarding rhythm: to compose创作in the sequenc e有关联的一组事物, 一连串of musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome节拍器.4) Pound defined the image as that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time,版权所有本人亲自打出来的期末复习资料and later he extended this definition when he started that an image was “a vortex旋窝or cluster串of fused熔化; 融合ideas, endowed with energy”.5) The existed great influence in Chinese poetry on the movement of Imagism. Imagists found value in Chinese poetry was because Chinese poetry is, by virtue长处of the ideographic象形文字and pictographic nature of Chinese language, essentially imagistic poetry.The Lost Generation:is a term used to describe a group of American intellectuals知识分子, poets, artists and writers fled to France in the post WW1 years to reject the values of American materialism唯物主义and to seek the bohemian(放浪者)(a person with artistic or literary interests who disregards conventional standards ofbehavior) lifestyle in Pairs. Full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.Refers to the disillusioned使不再抱幻想intellectuals and aesthetes审美家of the years following WW1, who rebelled against former ideals and values but could replace them only by despair or a cynical愤世嫉俗的hedonism(快乐主义).The main representatives代表人of Lost Generation include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and so on.Modernism:is a culture movement that is generally includes the progressive不断有进展的art and architecture建筑学,design, literature, music, painting ,dance and other visual arts which emerged in the beginning of 20th century, particular in the years following WW1. It was a movement of artists and designers who rebelled against the 19th century academic and historicist tradition, and embraced信奉，拥抱the new economic,social and political aspects of the emerging modern world.Modernism in literature is not easily to summarized, but the key elements are experimentation, anti-realism, individualism and a stress on the cerebral诉诸理性的;非感情方面的rather than emotive-aspects.The avant-garde革新者movements that followed-including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism立体派, Futurism未来主义, Expressionism, Constructivism构成主义and Abstract抽象Expressionism are generally defined as Modernist.版权所有本人亲自打出来的期末复习资料The work of Modernist writers is characterized by showing the disenchantment脱离, 分离, dislocation脱位, and alienation疏远of men in the world, and by the emphasis on experimentation and formalism形式主义and objectivism which are, in most cases, a reaction to the cataclysm大灾难known as the Modern Age.Among the American writer, the best known Modernism is Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and so on.Transcendentalism:is a philosophical哲学上的and literary movement that flourished繁荣in New England from about 1836-1860. It originated among a small group of intellectuals who were reacting against the orthodoxy正统观念of Calvinism and rationalism理性主义of the Unitarian唯一神论者Church, developing their own faith centering on the divinit y宗教的，神学的of humanity and the natural world. Transcendentalismderived some of its basic idealistic concepts from romantic German philosophy, and from such English authors as Carlyle, Coleridge and Wordsworth. Its mystical aspects were partly influenced by Indian and Chinese religiousteachings. The beliefs that God is immanent天生的，内在的in each person and in nature and that individual intuition直觉is the highest source of knowledge led to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance,and rejection of traditional authority. The Ideas of transcendentalism were mostly eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essay as Nature and Self-reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden. Major Features:A. placing emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe --- a new way of looking at the world (omnipresent无所不在, omniscient无所不知, omnipotent全能的)B. the importance of the individual as the most important element of society. --- A new way of looking at man (The regeneration新生，革新of the society could only come about through the regeneration of the individual, through his self-perfection, self-culture, self-improvement, self-reliance)C. offering a fresh perception认识，看法of nature as symbolic of Spirit or God. (Nature was not purely matter. It was the garment衣服of the Oversoul.)Jazz Age:describe he period of 1920s and 1930s, the years between WW1 and WW2, particular in NorthAmerican; with the rise of the Great Depression, the values of the age saw much decline. The most representative literature work is The Great Gatsby highlighting强调what some describe as the decadence衰落，堕落and hedonism享乐主义, as well as the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term 版权所有本人亲自打出来的期末复习资料。
美国文学选读名词解释
1.Puritanism (清教主义)：Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.1.) simply speaking , American Puritanism just refers to the spirit and ideal of puritans,who settled in the North American continent in the early part of the seventeenth century because of religious persecutions.2.)In content it means scrupulous ,moral rigor ,eapecially hostility to social pleasure and religion .3.)with time passing it became a dominant factor in American life , one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and literature .to some extentit is a state of mind , a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the American breathes ,rather than a set of tenets.4.) Actually it is a code of values , a philosophy of life and a point of view in American minds , also a two-faceted tradition of religious idealism and level -headed in common sense .5) Major topic:American Puritanism IntroductionThere were no written literature among the more than 500 different Indian languages and tribal cultures, American writing began with the work of English adventurers and colonists in the New World chiefly for the benefit of readers in the mother country.Therefore the writing in this period was essentially two kinds:(1) practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people “at home” what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration;(2) highly theoretical, generally polemical^辩的)，discussions of religious questions.2.The American Romanticism(浪漫主义)I.What is Romanticism a literary movement flourished as a cultural force the early period and the late period.associated with imagination and boundlessness, as an historical movement it arose in the 18th and 19th centuries. The most clearly defined romantic literary movement in the U. S.A was Transcendentalism.Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper, and those of the late periodcontain Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe.