美国文学Enlightenment

1 The Enlightenment（启蒙运动）: The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement originating in France, which attracted widespread support among the ruling and intellectual classes of Europ e and North America in the second half of the 18th century. It characterizes the efforts by certain European writers to use critical reason to free minds from prejudice, unexamined authority and oppression by Church or State. Therefore, the Enlightenment is sometimes called the Age of Reason2 American Dream(美国梦): It is the faith held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. Nowadays the American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as measure of success or happiness3. Transcendentalism (超验主义、先验主义) : It was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture and philosophy that emerged in New England in the middle 19th century. It began as a protest against the general state of culture and society. Among transcendentalist’s core beliefs was an ideal spiritual state that “transcends”the physical and empirical(以观察或实验为依据的) and is only realized through the individual’s intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions. Prominent transcendentalists included Ralph Waldo Emerson（爱默生）, Henry David Thoreau（梭罗）, Walt Whitman（惠特曼）, etc. It is a kind of philosophy that stresses belief in transcendental things and the importanceof spiritual rather than material existence. （相信超凡的事物，认为精神存在比物质存在更重要).4. American Puritanism: It is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Puritan Church. The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them. They were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to purity their religious beliefs andpractices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination宿命论, original sin and total depravity性恶说, and limited atonement 有限的救赎through a special infusion 浸渍of grace from God. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind.：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 thatpoets employ in creation.novel is a type of romance very popular late in the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th novel emphasizes things which are grotesque怪异的，violent，mysterious，supernatural，desolate 荒凉and horrifying. Gothic，originally in the sense of “medic医学，not classical”，with its descriptions of the dark，irrational side of human nature，Gothic novel has exerted a great influence over the writers of the Romantic period.8 Imagism: it’s a poetic movement of England and the flourished from 1909 to 1917. The movement insists on the creation of images in po etry by “the direct treatment of the thing” and the economy of wording. The leaders of this movement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell艾米•洛威尔.8. Imagism: It came into being in Britain and around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation. The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image. Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles: direct treatment of subject matter; economy of expression; as regards rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome节拍器. Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”is a well-known imagist poem.9. Stream of Consciousness(意识流): It is a style used in the presentation of the character’s inner working of mind. The assumption is that an individual’s psychological processes are a continuous flow like a shifting, uninterrupted stream, highly changeable and confusing, often appearing illogical and contrary to reason. In tracing the stream of consciousness of an individual the writer may present interior monologue(内心独白) by his character, hint with symbols, reverse(颠倒) the order of time, and alternate（轮流的／交替的）recollections（回忆）with the present or sometime illusions（幻想）with given facts.10. Point of view( 视角)：It is a term referring to the vantage point(能观察某事物的有利位置) or position from which a story is told. To identify（识别）the narrator of a story is to identify the story’s point of view. Basically there are two narrative ways: first-person point of view and the third-personpoint of view.12. The Harlem Renaissance: it was the first important movement in black American literature. Immediately after the First World War, as a result of a massive black migration to Northern cities, a group of young, talented black artists congregated in Harlem, a predominantly black section of New York City, and made it the cultural, and intellectual capital of black America. They carried forward the cultural traditions of their people and demonstrated their achievements to the white society that habitually ignored them.13. Expressionism 表现主义: it arouse in German theater after World War I. Delighting in bizarre (奇异的) stage design and exaggerated makeup and costuming(服装), expressionists sought to reflect intense states of emotion. Its mode is “the externalization(外表性) of t he inner.”humor: It is a combination of humor with resentment(怨恨), gloom, anger, and despair. Seeing all that is unreasonable, hypocritical, ugly, and even frenzied(狂乱的)，writers of black humor nurse a grievance(不平) against their society which, according to them, is full of institutionalized(制度化的) absurdity. Yet they are cynical. They laugha morbid(病态的) laugh when facing the hideous（丑恶的）. In hopeless indignation （愤慨）they take up freezing irony and burning satire as their weapons. Their novels are often in the form of anti-novel（反传统小说）, devoid of(缺乏) completeness of plot and characterized by fragmentation（零碎的）and dislocation（混乱）.。

