Chapter3AmericanRomanticismIrvingCooper解读学习教程.pptx
Romanticism Simply speaking,Romanticism is a literary movement flourished as a cultural force throughout the 19th C and it can be divided into the early period and the late period.Also it remains powerful in contemporary literature and art.Romanticism is a complex artistic,literary,and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe,and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution.It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature,and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts,music,and literature.第1页/共20页 Romanticism,a term that is associated with imagination and boundlessness,as contrasted with classicism,which is commonly associated with reason and restriction.A romantic attitude may be detected in literature of any period,but as an historical movement it arose in the 18th and 19th centuries,in reaction to more rational literary,philosophic,artistic,religious,and economic standards.The most clearly defined romantic literary movement in the U.S.was Transcendentalism.第2页/共20页Reasons on the rise of American RomanticismInternal causes:1)American burgeoned into a political,economic and cultural independence.Democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation.Radical changes came about in the political life of the country.Parties began to squabble and scramble for power,and new system was in the making.2)The spread of industrialism,the sudden influx of immigration,and the pioneers pushing the frontier further west,all these produced something of an economic boom and,with it,a tremendous sense of optimism and hope among the people.第3页/共20页3)Ever-increasing magazines played an important role in facilitating literary expansion in the country.External causes:1)Foreign influences added incentive to the growth of romanticism in America.2)The influence of Sir Walter Scott was particularly powerful and enduring.第4页/共20页British RomanticismIt prevailed in England during the period(1798-1832).There are two schools of Romanticists:a.passive or escapist.These writers protested against capitalist development by turning to the feudal past,turning to nature for protection.(Wordsworth,Coleridge,Southey)b.active.They held out an ideal of a future society free from oppression and exploitation.(Byron,Shelly,Keats)2.Their writings are filled with strong-willed heroes,terrible events,tragic situation,powerful conflicting passion and exotic events.Sometimes they resort to symbolic methods,and pay great attention to spiritual and emotional life of man.Nature often personified,also plays an important role.The creative imagination occupied the center of romantic views of arts.第5页/共20页American Romanticism(The most important period in the history of American literature)1.Time:It stretches from the end of the 18th century throughout the outbreak of the Civil War,with two phrases:a.1770s to 1830s,Early period Representatives:Washington Irving,James Fenimore Cooper b.1830s to 1860s,Late period summit of American literature Representatives:Emerson,Thoreau,Hawthorne,Melville,Whitman,Dickinson,Poe etc.2.Features of American Romanticism a.Imitative:Some of the American Romantic writings were modeled on English and European works.The Romantic Movement proved to be a decisive influence.Without it,the rise of Romanticism would have been impossible.Romanticism writers such as Scott,Coleridge,Wordsworth,Byron all made a stimulating impact on American literature.第6页/共20页b.Independent:From the very beginning,American Romanticism exhibited distinct features of its own.It originated from a mixture of factors which were altogether American rather than anything else.American Romanticism was in essence the expression of a real new experience and contained“an alien quality”.E.g.,the American national experience of pioneering into the west is a rich fund of material for American writers.It is these Romanticism writers that created an indigenous American literature.c.Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable.E.g.,the author tended more to moralize than writers in England.第7页/共20页Characteristics of American Romanticism1)Sentimentalism,primitivism and the cult of the noble savage2)Political liberalism3)The celebration of natural beauty and the simple life4)Introspection5)The idealization of the common man,uncorrupted by civilization6)Interest in the picturesque past and remote places7)Antiquarianism好古癖8)Individualism9)Morbid melancholy10)Historical romance第8页/共20页 Washington Irving (1783-1859)第9页/共20页1.Lifea.born into a wealthy New York merchant family.b.learned law but more interested in writingc.In 1809,his first book A History of New York,written under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker,was a great success and won him wide popularity.d.In 1815,he went to England to take care of his family business there,and when it failed,had to write to support himself.e.With the publication of The Sketch Book,he won a measure of international recognition.f.In 1826,as an American diplomatic attach,he was sent to Spain,where he gathered material for his writing.g.From 1829 to 1832,he was secretary of the U.S Legation in London.h.Then when he was fifty,he returned to America and bought “Sunnyside”,his famous home.There he spent the rest of his life,living a life of leisure and comfort,except for a period of four years(1842-1846),when he was Minister to Spain.第10页/共20页2.works a.A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty 1809 纽约外史 b.The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,Gent 1819-1820 见闻札记 “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”&“Rip Van Winkle”c.Life of George Washington 1855-1859 华盛顿传第11页/共20页3.The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,Gent 1819-1820 见闻札记 a.The Sketch Book is a collection of essays,sketches and tales.b.In The Sketch Book,the most famous and frequently anthologized are “Rip Van Winkle”瑞普凡温克“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”睡谷的传说 c.The short story as a genre in American literature began with The Sketch Book.d.The book touched the American imagination and foreshadowed the coming of Hawthorne,Melville,and Poe.e.It also marked the beginning of American Romanticism.第12页/共20页4.The style of Washington Irvinga.Irving wrote to amuse and entertain.b.He is good at enveloping his stories in an atmosphere.c.His characters are vivid and true so that they tend to linger in the mind of the reader.d.The humor is such that reading him,it is difficult not to smile.e.His language is finished and musical.第13页/共20页5.The evaluation of Irvinga.“Father of American literature”b.“Father of the American short story”c.The first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame.第14页/共20页James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)第15页/共20页1.lifea.born in a rich family of New Jerseyb.At 14,attended Yale but expelledc.spent five years at sead.inherited his fathers vast fortune,then lived a comfortable life.e.began to write novels because one day he was disgusted by one novel and challenged by his wife.第16页/共20页2.worksa.The Spy 间谍b.“Leatherstocking Tales”皮袜子故事集第17页/共20页3.“Leatherstocking Tales”a.It is a series of five novels about the frontier life:The Pioneer拓荒者,The Last of Mohicans 最后的莫希干人,The Prairie大草原,The Pathfinder探路者,The Deerslayer杀鹿者b.Its central character:Natty Bumppo(several names for same character:Hawk-eye,the Pathfinder,the Deerslayer,Leatherstocking).He is a typical frontier man:honest,simple,innocent,generous and represents brotherhood of man,nature and freedomc.Its historical importance lies in the fact that it was probably the first romance of the frontier in American literature.d.The central character:Natty Bumppo represents the ideal American,living a virtuous and free life In Gods world.第18页/共20页4.The features of Coopera.He is a mythic writer good at inventing plots(Cooper had never been to the frontier area personally.)c.Style:powerful,yet clumsy and dreadfuld.Wooden characters e.Use of dialect,but not authentic(criticized by Mark Twain)f.He had never been to the frontier and among the Indians and yet could write five huge epic books about them is an eloquent proof of the richness of his imagination.g.He created the first Indians to appear in American fiction and probably the first group of noble savages.h.He hit upon the native subject of frontier and wilderness,and helped to introduce the“Western”tradition into American literature.第19页/共20页感谢您的观赏！第20页/共20页