□.Features of A merican romanticism（1）It was the expression of “a real new experience（全新体验）”.（2）American Puritanism was a cultural heritage. Many American romantic writings intended to edify（启发）more than they entertained.⑶American Romanticism is full of “newness（新奇）”. Ideals：Individualism; political equality Dream：America: a new Garden of Eden （4）American romanticism was both imitative and independent.3..transcendentalism、（超验主义）transcendentalism: It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition. It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. It emphasized the significance o f the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. Transcendentalists envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.4.Naturalism: It views human beings as animals in the natural world responding to environmental forces and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they have control and none of which they fully understand. The literary naturalists have a major difference from the realists. They look at a different spot to find real life.5.Free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.6.International novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who represent certain characteristics of their own countries.7.the lost generation: reveals the huge destruction of the wars to the young generation. It describes the Americans who remained in Paris as a colonyof “expatriates”. They were lost in disillusionment.8.American Dream: American dream means the belief that everyone can succeed as long as he/she works hard enough. It usually implies a successful andsatisfying life. It usually framed in terms of American capitalism （资本主义），its associated purported meritocracy,（知识界精华）and the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Bill of Rights9.American Realism: In American literature, the Civil War brought the Romantic Period to an end. The Age of Realism came into existence. It came as a reaction against the lie of romanticism and sentimentalism. Realism turned from an emphasis on the strange toward a faithful rendering of the ordinary, a slice of life as it is really lived. It expresses the concern for commonplace and the low, and it offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience .10.Black Humor:also called Black Comedy, writing that juxtaposes morbid or ghastly elements with comical ones. The term did not come into common use until the 1960s. Then it was applied to the works of the novelists Nathanael West, Vladimir Nabokov, and Joseph Heller. The latter's Catch-22 （1961） is a notable example, in which Captain Yossarian battles the horrors of air warfare over the Mediterranean during World War II with hilarious irrationalities matching the stupidities of the military system. The term black comedy has been applied to playwrights in the Theatre of the Absurd.11.Local colorism: as a trend became dominant in American literature in the 1860s and early 1870s, it is defined by Hamlin Garland as having such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native stories of local colorism have a quality of circumstantial（详细的）authenticity（确实性）,as local colorists tried to immortalize（使不朽）the distinctive natural, social and linguistic features. It is characteristic of vernacular（本国语） language and satirical （讽刺的）humor12.Code HeroGeneral Features:1.He has great physical potential and courage.2.The “ code heroes ” have strong willpower.3.Thirdly , another important feature of the “code heroes" is their loyalty.4.Fourthly , the" code heroes "maintain great dignity in all situations.5.Fifthly , the “code heroes ” are endowed with certain specialized skills , such as fishing , bull fighting , and hunting , etc6.the “code heroes "are always put in some touch-and go situations, what the heroes must always face up to is their own personal fear of death and the threat of destruction, and it is this obstacle, death, that they have to overcome.13.iceberg theory:The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.2 American TranscendentalismAs a philosophical and literary movement, American Transcendentalism （also known as “ American Renaissance"） flourished in New England from the 1830s to the Civil War. It is the high tide of American romanticism and its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in Emerson and Thoreau. Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society.Transcendentalism 超验主义（+ H. D. Thoreau; NathanielHawthorne;)The major features of Transcendentalism:①The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe. 思想超灵宇宙②The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual is the most important element of Society.个体+社会③The Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was not purely matter. It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence.自然+上帝3 Stream of Consciousness 意识流or “interior monologue”,内心独白is one of the modern literary techniques. It is the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce.。
美国文学史及选读名词解释
美国文学史及选读名词解释1.Transcendentalism—it is a philosophic and literary movement that flourish in New England, as a reaction against rationalism and Calvinism. It stressed intuitive understanding of god without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind.2. The Lost Generation Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “lost Generation”, devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.3. Puritanism—it is the religious belief of the Puritans, who had intended to purify and simplify the religious ritual of the Church of England.4. Imagism is to present an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time. An imagistic poem must present the object exactly the way the thing is seen. And the reader can form the image of the object through the process of reading the abstract and concrete words.Imagism 意象派：is a poetic movement of England and the United States, flourished from 1909-1917. Its credo, expressed in Some Imagist Poets, included the use of the language of common speech, project matter, the evocation of images in hard, clear poetry, and concentration.5、Realism：（现实主义）appeared in the United States in the literature of local color, an amalgam of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things was immediately observable. the dialects, customs, sights.现实主义有浓厚的美国本土特色，是浪漫主义故事情节和现实主义描写相结合的产物：美国风味的方言、风俗、各种观点6.Naturalism：自然主义 a new and harsher realism, 新型的更为冷峻的现实主义，产生悲观的流派，产生于the end of the century 十九世纪末，因为Perception of society’s disorders 对社会无序的感知。
美国文学选读期末名词解释
