The Age of Reason and Revolution
1. Industrial Revolution spurred the economy in American colonies.
2. War for Independence
3. Spiritual life of the colonies—Enlightenment
The 18th century American history witnessed two great revolutions
Enlightenment 启蒙主义
Spiritual life of the colonies—the influence of Enlightenment
The advocation of reason or rationality, the scientific method, equality and human beings’ ability to perfect themselves and their society. The Autobiography (from rags to riches)
American enlightenment is an intellectual movement whose rationalistic spirit inspired American men of letters and brought them into a new horizon beyond the limitation of Puritanism.
Science
Christian views on scientific subjects began to be challenged by science at about 1700. Newton—scientific principles underlie the structure of the universe
Boyle波义耳wrote that the mechanical principles of the universe were “the alphabet in which God wrote the world.” Science will figure out everything and solve all problems.
In the eyes of Newton, the universe is seen as a mechanism operating by a rational formula or by unchanging laws（法则）which can be understood by the application of reason.
On the one hand, Newtonian rationalism nurtured a faith in science and the idea of progress, and helped to form a humanist epistemology认识论. On the other hand, Newtonian ideas also helped to shape a new image of God, different from that of Puritanism.
The Clockwork Universe机械宇宙
Clockwork universe—the idea that God created the world, gave humans the ability to figure it out, and then moved on to other things. In this belief, God has set up Natural Laws based on logic to govern the universe. He had no reason to interfere with the laws of Nature as He created them. This idea contrasted with the Puritan notion that God’s hand was in everything.
The Age of Reason
Two dominate groups of theories dominated the Age of Reason—Deism自然神教派(信上帝之存在及创世界,但对其所创造的世界及世人未加以支配) and Neoclassicism.
Deism
1) For the deists, the existence of God is deduced from the ordered structure of the universe rather than the Bible.
God was to be found in science—nature. The complexity, variety and order in Nature proved that there had to be an intelligence behind creation
2)Deists believed in the idea of tabula rasa[拉丁语：白板] —there is no inborn good or evil.
3) Nature vs. nurture
Nature: Puritans, humans are born fully formed, experience cannot not change a human. Nurture: Deists, humans are formed through experience.
4) Deists believed in perfectibility. Life and people could be perfected through science and reason. They believed all problems would eventually be solved by science. God had given us reason so that we could figure out everything. Once we figured out the world, we would reach perfection. This belief has been said to be a basis for democracy.
Neoclassicism新古典主义
In the arts, neoclassicism (the idea that the Greek and Roman arts have perfect style and structure) as an aesthetic（美学标准）took over from the plain style of the Puritans. For the neoclassicists, reason was the logical basis for all art.
The neoclassicists believed that there should be an innate order in well made things.
The idea of infinite progress in all human endeavors was an important neoclassical idea. Thus, things could and would get better if humans thought everything through.
Skepticism (怀疑论)was an important neoclassical method because they believed that the world could be completely understood through logic. Any mysteries would be figured out via science.
The Characteristics of the Enlightenment
1. Rationalis m→reason is the arbiter of all things.
2. Cosmology宇宙哲学→a new concept of man, his existence on earth, & the place of the earth in the universe.
3. Secularism世俗主义→application of the methods of science to religion & philosophy.
4. Scientific Method
Mathematical analysis
Experimentation
Inductive reasoning（归纳推理）.
5. 功利主义认为道德的最后目标，乃为普遍的福乐，凡是能为最大多数人带来最大幸福的行为便是正当的。
6. Optimism & Self-Confidence
The belief that man is intrinsically good.
The belief in social progress.
7. Freedom
Of thought and expression.
Bring liberty to all men.
8. Education of the Masses
9. Legal Reforms
Justice, kindness, and charity
Due process of law. 正当的法律程序
10. Constitutionalism立宪主义(government reform)
Literature in the age of Reason and revolution
Words had never been so useful and so important in human history. People wrote a lot of political writings.
