吴定柏《美国文学大纲》笔记和考研真题详解(黑人文学)【圣才出品】

第7章自然主义7.1 复习笔记Ⅰ. Overview1. Background2. Emergence3. Major Features4. American NaturalistsⅡ. Stephen Crane (1871-1900)1. Life2. Literary Career3. Major FeaturesⅢ. Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)1. Life2. Literary Career3. Major FeaturesⅣ. Frank Norris (1870-1902)1. Life2. Literary CareerⅤ. Jack London (1876-1916)1. Life2. Literary CareerⅥ. SummaryⅠ. Overview1. BackgroundSince people were interested in Darwinian thought, the writers found a way to explain human behavior according to Darwin’s natural selection.Ⅰ. 概述1. 背景人们对达尔文思想感兴趣，作家们用达尔文的自然选择论来解释人类的行为。

2. EmergenceUnder the French influence, some writers ushered in a literary movement called Naturalism in America.2. 出现受法国的影响，一些作家在美国开始发起一场自然主义的文学运动。

3. Major Features(1) Humans are controlled by laws of heredity and environment.(2) The universe is godless, indifferent and hostile to human desires.3. 主要特征(1) 人类受遗传法则和环境的控制。

吴定柏《美国文学大纲》笔记和考研真题详解（9-16章）【圣才出品】第9章1945年之前的现代小说9.1复习笔记Ⅰ.Overview1.Background2.Lost Generation3.Modern FictionⅡ.Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)1.Life2.Literary Career/doc/0f18413888.html,mentⅢ.Francis Scott Fitzgerald(1896-1940)1.Life2.Literary Career/doc/0f18413888.html,mentⅣ.Sinclair Lewis(1885-1951)1.Life2.Literary Career/doc/0f18413888.html,mentⅤ.John Steinbeck(1902-1968)1.Life2.Literary Career3.The Grapes of WrathⅠ.Overview1.Background①After the war,the voices of new groups of Americans were heard.They were poor,or immigrants,or Jews,or blacks.②During this period there occurred in America areexamination of the structure of literature and of the nature of the critical activity itself.Ⅰ.概述1.背景①战后，很多美国的新作家来自穷人，移民，犹太人或黑人。

②这一时期，美国重新审视了文学结构和评论活动本身。

Lost Generation were cut off from their past.Without a meaningful future to fall on,they were lost in disillusionment and existential voids.2.迷惘的一代迷惘的一代与过去分割。

第12章美国的女性作家Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks.1.Author:_____Title:_____（南京大学2007研）Well,and what if she was?She still had ears.It was like Cornelia to whisper around doors.She always kept things secret in such a public way.She was always being tactful and kind.Cornelia was dutiful;that was the trouble with her.Dutiful and good:“So good and dutiful.”said Granny,“that I’d like to spank her.”【答案】Katherine Anne Porter;The Jilting of Granny Weatherall【解析】题目节选自凯瑟琳的《被遗弃的老祖母》。

2.The Southern Renaissance was the reinvigoration of American Southern literature that began in the1920s and1930s with the appearance of,among others, novelist_____,playwright_____,and short-story writer Katherine Anne Porter.（天津外国语2010研）【答案】journalist,essayist【解析】南方文艺复兴开始于20世纪20年代，代表作家包括福克纳，凯瑟琳·安·波特，尤多拉·韦尔蒂，卡森·麦卡勒斯等。

3.The New Criticism first emerged in1920s as a reaction against the prevailing time-honored critical tendency to focus on the theme often in disregard of the form of the work.The name is given by John Crowe Ransom’s collection ofcritical essays_____.【答案】The New Criticism【解析】“新批评”一词，源于美国文艺批评家约翰·克劳·兰塞姆（John Crowe Ransom）1941年出版的《新批评》（The New Criticism）一书。

第11章垮掉的一代Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks.1.Gary Snyder has been placed next to Allen Ginsberg among the Beat Generation. He seems to think that the job of the poet is to catch sight of_____,which resides nowhere but in_____.【答案】the poetic;the natural world【解析】加里·斯奈德（Gary Snyder），二十世纪美国著名诗人、“垮掉派”代表人物之一。

他喜欢沉浸于自然，在大自然中，他既是劳动者也是思考者，因此他的诗“更加接近于事物的本色以对抗我们时代的失衡、紊乱及愚昧无知”。

2.Such literary and cultural developments in the early twentieth century,as “Angry Young Men”in England,“__________”in America and“Nouveau Roman”in France seem to share the belief that the world is absurd and life meaningless,which may be labeled as______developments.（人大2001研）【答案】Beat Generation;counter-cultural【解析】20世纪早期，随着文学和文化的发展，在英国出现了“愤怒的青年”，美国出现了“垮掉的一代”，在法国出现了“新小说派”。