1.American Romanticism(美国浪漫主义)①Romanticism refers to an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.②The romantic period in American literature stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil war.③Irving, Whitman and Thoreau are the representatives.Background(1)Political background and economic development(2)Romantic movement in European countriesDerivative – foreign influencefeatures(1)American romanticism was in essence the expression of ―a real newexperience and contained ―an alien quality‖ for the simple reason that ―thespirit of the place‖ was radically new and alien.(2)There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. Americanromantic authors tended more to moralize. Many American romanticwritings intended to edify more than they entertained.(3)The ―newness‖ of Americans as a nation is in connection with AmericanRomanticism.(4)As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, Americanromanticism was both imitative and independent.浪漫主义两大主题：爱和大自然的力量The social and cultural background of Romanticism：---The young Republic was flourishing into a politically, economically and culturally independent country.---The Romantic writings revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands.---The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature.---The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values.Romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world wa s a source of goodness and man’s societies as a source of corruption.2. Transcendentalism (超验主义、先验主义) : It was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture and philosophy that emerged in New England in the middle 19th century. It began as a protest against the general state of culture and society. Among transcendentalist’s core beliefs was an ideal spiritual state that “transcends”the physical and empirical(以观察或实验为依据的) and is only realized through the individual’s intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions. Prominent transcendentalists included Ralph Waldo Emerson（爱默生）, Henry David Thoreau（梭罗）, Walt Whitman（惠特曼）, etc. It is a kind of philosophy that stresses belief in transcendental things and the importanceof spiritual rather than material existence. （相信超凡的事物，认为精神存在比物质存在更重要).American Transcendentalism(美国超验主义)①Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in the history of American literature in the 19th century, which flourished from about 1835 to 1860.②Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Oversoul, the individual and nature. Specifically, they stressed intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind.③The most important representatives are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.Ralph Waldo Emerson①Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, philosopher and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid 19th century.②He expressed the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature.③Besides, his The American Scholar was considered to be American’s ―Intellectual Declaration of Independence‖.Oversoul①It is an all-pervading power for goodness from which all things come of which all things are a part.②It is a key doctrine for Transcendentalists.Self-reliance①Self-reliance is an essay written by American Transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.②It contains the most solid statement of one of his repeating themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas.③These ideas are considered a reaction to a commercial identify. Emerson calls for a return to individual identity.Individualism(个人主义)①Individualism is a moral, political, and social philosophy, which emphasizes individual liberty, the primary importance of the individual, and the “virtues of self-reliance”.②It is thus directly opposed to collectivism, social psychology and sociology, which consider the individual’s rapport to the society or communit y.③It is often confused with ―egoism‖, but an individualist need not be an egoist. Walden①It is one of the American classics written by Henry David Thoreau.②It records his experiment in living at Walden pond, his sympathetic understanding of nature, his meditation on the meanings of life and his social criticism.③Compared with Emerson’s Nature, it is more radical and social-minded.3.Free verse (自由体诗歌)①Free verse is a general term referring to the modern form of verse with no fixed foot, rhythm or rime schemes.②It was first written and labeled by a group of French poets of the late 19th century.③Free verse has been characteristic of the work of many American poets, includingWalt Whitman, Ezra Pound and Carl Sandburg.“The Song of Myself”①It is the best known poem in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.②It is a celebration of the individual as well as the common people.4.American Realism（美国现实主义）①The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been preferred to as the age of Realism.②It was a literary doctrine that called for ―reality and truth‖ in the depiction of ordinary life. It is, in literature, an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity.③Three dominant figures are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain and Henry James. Local Colorism/ Regionalism (地方特色主义)①Local Colorism is popular in the late 19th century, particularly among authors in the south of the U.S.②This style relied heavily on using words, phrases, and slang that were native to the particular region in which the story took place. The term has come to mean any device which implies a specific focus, whether it is geographical or temporal.③A well-know local colorism author was Mark Twain with his book The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn.5.Jazz Age(爵士乐时代)①The Jazz Age refers to the 1920s, a time marked by hedonism and excitement in the life of flaming youth.②With the rise of the Great Depression, materially rich, spiritually lost, the generation felt frustrated with life and indulged in pleasure.③Perhaps 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.6.Yoknapatawpha(约克纳帕塔法)①Most of Faulkner’s literary works were set in the small county of American South. It is the fictional modification of his hometown, Oxford, Mississippi.②To Faulkner, this small piece of land was worth a life’s work in literary writing and here Faulkner created a world of imagination.③Yoknapatawpha has become an allegory of the Old South, with which Faulkner has managed successfully to show a panorama of the experience of the whole Southern society.7.Southern Renaissance(南方文艺复兴)①It is the revival of American Southern literature that began in the 1920s until the 1950s.