英美概况课件——美国文学.ppt

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1、American RomanticismTransdentalismThe Age of RealismNaturalismModernismAmerican RomanticismLength of timethe end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil WarBackgroundthe ideals of democracy and political equalityforeign influences,esp.the British RomanticismFeaturesNewness,or the new e

2、xperienceAmerican PuritanismMain Writers and Their WorksWashington IrvingThe Sketch Book The Legend of Sleepy HollowJames Fenimore CooperLeathers tocking Tales:The Pioneer,The Last of the Mohicans,The Prairie,The Pathfinder,The DeerslayerNathaniel HawthorneThe Scarlet LetterHerman MelvilleMoby DickT

3、he Scarlet Letter 红字红字The House of the Seven Gables有七个尖角阁的房子有七个尖角阁的房子Twice-Told Tales老调重弹老调重弹Mosses from an Old Manse 古屋青苔古屋青苔The Marble Faun 玉石雕像玉石雕像The Blithedale Romance福谷传奇福谷传奇Hester Prynne is the main protagonist and the most complicated character in The Scarlet Letter.Shes the embodiment of de

4、ep contradictions:bad and beautiful,holy and sinful,conventional and radical.At first glance,Hester may seem more victim than heroine.The adultery she committed when her husband was thought lost at sea leads Bostons Puritan authorities to brand her with the bright red A of the title.Shes forced to s

5、tand in shame before the mass of Puritan citizens,enduring their stares,their whispers and their contempt.In the eyes of the townspeople,she is the ultimate example of sin.Hester Prynne is also the object of a cruel and shadowy love triangle between herself,her minister lover Arthur Dimmesdale,and h

6、er husband,now called Roger Chillingworth.Hester Prynne may seem a victim and an object,but she also shows great personal strength.She survives.Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale:the lover of Hester in secret and father of Pearl.Dimmesdale leads two lives:that of a saint and that of a sinner.Arthur Dimmesda

7、les physical appearance in this novel directly portrays the condition of his conscience.The Reverends sin was eating him from the inside out.His saintliness was struggling with his sinfulness.Roger Chillingworth:the most interesting and hated character,is Hester Prynnes true husband.He arrives inBos

8、ton,when Hester Prynne was on the scaffold being punished for the adultery.To avenge himself,He disguises as a doctor and tortures Dimmesdale to death.Pearl:the misbegotten offspring of Hester Prynne and Arthu DimmesdaleIn 17th century Boston,Massachusetts in a Puritan village,Hester Prynne,has been

9、 led from the town prison with her infant daughter in her arms and on the breast of her gown a rag of scarlet cloth that assumed the shape of a letter.It was the uppercase letter A.The Scarlet Letter A represents the act of adultery that she has committed and it is to be a symbol of her sina badge o

10、f shamefor all to see.A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery.Hesters husband,who is much older than she,and whose real name is unknown,has sent her ahead to America whilst settling affairs in Europe.However,her husband does not arrive in Boston,and th

11、e consensus is that he has been lost at sea.It is apparent that,Hester has had an affair,leading to the birth of her daughter.She will not reveal her lovers identity,however,and the scarlet letter,is the punishment for her sin and secrecy.On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold but she again

12、refuses to identify her childs father.The elderly onlooker is Hesters missing husband,practicing medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth to avenge.Hester supports herself by working and her daughter Pearl grows into a willful,impish child,more of a symbol than an actual charactert.Community

13、 officials attempt to take Pearl away from Hester,but with the help of Arthur Dimmesdale,they manage to stay together.Dimmesdale,however,suffers from mysterious heart trouble,seemingly caused by psychological distress.Chillingworth eventually moves in with him so that he can provide his patient with

14、 round-the-clock care.Chillingworth also suspects that there may be a connection between the ministers torments and Hesters secret,and he begins to test Dimmesdale to see what he can learn.One afternoon,while the minister sleeps,Chillingworth discovers something undescribed to the reader,supposedly

15、an A burned into Dimmesdales chest,which convinces him that his suspicions are correct.Dimmesdales psychological anguish deepens,and he invents new tortures for himself.In the meantime,Hesters charitable deeds and quiet humility have earned her a reprieve from the scorn of the community.One night,wh

16、en Pearl is about seven years old,she and her mother are returning home from a visit to the deathbed of John Winthrop when they encounter Dimmesdale atop the town scaffold,trying to punish himself for his sins.Hester and Pearl join him,and the three link hands.Dimmesdale refuses Pearls request that