他们都认为世界是荒诞的，而生命则毫无意义。

因此，他们被贴上了“反文化”的标签。

3.Write down the name of the author of the following work.（厦门大学2011研）“In my hungry fatigue,and shopping for images,I went into the neon fruitsupermarket,dreaming of your enumerations!”【答案】Alan Ginsberg【解析】该段引自美国“垮掉的一代”的诗人金斯堡的《加利福尼亚超市》，并首次发表在其作品集Howl and Other Poems（《嚎叫和其他诗》）中，诗中描述了作者经过加利福尼亚一家超市时的所见所想。

《美国文学史及选读》考研吴伟仁版考研复习笔记和真题第一部分殖民地时期的美国文学第1章约翰·史密斯1.1 复习笔记I. Historical Introduction (历史背景)(1) At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the vast continental area that was to become the United States had been probed only slightly by English and European explorers. At last early in the seventeenth century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.(2) The colonies that became the first United States were for the most part sustained by English traditions, ruled by English laws, supported by English commerce, and named after English monarchs and English lands.(3) The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of the settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, about adapting to new life and dealing with Indians; they wrote letters, contracts, government charters, religious and political statements.(4) The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Among the members of the small band of Jamestown settlers was Captain John Smith, an English soldier of fortune.His reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been described as the first distinctly American literature written in English. (1) 直到17世纪初，美国所在的广袤大陆才被英国及少数几个欧洲国家的探险家涉足。

第3章超验主义3.1 复习笔记Ⅰ. Overview1. Growth and Development2. Major Concepts3. Significance4. WeaknessesⅡ. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)1. Life2. Literary Achievements3. “The American Scholar”Ⅲ. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)1. Life2. Relations with Emerson3. Walden4. General commentⅠ. Overview1. Growth and Development①New England Transcendentalism was in essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil.②The Transcendental Club, was formed in 1836 and published their journal The Dial.Ⅰ. 概述1. 产生和发展①新英格兰超验主义从本质上说是清教徒基础上的浪漫唯心主义。

②超验主义俱乐部成立于1836年，并发表了他们的期刊《日晷》。

2. Major Concepts①It stressed the power of intuition. As romantic idealism, it placed spirit first and matter second.②It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. It emphasized the significance of the individual.2. 主要概念①它强调直觉的力量。

作为浪漫唯心主义，它认为精神第一，物质第二。

②它把自然当作精神或上帝的象征，强调个人的重要性。

吴定柏《美国⽂学⼤纲》笔记和典型题（含考研真题）详解（现代诗歌）【圣才出品】第8章现代诗歌8.1 复习笔记Ⅰ. Overview1. Background2. Modernism3. Imagism(1) Emergence(2) Major features(3) CommentⅡ. Ezra Loomis Pound (1885-1972)1. Life2. Literary CareerⅢ. Thomas Stearns Elliot (1888-1968)1. Life2. Literary CareerⅣ. Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)1. Life2. Literary Career3. Views of Poetry4. Major FeaturesⅤ. E. A. Robinson (1869-1935)1. Life2. Literary Career3. CharacteristicsⅥ. Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963)1. Life2. Literary Career3. CommentⅦ. Contemporary American PoetryⅠ. Overview1. BackgroundIn the 20th century, two characteristic strains in American poetry are introspection and social criticism. But they were often combined together.Ⅰ. 概述1. 背景20世纪，美国诗歌有两⼤类型，即内省和社会批判。

但是两种类型经常结合在⼀起。

2. Modernism(1) Modernism dramatized severance from the past while using the past, its valuesand artistic forms in new literary production.(2) Modernists had a sense of fragmentation in social communities and the individual himself.(3) The distinctive feature of literary modernism was its strong break withtraditional forms and techniques of expression.2. 现代主义(1) 现代主义与过去相隔离，但同时也在新的⽂学作品中使⽤过去的观点和艺术形式。

第8章现代诗歌Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks.1.The most significant American poem of the twentieth century was_____.【答案】The Waste Land【解析】《荒原》（The Waste Land）是现代英美诗歌的里程碑，是象征主义文学中最有代表性的作品，是艾略特的成名作和影响最深远的作品。

2.Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the_____Prize in1922,1925and1928.【答案】Pulitzer【解析】美国诗人埃德温·阿林顿·罗宾逊(Edwin Arlington Robinson)一生创作了很多作品，他于1922年、1925年和1928年三次赢得普利策奖。