②The writers affirmed their position on the superiority of the Southern lifestyle over that of the industrialized north.③William Faulkner and Katherine Anne Porter are writers of this type.Avant-garde (先锋派)①It is a French military and political term for the vanguard of an army or political movement.②This term extended since the late 19th century in literature, which refers to the innovative writer who is ahead of the time both in themes and style.③In the 20th century American literature, writers like Faulkner and e.e.cummings can be called avant-garde writers.8 Imagism:it’s a poetic movement of England and the U.S flourished from 1909 to 1917. The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by ―the direct treatment of the thing‖ and the economy of wording. The leaders of this mov ement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell艾米•洛威尔.Imagism:It came into being in Britain and U.S around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation. The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image. Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles: direct treatment of subject matter; economy of expression; as regards rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome节拍器. Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”is a well-known imagist poem.Imagism (意象派)①Imagism was a poetic school at the beginning of the 20th century.②Imagist poets strived for a simple, clear and vivid image, which in itself is the expression of art and meaning. The imagist poetry is a kind of free verse shaking of conventional metres and emphasizing the use of common speech and new rhythms.③This movement was led by Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.Imagery (意象)①Imagery means words and phrases that create pictures ,or images in the readers’mind.②In a literary text, it occurs when an author uses an object that is not really there, in order to create a comparison between one that is, usually evoking a more meaningful visual experience for the reader.③It is useful as it allows an author to add depth and understanding to his work, like a sculptor adding layer and layer to his statue, building it up into a beautiful work of art.9.Black humor:To deal with tragic things in comic ways to make it more powerful and more tragic.It refers to the use of morbid病态的and absurd荒谬的for darkly comic purpose. It carries the tone of anger, bitterness in the grotesque situation of suffering, anxiety, and death. It makes the reader laugh at the blackness of modern life. The writers usually do not laugh at the characters.代表人物：Thomas Pynchon + Joseph HelleJoseph Heller：Catch-22 第22条军规It is not only a war novel, but also a novel about people’s life in peaceful time. This novel attacked the dehumanization of all contemporary institutions and corruptions of individuals who gain power in institutions. Armed-forces are the most outrageous example of the two evils.It is a combination of humor with resentment(怨恨), gloom, anger, and despair. Seeing all that is unreasonable, hypocritical, ugly, and even frenzied(狂乱的)，writers of black humor nurse a grievance(不平) against their society which, according to them, is full of institutionalized(制度化的) absurdity. Yet they are cynical. They laugh a morbid(病态的) laugh when facing the hideous（丑恶的）. In hopeless indignation（愤慨）they take up freezing irony and burning satire as their weapons. Their novels are often in the form of anti-novel（反传统小说）, devoid of(缺乏) completeness of plot and characterized by fragmentation（零碎的）and dislocation（混乱）.10.The Lost Generation(迷失的一代)①It is a term first used by Gertrude Stein to describe the post-World I generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.②Full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.③The three best-known representatives of Lost Generation are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos.Beat Generation/ The Beat Writers (垮掉的一代)①It refers to a loosely-knit group of poets and novelists, writing in the second-half of the 1950s and early 1960s.②They shared a set of social attitudes—anti-established, anti-political, anti-intellectual, opposed to the prevailing cultural, literary, and moral values, and were in favor of unfettered self-realization and self-expression.③Representatives of the group were Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. And the most famous literary creations produced by this group should be Allen Ginsberg’s long poem Howl(嚎叫) and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road(在路上).。
(完整word版)美国文学名词解释
American Dream: American dream means the belief that everyone can succeed as long as he/she works hard enough. It usually implies a successful and satisfying life。
It usually framed in terms of American capitalism（资本主义）, its associated purported meritocracy,(知识界精华) and the freedoms guaranteed by the U。
S. Bill of Rights.American Puritanism清教主义: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the puritans. The Puritans were originally members of a division of the protestant church who wanted to purify their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrines of predestination， original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God。
American literature in the 17th century mostly consisted of Puritan literature. Puritanism had an enduring influence on American literature. It had become， to some extent, so much a state of mind, so much a part of national cultural atmosphere， rather than a set of tenets.Transcendentalism 超验主义： Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature， religion，culture and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early to middle 19th century。
美国文学-名词解释