美国文学术语解释美国文学术语解释American puritanism(美国清教主义)Colonial American(殖民时期的美国)Great Aweaking(宗教大觉醒运动)American Romanticism(美国浪漫主义)Gothic tradition(哥特传统) Historical novel(历史小说)Civil War（美国内战）Transcendentalism(超验主义) Individualism(个人主义) Unitarianism(上帝一位论) Allegory(寓言) American Renaissance(美国文艺复兴)Original Sin(原罪)American Enlightenment(美国启蒙运动)Free verse(自由诗) Alliteration(头韵) Assonance(类韵) Consonance(和音)Lyric(抒情诗)Sonnet(十四行诗)Point of view(视角)Realism(现实主义)Local Colorism(地方特色主义) Irony(反讽)Naturalism(自然主义)Social Darwinism(社会达尔文主义)Dadaism(达尔文主义) Expressionism(表现主义) Harlem Renaissance(哈姆雷特文艺复兴)Imagism(意象主义)Jazz Age(爵士乐时代) Surrealism(超现实主义)V orticism(漩涡派)Dramatic Monologue(戏剧性独白)Lost Generation(迷惘的一代) Metaphysical poets(玄学派诗人)Narrator(叙述者)Stream of Consciousness(意识流) The Beat Generation(垮掉的一代) The 1930s(美国30年代)New Criticism(新批评主义) Theatre of the Absurd(荒诞剧) Postmodernism(后现代主义) Metafiction(元小说) Confessional poetry(自白派诗歌) The New York School(纽约派诗人)The absurd(荒谬派)Parody(戏讽)Magic realism(魔幻现实主义) The National Association for the Advancement of ColoredPeople(NAACP)(美国有色人种协进会)The Native American Renaissance(土著美国人文艺复兴)。

Colonial Period:1.American Puritanism（p16）It is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.,who were the first immigrants moved to American continent in the 17th century. They werea group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious andmoral principles. They wanted to purity their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination original sin and total depravity and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind.Romanticism Period:2.Romanticism(p32)the literature term was first applied to the writers of the 18th century in Europe who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used in American literature it referred to the writers of the middle of the 19th century who stimulated（刺激）the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote of the mysterious of life, love, birth and death.The Romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint.They wrote all kinds of materials, poetry, essays, plays, fictions, history, works of travel, and biography.3.American Romantism(P34)①it is one of the most important periods in the history of American literature that stretches from the 18th century to the outbreak of the civil war. It started with the publication of Washington Irving‟s The Sketch Book and ended with Walt Whitman‟s Leaves of Grass.②being a period of the great flowering of American literature, it is also called “the American Renaissance ”.③American romantic works emphasize the imaginative and emotional qualities of nature literature. The strong tendency to eulogize the individual and common man was typical of this period. Most importantly, the writings of American Romanticism are typically American. Works concentrate on unique characteristics of the American land.⑤Romanticists include such literary figures as Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and some others.4.Gothic tradition (哥特传统)Gothic novel or Gothic romance is a story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery very popular late in the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century.In an extended sense, many novels do not have a medievalzed setting, but share a comparably sinister, grotesque, or claustrophobic atmosphere have been classed as Gothic. It contributed to the new emotional climate of Romanticism.5.Transcendentalism (先验说,超越论)(p47)It is a philosophic and literary movement that flourished in New England, particular at Concord, as a reaction against Rationalism and Calvinism (理性主义and喀尔文主义). Mainly it stressed intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind,stress the importance of the Over-soul, the Individual and Nature.The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau.6.Stream of consciousness（意识流）：It is one of the modern literarytechniques. It is the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character‟s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly。

（一）About Puritanism清教主义1.“would-be purifier”They wanted to purify the English Church and to restore church worship to the “pure and unspotted”condition of its earlier days .They opposed the elaborate rituals of the English Church. They believed that the Bible was the revealed word of God, therefore, people should guide their daily behavior with the Bible.2.Basic Puritan Beliefs（1）Total Depravity - through Adam's fall, every human is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.（2）Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination（3）Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.（4）Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.（5）Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.2.The impact of Puritanism (1)High standards of moral excellence and conscience ;(2) Emphasis on education(3)Hard working, thrifty, independent spirit;(4)“Chosen people”consciousness .(诺斯替教）（二）Enlightenment(启蒙运动)Enlightenment is man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity.Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another.@A term used to describe the trends in thought and letters in Europe and the American colonies during the 18th century prior to the French Revolution. The precursors of the Enlightenment can be traced to the 17th century and earlier.@The phrase was frequently employed by writers of the period itself, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and a respect for humanity.（三）Romanticism （浪漫主义）As an approach in literary creation, romanticism is ever present in literature of all times. But as a literary trend or movement, it occurred and developed in Europe and America at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries under the historical background of the Industrial Revolution around 1760 and the French Revolution (1789-1799). @ A movement in the literature of virtually every country of Europe, the United States, and Latin America that lasted from about 1750 to about 1870,@It was characterized by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization of nature.