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1、American LiteratureAmerican Literature1 AmericanliteratureThe Literature of Colonial PeriodThe Literature of Reason and Revolution The literature of RomanticismThe Literature of RealismThe Literature of The 20th century 2The Literature of Colonial Period 3Historical backgroundThe first permanent Eng

2、lish settlement in North America at James town,Virginia in 1607.In 1630 the puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.Independent War(1776-1783);the foundation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republicthe United States of America.4 Puritanism:American PuritansPuritans want to make up pur

3、e their religious beliefs and practices.Puritans wish to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of the Bible to theology.Puritans look upon themselves as a chosen people,and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing Gods will and is not to be accep

4、ted.Puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated.Religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.5Types of writing:histories,travel accounts,diaries,biographies,letters,autobiographies,sermons,and poems.6Major writers:Captain John Smith（约翰（约翰史密史密斯）斯）u

5、 the first American writeru A Description of New England 新英格兰叙事(1616)u General History of Virginia弗吉尼亚通史（1642）Pocahontas 7William Bradford(1590-1657)One of the greatest of colonial American,wholly consecrated to a mission in which he regarded himself as an instrument of God.At the age of 18,he accom

6、panied the group to Holland to escape persecution.13 years later he was one of those who,on December 11,took on the Mayflower and entered Plymouth Bay.From 1622 until his death,Bradford was reelected thirty timed as governor.Masterpiece:Of Plymouth Plantation8 Anne Bradstreet(安妮安妮布布拉德斯特里特拉德斯特里特)(161

7、2-1672)uthe first American woman poetu ua Puritan poet,once called“Tenth Muse”umost famous poems“Contemplations”沉思录9The Literature of Reason and Revolution The Literature of Reason and Revolution“The Age of Reason”“American Enlightenment”10Historical BackgroundPolitics dominated the revolutionary ph

8、ase of American writing.The crisis in American life carried by the Revolution made artists self-conscious about American subjects.The spiritual life in the colonies during that period was molded by the bourgeois Enlightenment.112.Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790):The Autobiography Poor Richards Almanack1

9、2Benjamin FranklinAmerican politician,scientist,inventor,and educator.He was a typical example of the so-called American Dream.He helped draft the“Declaration of Independence”.He conducted the difficult negotiation with France that brought financial and military support for America in the war.He fou

10、nded the college that was to become the University of Pennsylvania.133.Thomas Paine(1737-1809):Paine was“Great Commoner of Mankind”.He was born England.At the age of 37,Franklin met him in London and recognized his peculiar talents in their American perspective.He wrote many political pamphlets duri

11、ng the Revolutionary period.Common Sense The American Crisis The Rights of Man The Age of Reason 14 Philip Freneau (1752-1832)Philip Freneau (1752-1832)“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”“The Rising Glory of

12、America”(1772)“The House of Night”(1779,1786)“The British Prison Ship”(1781)“To the Memory of the Brave Americans”(1781)“The Wild Honey Suckle”(1786)“The Indian Burying Ground”(1788)“The Dying Indian:Tomo Chequi”15The literature of Romanticism(1820s-1860s)16Historical BackgroundThis is a period of r

13、apid growth and rapid expansion This is a period of the discussion of social issuesThis is a period of the pursuit of new belief This is a period of the development of education This is a period of foreign influences 17Characteristics of romanticism American romanticism was in essence the expression

14、 of“a real new experience and contained“an alien quality”for the simple reason that“the spirit of the place”was radically new and alien.There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider.American romantic authors tended more to moralize.Many American romantic writings intended to edify

15、more than they entertained.The“newness”of Americans as a nation is in connection with American Romanticism.As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work,American romanticism was both imitative and independent18What doesWhat does“transcendentalism”mean?“transcendentalism”mean?The word

16、 Transcendentalism,meaning that knowledge can be obtained through mental process apart from experiences,was a Kantian term,denoting,as Emerson put it,“whatever belongs to the class of intuitive thought.”Emerson also said,Transcendentalism means idealism.19Importance:the summit of American Romanticis