美国文学重要名词解释American Romanticism(l)American Romanticism is one of the most important periods in the history of American literature. (2)It was a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism. For romantics, the feelings, intuitions andemotions were more important than reason and common sense. They emphasized individualism, placing the individual against the group. They affirmed the inner life of the self, and cherished strong interest in the past ，the wild，the remote，the mysterious and the strange. They stressed the element “Americanness” in their works.(3)It started with the publication of Washington Irving,s The Sketch Book and ended with Walt Whitman,sLeaves of Grass.(4)Being a period of the great flowering of American literature, it is also called “the AmericanRenaissance. ”(5)American Romanticists include such literary figures as Washington Irving , Ralph Waldo Emerson, HenryDavid Thoreau, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville. Walt Whitman and some others.Transcendentalism(1)It refers to the religious and philosophical doctrines of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others in NewEngland in the middle 18005s, which emphasized the importance of individual inspiration and intuition, the Over-soul, 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.(2)New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and EuropeanRomanticism.3.Free Verse(1)Free verse means the rhymed or unrhymed poetry composed without paying attention to conventional rulesof meter.(2)Free verse was originated by a group of French poets of the late 19th century.(3)Their purpose was to free themselves from the restrictions of formal metrical patterns and to recreateinstead the free rhythms of natural speech.(4)Walt Whitman,s Leaves of Grass is, perhaps, the most notable example.4.Symbol(1)Symbol means an act, a person, a thing, or a spectacle that stands for something else , usuallysomething less palpable than the named symbol.(2)The relationship between the symbol and its referent is not often one of simple equivalence. Allegoricalsymbols usually express a neater equivalence with what they stand for than the symbols found in modern realistic fiction.5.Theme(1)Theme means the unifying point or general idea Of a literary work.(2)It provides an answer to such question as “What is the work about?”(3)Each literary work carries its own theme or themes. For example, King Lear has many themes, amongwhich are blindness and madness6.American Naturalism(1)The American naturalists accepted the more negative interpretation of Darwin's evolutionary theory andused it to account for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were regarded as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.(2)American Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author,s ton e in writing becomes less serious andless sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a gloomy philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence.(3)Dreiser is a leading figure of his school.7.Darwinism(1)Darwinism is a term that comes from Charles Darwin,s evolutionary theory.(2)Darwinists think that those who survive in the world are the fittest and those who fail to adaptthemselves to the environment will perish.They believe that man has evolved from lower forms of life.Humans are special not because God created them in His image, but because they have successfully adapted to changing environmental conditions and have passed on their survival.making characteristics genetically.(3)Influenced by this theory, some American naturalist writers apply Darwinism as an explanation of humannature and social reality.8.Local Colorists(1)Generally speaking, the writings of local colorists are concerned with the life of a small, well-defined region or province. The characteristic setting is the isolated small town.(2)Local colorists were consciously nostalgic historians of a vanishing way of life, recorders of a presentthat faded before their eyes. Yet for all their sentimentality, they dedicated themselves to minutely accurate descriptions of the life of their regions. They worked from personal experience to record the facts of a local environment and suggested that the native life was shaped by the curious conditions of the Locale.(3)Major local colorists include Hamlin Garland, Mark Twain, Kate Chopin, etc.9.The Lost Generation(1)The Lost Generation is a term first used by Gertrude Stein to describe the post-World War Igeneration of American writers ：men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war．(2)Full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had loveaffairs and created some of the finest American literature to date．(3)The three best ——known representatives of Lost Generation are F Scott Fitzgerald . Ernest Hemingwayand John Dos Passos.(4)Others usually included among the list are Sherwood Anderson, Kay Boyle, Hart Crane, Ford MaddoxFord and Zelda Fitzgerald.10.Imagism(1)Imagism came into being in Britain and U. S. around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional Englishpoetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation.(2)The imagists．with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express thesemomentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image．(3)Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles ：i1 direct treatment of subjectmatter；ii)economy of expression；iii)as regards rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome.(4)Ezra Pound's In a Station of the Metro is a well-known imagist poem.11.The Beat Generation(1)The members of the Beat Generation were new bohemian libertines, who engaged in aspontaneous,sometimes messy, creativity．(2)The beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non—conformityand for its non——conforming style.(3)The major beat writings are Jack Kerouac,s On the Road and AIlen Ginsberg,s Howl. Howl became themanifesto of the Beat Generation．12.American Dream(1)American Dream refers to the dream of material success, in which one, regard1ess of socialstatus,acquires wealth and gains success by working hard and good luck．(2)In literature, the theme of American Dream recurs . In The Great Gatsby. Gatsby comes from the west to the east with the dream of material success. By bootlegging and other illegal means he fulfilled his dream but ended up being killed. The novel tells the shattering of American Dream rather than its Success.13.Expressionism(1)Expressionism refers to a movement in Germany early in the 20th century, in which a number of painters sought to avoid the representation of external reality and ， instead, to project a highly personal or subjective vision of the world.(2)Expressionism is a reaction against realism or naturalism , aiming at presenting a post 一war world violently distorted. (3)Works noted for expressionism include：Eugene O' Neill's The Emperor Jones，James Joyce’s Ulysses and Finnegan,s Wake, and T S . Eliot,s The Waste Land, etc.. (4)In a further sense， the term is sometimes applied to the belief that literary works are essentially expressions of their authors, moods and thoughts；this has been the dominant assumption about literature since the rise of Romanticism14.Feminism(1)Feminism incorporates both a doctrine of equal rights for women and an ideology of social transformation aiming to create a world for women beyond simple social equality.(2)In general, feminism is the ideology of women,s liberation based on the belief that women suffer injustice because of their sex . Under this broad umbrella various feminisms offer differing analyses of the causes,or agents,of female oppression．