（四）Transcendentalism（超验主义）Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in theU.S. in the first half of the 19th century. It asserts the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition .Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Over-soul, the individual and Nature. It was, in essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil.（五）Free versepoetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.(六）Blank verse“Blank verse” is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic pentameters.（七）American Realism (1865—1918)（现实主义）American Realism came in the latter half of the nineteenth century as a reaction against Romanticism. It stresses truthful treatment of material. It focuses on commonness of the lives of the common people, and emphasizes objectivity and offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience. The three dominant figures of the period are William Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James.（八）Definition of Local Color（乡土特色）1.Literature that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography（地形）, and other features particular to a specific region that exploits the speech, dress, mannerisms, and habits of thatspecific region .2.Twain’s Local colorismTwain preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions, including people living in that area, the landscape, and other peculiarities like the customs, dialects, costumes and so on. So the rich material of his boyhood experience on the Mississippi became endless resources for his fiction, and the Mississippi valley and the west became his major theme.（九）American Naturalism (1890s-1910s) （自然主义）1.Historical Background:—The spread of industrialization created extremes of wealth and poverty. —Farmers were still going westward, but frontiers were about the close. They had to depend on the transcontinental railway to transport their products.—The spread of Darwin’s theory of evolution changed people’s ideology.2. Thematically, naturalistic writers：-- wrote detailed descriptions of the lives of the downtrodden and of the abnormal-- had frank treatment of human passion and sexualit-- were concerned about how men and women were overwhelmed by the forces of environment and by the forces of heredity-- made detailed documentation of life: nothing but the truth, more naked and wicked than realism-- created gloomy and pessimistic atmosphere3. Here are the major features of naturalism.Humans are controlled by laws of heredity and environment.The universe is cold, godless, indifferent and hostile to human desires. @Naturalistic writers are pessimistic. They choose their subjects from the lower.(10)Modernism（现代主义）(1)appeared after World War I(2)cutting off history and a sense of despair and loss(3)refusing to accept the traditional concept of value and all traditional ideological influences.1. BackgroundIn the first world war, America got considerable benefits with animal cost, but many artist and thinkers with suffering consciousness felt the terribleness of modern wars.Their heroism in mind gradually disappeared. Some of them going into battle suffered the sight of blood and all kinds of disasters. After back to America, they found that the social reality had experienced great change.2.Features or changes of the period(1)Increasing industrialization (2)Deepening urbanization(3)High speed development of technology and science(4 )Trauma of the first world war(5)1930s economic depression(6)Collapse of social value system(7)Dropping moral standards(8)Common depression , fear ,sense of loss3. Features of the worksFreud’s psychoanalysis ,William James stream of consciousnesstheory and archetypal symbol had great impact on the writers of modern American writers. They pay special attention to the inner world of the people, during this period ,the most compelling literature movement is the writer’s self exile, also known as the second American renaissance .(十一）Novelists ——the Lost Generation“迷惘的一代”(1920s) The novelists who produced a literature of disillusionment in the aftermath of World War I, and some of them lived abroad:(1)Used their wartime experience as the basis for their works (2)were cut off from old values yet unable to come to terms with the new era(3)wondered pointlessly and restlessly(4)were frustrated by the war(5)spokesman ——Hemingway(十二）The Jazz AgeThe Jazz Age is the nickname in America of the decade of the 1920’s, beginning from 1919 to the Crash at the end of 1929.These ten years were, for Americans, a time of carefree prosperity, isolated from the world’s problem, bewildering great social change, and a feverish pursuit of pleasure.These were the ten years when the First World War was just over, when new inventions and manufacturing techniques greatly changed the way people lived; when people moved from the countryside in great numbers; when women won the right to vote and many started to earn their own money; when cars,washing machines,radios and vacuum cleaners became commonplace; and when millions of people lived beyond their means and went into debt in order to obtain such things while the middle class frantically pursued individual “success”and personal enjoyment. They lived a rich, extravagant, frivolous moneymaking life, and it was this style of living gave the decade of the 1920’s such nickname as the “Jazz Age”, the “Dollar Decade”, and the “Roaring Twenties.”（十三）Imagism(1900S-1910S)(意象派)The Imagist movement included English and American poets in the early twentieth century who wrote free verse and were devoted to "clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images." The Imagist Movement began in London and later spread to the US. It underwent three major phases in its development.（十四）IronyA contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature.。