3.Robert Frost’s second volume of poems was_____.【答案】North of Boston【解析】罗伯特·弗罗斯特（Robert Frost）是20世纪最受欢迎的美国诗人，1914年他出版了他个人的第二部诗集《波士顿以北》（North of Boston）这本诗集获得很高的评价。

4.In1915,_____published his Prufrock and Other Observations.【答案】Thomas Stearns Eliot【解析】1917年T·S·艾略特（Thomas Stearns Eliot）出版了他的第一本诗集《普鲁弗洛克及其他观感》（Prufrock and Other Observations）。

Ⅱ.Multiple Choice1.The following excerpt is taken from a poem by_______.（大连外国语2007研）A.Carl SandburgB.Wallace StevensonC.T.S.EliotD.Ezra PoundWhile my hair was still cut straight across my foreheadI played about the front gate,pulling flowers.You came by on bamboo stilts,playing horse,You walked about my seat,playing with blue plums.And we went on living in the village of Chokan:Two small people,without dislike or suspicion.At fourteen I married My Lord you.I never laughed,being bashful.Lowering my head,I looked at the wall.Called to,a thousand times,I never looked back.【答案】D【解析】题中诗句选自美国著名诗人Ezra Pound的诗歌The River-Merchant’s Wife:ALetter。

四、作品分析Passage1（北二外2017研）Read the following poem and write an essay based on your analysis of the poem. Remember to start your essay with a statement,then support your ideas with-supporting details,and finally come to a conclusion.NatureKey:(1)It is the opening verse of Nature published in1849.This opening verse revealsEmerson’s approach,in both philosophy and his writing,of starring from one point and moving outward.It also introduces many of the themes and images to follow in Nature and throughout his other writings,such as the circle of“chain of countless rings”and“the eye”to represent continuity and vision,the interconnectedness of all things in nature,and humanity as nature’s highest “form.”Nature is,according to biographer Richardson,“a modern version of Plato,and American version of Kant.”(2)As an exhibition of Emerson’s philosophical tenets,Emerson’s sense ofmankind’s destined arrival in the evolutionary process and the affinity of man’s still emerging mind with the laws of universe.The principal motif of thispoem,as previously mentioned,harkens all the way through Nature,which provides the evidence that Emerson’s endorsement of the theory of evolution.Along with other poems,such as“Wealth”,and“Fate”,Emerson expressed his trust in entire universe.As the following text of“nature”has ascribed to the notions mentioned in this poem,such as“an original relation to the universe”,“transparent eye-ball”and a person who striving to be a“great man”.(3)However,the idea of Emerson’s Nature,was criticized as the epitome ofTranscendentalist individualism and self-absorption.Despite such criticisms, both the message of ones with nature and the first-person stream of consciousness style defined a new literary genre as well as a new philosophy and would later be echoed in the works of other writers of the era,such as Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman.Passage2（南开大学2012研）Questions1to4are based on the several stanzas from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven.Questions:1.In stanzaⅠ,what is the speaker doing when he first hear the tapping?What does he seek to borrow,’in stanza2?2.What does the speaker say“to still the beating”of his heart?What does the speaker see when he open the door?3.What does the speaker whisper?4.Paraphrase the first five stanzas of the poem.Key:1.He is thinking deeply about some“quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore”weakly and wearily,nodding and nearly napping.He seeks to borrow sorrow from his books,because that his lover dies and he is very sad and painful.2.Because that he is extremely frightened by the knocking,he decides to have a look at the door.He holds his breath and goes to the door.When he opens the door,he sees nothing except the darkness.3.The speaker whispers“Lenore”,which is the name of his deceased lover.4.When I was in deep thought at night,nodding and napping,I heard the knocking at my chamber door.I was frightened by such sound,so I decided to see who it was.And when I opened the door,there was nothing but darkness.In the darkness,I whispered my lover’s name“Lenore”.Passage3（北航2011研）It made me shiver.And I about made up my mind to pray,and see if I couldn’t try to quit being the kind of a boy I was and be better.So I kneeled down.But the words wouldn’t come.Why wouldn’t they?It warn’t no use to try and hide it from Him.Nor from ME,neither.I knowed very well why they wouldn’t come.It was because my heart warn’t right;it was because I warn’t square;it was because I was playing double.I was letting ON to give up sin,but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all.I was trying to make my mouth SAY I would do the right thing and the clean thing,and go and write to that nigger’s owner and tell where he was;but deep down in me I knowed it was a lie,and He knowed it.You can’t pray a lie—I found that out.So I was full of trouble,full as I could be;and didn’t know what to do.At last I had an idea;and I says,I’ll go and write the letter—and then see if I can pray.Why, it was astonishing,the way I felt as light as a feather right straight off,and my troubles all gone.So I got a piece of paper and a pencil,all glad and excited,and set down and wrote：Miss Watson,your runaway nigger Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville, and Mr Phelps has got him and he will give him up for the reward if you send.HUCK FINN.I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life.and I knowed I could pray now.But I didn’t do it straight off,but laid the paper down and set there thinking—thinking how good it was all this happened so,and how near I come to being lost and going to hell.And went on thinking.And got to thinking over our trip down the river;and I see Jim before me all the time:in the day and in the night-time,sometimes moonlight,sometimes storms,and we a-floating along,talking and singing and laughing.But somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places to harden me against him,but only the other kind.I’d see him standing my watch on top of his’n,stead of calling me,so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog;and when I come to him again in the swamp,up there where the feud was;and such-like times;and would always call me honey,and pet me and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was;and at last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had small-pox aboard,and he was so grateful,and said I was the bestfriend old Jim ever had in the world,and the ONLY one he’s got now;and then I happened to look around and see that paper.It was a close place.I took it up,and held it in my hand.I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide,forever,betwixt two things,and I knowed it.I studied a minute,sort of holding my breath,and then says to myself:“All right,then,I’ll GO to hell”—and tore it up.Questions:a.Identify the author of the work from which the passage is selected.b.Define the literary school/trend to which the author belongs?ment on the selection.Key:a.This passage is selected from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.b.Mark Twain belongs to the American Realism and local colorism.By definition, realism is broadly defined as“the faithful representation of reality”or “verisimilitude which is a literary technique practiced by many schools of writing. In American,the term“realism”encompasses the period of time from the Civil War to the turn of the century.Writers like Mark Twain wrote fiction devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts. In his works,the detailed representation in prose fiction of the setting,dialect, customs,dress any ways of thinking and feeling which are distinctive of a particular region.。

