美国文学史总结.docx

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1、American Romanticism时代背景Time Range: From the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War.=The time of westward movement=political equality & democracy became the idea of the new nation.=the spread of industrialism, immigrants and the “pioneers” produce economic growth.=A contrast w

2、ith classicism，A romantic attitude =Individualism. =Foreign influence from Great English and French romantic authorsFeaturesAmerican Romanticism was both imitative and independent. Imitative: English and European Romanticists, about home, family, nature, children and idealized love, etc.Independent:

3、 Emerson and Whitman, on major problems of American life, like the westward expansion and democracy and equality, etc.Themes:America life,Primitivism, The celebration of natural beauty and the simple life,Common man, Interest in the picturesque past ,Interest in the remote places ,medievalism,Antiqu

4、arianism ,Individualism,Historical romance主要作家作品：Washington Irvings The Sketch BookWhitmans Leaves of GrassNathaniel Hawthorns Scarlet LetterAmerican Realism(1865- 1910)时代时期：Aftermath of the Civil WarSocial Problems: deterioration of moral values; extremes of wealth and poverty; majority struggled f

5、or survival Question on the Transcendentalists assumptionsA great interest in the realities of lifethe frontier was closingThe spirit of self-reliance became perverted into admiration for driving ambition, a lust for money and power. In the meantime, life for the millions was fast becoming a struggl

6、e for survival. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned out to be a “Gilded” one.Features1. Anti-romantic, anti-sentimental ; truthful description of life2. Typical character and plot under typical setting3. Objective rather than idealized view of human nature and experience 4. Concern fo

7、r social and psychological problemsThemeindividual characters confronted by hardships and moral dilemma.Expose the value of common humanityMiserable conditions caused by Capitalized Industrialism主要作家作品William Dean Howells: A Modern InstanceHenry James: The AmericanMark Twain: The Adventure of Tom Sa

8、wyer American Modernism (1910s1945)背景：1.The Influence of the WWI:A stronger image of America in international arena; The economic boom-a deceptive affluence; The development of a new type of industrial economy;2. Intolerance in American society: the discrimination against minorities. 3.The loss of f

9、aiththe death of God.(Intellectually, Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche, Marx. Spiritually, sense of disillusionment & fragmentation.)Features:n Fragmentation and open-endedness in structuren Alienation as the chief characteristicn Interests in the psychological depths of characters (method of stream-of-cons

10、ciousness) n Gender, race, class as accepted registers- efforts to represent postwar world as incoherent, futile, fragmented, and meaningless, man as misplaced, lost and alienated, to resist traditional totalized views of reality代表作In poetry n Ezra Pound (1885-1975)，T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)，Wallace S

11、tevens (1879-1955)华莱士史蒂文斯In fiction n Ernest Hemingway，F. Scott Fitzgerald，William FaulknerIn draman Eugene ONeil，Tennessee WilliamsThe Lost Generationv Definition: term applied to the disillusioned intellectuals and aesthetes of the years following WWI, who rebelled against former ideals and values

12、 but could replace them only by despair or a cynical hedonism. This included the young English and American expatriates as well as men and women caught in the war and cut off from the old values and yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilization had gone mad. v Time period: 1920sv So

13、urce of the name: Gertrude Stein , preface to The Sun Also Risesv Common characteristics: Coming of age during the War, having something to do with it Disillusioned and antagonistic against war Unhappy about American culture Expatiates in Parisv Major representatives:T.S.Eliot-The waste landErnest H

14、emingway-The Sun Also RisesEzra Pound-The Cantos the Jazz AgeIn 1920s America - known as the Jazz Age, the Golden Twenties or the Roaring Twenties - everybody seemed to have money. The nightmare that was the Wall Street Crash of October 1929, was inconceivable right up until it happened. The 1920s s

15、aw a break with the traditional set-up in America. The Great War had destroyed old perceived social conventions and new ones.n F. Scott FitzgeraldThe 1930s背景The Great Depression (19291939) October 24, 1929 “Black Thursday”, Wall Street crashIn economy: physical waste land, bankruptcy, unemployment,