17、he acknowledge her publicly the next day,and a meteor marks a dull red A in the night sky.It is interpreted by the townsfolk to mean Angel,as a prominent figure in the community had died that night,but Dimmesdale sees it as meaning adultery.Hester can see that the ministers condition is worsening,an

18、d she resolves to intervene.She goes to Chillingworth and asks him to stop adding to Dimmesdales self-torment.Chillingworth refuses.She suggests that she may reveal his true identity to Dimmesdale.Walking through the forest,the sun would not shine on Hester,although Pearl could bask in it.They then

19、encounter Dimmesdale.Hester informs Dimmesdale of the true identity of Chillingworth and the former lovers decide to flee to Europe,where they can live with Pearl as a family.They will take a ship sailing from Boston in four days.Both feel a sense of release,and Hester removes her scarlet letter and

20、 lets down her hair.Pearl,playing nearby,does not recognize her mother without the letter.She is unnerved and expels a shriek until her mother points out the letter on the ground.Hester beckons Pearl to come to her,but Pearl will not go to her mother until Hester buttons the letter back onto her dre

21、ss.Pearl then goes to her mother.Dimmesdale gives Pearl a kiss on the forehead,which Pearl immediately tries to wash off in the brook,because he again refuses to make known publicly their relationship.However,he too clearly feels a release from the pretense.The day before the ship is to sail,the tow

22、nspeople gather for a holiday put on in honor of an election and Dimmesdale preaches his most eloquent sermon ever.Meanwhile,Hester has learned that Chillingworth knows of their plan and has booked passage on the same ship.Dimmesdale,leaving the church after his sermon,sees Hester and Pearl standing

23、 before the town scaffold.He impulsively mounts the scaffold with his lover and his daughter,and confesses publicly,exposing the mark supposedly seared into the flesh of his chest.He falls dead just after Pearl kisses him.Frustrated in his revenge,Chillingworth dies a year later.Hester and Pearl lea

24、ve Boston,and no one knows what has happened to them.Many years later,Hester returns alone,still wearing the scarlet letter,to live in her old cottage and resumes her charitable work.She receives occasional letters from Pearl,who was rumored to have married a European aristocrat and established a fa

25、mily of her own.Pearl also inherits all of Chillingworths money even though he knows she is not his daughter.There is a sense of liberation in her and the townspeople,especially the women,who had finally begun to forgive Hester of her tragic indiscretion.When Hester dies,she is buried in a new grave

26、 near that old and sunken grave,yet with a space between,as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle.Yet one tombstone served for both.The tombstone was decorated with a letter A,for Hester and Dimmesdale.Her adultery against Roger ChillingworthAlone and Alienation from the community A

27、dmirable and Angel to reestablish the personal relationshipAdam:Hesters sin is the original sin of human being.TransdentalismFeatures of Transendentalism:to place emphasis on spirit,or the Over soul to stress the importance of individual to offer a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spiri

28、t or GodWriters and Main WorksRalph Waldo EmersonNature The American ScholarHenry David ThoreauWaldenWaldenThe Age of RealismMain writers:William Dean HowellsHenry JamesMark TwaincriticwriterCriticism and FictionTo Howells,Realism is by no means mere photographic pictures of externals but includes a

29、 central concern with morality and psychological conflicts.Realism interprets sympathetically the common feeling of commonplace people2nd periodinternational theme1stperiod3rdperiodThe American Daisy MillerThe Portrait of a LadyThe AmbassadorsThe Wings of the DoveThe Golden BowlLangdon Clemens (1870

30、 1872)First child and only son of Samuel Clemens.Born prematurely-like his father,Langdon weighed just four and a half pounds at birth,and barely suvived his first weeks.Livy had been weak throughout the pregnancy,and had almost miscarried in October.Olivia Susan Susy Clemens (1872 1896)As a child,h

31、er health was fragile,but she demonstrated obvious literary and musical abilities,aspiring to become a writer or a singer.Susy was diagnosed with spinal meningitis and died in the Hartford house,at the age of 24.Clara Langdon Clemens (1874 1962)Second daughter of Samuel Clemens.Clara was the only da

32、ughter to survive her father and live a long life.She was musically inclined and independently-minded.Jane Lampton Jean Clemens (1880 1909)Third daughter of Samuel Clemens.Jean was a frail child.She began suffering from seizures around 1890 at the age of 10.She was nonetheless bright,and was particu

33、larly kind-natured,with a deep-felt empathy for animals.She died in her bathtub,apparently from a heart-attack suffered during a seizure.She was aged 29.Mark Twains familyThe Gilded AgeThe Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnLife on the MississippiThe Mysterious StrangerThe Pri