(3)Definitions of feminism by feminists tend to be shaped by their training, ideology or race. So, for example, Marxist and Socialist feminists stress the interaction within feminism of class with gender and focus on social distinctions between men and women.Black feminists argue much more for an integrated analysis which can unlock the multiple systems of oppression.15.Hemingway Code Hero(1)Hemingway Hero, also called code hero, is one who, wounded but strong, more sensitive, enjoys the pleasures of life (sex, alcohol, sport) in face of ruin and death, and maintains, through some notion of a code, an ideal of himself.(2)Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, Henry in A Farewell to Arms and Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea aretypical of Hemingway Hero.16.Harlem Renaissance(1)Harlem Renaissance refers to a period of outstanding literary vigor and creativity thatoccurred in the United States during the 1920s.(2)The, Harlem Renaissance changed the images of literature created by many black and white American writers .New black images were no longer obedient and docile ， instead they showed a new confidence and racial pride.(3)The center of this movement was the vast black ghetto of Harlem, in New York City. (4)The leadingfigures are Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Wallace Thurman, etc..17.Impressionism(1)Impressionism is a style of painting that gives the impression made by the subject on the artist without much attention to details.Writers accepted the same conviction that the personal attitudes and moods of the writer were legitimate elements in depicting character or setting or action.(2)Briefly, it is a style of literature characterized by the creation of general impressions and moods rather than realistic moods.18.Puritanism(1)Puritanism refers to the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans are the people who wantedto purify the Church of England and was persecuted in England. The first settlers who became the founding father of the American nation were quite a few of them Puritans. They came to America out of various reasons, but because they were a group of serious and religious people, they carried a code of values, a philosophy of life, a point of view which, in time took root in the New World, and became what is popularly known as American Puritanism.(2)The American Puritans, like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the Churchshould be restored to “purity” of the first century Church. To them religion was a matter of primary importance. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. It was this kind of religious belief that they brought with them into the wilderness. There they meant to prove that they were God ’s chosen people enjoying His blessings on this earth as in heaven.(3)In the grim struggle for survival that followed immediately after their arrival in America, thecharacter of the people underwent a significant change. They became more practical, as indeed they had to be. Gradually a set of Puritan values came into being. They believe in hard working, piety, and sobriety.(4)In a word, American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thoughtand American literature. It has become, to some extent, a state of mind,rather than a set of tenets, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the American breathes.We can say that, without some understanding of Puritanism, there can be no real understanding of America and its literature.19.Gothic RomanceIt refers to the Romantic novels with the settings of the ancient castles or old houses and descriptions of supernatural elements like ghosts and specters, usually horror-provoking, like Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher” and some of Irving,s tales.20.Psychological RealismIt is the realistic writing that probes deeply into the complexities of characters , thoughts and motivations. Henry James, novel The Ambassadorsis considered to be a masterpiece of psychological realism.And Henry James is considered the founder of psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator, and not in any facts of which the spectator is unaware. Such realism is therefore merely the obligation that the artist assumes to represent life as he sees it, which may not be the same life as it “really” is.21.Waste Land Painters“Waste Land Painters” refers to such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. With their writings, all of them painted the postwar Western world as a waste land, lifeless and hopeless. Eliot,s The Waste Land paints a picture of modern social crisis. In this poem, modern civilized society turns into a waste deathly land due to ethical degradation and disillusionment with dreams. His aThe Hollow Men” exhibited a pessimism no less depressing than The Wa ste Land.Fitzgerald,s The Great Gatsby wrote about the frustration and despair resulting from the failure of the American dream. Hemingway,s works, such as The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, portrayed the dilemma of modern man utterly thrown upon himself for survival in an indifferent world, revealing man's impotence and his despairing courage to assert himself against overwhelming odds. Faulkner made the history of the Deep South the subject of the bulk of his work, and created a symbolic picture of the remote past. His fictional Yoknapatwpha represents a microcosm of the whole macrocosmic nature of human experience.22.ConflictThe conflict in a work of fiction is the battle that the main character must wage against an opposing force. Usually the events of the story are all related to the conflict, and theconflict is resolved in some way by the story,s end.A battle with nature is a common conflict in literature, particularly Naturalist literature. Othercommon types are conflict between two characters; conflict between a character and the laws of society;conflict between a character and chance or fate; the inner conflict, in which a character struggles with personal weakness, illusions, or desires.23.StyleBroadly speaking, style is the way a literary work is created of a writer writes his literary works.In a narrow sense it refers to the typical linguistic feature and specific literary techniques and devices for a literary work or a writer.24.Point of viewThe angle from which a story or a novel is written is the point of view. Generally speaking, fiction is written in the omniscient point of view, the third person point