Numerous pamphlets and printings were published.
These works agitated revolutionary people not only in America but also around the world.
With Franklin as its spokesman, the 18th century America experienced an age of reason. Another principal feature of 18th century American literature was its utilitarian tendency. American literature still in many respects resembled the English literature of the same period.
Common Beliefs of the Writers
1. Faith in natural goodness
2. Perfectibility of a human being
3. The sovereignty of reason
4. Universal benevolence普世的仁爱
Leading writers and their works
Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826): The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Thomas Paine(1737-1809): Common Sense (1776) The American Crisis
Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography
Philip Freneau: The Wild Honey Suckle
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
---the First American and the culture of self-improvement
the only writer in the colonial period whose works are read today.
a spokesman for the new order of the 18th century enlightenment
(scientist, inventor, statesman, printer, philosopher, musician, economist)
Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.
He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:
The Declaration of Independence
The Treaty of Alliance with France美法同盟条约
The Treaty of Peace with England英美和平条约
The Constitution宪章
Works
His uncompleted Autobiography is perhaps the first real American writing as well as the first real autobiography in English.
“Autobiography” is the recording of his rising from a state of poverty and obscurity to wealth and fame. (rags to riches)
The Autobiography is a record of self-examination and self-improvement.Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream.
Poor Richard’s Almanac 穷理查德警句
Franklin’s famous sayings in Poor Richard’s Almanac, an annual collection of proverbs:
-- Lost time is never found again;
-- A penny saved is a penny earned;
-- God help them that help themselves; 自助者天助
-- Fish and visitors stink in three days; 鱼放三天臭，客住三天嫌
-- Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
Style：His style is characterized by simplicity, frankness, wit, clarity, logic and order.
Thomas Paine 托马斯佩恩
The greatest revolutionary pamphlets
political satirist genius 天才讽刺家
His work has the character of revolutionary and inflammatory that it is no exaggeration to state that he help to inspire two greatest revolution that his age witnessed.
“Great commoner of mankind”最伟大的平民
Propagandist, pamphleteer, a master of persuasion who understands the power of language to move a man to action.
works:
Common Sense advocate Dclaration for Independence
The American Crisis
The rights of man
The Age of Reason
Question
In what sense does Paine use the verb “try” in the first sentence of the essay “The American Crisis”?
How do you understand the title of the essay?
American Crisis：
It restored the morale(士气) and inspired the success of the army. Without the writing of Thomas Paine, there might have been no army for Washington to lead.
Paine used the word in the sense of “test to the limit”, “subject to great hardships”.( lack of food, bare-footed in cold harsh winter, infectious diseases like smallpox)
Mount Rushmore National Memorial 拉什莫尔山国家纪念碑
The faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826）
Enlightener, lawyer, a symbol of American democracy.
Man of many talents: scientist, inventor, musician, linguist, architect, diplomat and writer.
Political Career
He served his country as Minister to France(1784-1789),
Secretary of State(1789-1793)
Vice President(1791-1801) and Third President(1801-1809).
Thoughts:
Jeffersonian Democracy, which includes faith in the individual and common man, dislike an
overly strong government.
Politically, he is considered the father of the democratic spirit in his country.
The Declaration of Independence
One of the most important historical documents of the U.S.
Adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.
It declared formally the independence of the thirteen colonies in North America from Great Britain.
In The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson said, “ we hold these truth to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness
The essay, adopted July 4, 1776, not only announced the birth of a new nation, but also set forth a philosophy of human freedom .
It is a statement of American principles and a review of the causes of the quarrel with Britain, presented the American view to the world with classic dignity.
It instilled among the common people a sense of their own importance and inspired struggle for personal freedom, self government and a dignified place in society.
Philip Freneau 菲利浦福瑞诺(1752-1832)
“Poet of the American Revolution”
noted for his satirical attacks on the British and for The British Prison-Ship英国囚船(1781), an account of his wartime capture and imprisonment.
