美国文学Lecture 3.ppt

Lecture 3American RomanticismRomanticismRomanticism is a term that is associated with imagination and boundlessness,and in critical usage is contrasted with classicism,which is commonly associated with reason and restriction.A romantic attitude as a historical movement A romantic attitude as a historical movement it arose in the 18th and 19th centuries in reaction to more rational literary,philosophic,artistic,religious,and economic standards.Origins of Romanticism:the economic rise of the middle class;the individualism of the Renaissance;the Reformation;the psychology of Locke;the optimistic humanitarianism;the writings of Rousseau Indigenous forces in American Literature:A realized political democracy;The individualism,buoyancy,and optimism of the frontier;The idealism latent in Calvinism(Jonathan Edwards);Intimacy with the wilderness;a predominantly agrarian background;recognition of the heroism of early Americans.The impact of American Romantic:revolutionary activities for political freedom and individual rights;humanitarian reform(Abolitionism and feminism);liberal religious movements(Unitarianism and Unversalism);labor reform(Knights of Labor);economic experiments in communal living(Brook Farm and New Harmony).Characteristics of American romanticism are:sentimentalism(The Sketch Book);primitivism and the cult of the“noble savage”(Hiawatha);political liberalism(Jefferson,Paine,Barlow);the celebration of natural beauty and the simple life(Cooper,Emerson,Thoreau);introspection(Poe,Thoreau);Characteristics of American romanticism are:idealization(Cooper);interest in the picturesque past(Irving,Hawthorne);interest in remote places(Melville);medievalism(Longfellow);antiquarianism leading to the revival of the popular ballad(Longfellow);the Gothic romance(Brown);Characteristics of American romanticism are:concern with a crepuscular world of mystery(Poe);individualism(Emerson,Thoreau,Whitman);technical innovation(Whitmans prosody);humanitarianism(Uncle Toms Cabin);morbid melancholy(Poe);native legendry(Evangeline);and the historical romance(Cooper).Washington Irving&James Fenimore CooperWashington IrvingThe Sketch Book,of which the most frequently anthologized are:“Rip Van Winkle”“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”James Fenimore CooperLeatherstocking Tales,a series of five novels:The Pioneers(1823)The Last of the Mohicans(1826)The Prairie(1827)The Pathfinder(1840)The Deerslayer(1841)The style of Irving:Beautiful,though imitative(Goldsmith)Never shocking and a bit sentimental at timesManner more important than matterGentility,urbanity,and pleasantnessFive sensesMusical languageThe Style of CooperMark Twains acerbic criticism:Fenimore Coopers Literary Offenses