34、nce and the PauperThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnCharactersPlotsCharacter analysisFeaturesThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finna novel by Mark Twain,first published in February 1885.Commonly recognized as one of the Great American Novels.The book tells a story of a

35、teenager floating on a raft along the Mississippi river with an escaping slave,Jim.In the course of their dangerous journey,Huck and Jim meet danger,adventure and a cast of characters who are menacing and hilarious.The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississ

36、ippi River,satirizing a Southern antebellum society that was already out of date by the time the work was published.The drifting journey of Huck and his friend Jim,a runaway slave,down the Mississippi River on their raft may be one of the most enduring images of escape and freedom in all of American

37、 literature.The main plot Huckleberry Finn is the main character and narrator,who is writing his story.Through him,the reader judges society on its faults and strengths.Hucks buddy during his adventures is Jim,a runaway slave.The two share friendship and adventure as they travel down the Mississippi

38、 River on a raft.At the start of the story,Huck tells the reader what has happened since The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.He describes the treasure found by the boys and how it was invested for them.Huck spends some time complaining about being cared for by the Widow Douglas and her sister,Miss Watson.H

39、e hates having to be on time,act politely,pray,and study.Early in the story,Huck finds Paps distinctive boot prints in the snow and realizes his abusive father has returned.Huck sells his treasure to Judge Thatcher so that Pap cant get it.Judge Thatcher and the Widow try to get custody of Huck,but a

40、 new judge wont allow it and Pap kidnaps Huck and imprisons him.When Pap goes to town to drink,Huck fakes his own death and hides out on Jacksons Island.He discovers that Miss Watsons slave,Jim,is also hiding on the island.Jim has run away to avoid being sold.Huck and Jim join forces.With the Missis

41、sippi rising,Huck and Jim explore a house floating by,finding some money and provisions.They also find a dead body that Jim realizes is Pap.He doesnt tell Huck,however.Jim and Huck leave the island to avoid discovery.The two float downriver sharing stories and adventures.They head toward Cairo inten

42、ding to take a steamship to a free state.In the middle of a deep fog,they pass Cairo.A while later,a steamboat runs over their raft and Huck and Jim jump for their lives.Huck reaches shore and is taken in by the Grangerfords,a family involved in a feud with another family,the Shepherdsons.Huck finds

43、 Jim hiding in a swamp.After the feud erupts and the Grangerford men are killed,Huck and Jim take off again on a new raft.Downriver,Huck finds two scam artists,the Duke and the King.They take control of the raft,cheating townspeople as they travel along.After making 400 dollars on a scam,the scam ar

44、tists invent a con to trick three orphaned girls out of their inheritance.They pretend to be the girls uncles and trick a large bag of gold from them.Huck steals the gold from the King and hides it in the girls fathers coffin.When their real uncles arrive,the Duke and King are challenged to prove th

45、eir identities by describing a tattoo on the dead fathers chest.When the man is exhumed,the gold found,and the Duke and King proved wrong,Huck and Jim take off on the raft,with the Duke and King in hot pursuit.Later,the Duke and King turn Jim in as a runaway slave.Huck finds Jim at,of all places,Tom

46、 Sawyers Aunt Sallys house.Huck pretends to be Tom and,when Tom arrives,he pretends to be his brother,Sid.They find and release Jim,only to be chased by townspeople with guns.Tom gets shot in the leg.Huck leaves Tom and Jim in hiding to get a doctor.The doctor returns to town with Tom and Jim,in cha

47、ins.Toms Aunt Polly turns up after hearing that Tom and Sid are both with her sister.She,of course,knows that Sid is with her.She informs the townspeople that Jim is a free man because the Widow freed him just before she passed away.Jim tells Huck that his Pap is dead,so he can return home.Huck turn

48、s down an offer from Aunt Polly to adopt him.Huck concludes his story by saying he hadnt realized how long it would take to write it down.Character analysisHuckleberry Finn is the central character and storyteller in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.He is thirteen and the son of a drunken father.T

49、hey live in St.Petersburg,Missouri,on the banks of the Mississippi River.Huck,as he is known,often is abandoned by or runs away from his father and has to survive on his own.Hucks practical and often socially naive views and perceptions provide much of the satirical humor of the novel.Although he is

50、 unschooled,he is intelligent and opinionated about society and the rules others expect him to live by.Huck possesses the ability to adapt to almost any situation through deceit.He is playful but practical,inventive but logical,compassionate but realistic,and these traits allow him to survive the ab