“Father of American Poetry”
a satirist and a sentimentalist
a humanitarian but a bitter polemist
Works
The British Prison Ship 1781 《英国囚船》
To the Memory of the Brave Americans 1781 《纪念美国勇士》
The Wild Honey Suckle 1786 《野金银花》
The Indian Burying Ground 1788 《印第安人埋葬之地》
The wild honey suckle 野金银花（野忍冬花）
美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，
却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——
甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，
招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；
没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，
没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
大自然把你打扮得一身洁白，
她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光，
她布置下树荫把你护卫起来，
又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁；
你的夏天就这样静静地消逝，
这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息。
那些难免消逝的美使我销魂，
想起你未来的结局我就心疼，
别的那些花儿也不比你幸运——
虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零，
无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力，
会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹。
朝阳和晚露当初曾把你养育，
让你这小小的生命来到世上，
原来若乌有，就没什么可失去，
因为你的死让你同先前一样；
这来去之间不过是一个钟点——
这就是脆弱的花享有的天年。
Appreciation of the Poem
“The wild honey suckle”is Philip Freneau’s most widely read natural lyric with the theme of transience. The central image is a native wild flower, which makes a drastic difference from elite flower images typical of tradition on English poems.
The poem showed strong feelings for the natural beauty, which was the characteristic of romantic poets.
In this poem the poet expressed a keen awareness of the loveliness and transience of nature.
He notonly meditated on mortality but also celebrated nature.
It implies that life and death are inevitable law of nature.
New England Transcendentalism: Philosophically, Transcendentalism means the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses. New England Transcendentalism stress the importance of the Over-soul, the Individual and Nature. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is enabling and the individual is divine and therefore, self-reliant. The leading figure of New England Transcendentalism is Emerson and Thoreau. American Romanticism: It is one of the most important periods in the history of American literature that stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. Being a period of the great flowering of American literat ure, it is also called “the American Renaissance.” American romantic works emphasize the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. Romanticists include such literary figures as Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and some others. Free Verse: Poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme American Puritanism: The first settlers who came to America wer e called “Puritans”, so named after because they wished to “purify” the religious practice in the church. They established their own religious and moral principles as American Puritanism, which stressed predestination, original sin, total depravity, and li mited atonement from God’s grace. American Puritanism is one of the enduring influences in American thought and American literature. American Puritanism was greatly influenced by Calvinism. Symbolism: Symbolism is the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships. American Literature: Literature refers to body of work which for whatever reason deserves to be preserved as part of the reproduction of meaning within a given culture. It mainly includes novel, drama, poetry, short stories, biography and some other forms. American Literature refers to literature written by Americans in English. Epic A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. Many epics were drawn from an oral tradition and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down. Analysis "To a Waterfowl" is written in iambic trimeter and iambic pentameter, consisting of eight stanzas of four lines. The poem represents early stages of American Romanticism through celebration of Nature and God's presence within Nature. Bryant is acknowledged as skillful at depicting American scenery but his natural details are often combined with a universal moral, as in "To a Waterfowl" Figures of speech alliteration metaphor anaphora personification:
