美国文学史及选读复习笔记整理by Daisy Part one. The literature of colonial AmericaI. Introduction of American literature1. Definition of American LiteratureLiterature produced in American English by American citizens2. Basic Qualities of American Writers1) IndependentA. no close hold; free from its controlB. an independent actionC. free-lance writer 自由作家D. their independence and their right to make up their own minds2) IndividualisticA. their own efforts for successB. the initiative; not give in easilyC. free from political prejudice and ideological conformityD. their literary career; successful through their individual effortsE. the rights of individuals; their own rights and interestF. a means of self-expression; a way of expressing their personal views about life andsociety, of advocating liberty, democracy and independent action of the individual.G. a devotion to self-realization, to protection of environment and to suspicion of amass society and power3) CriticalA. not satisfied with the contemporary societyB. question the prevailing valuesC. discern flaws in societyD. criticize American societyE. a literary tradition in America4) InnovativeA. the least restraints and bondage to the pastB. the new ideas, new attitudes, and new cultural facesC. experiments in writingD. different from others as much as possible; a new trend almost every ten yearsE. Ameri ca’s changing values5) HumorousA. a strictly national characteristic; part of their life, their character, and their styleB. the ludicrous and mirthfulC. enrich American literature with humor of all kindsII. Native American Literature1. Background1) A rich store of oral literature2) Different literary taste2. Three stages of development1) Traditional Indian LiteratureA. the category of oral literatureB. a regularity of metric patternC. an organic part of everyday lifeD. functional2) Transitional Indian LiteratureA. translations of the great Indian orators; memoirs of the Indian experienceB. related by Indians to white audiences.3) Modern Indian LiteratureA. novels, short stories, and poetryB. more good Indian poets than fiction writersC. both their rich heritage and their tragic loss of identityIII. Literature of Colonial Settlements1. Background1) Neither American nor really literaturenot American: the work mainly of immigrants from Englandnot literature: an interesting mixture of travel accounts and religious writings2) The austere 简朴的Pilgrims to reform the Church of England2. Puritanism1) The New England settlements:A. religious controversyB. an urge for religious freedom and determinationC. fleeing from religious and political oppression and persecutionD. human thirst for greater economic opportunity, for land, and for adventure2) Puritans -to “purify” the religious practice in the church3) Their own religious and moral principlesAmerican Puritanism — one of the enduring influences in American thoughtand American literature.4) Predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement 补偿fromGod’s grace5) Their way of life — hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety3. Literature (In the colonial period, much of the literature was produced by Puritanwriters.)1) A literary expression of the Puritan idealismThe Puritan optimism — enormous impact on American literature2) A literature of discoveryThe potentialities of the New World; The harsh reality.3) The types of writing produced in the colonial settlements histories, travelaccounts, biographies, diaries, letters, autobiographies, sermons and poems4) The purpose of writingto record their experiences and to express their views and feelings5) Writers in this period includeWilliam Bradford(1590-1657)，John Winthrop(1588-1631),Ann Bradstreet(1612-1672), one of the most interesting of the early poetsEdward T aylor(1642-1729). the best of the Puritan poets.A and E: They can be called servants of God. Their writings served either Godor colonial expansion.Some other colonial writers wrote for civil and religious freedom, and somewrote for America shaking off the fetters of the savage British colonial rule.4. Characteristics1) utilitarian功利主义的, polemical好争论的, or didactic说教的2) teach some kind of lesson3) served either God or colonial expansion or both4) a practical consideration of the sort impression— each writer wanted to make upon a selected group of readers5) symbolism as a technique6) plainness7) fresh, simple, direct, and with a touch of nobility8) as much a product of continuities as an indigenous creation补充American PuritanismAmerican Puritanism is one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature.The term “puritan” was first applied to those Protestant reformers who rejected QueenElizabeth’s religious settlements of 1560 because they were determined to “purify” their religion.Puritan BeliefsTwo covenants:1. the agreement made between God and Adam“original sin”(原罪）2. the agreement made between God and Abraham“grace”（恩典）The Puritans believed that they were descendents of Abraham: they were the “elect group” redeemed by the suffering of Jesus Christ and chosen to receive God’s “grace”.1. Origin of PuritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th C, 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 divor ce his wife because she couldn’t bear him a son. But the Pope didn’t allow him to divorce because his wife is the Pope’s niece. Henry VIII became very dissatisfied with the Pope, so he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of England. But there was no radical彻底地difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans… Of cours e they had different religious belief from that of the Catholic Church.2. Puritanism---based on Calvinism•1)predestination: God’s electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They b elieved the success of one’s business is the sign to show he is the God’s elect.So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for thefuture business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.•2)original sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans’ pessimistic attitude toward life. •3)limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)•4)theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one. The Puritans established Am tradition---intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment.Puritanism & ConfucianismConfucianism (修身齐家治国平天下) )3. Influence on Am literature•1)its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage.It can be said American literature is bases on the Biblical myth of the Gardenof Eden.