16、hunger, a reality of want & despair.In mood: widespread panic and sheer despairFranklin D Roosevelt: the New Deal (1933-1939)The rise of Fascism in Europe and WWIIThe establishment of diplomatic relations with Soviet Union Influence of communist lit on American intellectualsFeaturesWriters of the 19

17、20s were still writing, Social concern & social involvement A revival of naturalism and realismFlourishing of left-wing literature social protest writers / radical lit./ proletarian writers The “Red Decade ”主要人物小说：John Dos Passos -The U.S.A. trilogyJohn Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath戏剧Eugene ONeil

18、- The Iceman ComethTennessee Williams - The Glass MenagerieTranscendentalism1836-18601: A philosophy that emphasizes the a priori conditions of knowledge and experience or the unknowable character of ultimate reality or that emphasizes the transcendent as the fundamental reality2: a philosophy that

19、asserts the primacy of the spiritual and transcendental over the material and empiricalIt was influenced by:A thoughtful revolt against Puritanism (total depravity, the original sin etc.).German philosophers of the 18th century.The effect of oriental thought on the Western world. Features:Emphasis o

20、n spirit of the “Oversoul”. Stress the importance of individual and of regaining the lost personality.Nature is the symbolic of the spirit or God代表人物Ralph Waldo Emerson - The American ScholarHenry David Thoreau - WaldenNathanial Hawthorn - The Scarlet LetterLocal ColorismTime period: 1860s to the en

21、d of 19th cent. Definition: Local color is fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region.(Emphasis of elements which characterize a local culture. Emphasis of physical setting and those distinctive qualities of lan

22、dscape which condition human thought and behavior. )Major influences: the frontier tradition of tall tales, & writings of Irving and ScottHistorical background:Marked differences existed between different parts of the country when the U.S expanded westward, with the East assuming the superior “arist

23、ocratic”posture. The rest of the country keenly felt the psychological need to asserttheir cultural identity by showing their local character.Intellectual context:The frontier humorists, who had flourished several decades before the Civil War, had prepared the literary ground for local colorism.Majo

24、r Influences: a. The frontier tradition of tales and Down East humor. b. The writings of Washington Irving c. The English tradition of Scott and so on. d. The dual influence of romanticism and realism.Feature of Local Colorism:Concerns the real experienceEmphasize on dialogTall-tale kind of humorWri

25、ters:Mark twain: life about MississippiWilliam Dean Howells: OhioBret Harte: Pioneers in the FarwestNaturalism( late 19thearly 20th)定义：a critical term applied to the method of literary composition that aims at a detached, scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man. It is thus more inclus

26、ive and less selective than realism, and holds to the philosophy of determinism. It conceives of man as controlled by his instincts or his passions, or by his social and economic environment and circumstances. Since in this view man has no free will, the naturalistic writer does not attempt to make

27、moral judgments, and as a determinist he tends toward pessimism.Social &cultural context: 1 . The emergence of “Modern America” in the post-bellum decades.2. Industrialism and urbanization.3. Intellectual context: the emergence of new philosophy:The chief impetus for naturalism:Deterministic philoso

28、phical theories of the 19th century Feature:1.Humans are controlled by laws of heredity and environment. 2. The universe is indifferent and hostile to human desires.3. The literary naturalists have a major difference from the realists.Main writers:Frank Norris, McTeagueTheodore Dreiser, Sister Carri

29、eJack London, The Call of the WildImagismImagism was a movement in the early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precise od imagery, and clear, sharp language. It rejected the effusive nature of Romantic and Victorian poetry,Focused on directness of idea and economy of language. It conte

30、mporary with and in harsh contrast to Georgian poetry.Features:To use the language of common speech To create new rhythms a new cadence means a new ideaTo allow absolute freedom in the choice of subjectTo present an imageTo produce poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred or indefiniteConcentration is the very essence of Poetry代表人物：Ezra Pound: The CantosWilliam Carlos Williams: PatersonT.S.Hulme