Part I The Literature of Colonial America I．Historical Introduction The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.) II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: 1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration 2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American Writer The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians. Captain John Smith is the first American writer. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608) A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612) General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England Literature William Bradford and John Winthrop John Cotton and Roger Williams Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor V．Puritan Thoughts 1. The origin of puritan In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of
Introduction 1. The Youngest National Literature 1781 (Independence War) --- 2012= about 200 years 2. Great achievement: 1930-1980, nine American writers won the Nobel Prize The Periods of American Literature 1.The colonial period (约1607 - 1765) 2. The period of enlightenment and Independence War (1765-1800) 3. The romantic period (1800 - 1865) 4. The realistic period (1865 - 1914) 5. The period of modernism (1914 - 1945) 6. The Contemporary Literature (1945 -) Chapter I Colonial America American Puritanism 1. The beliefs and practices characteristic of Puritans(most of whom were Calvinists who wished to purify the Church of England of its Catholic aspects) 2. Strictness and austerity in conduct and religion Puritans‘ religio us belief: Calvinism ◆John Calvin, the great French theologian. The principal concepts: 1) Original sin and total depravity. 2) Predestination 3) Salvation of selected few ◆ The Puritans carried with them to America a code of values, a philosophy of life, and a point of view, which, in time, took root in the New world and became what is known as American Puritanism. (p11) The Influence of Puritanism on American Literature 1) Idealism（optimism） 2) Symbolism 3) Simplicity in writing Significance of Puritanism With time passing it became a dominant factor in American life, one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American Literature. To some extent it is a state of mind, a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the American breathes, rather than a set of tenets. Time: From the arrival of the first settlers in the early 17th century to the end of the 18th century Literary Features 1. Forms Personal literature in various forms --- diaries, histories, common books (札记)，journals, letters, travel books, sermons etc. 2. Content 1) practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people ―at home‖ what life was like in the new world 2) highly theoretical discussions of religious questions. 3. Style In Style, English literary traditions were imitated and transplanted. Early writers in the colonial period John Smith, a captain, one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia; the writer of A Description of New England. William Bradford, the first governor of the Plymouth Plantation, his writing: Of Plymouth Plantation (P16) John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, In his famous speech A Model of Christian Charity ,he states that there was a agreement between God and his people of building a new Garden of Eden in the new world. (P17) Therefore let us choose life, 所以，让我们选择生活， that we and our seed 这样，我们和我们的后代， may live by obeying His 可以听从上帝的声音， voice and cleaving to Him, 须臾不离上帝， for He is our life and 因为，上帝是我们的生命， our prosperity. 我们的兴旺 1
1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765） American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th) 北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱) Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical） 2、The Enlightenment and Revolution Period Benjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源 3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war） American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. 早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature
美国文学（本科）试题5 I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 1 point for each) 1. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in . 2. became the first American writer. 3. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the values that dominated much of the early American writing. 4. In American literature, the 18th century was an age of and Revolution. 5. Franklin’s best writing is found in his masterpiece . 6. On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet appeared. 7. The signing of symbolized the birth of an independent American nation. 8. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was . 9. Washington Irving’s became the first work by an American writer to win international fame. 10. is the summit of American Romanticism. 11. With the publication of Emerson’s in 1836,American Romanticism reached its summit. 12. Hester Prynne is the heroine in Hawthorne’s novel . 13.Henry James’ major fictional theme is . 14. brought the Romantic period to an end. So the age of Realism came into existence. 15. The Poetic style invented by Whitman is now called . 16. “Because I could not stop for Death---” is written by . 17. The term The Gilded Age is given by to describe the post-civil war years. 18. Theodore Dreiser’s first novel is . 19. The leader of the literary movement Imagism is . 20. is the spokesman for Lost Generation. II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1 point for each) 1. The first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity was . A. Bret Harte B. Mark Twain C. Henry James D. William Dean Howells 2. Which of the following is the masterpiece of Mark Twain? A. The Gilded Age B. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer C. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn D. Jumping Frog 3. Which writer has no naturalist tendency? A. Mark Twain B. Jack London C. Theodore Dreiser D. Frank Norris 4. Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in and Thoreau. A. Jefferson B. Emerson C. Freneau D. Oversoul 5. Which of the following doesn’t belong to Dreiser’s “Trilogy of Desire”? A. The Financier B. The Titan C. The Stoic D. An American Tragedy
学习资料收集于网络，仅供参考 1. 2. 6.Transcendentalism: is literature，philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to1860. It originated among a small group of intellectuals who were reaching against the orthodoxy of Calvinism and the rationalism of the Unitarian Church, their own faith centering on the divinity of humanity and the natural world instead. Transcendentalism derived some of its basic idealistic concepts from romantic German philosophy, and from such English authors as Carlyle，Coleridge, and Wordsworth. The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature and Self-Reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden. .Symbolism象征主义：It is the writing technique of using symbols. It's a literary movement that arose in France in the last half of the 19th century and that greatly influenced many English writer, particularly poets, of the 20th century. It enables poets to compress a very complex idea or set of ideas into one image or even one word. It's one of the most powerful devices that poets employ in creation. 8.American naturalism：this term was created by Emile Zola. Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory played an important role in naturalism. In the works off naturalism，characters were conceived as complex combinations of inherited attributes and habits conditioned by social and economic forces. At th century，the end of the 19this pessimistic form of realism appeared in america. Naturalism attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness. Characters in the works of naturalism were dominated by their environment and heredity. Naturalism emphasized：the world was around；men had no free will；religious“truth”were illusory；the destiny of human beings was misery in life and oblivion in death. The dominant figures in naturalism were Stephen crane，Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser. 3.The lost generation: included the young English and American expatriates as well