第一部分殖民地时期的文学17世纪历史文化背景1.17世纪早期，英国人最终在弗吉尼亚Virginia和马萨诸塞Massachusetts定居，奠定了人们熟知的美国主流文化的基础2.The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements.3.The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.4.New England: 美国东北部地区，范围包括缅因州，新罕布什尔，佛蒙特，马萨诸塞，罗得岛和康涅狄格。

1614年由英国人John Smith命名。

5.Jamestown: 北美洲英国第一个永久性殖民地，建于1607.5.14.这里最先种植烟草，建立了大陆上第一个代议制政府（1619），运进第一批非洲奴隶，建立了美洲第一个圣公会教堂。

6.John SmithWilliam Byrd II:文学巨匠，《分界线的历史》Thomas Jefferson: 政治型学者，美国第三任总统，《独立宣言》的主要起草人，《英属美洲权利概述》（1774）：英国国会无权为殖民地制定法律；《弗吉尼亚笔记》：种族问题。

美国第一位作家：Captain John Smith1.<A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the FirstPlanting of That Colony>16082.<A Map of Virginia>1612（第二本书，共出版了8本书,部分记载了关于新英格兰的事）3.<General History of Virginia>1624有关于酋长之女波卡洪特斯Pocahontas的故事早期新英格兰文学：1.勤劳hard work、节俭thrift、虔诚piety、节制sobriety2.The Puritans had come to New England for the sake of religious freedom, while Virginia had been plantedmainly as a commercial venture.3.清教传教士：John Cotton约翰·科登，Cotton Mather科登·马瑟William Bradford and John Winthrop1.Plymouth: 普利茅斯，北美第二个英国殖民地，1620五月花号抵达地2.威廉·布拉德福德（1590-1657）：<The History of Plymouth Plantation>(普利茅斯开发史)From my years young in days of youth那时我青春年少懵懂无知God did make known to me His Truth上帝眷顾教我真理And call’d me from my native place蒙他召唤我离开家乡For to enjoy the Means of Grace矢志追寻他的荣光In wilderness He did me guide苍茫大地他给我指引And in strange lands for me provide陌生土地终归我统领……As Pilgrim passed I to and fro.我作为清教徒而来，我作为清教徒而去3.约翰·温思罗普（1588-1649）：<The History of New England>(新英格兰史)清教徒的思想1.As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to make pure their religious beliefs and practices. The Puritan wasa “would-be purified.”2.The Puritans wished to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of the Bible to theology.3.Separatists—they wished to break free from the Church of England.4.Emphasize the image of a wrathful God and to forget his mercy.Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor清教徒诗人1.安妮·布雷兹特里特（1612-72）：<The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America>(在美洲诞生的第十个缪斯); <Upon the Burning of Our House>; 《沉思录》；《疲乏的朝圣者》2.爱德华·泰勒（1642-1729）：清教徒诗人中最杰出的一位。

I.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items.(10 x 1’= 10’)1.In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment.was the dominant.A.humanismB. rationalismC. romanticismD. evolution2.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Irving’s worknamed .A.The Leatherstocking TalesB. The Sketch BookC. The AutobiographyD. The History of New York3.Which of the following is not the characteristic of AmericanRomanticism?A.RationalismB. inner selfC. personal feelingsD. individualism4.The short story “Rip Van Winkle” reveals the attitude of its author.A.optimisticB. pessimisticC. conservativeD. ironic5.Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by .A.short, clear sentencesB. abundance of local imagesC. ordinary American speechD. highly refined language6.Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates inand Thoreau.A.JeffersonB. EmersonC. FreneauD. Mark Twain7.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A.The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. OversoulD. Self-reliance8.is considered Mark Twain’s greatest achievement.A.The Gilded AgeB. Innocent AbroadC. The Adventures of Tom SawyerD. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9.is not among those greatest figures in “Lost Generation”.A.Ezra PoundB. Robert FrostC. Walt WhitmanD. Hemingway10.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writingbecomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more .A.rationalB. humorousC. optimisticD. pessimistic II.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items.(10 x 1’= 10’)11.is the father of American Literature.A.Benjamin FranklinB. Philip FreneauC. PaineD. Washington Irving12.is a fantasy tale about a man who somehow stepped outside the mainstream of life.A.“Rip Van Winkle”B. “The Pioneers”C. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”D. “The Fall of the House of Usher”13.was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.A.ThoreauB. EmersonC. HawthorneD. Whitman14.Which of following is NOT a typical feature o f Mark Twain’s language?A.vernacularB. colloquialC. elegantD. humorousFrom Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, which stateshis belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of agovernment.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. CommonSense16.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A.The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. OversoulD. Self-reliance17.Most of the poems in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-mass” andthe as well.A.natureB. self-relianceC. selfD. life18.What did Fitzgerald call the 1920s?A.The Roaring 20sB. The Gay 20sC. The Jazz AgeD. The Lost Generation19.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writingbecomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more .A.rationalB. humorousC. optimisticD. pessimistic20.For Melville, as well as for the reader and , the narrator, Moby Dick isstill a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe.A.AhabB. StubbC. IshmaelD. StarbuckII.Identify Works as Described Below (1’×15 =15’):1.The novel has a sole black protagonist who tells his own story but whosename in unknown to us.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains2.The main conflict of the play is the protagonist’s false value of fineappearance and popularity with people and the cruel reality of the society in which money is everything.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journeyinto Night d. Death of Salesman3.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on theplaywright himself.a.Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries4.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and howthe society is responsible for the murder.