(Adam and Eve used to live a carefree life in the Garden of Eden. luredby the snake, they ate the Forbidden Fruit in the apple tree. A peice of applechoked in Adam’s throat , then came Adam’s apple. After knowing the truth,God became very angry and drove them all out of the Garden of Eden. Thesnake used to walk like man but after that the God force him to crawl. Thenman was forced to suffer the labor to keep the whole family and Woman wasforced to suffer the agony of baby bearing.) After that, man have an illusionto restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believeing thatGod must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise , tobuild the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strongsense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism.The optimistic Puritans has exerted a great influence on American literature, •2)Puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism问题American colonial literature is neither real literature nor Americanwhy?1.Diaries,histories,journals,letters,etc. personal literature in various forms2.Colonial Literature is mainly English literature tradition imitated & transplanted.Part two. The Literature of Reason and RevolutionⅠ.Background1. The American War for Independence 1775-1783The formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic: the United States ofAmerica2. EnlightenmentA) The spiritual life in the colonies during the period was to a great degree moldedby the bourgeois Enlightenment.(PS. The Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used todescribe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon theeighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source andlegitimacy for authority.)(1) Originated in Europe in the 17th century; Center of Enlightenment: France(2) Sources: Newton’s theory;deism（自然神教派); French philosophy (Rousseau, Voltaire)(3) Basic principles:Stressing education; stressing Reason (Order) (The age has been called theAge of Reason.); employing Reason to reconsider the traditions and socialrealities; concerns for civil rights, such as equality and social justice; the ideaof progress.(4)Representatives:孟德斯鸠(Montesquieu, 1689—1755) Spirit Law division of power 三权分立伏尔泰(Voltaire,1694－1778) Philosophical(哲学通信）、思想：naturalfreedom and equality人生而自由平等狄德罗(Diderot, 1713-1784)让·雅各·卢梭(Jean-Jacques Rousseau,1712—1778) Social Contrac t康德(Kant, 1724-1804)霍布斯(Hobbs, 1588-1679)洛克(John Locke, 1632-1704)B) At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely dueto journalism. All the leaders of the revolution were influenced by the Enlightenment;Representatives: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, etc.The representatives of the Enlightenment set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.They also actively participated in the War for Independence.C) The new nation was set on the basic ideas and principles of the Enlightenment.Influence of the Enlightenment(1) American Enlightenment dealt a decisive blow upon the Puritan traditionsand brought to life secular education and literature.(2) The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the lifeand career of Benjamin Franklin.Ⅱ. LiteratureLiterature in the period of American Revolution was predominately public utilitarian 1. Call for America’s independence in literatureIn 1783, Noah Webster declared, “America must be as independent as she is in politics, as famous for the arts as for arms”.Yet throughout the century American literature was largely patterned on the writing of 18th century Englishmen.2. Literary achievements: great political pamphleteering and state papersEssayists and journalists had shaped the nation’s beliefs with reason dressed in clear and forceful prose.3. Representative worksThomas Jefferson: Declaration of IndependenceThomas Paine: The American Crisis; Rights of Man; The FederalistBenjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac;The AutobiographyBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790)---a jack of all tradesA patriot, diplomat, author, printer, scientist, and inventor in the eighteenth century; One of the Founding Fathers of the United States.An embodiment of the “American Dream”1. His lifeBorn in a poor candle maker’s family in Boston and had no regular education; Became an apprentice to a printer when he was 12;An editor of a newspaper and published lots of essays when he was 16;He went to Philadelphia when he was 17 and became a successful printer and publisher;Found the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and political ideas;Established America’s first circulating library;Founded the college — University of Pennsylvania;Retired when he was 42.【successful in business, renowned in science, national affairs (politics)writer (literature): power of expression, simplicity, a subtle humor, sarcastic】2. Representative worksAs an author he had power of expression.His works are well-known for their simplicity, subtle humor and being sarcastic.(1)Poor Richard’s AlmanacModeled on farmers’ annual calendar; kept publishing for many years; includes many classical sayings, such as:“A penny saved is a penny earned.”“A plowman on his legs is higher than a gentlem an on his knees.”“God help them that help themselves.”“Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”(2) The Autobiographywritten when he was 65;an introduction of his life to his own son;including four parts written in different times;the first success story of self-made Americans.In The Autobiography we will be able to notice:1) Puritanism’s influence, such as self-examination and self-improvement(timetable, thirteen virtues, life style)2) Enlighte nment spirits (man’s nature is good, rights of liberty, virtues include“order”)3. His style: simple, clear in order, direct, concise and humorous(“Nothing should be expressed in two words that can as well be expressed in one.”) (Puritanism’s influence);First of its kind in literature and set the autobiography as a genre;Popular, still well-read today4. His influence------His values and style influenced lots of AmericansHe was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the treaty of peace with England, and the constitution.