完整版美國文學筆記

1、美國文學筆記I. Colonial Period (殖民地時期)(約 1607-1765)II. The Revolutionary period (革命時期):(1765-18 世紀末)Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)III. The Romantic period (浪漫主義時期)：(1800-1865)Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)Henry Daivd Thoreau (1817-1862)Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)Herman Melvi

2、lle (1819-1891)Walt Whitman (18191892)Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)IV. The Realism and Naturalism (現(xiàn)實主義和 白然主義)(1865-1918)Mark Twain (1835-1910)Henry James (1843-1916)Stephen Crane (1881-1900)V. The Modern period (現(xiàn)代主義時期)：1918-1945F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)William Faulkner (1897-1962)Ernest Heming

3、way (18941961)Ezra Pound (188砰 1972)Robert Frost (1847-1963)Eugene O' Neil (1888953)VI. Contemporary literature (當代文學)：(1945-)I. Colonial Period (殖民地時期)(約 1607-1765)II. The Revolutionary period (革命時期):(1765-18 世紀末)Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790):1. Summary:One of the greatest founding fathers of t

4、he American NationFirst great self-made man in AmericaThe embodiment of American dream2. Major works:The Autobiograpy?自傳?:the first of its kind in literature, one of the classics of the genrePoor Richard s Almanack?窮人理查德的年歷?III. The Romantic period(浪漫主義時期)：(1800-1865)Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)1. Su

5、mmary:Novelist, poet, criticgood at writing Gothic(哥特式)and detective fictionFather of western detective stories and psychoanalytic criticism2. Major works:PoetryThe Raven?烏鴉?To Helen?獻給海倫?Short storiesHorror ( suspense, terror, Insanity, death Revenge and rebirth) The Fall of the House of Usher«

6、; 厄舍古屋的倒塌The Masque of the Red Death?紅色死亡的化裝舞會?The Black Cat?黑貓?The Cask of Amontillado一 桶白葡萄灑?Ligeia?麗姬婭?Detective /ratiocinative(推理的)(originator)The Purloined Letter?竊信案?The Muder in the Rue Morgue?莫格街謀殺案?The Mystery of Marie Rog?瑪麗.羅熱疑案?The Gold Bug?金甲蟲?American Transcendentalism(美國超驗主義)(1830s- C

7、ivil War)Summit of Romanticism/ American Renaissance1. Appearance1836, Nature by Emerson2. Features of Transcendentalism(1) . Spirit(思想)/Oversoul (超靈)(2) . importance of individualism(3) . nature - symbol of spirit/God ; garment of the oversoul(4) . focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconscious

8、ness)Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882):1. Summary:American essayist,lecturer, poetThe Founder of Transcendentalism2. Major works:Nature?論自然?： the manifesto of American transcendentalismThe American Scholar?論美國學者? :American's Declaration of Intellectual IndependenceSelf-reliance?論自助?Henry Daivd Tho

9、reau (1817-1862)1. Summary:American Essayist, Poet, Philosopher2. Major WorksCivil Disobedience洗公民之不服從Walden , or Life in the woods?瓦爾登湖,或林中的生活:Walden is a record of Thoreau' s two year experiment of living alone at Walden pond in a self-built house at the edge of the woods.Late RomanticismNatha

10、niel Hawthorne (1804-1864):1. Summary:American novelist and short story writer2. His point of view : Hawthorne is influenced by Puritanism首教主義) deeply.(1) . Evil is at the core of human life(2) .whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation(3) .

11、Evil educates.(4) . He has disgust in science. One source of evil is overweening (自負的)(too proud of oneself) intellect . His intellectual characters are villains, dreadful and cold-blooded3. Major WorksThe Scarlet Letter?紅字?Herman Melville (1819-1891): Novelist, PoetMajor works:Moby Dick?白鯨?,1851Mai

12、n characters:Ishmael(以實瑪利):the narratorAhab (埃哈伯):the protagonistMoby DickWalt Whitman (18191892)1. Summary:American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist/The father of free verse (自 由詩)2. Major works:Leaves of Gras S草葉集?Famous poemsSong of Mysel f«自我之歌?On s Self I Sing?我歌唱一個人的自己?O Captain!

13、My Captain!?噢,我的船長！我的船長！3. Writing themes (almost everything):equality of things and beingsdivinity of everythingImmanence (無所不在)of Goddemocracyevolution of cosmos (宇宙)multiplicity of natureself-reliant spiritdeath, beauty of deathexpansion of Americabrotherhood and social solidarity (團結一致)(unity of

14、 nations in the world)pursuit of love and happiness4. Style:"free verfi曲詩):the verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern,the verse without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.(1) .Parallelism (排比)(2) .phonetic recurrence (同字起句法) (the repetition of words or phrases at thebeginning of

15、the line, in the middle or at the end)(3) .the use of a certain pronoun“ I " (the first person narrator)(4) .strong tendency to use oral English(5) .the habit of using snapshots(6) .a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure(7) .use of conventional image(8) .vocabulary powerful, colourful