of view or the first-person point of view.25.Black HumorOriginally it refers to a type of course humor in which tragic events like death and serious wounds are made fun of. In American literature it refers to the novels which employ this type of humor.26.The Jazz AgeTo many, World War I was a tragic failure of old values, of old politics, of old ideas. The social mood was often one of confusion and despair. Yet, on the surface the mood in American during the 1920s did not seem desperate. Instead, Americans entered a decade of prosperity and exhibitionism that prohibition, the legal ban against alcoholic beverages, ded more to encourage than to curb. Fashions were extravagant; More and more automobiles crowded the roads, advertising flourished; and nearly every American home had a radio in it. Fads swept the nation. People danced the Charleston, and they sat upon the flagpoles. This was t he Jazz Age, when New Orleans musicians moved “up the river” to Chicago and the theater of New York,s Harlem pulsed with the music that had become a symbol of the times. These were the Roaring Twenties. The roaring of the decade served to mask a quiet pain, the sense of loss that Gertrude Stein had observed in Paris. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the Jazz Age as a generation of “the beautiful and damned”, drowning in their pleasures.。
美国文学名词解释
美国文学名词解释《美国文学》名词解释1. American PuritanismAmerican Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature. It has become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, rather than a set of tenets, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the Americans breathe. It stresses predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement (or the salvation of a selected fe w) from God’s grac e. With such doctrines in their minds, Puritans left Europe for America in order to establish a theocracy in the New World. Over the years in the new homeland they built a way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.2. The American DreamThe American Dream is the faith held by many 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. Nowadays the American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and/or happiness.3. American RomanticismAmerican Romanticism stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War. It was America’s first great creative period. Although foreign influences were strong, American romanticism exhibited distinct features of its own. First, American romanticism was in essence the expressionof “a real new experience” and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien. Second, Puritan influence over American romanticism was conspicuously noticeable. Famous writers, such as the novelists Hawthorne and Melville; the poets Dickinson and Whitman; the essayists Thoreau and Emerson, had made a great literary period by capturing on their pages the enthusiasm and the optimism of that dream.4. American TranscendentalismAmerican Transcendentalism is literature, philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to 1860. It originated among a small group of intellectuals who were reacting against the orthodoxy of Calvinism and the rationalism of the Unitarian Church, developing instead their own faith centering on the divinity of humanity and the natural world. The beliefs that God is imminent in each person and in nature and that individual intuition is the highest source of knowledge led to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of traditional authority. The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature(1836), and Self-Reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden (1854).5. American NaturalismAmerican Naturalism is a literary movement that became popular in America in the late 19th century and is often associated with literary realism. Viewed as a combination of realism and romanticism, critics contend that the American form is heavily influenced by the concept of determinism—the theory that heredity and environment influence and determine human behavior. Although naturalism is often associated with realism,which also seeks to accurately represent human existence, the two movements are differentiated by the fact that naturalism is connected to the doctrine of biological, economic and social determinism. Representative writers are, among others, Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser.6. International ThemeThe International theme was one of Henry James’s main subjects, which dealt with the relationship between American and European culture. He explored the attractions and conflicts between new and old, innocence and experience, candor and complexity, the puritanical and the aesthetic.7. Local ColorismLocal Colorism is a type of writing that was popular in the late 19th century, particularly among authors in the South of the United States. This style relied heavily on using words, phrases, and slang that were native to the particular region in which the story took place. The term has come to mean any device which implies a specific focus, whether it is geographical or temporal.A well-known local colorism author was Mark Twain with his books Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.8. ImagismImagism was a literary movement which came into being in Britain and U.S. around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation. The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image. Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles: i) direct treatment of subject matter; ii) economy of expression; iii) as regard rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musicalphrase, not in the sequence of metronome. Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” is a well-known imagist poem.9. Harlem RenaissanceHarlem Renaissance is a notable phase of black American writing centered in Harlem (a predominantly black area of New York City) in the 1920s. It brought a new self-awareness and critical respect to black literature in the US. Langston Hughes and Richard Wright are representatives of the movement with their works Weary Blues and Native Son respectively.10. 