“His shadow lies heavier than any other man’s on this young nation.”“The new Promethe us who had stolen fire [electricity in this case] from heaven”—Kant(康德) He was a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador“Jack of all trades, master of each and mastered by none—the type and genius of hisland”—Herman Melville Thomas Paine (1737-1809)---Great Commoner of Mankind Revolutionary War patriot and pamphleteer,Born in Thetford, England. Paine immigrated in 1774 to Pennsylvania, where he gravitated toward those who supported colonial independence.1. Paine's pamphlet Common Sense appeared in January 1776 and caused an immediate sensation. In it, Paine both supported American independence and attacked the corruption of the British hereditary (世袭的) monarchy. He fought in the Revolutionary War and continued to publish, including his 1776 essay The American Crisis.2. Major works(1).The Case of the Officers of the Excise (1772)--- His first pamphlet, a petition to Parliament for a living wage for the excise collectors(2). Common Sense (1776)--- signed simply “By an Englishman”, to urge the colonies to declare independence;Pain became forthwith the most articulate spokesman of the American Revolution.(3). The American Crisis (1776-1783)---Paine’s chief contribution was a series of 16 pamphlets (1776-1783) entitled The American Crisis and signed “Common Sense” which dealt directly with the military engagements to inspire the Continental Army.(4). The Rights of Man (1791 - 92)--- an answer to Burke’s Recent Reflections on the French Revolution, which not only championed Rousseau’s doctrines of freedom, but also suggested the overthrow of the British monarchy. Paine was indicted for treason and was forced to seek refuge in France.(5). The Age of Reason (1795)---a deistic treatise advocating a rationalistic view of religion.(6). Analysis of The American Crisis(1776–1783)---a series of pamphlets published in London from 1776–1783 during the American Revolution. It decried British actions and Loyalists, offering support to the Patriot cause.Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)1. His mind ranged curiously over many fields of knowledge---law, philosophy, government, architecture, education, religion, science, agriculture, mechanics---and whatever he touched, he enriched in some measure.2. He was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of The Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States.3. As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France.4. He is a humanist looked to merit and ability alone, not to privilege.5. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793) and second Vice President (1797–1801).6. A polymath (学识渊博的人), Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist (古生物学者), author, inventor and founder of the University of Virginia.Philip Morin Freneau (1752-1832)---the most outstanding writer of the post-Revolutionary period He was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. Remembered as the poet of the American Revolution and the father of American poetry, he was a transitional figure in American literature.1. His political and satirical poems have value mainly for historians, but his place as the earliest important American lyric poet is secured by such poems as “The Wild Honeysuckle”, “The Indian Burying Ground”, and “Eutaw Springs”.2. His poems areStrongly lyrical; with clear imagery; neoclassical in form, and romantic in spirit.3. He is a deistic (自然神论的) optimist.(PS. Deism (自然神论, 自然神教派) is a religious philosophy and movement that derives the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience. This is in contrast to fideism [哲]信仰主义, 一种认为知识取决于信仰的学说which is found in many forms of Christianity. Islam, Judaism and Catholic teachings hold that religion relies on revelation in sacred scriptures or the testimony of other people as well as reasoning.)4. “The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Wild Honey Suckle”(1786) , is considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist (超验主义的) movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.In this poem the poet expressed a keen awareness of the loveliness and transience of nature. He not only meditated on Mortality but also celebrated nature.The poem implies that life and death are inevitable law of nature.“The Wild Honey Suck le”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 traditional English poems.The poem showed strong feelings for the natural beauty, which was the characteristic of romantic poets.The poem was written in regular 6-line tetrameter stanzas, rhyming: ababcc. The structure of the poem is regular, so it has the neoclassic quality of proportion (比例;均衡) and balance.The line“ the space is but an hour“ contains a hyperbole stressing the transience of life. The tone of the poem is both sentimental and optimistic.Part three. The literature of romanticismⅠ.General Introduction1. What is Romanticism?(English Romanticism, as a historical phase of literature, is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott’s death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament. It appeared in England in the 18th century; a reaction against the prevailing neoclassical spirit and rationalism during the Age of Reason.)2. General features of RomanticismA. Stressing emotion rather than reasonB. Stressing freedom and individualityC. Idealism rather than materialismD. Writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elementsⅡ.Historical Introduction of American Romanticism:(1)Time: from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War(2)Reasons (Why Romanticism emerged?)A. Fast development of the new nation (flood of immigrants; pioneers pushing thefrontier further west; industrialization; economic boom; a promising new land with prevailed optimistic moods)B. Development of journalism (Some influential periodicals appeared, such as TheNorth American Review, The New York Mirror, The American Quarterly Review, The New England Magazine, The Southern Review, The Southern Literary Messenger, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Magazine and Knicker bockers. They need more literary productions.)C. Foreign influence (Review history of English literature.)