16、, rarely used words of foreign origins, someeven wrong(9) . sentences - catalogue technique: long list of names, long poem lines5. Significance ofLeaves of GrassLeaves of Grass, either in content or in form, is an epoch-making work in American literature:t Its democratic content marked the shift fro

17、m Romanticism to Realism.t Its free-verse form broke from old poetic conventions to open a new way for American poetry.Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)1. Summary: American poetShe wrote altogether 1775 poems, of which only 7 appeared in print in herlifetime.2. Some famous poems:I Died for BeautyBecause I

18、 Can ' t Stop for DeathA Narrow Fellow in the GrassI Heard a Fly BuzzWhen I DiedToMake a PrairieI'm Nobody3. ThemeMainly based on her own experiences/joys/sorrows (inner world):(1) . Death and immortality(2) .Love sufferings and frustration caused by love(3) .Nature-Kind and cruel(4) . Relig

19、ion-doubt and belief about religious subjects(5) .Beauty (beauty, truth and goodness are ultimately one)(6) . physical aspect of desire(7) . free will and human responsibility4. Style1) . Poems without titles2) .Use of capital letters -emphasis and dashes-create cadenc® 物頓挫)3) .Economy of expre

20、ssion. (Plainest words, directness, brevity)4) . Short poems, mainly two stanzas5) . Fresh and strange images6) .Bold and unconventional and often startling metaphors7) .Rhetoric techniques: personification make some abstract ideas vivid8) . off-rhyme(半 1®) and defamiliarization(陌生化)IV. The Ame

21、rican Realism 現(xiàn)實主義時期 (1865-1918)1. Three Giants in Realistic PeriodWilliam Dean Howells - Dean of American Realism' Henry James Mark Twain2. Comparison:Theme: Howells middle class James - upper class Twain - lower classTechnique:Howells smiling/genteel realism James - psychological realism Twain

22、 local colourism and colloquialismMark Twain (1835-1910):1. Summary:American writer, short story writer/ Humorist2. Major works:The Celebrated jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865)?卡拉維拉縣弛名的跳蛙?Innocents Abroad (1869)?傻子國外旅行記?The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)?湯姆.索業(yè)歷險記?Life on the Mississippi (1883

23、)?密西西比河上?The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1886)?哈克貝里.費恩歷險記?：All modern American literature comes from his masterpiece “TheAdventures of Huckleberry Finn. rnest Hemingway3. Style:(1) . colloquial language(口語),vernacular (外鄉(xiāng)的)language, dialects(2) . local colour(3) . syntactic feature： sentences ar

24、e simple, brief, and sometimes ungrammatical(4) . humour(5) . tall tales (highly exaggerated)(荒唐不經(jīng)的故事)(6) . social criticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)4. ContributionOne of Mark Twain significant contributions to American literature lies in the fact that he made colloquial spee

25、chan accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country.Henry James (1843-1916)1. Summary:An American and British novelist, literary criticFounder of psychological realismFirst of the modern psychological novelistInitiator of the international theme: American innocence in f

26、ace of European sophistication2. Major works:Daisy Miller(1878)?戴茜米勒?The Portrait of a Lady (1881)?貴婦的肖像?The Wings of the Dove (1902)?鴿翼?The Ambassadors (1903)?專使?The Golden Bowl (1904)?金碗?The Art of Fiction(1884)?小說的藝術?3. His Point of view(1) . Psychological analysis, forefather of stream of consci

27、ousness(2) .Psychological realism(3) . Highly-refined language4. Style - “stylist(1) . Language: highly-refined, polished, insightful, and accurate(2) .Vocabulary: large(3) . Construction: complicated, intricateNaturalism (自然主義)1. Background:(1) . Darwin' s theory:"natural selection (2) .Sp

28、enser' s idea: "social Darwinism (3) . French Naturalism: Zora2. Features(1) . environment and heredity(2) . scientific accuracy and a lot of details(3) . general tone:ironic and pessimistic h, opelessness, despair, gloom, ugly side ofthe societyStephen Crane (1881-1900)1. Summary:Novelist,

29、 poetPioneer in the naturalistic traditionPrecursors (先馬區(qū)) of Imagist poetry2. Major Works:Maggie: A Girl of the Streets?街頭女郎麥姬?：the first naturalistic novel inAmericaThe Red Badge of Courage?紅色英勇勛章?The Open Boat«海上扁舟?V. AMERICAN MODERNISM (1918-1945)(美國現(xiàn)代主義)F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)1. Su

30、mmary:Famous American novelist, short story writer, and essayistthe representative of the 1920sthe spokesman for the Jazz Ageone of the “l(fā)ost generation writers2. Major WorksThis Side of Paradise (1920)?人間天堂?Tales of the Jazz Age (1922)?爵士樂時代的故事?Tender Is the Night (1934)?夜色溫柔?The Great Gatsby (1925