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 move into a settled life.11. The Jazz AgeThe Jazz Age describes 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. Sco tt Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, highlighting what some describes as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism.Fi tzgerald is largely credited with coining the term “The Jazz Age”.12. Hemingway (Code) HeroesThe works of Ernest Hemingway generally center on the concept of heroism. Each of his novels contains a “Hemingway hero”— a man of honor and integrity who expresses himself not with words, but with actions. The Hemingway hero is a noble but tragic hero fighting with the overwhelming force; though he knows that he will be defeated at last, he decides to act like a hero. He is not a Godlike figure, but an ordinary, often flawed mortal who must look to himself for strength. The Hemingway hero is actually a mirror image of the author himself. Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea is a typical Hemingway hero.13. The Beat GenerationIn the 1950s, there was a widespread discontent among the postwar generation, whose voice was one of protest against all the mainstream culture that America had come to represent. This has come to be known as the Beat Generation. The word “beat” represented a non-conformist, rebellious attitude toward conventional values concerning sex, religion, the arts, and the American way of life. It was an attitude that resulted from the feeling of depression and exhaustion and the need to escape into an unconvention al, sometimes communal, mode of living. Central elements of “Beat” culture included experimentation with drugs, alternative forms of sexuality, an interest in Eastern religion, a rejection of materialism, and the idealizing of exuberant, unexpurgated means of expression and being.Allen Ginsberg’s Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs’s Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (1957) are among the best known examples of Beat literature.14. Black HumorBlack humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor, used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce. Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is one of the kind.15. The Southern RenaissanceThe Southern Renaissance is the revival of American Southern literature that began in the 1920s and 1930s until the 1950s. Much of the writings in this unit featured the struggle between those who embraced social changes and those who were more skeptical or challenged social change outright. The writers and intellectuals of the South after the late 1920s were engaged in an attempt to come to terms not only with the inherited values of the Southern tradition, but also with a certain way of perceiving and dealing with the past. In the works of William Faulkner, Katherine Ann Porter, Allen Tate, and Tennessee Williams, among others, the diverse wealth of voices in the early 20th-century South came alive.。
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Imagism
Imagism was an early twentieth-century artistic movement in the United States and Britain. Led by Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell, the Imagist poets advocated the use of free verse, common speech patterns, and clear concrete images as a reaction to Victorian sentimentalism.
The Beat Generation
A group of American post-World War II writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired. A cultural and literary movement in the 1950s in America. Nhomakorabea
The writers considered themselves lost because their inherited values could not operate in the postwar world and they felt spiritually alienated from a country they considered hopelessly provincial and emotionally barren. There were many literary artists involved in the groups known as the Lost Generation. The three best known are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. Others usually included among the list are: Sherwood Anderson, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Kay Boyle, Hart Crane, Ford Maddox Ford and Zelda Fitzgerald.
Desire Under the Elms
The play demonstrates O’Neill’s exploration of Greek theater. It does not derive directly from any particular play, but its material echoes Hippolytus and Medea, which contain incest and infanticide. A further debt to the Greeks occurs in the sense of an inevitable fate awaiting the participants, Ephraim Cabot, his son Eben, and Ephraim’s new wife, Abby Putnam.
As a sensitive artist O’Neill felt “the discordant, broken, faithless rhythm” of his time and tried to “get at the root” of human desires and frustrations. His best tragic plays reflect his statement that he was “always conscious of the Force behind— Fate, God, our biological past creating our present, whatever one calls it—Mystery certainly—and of the one eternal tragedy of Man in his glorious, selfdestructive struggle….”
Toward A Historical Understanding
The devastating World War I ( the bleak “waste land ”of the 1920s) Economic hard times in the 1930s and the 1940s (social movements)
characterized by a rejection of the materialism, militarism, consumerism, and conformity of the 1950s, in favor of individual freedom and spontaneity. Its most prominent members were the novelists John Clellon Holmes and Jack Kerouac, and the poets Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Whalen, Gary Snyder, and Gregory Corso.
An Overview (2)
Modernism is, in many aspects, a reaction against realism. By advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation，Modernism casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature. As a result，the works created by the modernist writers are often labeled as anti-novel, anti-poetry and anti-drama. Modernism is the attempt to create something new in the space of modern crisis and change.
Black Humor
grotesque or morbid humor used in literature, drama, and film to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce. The novels of such writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth contain elements of black humor.
An Overview (1)
Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base. The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted，alienated and ill relationships between man and nature，man and society，man and man， and man and himself. The modernist writers concentrate more on the private than on the public， more on the subjective than on the objective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual.
The Last Lecture
What is Modernism？
Modernism was a complex and diverse international movement in all creative arts, originating about the end of the 19th century. After the First World War，all kinds of literary trends of modernism appeared：symbolism， expressionism， surrealism，cubism（立体派）, futurism， Dadaism， imagism and stream of consciousness. Towards the 1920s，these trends converged into a mighty torrent of modernist movement，which swept across the whole Europe and America. It provided the greatest renaissance of the 20th century.