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains5.is one of the best works in American literature about the SecondWorld War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge ofCourage d. The Naked and the Dead6.The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead7.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma andtravel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.a.The Grapes of Wrathb. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March8.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, withsuch techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.a.Babbittb. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath9.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whosetitle is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a.Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10.It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and how shebecomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into a beggar and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11.The novel is set on the Mississippi with the protagonist telling us the story inthe local dialect. It is a representative work of local colorism.a.Sister Carrieb.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnd.The Portrait of a Lady12.T he novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions inthe Civil War.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13.The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of theuniversality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14.The novel is about how a group of people on a whaling ship kill a greatwhale but themselves are killed by the whale, with the conflict between man and his fate.a.The Octopusb. Moby-Dickc. The Rise of Silas Laphamd.Leaves of Grass15.It is a philosophical essay in 8 chapters plus an introduction mainlyconcerned with the four uses of nature.a.Waldenb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. The American ScholarI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1’×15=15’):1.An English ship brought 102 people from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620 and arrived in the present Provincetown harbor on November 21 in the same year. This ship was named .a.The Pilgrimsb. Mayflowerc. Americad. Titanic2.is father of American drama and in his dramatic career he wrote 49 plays.a.Tennessee Williamsb. Eugene O’Neillc. Arthur Millerd. Elmer Rice 3.was the first American writer to write entirely American literature.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Washington Irvingc. Mark Twaind. Ernest Hemingway4.was the leader of American transcendentalism.a.Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.was the greatest woman poet in American literature and she wroteabout 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a.Pearl S. Buckb.Harriet Bicher Stowec. Emily Dickensond. Walter Whitman6. is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a.Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.W illiam Dean Howells is concerned with the middle class life; writes about the upper class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a.Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. Henry James8.Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a.William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9.His writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts. He is .a.Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10.He wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in thedeep south. He is .a.William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11.is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jewsare major characters.a.Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12. is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a.John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14.He was the first black American to write a book about black life with greatimpact on the consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans. Who is he?a.Richard Wrightb. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd.Ralph Ellison15.Hemingway wrote about American compatriots in Europe whereaswrote about the Jazz age, life in American society.a.W illiam Carlos Williamsb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. F.Scott FitzgeraldI.C hoose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1×15 %):2.The American Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern states and the South states, which are known respectively as the and the .a. N, Sb. Revolutionaries, Reactionariesc. Union, Confederacyd. Slavery, Anti-Slavery2.was praised by the British as the “Tenth Muse in America”.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Edward Taylorc. Thomas Pained. Philip Freneau3.M ark Twain was a representative of in American literature.a.transcendentalismb. naturalismc. local colorismd. imagism4.was the leader of American transcendentalism.a.Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.T he greatest American poet and the first writer of free verse is .a.Washington Irvingb.Ezra Poundc. Walt Whitmand. Emily Dickinson6.is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a.Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.Henry James is concerned with the upper class life; writes about the middle class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a.Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. William Dean Howells8.Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a.William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9.’s writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts.a.Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha Countyin the deep south. .a.William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Mark Twain11.is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jewsare major characters.a.Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12. is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a.John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14.was the first black American to write a book about black life withgreat impact on the consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans.b. Richard Wright b. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15.first used the “Jazz age” as the title of a collection of short storiesa.F. Scott Fitzgeraldb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. ErnestHemingwayII.Identify Works as Described Below (1×15 %):6.The play is about a stoker whose identity as a human being is not recognizedby his fellow human beings and who tries to find affinity with a monkey in the zoo and is finally killed by the animal.a. The Hairy Apeb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. Long Day’s J ourney into Nightd. The Glass Menageries7.The protagonist in this play is a crippled girl named Amanda.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journeyinto Nightd.The Glass Menageries8.The hero of this novel tells about his own story to us but his name isunknown.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on the Mountains4.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on theplaywright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries5.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident andhow he is finally arrested and tried and sentenced to death.a.Native Sonb.Uncle To m’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains6.is one of the best works in American literature about the SecondWorld War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge ofCouraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead10.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma andtravel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.b. The Grapes of Wrath b. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March11.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, withsuch techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.b. Babbitt b. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath12.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whosetitle is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a.Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10.It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and elopes withHurstwood and how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into beggary and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11.It is a novel with 135 chapters plus an epilog; in it a group of people on awhaling ship kill a great whale but they themselves are killed by the whale in the end, except Ishmael the narrator who survives by adhering to a coffin.b.Sister Carrie b.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc.Moby Dickd. The Portrait of a Lady12.T he novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions inthe Civil War, in which wound is called the red badge which symbolizescourage.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13.The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of theuniversality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14.The novel is about how a man falls economically and socially but who risesmorally because he gives up the opportunity to sell his factory to an English Syndicate, which would otherwise mean a ruin to that syndicate.a.The Octopusb. The Rise of Silas Laphamc. Moby-Dickd.Leaves of Grass15.It is a speech delivered at Harvard University. It is often hailed as the“declaration of intellectual independence” in America.a. The American Scholarb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. WaldenII.Match the following (1×20%)A.Match Works with Their Authors1.Hugh Selwyn Mauberly2.W alden3.Autobiography4.The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7.The Rise of Silas Lapham8.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer9.Long Day’s Journey into Night10.The Old Man and the Seaa.Mark Twain b . Ernest Hemingwayc. Eugene O’Neilld. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Benjamin Franklini.Henry David Thoreau j. Ezra Poundk.Thomas Jefferson l. T.S. EliotB.Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1. Hester Prynne2.Mrs. Touchett3.Frederick Henry4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.H olden Caulfield 7.Bigger Thomas8.Y ank 9.Happya.The Portrait of a Ladyb. The Scarlet Letterc. The Hairy Aped. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Deadh. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Sonj. Death of a Salesmank.Invisible Manl.Catch-22III.Match the following (1’×20=20’)A.Match works with their authors1.Nature2.R ip Van Winkle3.Nature4.The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7.The Rise of Silas Lapham8.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9.Cantos10.The Old Man and the Seaa.Ezra Poundb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Mark Twaind. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Ralph Waldo Emersoni.Washington Irving j. Waldo Emersonk.T.S. Eliot l. Robert FrostB.Match characters with the works in which they appear.2. Captain Ahab and Starbuck 2.Isabel Archer3.Frederic Henry and Catherine4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 8.Bigger Thomas9.The Tyrones 10.Willy Lomana.The Portrait of a Ladyb. Moby-Dickc. Death of a Salesmand. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Dead h. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Son j. Long Day’s Journey into Nightk.Absalom, Absalom l. The Old Man and the SeaV.Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 300 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 3 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.1.To the best of your knowledge, analyze and make comments on Emerson’sNaturement on any American poet you like.3.Analyze and/or comment on any one of the American novels or plays youhave read.V. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 300 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have atleast 3 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may givea title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics itbelongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.)4.Make comments on an American novel we have discussed in this course.ment on an American poet.6.Describe how your knowledge of American literature is improved aftertaking this course..IV.Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ =20’)1.Why do people think Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?2.What is “Lost Generation”?V.Discussion. (1 x 20’ =20’)State your own interpretations of Hemingway’s iceberg theory of writing?IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)3.What is Hawthorne’s style? Explain the style with examples.4.At the end of the 19th century, there were three fighters for Realism. Whoare they? What are their differences?True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1.American literature is the oldest of all national literature.2.Thomas Jefferson was the only American to sign the 4 documents that created the US.3.All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil.4.Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about human psychology.5.Hurstwood is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.6.Faulkner’s region was the Deep North, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.7.Placed in historical perspective, Howells is found lacking in qualities and depth. But anyhow he is a literary figure worthy of notice.8.Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9.As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.10.Emily Dickinson expresses her deep love in the poem “Annabel Lee”.II.Decide whether the statements are True or False. (10 x 2’=20’)1.Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.2.American Romantic writers avoided writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements.3.As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.4.“Young Goodman Brown” wants to prove everyone possesses kindness in heart.5.Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Twain or Howells.6.The American realists sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtleties of human personality.7.Frost’s concern with nature reflected his deep moral uncertainties.8.Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9.Roger Chillingworth is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.10.After the Civil War, the Frontier was closing. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned to be a “Gilded” one.。

Enlightenment: An 18th-century movement thatfocused on the ideals of good sense, benevolence,and a belief in liberty, justice, and equality as thenatural rights of man.The most important leaders of the American Enlightenment include Benjamin Franklin, Thomas JeffersonImagists: A group of mainly American poets, includingEzra Pound and Amy Lowell, who used sharpvisual images and colloquial speech; active from1912 to 1914.Irony: A meaning, often contradictory, concealedbehind the apparent meaning of a word or phrase.several categories, among which are: verbal, dramatic, and situational.Modernism: An international cultural movementafter World War I expressing disillusionment withtradition and interest in new technologies andvisions.Naturalism: A late 19th- and early 20th-century literaryapproach of French origin that vividly depictedsocial problems and viewed human beings as helplessvictims of larger social and economic forces.Neoclassicism: An 18th-century artistic movement,associated with the Enlightenment, drawing on classicalmodels and emphasizing reason, harmony, andrestraint.Postmodernism: A media-influenced aesthetic sensibilityof the late 20th century characterized byopen-endedness and collage. Postmodernism questionsthe foundations of cultural and artistic formthrough self-referential irony and the juxtapositionof elements from popular culture and electronic technology.Puritans: English religious and political reformerswho fled their native land in search of religious freedom,and who settled and colonized New England inthe 17th century.Romanticism: An early 19th-century movement thatelevated the individual, the imagination, and intuition. Romanticism, a reaction against neoclassicism,stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom fromclassical correctness in art forms, and rebellionagainst social conventions.Realism:Transcendentalism: A broad, philosophical movementin New England during the Romantic era(peaking between 1835 and 1845). It stressed therole of divinity in nature and the individual’s intuition,and exalted feeling over reason.Symbolism:The "Lost Generation" was the generation that came of age during World War I. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway, who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel, The Sun Also Rises. This generation included distinguished artists such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passosthe generation of men and women who came of age during or immediately following World War I: viewed, as a result of their war experiences and the social upheaval of the time, as cynical, disillusioned, and without cultural or emotional stability.black humour, also called black comedy, writing that juxtaposes morbid or ghastly elements with comical ones that underscore the senselessness or futility of life. Black humour often uses farce and low comedy to make clear that individuals are helpless victims of fate and character.in literature, used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce.。