自然主义文学解析

Naturalism Vs. Realism
• As a historian of manners, the realists treat their novels as records of men and manners. • A realist observes a general situation and invents some incidents. • The naturalists treat their novels as a demonstration of the general theory of human conduct • A naturalist is not permitted to invent but report with scientific accuracy.
① The story It sets during an unnamed Union (North) Confederacy (South) war in the Civil War. Henry Fleming, an eighteen years old boy, joined in the Union Army and experienced his inside as well as outside changes caused by this war. ② Achievements in naturalism a. the indifference of nature and helplessness of human efforts ☆ Soldiers are like chessman in a chessboard, losing their subjectivity, or even humanity, and becoming animals. The victims of heredity and environments.
His Works •McTeague 《麦克提格》(1899)
• It is a textbook for naturalistic fiction, the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel and a consciously naturalistic manifesto. It is a case study of the inevitable effect of environment and heredity on human lives.
Major Naturalistic Writers
• 1. Stephen Crane (1871-1900) • Novels: • Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) (the first uncompromising naturalistic novel in America) • The Red Badge of Courage (1895, first modern deromanticizing anti-War novel) • Poetry: • The Black Riders and Other Lines • War is Kind • Short Stories: • “Open Boat”, “The Blue Hotel”, and “An Experiment in Misery”
• The Βιβλιοθήκη Baiduheat trilogy (on the production,
文学 自然主义
Naturalism:
a literary movement taking place from 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.
Stephan Crane & The Red Badge of Courage ☆ the first to treat slums, prostitution, alcoholism, and other unpleasant subjects which are associated with the hardboiled school of naturalism. ☆ the first American to portray war realistically from the point of view of the individual soldier not in romantic way ☆ one of the two precursors of Imagist poetry (The Black Rider) ☆ initiated the modern tradition of telling the truth at all costs about the elemental human situation
American Naturalism
美国自然主义
1. Background： Social background: Modern America – industrialism – financial giants and industrial proletariat – skyscrapers and slums Ideological background: a cold, indifferent Godless world – life as a struggle for survival – Darwinian evolutionary concepts like “the survival of the fittest” and “the human beast” – Herbert Spencer’s social Darwinism – an attitude of gloom and despair
c. animal images of soldiers
☆ war etc. “the red animal”, “monster”, “dragon”,
☆ soldiers
ⅰ horrified by the war: rabbit chickens terrified buffaloes ⅱ animal instinct: panther, wolf, beast, dog, hound
The outgrowth of Realism
Realism: to describe subjects as they really are Naturalism: to determine "scientifically" the underlying forces (e.g. the environment or heredity) influencing the actions of its subjects; to deal with uncouth or sordid subject matter; to expose the dark harshness of life
Frank Norris (1870-1902)
弗兰多诺里斯
• Benjamin Franklin Norris was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, the United States' first important naturalist writer. • Benjamin Franklin Norris was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, the United States' first important naturalist writer.
• 2. Literary background/ Definition • In the nineties, French naturalism, with its new techniques and new ways of writing, appealed to the imagination of the younger generation like Crane, Norris and Dreiser. • They tore the mask of gentility into pieces and wrote about helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world, and his lack of dignity in face of the crushing forces of environment and heredity. • Their major works reveal a bitter and wretched world where human beings such as Maggie, McTeague, and Sister Carrie battle hopelessly against overwhelming odds in a cold, harsh, apathetic environment.
• Novels: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets 《街头女郎麦琪》 (1893) the first naturalistic work
Major Works
The Red Badge of Courage (1895)
《红色英勇勋章》 • Short stories: “The Blue Hotel”, “The Open Boat”, etc • Collection of poems: The Black Riders (1895)
A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe “The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.” ____Stephen Crane
b. the application of colors
☆ brightness: ⑴ blood and horror “the red animal”， war “the blood—swollen god” “the red formidable difficulties of war” “the red illness of battle” ⑵ courage and glory “He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.” “(the marching) made him soar on the red wings of war” “It (the flag) was a woman, red and white, hating and loving，that called him with the voice of his hopes”
Stephen Crane
• • • • •
(1871-1900) 斯蒂芬克莱恩
New Jersey (1871) Syracuse University(1890-1891) A journalist (1891-1900) Settled down in England (1899) Died of tuberculosis in Germany (1900)