美国文学部分(American Literature) 一．独立革命前后的文学（The Literature Around the Revolution of Independence） 1．本章考核知识点和考核要求： 1)．殖民地时期的文学的特点 2)．主要的作家、其概况及其代表作品 2．独立革命前后时期的主要作家 本杰明·富兰克林Benjamin Franklin本杰明·富兰克林，散文家、科学家、社会活动家，曾参与起草―独立宣言。 《穷查理历书》Poor Richard’s Almanack 《致富之道》The Way to Wealth 《自传》The Autobiography 托马斯·潘恩Thomas Paine托马斯·潘恩，散文家、政治家、报刊撰稿人。 《税务员问题》The Case of the Officers of Excise 《常识》Common Sense 《美国危机》American Crisis 《人的权利》Rights of Man 《专制体制的崩溃》Downfall of Despotism 《理性时代》The Age of Reason 菲利普·弗伦诺Philip Freneau菲利普·弗伦诺，著名的―革命诗人‖。 《蒸蒸日上的美洲》―The Rising Glory of America‖
《英国囚船》―The British Prison Ship‖ 《纪念美国勇士》同类诗中最佳―To the Memory of the Brave Americans‖ 《野生的金银花》―The Wild Honeysuckle‖ 《印第安人殡葬地》―The Indian Burying Ground‖ 1二．美国浪漫主义文学（American Romanticism） 1．本章考核知识点和考核要求： 1)．美国浪漫主义文学产生的社会历史及文化背景 2)．主要作家的创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画和语言风格 3)．清教主义、超验主义、象征主义、自由诗等名词的解释 2.美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家 华盛顿·欧文Washington Irving华盛顿·欧文，美国著名小说家，被称为―美国文学之父‖.《瑞普·凡·温可尔》Rip Van Winkle 《纽约外史》A History of New York 《见闻札记》The Sketch Book 《睡谷的传说》The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀开创了以《皮裹腿故事集》为代表的边疆传奇小说，其中最为重要的一部是《最后的莫西干人》。 《皮裹腿故事集》Leatherstocking Tales 《间谍》The Spy 《领航者》The Pilot
美国文学重点整理 美国文学题型： 1.60分三篇小说，三个诗歌，作者，出处，作品分析 2.20分名词解释 3.20分论述 1. 20世纪美国文学发展的经济背景 关键词： Urbanization（new farm machines, rising productivity, rising leisure time）Industrialization(electric lights, camera, telephone, radio, type writer) Commercialization Globalization. Philosophy: Schopenhauer叔本华 Nietzsche 尼采 Jean Paul Freud 补充：Fitzgerald：tender is the night, all the sad young man, the rich boy, 2. What is Lost Generation? ①It is a term to describe a group of American intellectuals, poets, artists and writers who fled to France in the post WWI years to reject the values of American materialism and to seek the bohemian lifestyle in Paris. ②It is full of youthful idealism, seeking the meaning of life, drank excessively, have love affairs,creating some of the finest American literature to date. ③American poet Gertrude Stein coined this expression, speaking to Hemingway, she said, you are all a lost generation.the term stuck the mystique surrounding these individuals continues to fancy us. ④Main representatives: F. Scott.Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos 3. What is modernism? Main features. A cultural movement that generally includes the progressive art and architecture, design, literature, music, dance,painting and other visual arts which emerged in the beginning of the 20century, particularly in the years following WWI. It was a movement of artists and designers who rebelled against late 19th century academic and historic tradition, and embraced the new economic ,social and political aspects of the emerging modern world. The avant-garde movements that followed including impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism（立体主义）, futurism, expressionism, contructivism（构
20世纪的美国文学，堪称美国文学史上的“黄金时期”，同时也可以说是又一次“文艺复兴”。这一时期，现实主义、自然主义和现代主义形成了多元并存的局面，促进了现代美国文学的空前繁荣。 ==小说== 这一时期的小说创作主旨虽然是现实主义，但不同的作家在创作实践中却呈现出各自的特色。这一时期的小说创作有几种倾向： 1、两种现实主义小说。在这方面的主要代表是亨利·詹姆斯，他的创作继承了19世纪的高雅“现实主义”传统，擅长描写美国东部有闲阶级男女的心理。他作品描写的民主思想浓厚、独立性强、天真无邪、不拘虚礼但又有些我行我素的美国上层妇女形象，始终被看成是美国文化产物的典型。与这种创作倾向截然相反的是乡土小说和反映农民心声的作品。这方面比较有影响的作家哈姆林·加兰。 2、乡土作家和幽默小说。这方面的代表性作家是欧·亨利。他的短篇小说篇幅不长，以情节取胜，一般以写小市民生活为主，充满了蕴含同情的幽默和恢谐之特色。尤其是那些出人意料的结尾和“情理之中、意料之外”的谋篇布局手法更每每令读者拍案叫绝。 3、“黑幕揭发者”与厄普顿·辛克莱。从19世纪90年代开始，一批以揭露资本家穷奢极欲和政府丑闻为主要内容的暴露文学曾一度发展到高峰。其中以厄普顿·辛克莱的《屠场》最有影响。 4、自然主义和现实主义的交织。这一时期美国文学的一个重要成就在于出现了一批既具有现实主义倾向同时又受到欧洲自然主义哲学和文学思潮影响的作家。他们所描写的往往是一些没有文化、出身贫寒的下层人民和社会渣滓。第一部显示出决定论哲学倾向的作品是斯蒂芬·克莱斯的中篇小说《街头妇女郎梅季》。 杰克·伦敦参加过美国的社会主义运动，曾有“美国无产阶级文学之父”之称。实际上，他同时受到马克思主义、尼采的超人哲学和斯宾塞的社会达尔文主义的影响，这些均反映在他的主要长短篇小说中。他的写作风格粗犷而刚健有力，人物性格常常在激烈的矛盾冲突中得到展示。 西奥多·德莱塞（代表作《嘉莉妹妹》、《美国的悲剧》）运用巴尔扎克写典型、写细节的手法，成功地再现出他那个时代大城市中的社会生活和典型人物，场面比较广阔，含义比较深刻。他虽然揭露了资产阶级社会中尔虞我诈、弱肉强食的现象，但是又塑造了一批随波逐流、任性纵欲的主人公。但是他常常因为写作风格的滞重和句段的冗长而受到批评。 辛克莱·刘易斯是美国第一个获得诺贝尔文学的小说家。他的小说多以讽刺手法揭露美国资产阶级社会中的丑恶现象和矛盾。作为美国中产阶级的代言人，他的视野从未超越中产阶级。他的作品虽然从某些侧面揭露示了资产阶级社会中的矛盾，和社会的黑暗，但总的来说，缺乏一定的深度。