31、)?了不起的蓋茨比?：Narrative point of view - Nick CarrawayTheme: The decline of the American Dream3. His Point of view(1) . He expressed what the young people believed in the 1920s, the so-called"American Dream is false in nature.(2) . He had always been critical of the rich and tried to show the integ

32、ratingeffects of money on the emotional make-up of his character. He found that wealth altered people ' characters, making them mean and distrusted. He thinks money brought only tragedy and remorse.(3) . His novels follow a pattern: dream -lack of attraction -failure and despair.4. His ideas of&

33、#39; American DreamIt is false to most young people. Only those who were dishonest could become rich.William Faulkner (1897-1962)1. Sumary:An American novelist and poetInitiator of American Southern RenaissanceOne of the most influential modern novelists of 20h centuryNobel Prize winner for literatu

34、re in 19492. Major Works:The Sound and the Fury?喧嘩與騷動?As I Lay Dying?在我彌留之際?Light in August?八月之光?Absalom, Absalom?押沙龍,押沙龍！Go Down, Moses?去吧,摩西?Barn Burning?燒牲口棚?Yoknapatawpha County (約克納帕塔法縣)：- A fictional county in northern Mississippi, the setting for most of William Faulkner's novels and shor

35、t stories, and patterned upon Faulkn'er actual home in Lafayette County, Mississippi.3. Major Themes of his Works(1) . history and race(2) . Deterioration(3) . Conflicts between generations, classes, races, man and environment(4) . Horror, violence and the abnormal4. Faulkner's narrative tec

36、hnique(1) .Withdrawal of the author as a controlling narrator(2) . Dislocation of the narrative time: The most characteristic way of structuringhis stories is to fragment the chronological time.(3) . the modern stream-of-consciousneg柬識流)technique and the interiormonologue (內(nèi)心獨 白)：(4) . Multiple poin

37、ts of view (多重視角)(5) . symbolism and mythological and biblical (圣經(jīng)的)allusionsErnest Hemingway (189卜 1961)1. Summary:Novelist and short-story writerOne of the great American writers of the 20th centuryThe Spokesman of the Lost Generation ( American writers after World War I self-consciously acknowled

38、ged that they were lost generation, devoid of faith and alienated from the Western civilization.)Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1954 (for his “masteryof the art of modern narration )2. Major worksThe Sun Also Rises?太陽照常升起?A Farewell to Arms?永別了,武器?For Whom the Bell Tolls?喪鐘為誰而鳴/?戰(zhàn)地鐘聲?The Old M

39、an and the Sea?老人與海?A Clean, Well-lighted Place?一個十凈,明亮的地方?3. Major Themes(1) .The Nada(虛無)Concept(2) .Grace under pressure (E 力下的優(yōu)雅)Man is not made for defeats. A man can be destroyed but not defeate d.The Old Man and the Sea(3). Code Hero (準那么英雄/硬漢)a. The Hemingway hero is not a thinker; he is a m

40、an of action.b. Grace under pressure is their motto.c. The Hemingway code heroes are best remembered for their indestructible仆可消滅的)spirit.4. Artistic features(1) .The iceberg (冰山) techniqueThe dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.(2) . Language stylea.

41、 simple and naturalb. direct, clear and freshc. lean and economicald. simple, conversational, common found, fundamental wordse. simple sentencesf. Iceberg principle: understatement, implied thingsg. SymbolismEzra Pound (18851972)1. Summary:A leading spokesman of the Imagist Movement 意象主義運動)One of th

42、e most influential American poets and critic2. Major works:Cathay:?華夏;集?神州集?中國詩意?Hugh Selwyn Mauberley?休 賽爾溫 毛伯利?Cantos /?詩意?3. Imagism (1909-1917)(1) .Background: Imagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient Chinesepoetry and Japanese literature“haiku (2) . Defintion : The imagists, with Ezr

43、a Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express the these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.(3) : Manifesto of Imagism:? Direct treatment? Economy of expression? New rhythmIn a station of the Metro在 個地鐵站?:a quintessential 典型的)imagist textRobert Fro

44、st (1847-1963)1. Summary:the most popular American poetWon Pulitzer Prize four timesReceived honorary degrees from forty-four colleges and universitiesRead “The Gift Outright" at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 19612. Famous Poems:Fire and Ice?火與冰The Road Not Taken?未選擇的路 »

45、Stopping by Woodson a Snowy Evening ?雪夜佇立林邊有感 »Mending Wall?補墻?After Apple-Picking?摘罷蘋果3. Frosts writing featureHis combination of the traditional verse pattern and a colloquial distinctive language (New England Speech)Eugene O' Neil (1881953)1. Summary:America's greatest playwrightWon the Pulitzer Prize four timesWon Nobel Prize in 1936Founder of the American drama2. Major WorksBeyond the Horizon (1920)?天邊外?The Emperor Jones(1920)?瓊斯皇帝?The Hairy Ape (1922)?毛猿?Desire under the Elms (1924)?榆樹下的欲望?1. Imagism: Imagism is a literary movement which came