美国文学期末整理

美国文学史名词解释及五大流派分析

Native American oral literature is of three types: origin stories, trickster tales, and historical narratives.

Origin stories are those dramatizing tribal interpretations of how the earth originated or of how people established relationships with plants, animals and the cosmos Trickster tales are humorous tales featuring trickster characters. Trickster figures are people in the form of animals or half animal and half human. They often exist on the margins of the social world

Historical narratives are diverse in kind. Of this vast historical literature, many stories recount European colonization from the perspective of Native Americans. Puritanism A Puritan was any person who tried to become more pure through worship and doctrine. The Puritans' way of life and set of beliefs were called Puritanism. The most important parts of Puritanism were piety (obeying religious rules), dressing simply, and living a modest life. And “original sin(原罪)” and “grace” are two important premises in Puritanism.

Witchcraft trials in the 17th century were a deeply troubling yet significant phenomenon with the puritan community. In 1542, the English Parliament made a capital offense. Subsequently, several hundred people were accused and hanged. A witch was supposed to be someone who performed evil deeds in the service of Satan. They were believed to have familiars or animals that would do evil for them. Witchcraft trials-so it is argued- were perhaps a way to punish improper behavior or to restrict power.

Enlightenment, starting in the 17th century with the scientific revolution, was a momentous intellectual movement that gradually established a system of modern values that emphasize reason, science, knowledge and progress. In America, enlightenment ideas nurtured a greater participatory and interest in worldly affairs: Americans gained greater confidence that a more reasonable political and social order could be established. Under the influence of the Enlightenment, Americans also learned to take actions to resist oppressive power and to criticize and reform government. The Enlightenment developed quite rigorously in France and other

European countries in the 18th century. It was also in the 18th that influences of the Enlightenment reached the colonies of America.

Autobiography

Negative capability was first used by the British romantic poet John Keats. In the letter written in December 1817, Keats defined is as the capability in good poets of including uncertainties and other negative emotions without stretching for reason and without losing reason. The negative capability, by immersing us in ambiguities, doubts and other negative emotions, in fact strengthens us and improves our judgment by complicating our existing system of judgment. It is therefore a sign of the kind of aesthetic sophistication found only in good poets.

Free verse is the kind of poetry that does not follow a regular meter, does not rhyme and does not use regular line lengths. And it is known as Walt Whitman’s major technical innovation.

Local colorism is a unique variation of American literary realism. Generally, the works by local colorists are concerned with the life of a small region or province. This kind of fiction depicts the characters from a specific setting or of an era, which are marked by its customs, dialects, landscape, or other peculiarities that have escaped standardizing cultural influence. Tasks of local colorists: to write or present local characters of their region in truthful depiction distinguished from others, usually a very small part of the world.

local color writing, a kind of fiction that came to prominence in the USA in the late 19th century, and was devoted to capturing the unique customs, manners, speech, folklore, and other qualities of a particular regional community, usually in humorous short stories. Local color writings are just as dependent upon a specific geographical location, but they lend more emphasis to the local details by tapping into its folklore, history, mannerism, customs, beliefs and speech. Above all, dialect peculiarities are the defining characteristics of local color writings.

Imagism was a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. Imagism called for a return to what were seen as more Classical values, such as directness of presentation and economy of