美国文学课件

P art 1: The Literature of Colonial America

1.Historical Introduction:

(1) John Smith: the first American writer

2. Early New England Literature:

(2) William Bradford:

(3) John Winthrop:

3. Puritan Thoughts:

(4) John Cotton:

(5) Roger Williams:

(6) Anne Bradstreet:

(7) Edward Taylor:

Puritanism

(1). Features of Puritanism

①Unconditional election: God had decreed who was damned and who was saved from before the beginning of the world.

②Irresistible grace: regeneration as entirely a work of God, which cannot be resisted and to which the sinner contributes nothing.

③Total depravity: humanty’s utter corruption since the Fall.

④Limited atonement: Christ died for the elect only.

⑤Perseverance of the saints: the elect, despite their backsliding and faintness of heart, cannot fall away from grace

(2). Influence of Puritanism:

①A group of good qualities –hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature.

②It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden.

③Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphor ical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American.

④With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.

Main Features of Colonial American Literature:

1)American literature grew out of humble origins. Diaries, histories, journals, letters, commonplace

books, travel books, sermons, in short, personal literature in its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.

2)In content these early writings served either God or colonial expansion or both. In form, if there

was any form at all, English literary traditions were faithfully imitated and transplanted.

3)The Puritanism formed in this period was one of the most enduring shaping influences in

American thought and American literature

4)

Part 2: The Literature of Reason and Revolution Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography

1.Thomas Paine: The American Crisis

2.Thomas Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence

3.Philip Freneau: The Wild Honey Suckle

The Indian Burying Ground

To a Caty-Did

Background Knowledge

The Period of Enlightenment:

The 18th century American history witnessed two great revolutions: one was American Revolution, the other was Enlightenment, an intellectual movement whose rationalistic spirit inspired American men of letters and brought them into a new horizon beyond the limitation of prevailing Puritanism.

The two revolutions produced a number of outstanding political and literary figures, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson and Philip Freneau. Their literary talent enabled them to be political leaders.

1)1. Benjamin Franklin

Life: 1706-1790

①Humanist, Scientist, master of

diplomacy, a prose writer;

②believer in the possibility of

human progress and the comforts of

material success;

③pragmatic and optimistic, the last positive representation of the values of the American dream

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

a.It is perhaps the first real post-revolutionary American writing as well as the first real

autobiography in English.

b.It gives us the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a

state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.

c.First of all, it is a puritan document. The most famous section describes his scientific scheme of

self-examination and self-improvement.

d.It is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of

eighteenth century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free, by nature endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

e.It is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision. The plainness of its style, the

homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake.

＊The style of the Autobiography was simple, direct and concise.

＊The work also gave autobiography an official position in the literary field.

＊Franklin’s emphasis on material wealth and material success rather than spiritual satisfaction also met with criticism and challenges from critics.

Thirteen Virtues in Poor Richard’s Almanac

• 1.T emperance （节制）

Eat not Dullness. Drink not to Elevation.食不过饱，饮不过量。

• 2. Silence （谨言）

Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. A voiding trifling conversation. 于人无善者不言，避免琐碎之谈。

• 3. Order （秩序）

Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time. 物占其所，置物有定位，做事有定时，物有未来，事有始终。