美國文學(xué)簡史常耀信版講義1

1、2021/3/10講解：XX1 American Literature 2021/3/10講解：XX2 Outline of American Literature Colonial Period American Romanticism The Age of Realism American Naturalism The Modern Period The Post-War Period: 50s the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct in

2、fluence of the Bible. 2021/3/10講解：XX11 vOverview of the literature v1. types of writing vdiaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons v2. writers of colonial period v(1) Anne Bradstreet v(2) Edward Taylor v(3) Roger Williams v(4) John Woolman v(5) Benjami

3、n Franklin v(6) Thomas Paine v(7) Thomas Jefferson v(8) Philip Freneau 2021/3/10講解：XX12 Major Writers and Literary Works Benjamin Franklin Thomas Paine Thomas Jefferson Philip Freneau 2021/3/10講解：XX13 Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Benjamin Franklin, - Americas first great man of letters,” embodied t

4、he Enlightenment ideal of human rationality. Franklin recorded his early life in his famous Autobiography. In many ways Franklins life illustrates the impact of the Enlightenment on a gifted individual. Self-educated but well-read in John Locke, Joseph Addison, and other Enlightenment writers, Frank

5、lin learned from them to apply reason to his own life and to break with tradition- in particular the old-fashioned Puritan tradition-when it threatened to smother his ideals. 2021/3/10講解：XX14 Benjamin Franklin When Franklin died in 1790, one of his fellow Americans said, “His shadow lies heavier tha

6、n any other mans on this young nation.” As an author, Franklins style is quite modern, and his works show a return to their “plain style”. At the same time, there is something “anti-literary” about Franklin. He had no liking for poetry and felt that writing should always have a practical purpose. In

7、 the language of his writing, Franklin admirably reflects both Lockes psychology and Lockes political theory, and influences other writers in their choices of language, subject matter and worldview. 2021/3/10講解：XX15 Inventor Printer statesman 2021/3/10講解：XX16 Benjamin Franklin - Printer At the age o

8、f twelve, he started as an apprentice with his older brother James. At the age of twenty-two, he opened his own printing shop. His newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette zet became very popular and profitable. A few years later, Poor Richards Almanack was released and soon became the best selling book

9、in the colonies, selling over 10,000 copies a year. Soon, he became the most active printer and was appointed the official printer of Pennsylvania. 2021/3/10講解：XX17 Benjamin Franklin - Librarian Some fellow printers and Benjamin Franklin , known as the Leather Apron Club (because most of us wore lea

10、ther aprons) started a lending library that was open to everyone. They would pool their money and buy books, which people could borrow. In 1731, the first lending library in America opened. Soon, other towns began to imitate the library, until reading became fashionable. 2021/3/10講解：XX18 Benjamin Fr

11、anklin - Inventor At the age of forty-two, Benjamin Franklin retired from printing to explore his other interests. He devoted this time to inventing. Also，he enjoyed experimenting，of which the most fascinating one is electricity. The story of Benjamins kite and electricity, and his lightening rod. 2

12、021/3/10講解：XX19 Benjamin Franklin - Statesman During the fight for independence, he was sent to Europe to represent the colonies. In 1776, he signed the Declaration of Independence and, in 1778, the Treaty of Alliance with France. When the colonists won their independence in 1781, Franklin helped ne

13、gotiate the peace with England and signed what ultimately became known as Treaty of Peace with Great Britain (1782). 2021/3/10講解：XX20 v His works v(1) Poor Richards Almanac v(2) Autobiography 2021/3/10講解：XX21 Term:Almanacs - a popular form of practical literature containing much useful information f

14、or farmers and sailors. Features: practical and useful interesting by creating the character “Poor Richard” continuation of simple but realistic story about Richard, his wife and family including many “sayings” about saving money and working hard Poor Richards Almanac 2021/3/10講解：XX22 Some of these

15、are known to most Americans today: vGod helps them who help themselves. vEarly to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. vOne today is worth two tomorrow vDiligence is the mother of good luck. 2021/3/10講解：XX23 Autobiography The capstone of Franklins achievement as a writer is

16、 his Autobiography. contribution (1) He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society. (2) He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case) from heaven”. (3) Everything seems to meet in this one man “Jack of all trades”. Herman Melville

17、 thus described him “master of each and mastered by none”. 2021/3/10講解：XX24 - a pamphleteer, a fighter for independence and human rights “These are the times that try mens souls.” This simple quotation from Thomas Paines The Crisis not only describes the beginnings of the American Revolution, but al

18、so the life of Paine himself. Throughout most of his life, he was a failure, living off the gratitude and generosity of others, but his writings helped to inspire a nation. 2021/3/10講解：XX25 His works vThe Crisis vCommon Sense vThe Rights of Man vAge of Reason 2021/3/10講解：XX26 Published in 1776, Comm

19、on Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britian. 2021/3/10講解：XX27 The Crisis is a collection of articles written by Th

20、omas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. The essays collected here constitute Paines on-going support for an independent and self-governing America through the many severe crises of the revolutionary war. This work contains the most famous passage in all of Paines writings: “These are the t

21、imes that try mens souls.The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country；but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered.” 2021/3/10講解：XX28 In defense of the French Revolutio

22、n Paine wrote and published The Rights of Man (1791). Four key rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. 2021/3/10講解：XX29 TO MY FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I PUT the following work under your protection. It contains my opinions upon Religion. You will

23、 do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changin

24、g it. The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall. Your affectionate friend and fellow-citizen, THOMAS PAINE 2021/3/10講解：XX30 Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Thomas Jefferson- political philosopher, architect, musician, book

25、collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor, and third President of the United. Jefferson left to the future not only ideas but also a great body of practical achievements. 2021/3/10講解：XX31 With his strong beliefs in the rights of man and a government derived from the people, in freedom

26、 of religion and the separation between church and state, and in education available to all. Thomas Jefferson struck a chord for human liberty 200 years ago that resounds through the decades. But in the end, Jeffersons own appraisal of his life, and the one that he wrote for use on his own tombstone

27、, suffices: Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia. Declaration of Independence Notes on the State of Virginia Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) 2021/3/10講解：XX32 The Declaration of Independence (1776)

28、is at once the nations most cherished symbol of liberty and Jeffersons most enduring monument. In exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the w

29、orld the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country. 2021/3/10講解：XX33 Philip Freneau (1752-1832) - the earliest of American poets, who inspired American imagination. Philip Freneau left a body of poetic work important for its formative influence upon his immediate successors and no

30、table in itself. Freneau was a pioneer, who found new subject matters for American literature: sea, Indian culture, and American wildness. 2021/3/10講解：XX34 v major works: v The Wild Honey Suckle v 野金銀花 v The Rising Glory of America v 美洲光輝的興起 v The British Prisonship v 英國囚船 v The Indian Burying Groun

31、d v 印第安人墓地 2021/3/10講解：XX35 v Features of his poems v saturated lyrical tone vGlorification of the nature and the primitive lives of the Indians vKeen observation and feverish imagination vHe pioneered Romanticism represented by Emerson, Poe and Longfellow. 2021/3/10講解：XX36 THE WILD HONEYSUCKLE FAIR flower, that dost so comely grow, Hid in this silent, dull retreat, Untouched thy honied blossoms blow, Unseen thy little branches greet: No roving foot shall crush thee here, No busy hand provoke a tear. By N