17、m.Representatives:A group of New Englanders,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller,about 30 people,mostly teachers and clergymen,formed a Transcendentalist Club and met regularly to discuss matters of interest and published a journal,The Dial（日晷）to express their opinions.New Eng

18、land Transcendentalism20Washington Irving (1783-1859)the first American writers to earn an international reputation Father of the American literature His The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American romanticism21Major WorksMajor Works A History of New York A History of New York The Sketch Book o

19、f Geoffrey The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,Gent.(This gives him Crayon,Gent.(This gives him international recognition.)international recognition.)The History of the Life and The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Voyages of Christopher Columbus Columbus Rip Van Winkle Rip Van Winkle 2

20、2James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)Americas first successful popular novelist;the first border writerCreated a myth aobut the formative period of American nationHelped introduce the“western”tradition into American literature23Masterpiece:The Leatherstocking TalesThe Pioneers(1823),The Last of Mohican

21、s(1826),The Prairie(1827),The Pathfinder(1840),The Deerslayer(1841)Major works24The Literature of Realism(1865-1918)25Historical background1 The Civil War(1861-1865)a deterioration(恶化恶化)of American moral values2 Increasing industrialization and mechanization extremes of wealth and poverty3 The front

22、ier was about to close.people began to feel a sense of suffering and unhappiness4 Influenced by European literature 26truthful description of lifetypical character under typical circumstanceobjective rather than idealized,close observation and investigation of life“Realistic writers are like scienti

23、sts.”open-ending：Life is complex and cannot be fully understood.It leaves much room for readers to think by themselves.concerned with social and psychological problems,revealing the frustrations of characters in an environment of sordidness and depravity The Characteristics of American Realism The C

24、haracteristics of American Realism27Mark Twain(1835-1910)28Mark Twains Main WorksInnocents Abroad(1869);Roughing it(1872);The Gilded Age(1873);The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876);The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884);Life on the Mississippi(1883).29Stephen Crane(1871-1900)斯蒂芬克莱恩 Maggie:A Girl of t

25、he Streets街头女郎梅姬The Red Badge of Courage红色英勇勋章 The Black Riders(his first book of poems)30Frank Norris(1870-1902)Father of American NaturalismWorks McTeague(1899)A trilogy(三部曲三部曲)：comprising of The Octopus(1901)The Pit(1903)The Wolf(never written)31The 20th century American Literature(after 1914)-No

26、w32 Historical Background The Two World Wars economical prosperity The U.S.A made a lot of money,and there appeared an economic boom.the technological revolution had brought about great changes in the life of the American people.After the war,the U.S.A had become the most powerful industrialized nat

27、ion in the world33Imagism a poetic movement of England and the United States,flourished from 1909-1917.Its credo,expressed in Some Imagist Poets,included the use of the language of common speech,project matter,the evocation of images in hard,clear poetry,and concentration.34Ezra Pound Pound and Elio

28、t became the early leaders in restoring to poetry the use of literary reference as an imaginative instrumentmajor works：poetry-“The Cantos”35The Lost GenerationWhat are the main characteristics?Suffering from the war,losing beliefs,being cut off from the past,disillusioned,strong sense of loss,puzzl

29、ed,confused,unable or unwilling to settle back into the routines of peacetime life,indulged in drinking and partying,can not adjust themselves to the present life.What are the main subject matters?The lostness,nada and wound(Hemingway),the breaking up of the American dream(Fitzgerald),the sociologic

30、al zero(Dos Passos),and nothing again nothing(Eliot)36Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)l The Sun Also Rises 1926lA Farewell to Arms 1929lFor Whom the Bell Tolls 1940lThe Old Man and the Sea 195237William Faulkner(1897-1962)get Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930stream-of-consciousness and multiple point of view.The Sound and the Fury 喧嚣与骚动 As I Lay Dying 我弥留之际Sanctuary圣堂 Light in August八月之光 Absalom,Absalom!押沙龙，押沙龙 Go Down,Moses去吧，摩西 38Thanks for your listening!39