(From the 18th centuryclassicismTo sentimentalism to Pre-Romanticism to Romanticism which can be divided into passive group and active group) (most influential British writers to American Romanticists-Walter Scott)(3)Features of American RomanticismA. ImitativeB. Independenta. peculiar American experience (landscape, pioneering to the West, Indiancivilization, new nation's democracy and dreams)b. Puritan heritage (more moralizing, edifying more than mere entertainment)(careful about love and sex. example: Scarlet Letter)(4)Two periods and representativesAmerican romanticism can be divided into the early period and the late period.A. 1770s to 1830s - Early periodRepresentatives: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper and New England poetsTwo famous poets: William Cullen Bryant (first distinctive American lyric poet;writing about nature, religion and life; famous poems -"Thanatopsis" and "To a Waterfowl") and Henry WadsworthLongfellow (balancing Romantic spirits with classical andChristian taste; famous poem - "A Psalm of Life")B. 1830s to 1860s - Late periodFlowering of American literatureRepresentatives: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Poe etc.(5) SignificanceCreative period of a Native American culture and literatureⅢ. Transcendentalism超验主义1. American Romanticism entered a new phase around the middle 1830s andculminated around the 1840s in what has come to be known as “New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance” (1836-1855). In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson published a book entitled Nature, which says that “The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul” and that “Spirit is present everywhere.”Nature has been called “The Manifesto of American Transcendentalism” and its voice pushed American Romanticism into the phase of New England Transcendentalism. With the publication of Nature and of Emerson’s “The American Scholar” in 1837, American literature began to enter its formative period of an indigenous national literature, with liberal and nationalistic, among others, as its most distinct features.2.Transcendentalism, as Emerson defined in his essay “The Transcendentalist,” is“idealism as appears in 1842” when some New Englanders formed themselves into an informal club, which came to be called , and met to discuss matters of interest to the life of the nation as a whole. It appeared in America as a kind of reaction against the materialistic-oriented life of the time, and was, in actuality, Romantic idealism.3. Major Features of New England TranscendentalismNew England Transcendentalism represented a new way of looking at the world, man, and nature. Its major features can be summarized as follows:(1) The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the oversoul, as the mostimportant thing in the universe. The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It existed in nature and man alike and constituted the chiefelement of the universe.This kind of view of the universe represented a new way of looking at the world and was a reaction to the eighteenth-century Newtonian concept of the universe as consisting of matter and a reaction against the popular tendency to get ahead in world affairs to the neglect of spiritual welfare.(2) The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society. As the regeneration of society could only come about through the regeneration of the individual, his perfection, his self-culture, and self-improvement should become the first concern of his life.A). the ideal type of man was the self-reliant individual whom Emerson never stopped talking about in his life. So people could depend on themselves for spiritual perfection.B). this new notion of the individual and his importance represented a new way of looking at man. It was a reaction against the Calvinist concept that man is totally depraved, sinful, and can not be saved except through the grace of God. It was also a reaction against the process of dehumanization that came in the wake of developing capitalism.C). the industrialization of New England was turning men into nonhuman. People were losing their individuality and were becoming uniform. By asserting the importance of the individual, the Transcendentalists emphasized the significance of men regaining their lost personality.(3) The Transcendentalists saw nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Naturewas, to them, not purely matter. It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. It was the garment of the Oversoul. They believed that things in nature tended to be symbolic, and the physical world was a symbol of the spiritual.A). this is in turn added to the tradition of literary symbolism in Americanliterature. New England Transcendentalism was important to American literature.It inspired a whole new generation of famous authors such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman and Dickinson.4. The Influence of Transcendentalism(1) It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about theidea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.(2) It advocated idealism that was greatly needed in a rapidly expanded economywhere opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on”obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.(3) It helped to create the first American Renaissance – one of the most prolificperiod.5. Major WritersNew England Transcendentalist Prose writers:Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)Novelists of American Renaissance:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)Herman Melville (1819-1891)Poets of American Renaissance:Walt Whitman (1819-1892)Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)THE BIG THREE:Ralph Waldo EmersonHenry David ThoreauMargaret FullerWriters of the Early periodWashington Irving (1783-1859)American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist. Irving has been called the father of the American short story. He is best known for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in which the schoolmaster Ichabold Crane meets with a headless horseman, and “Rip Van Winkle”, about a man who falls asleep for 20 years.1. Several names attached to Irving(1) First writer of American imaginative literature(2) The beginning of short story as a genre(3) The messenger先驱sent from the new world to the old world。