三、术语解释1.“grace under pressure”（武大2015研）Key:Hemingway writes all his life about one theme,“grace under pressure”.His world is essentially chaotic and meaningless,in which man fights solitarily against a force he does not even understand.The awareness that it must end in defeat, no matter how hard he struggles,engenders a sense of despair.But the Hemingway hero possesses courage to assert his dignity in face of adversity.This is the essence of a code of honor in which all of Hemingway’s heroes believed.2.Calvinism（北二外2017研）Key:Calvinism is the doctrine of John Calvin,the great French theologian who lived in Geneva.It’s doctrine of predestination,original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement(or the salvation of a selected few)through a special infusion of grace from god.3.The Beat Generation（厦门大学2013研）Key:The Beat Generation is a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era.The bulk of their work was published and popularized throughout the1950s.Central elements of Beat culture are rejection of standard narrative values,spiritual quest,exploration of American and Eastern religions, rejection of materialism,explicit portrayals of the human condition,experimentation with psychedelic drugs,and sexual liberation and exploration.4.Transcendentalism（南开大学2011研）Key:Transcendentalism is a New England movement,which flourished from about1835to1860.It had its roots in romanticism and in post-Kantian idealism by which Coleridge was influenced.It had a considerable influence on American art and literature.Basically religious,it emphasized the role and importance of the individual conscience,and the value of intuition in matters of moral guidance and inspiration.The actual term was coined by opponents of the movement,but accepted by its members.The group of people was also social reformers.Some of the members,besides Emerson,were famous,including Bronson Alcott,Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne.5.Point of view（北外2011研）Key:Point of view refers to the position or vantage-point from which the events of a story seem to be observed and presented to us.The chief distinction usually made between points of view between third-person narratives and first-person narratives.A third-person narrator may be omniscient,and therefore shows an unrestricted knowledge of the story’s events from outside or‘above’them; but another kind of third-person narrator may confine our knowledge of events to whatever is observed by a single character or small group of characters,this method being known as‘limited point of view’.A first-person narrator’spoint of view will normally be restricted to his or her partial knowledge and experience,and therefore will not give us access to other characters’hidden thoughts.Many modern authors have also used‘multiple point of view’,in which we are shown the events from the positions of two or more different characters.6.Symbol（北航2012研）Key:A symbol is a sign which suggests more than its literal meaning.In other words,a symbol is both literal and figurative.In literary usage,a symbol is an especially evocative kind of image,that is,a word or phrase referring to a concrete object,scene,or action which also has some further significance associated with it.Roses,mountains,birds,and voyages have all been used as common literary symbols.7.Narrator（西安交大2008研）Key:One who narrates,or tells,a story.A story may be told by a first-person narrator,someone who is either a major or minor character in the story.Or a story may be told by a third-person narrator,someone who is not in the story at all. The word narrator can also refer to a character in a drama who guides the audience through the play,often commenting on the action and sometimes participating in it.8.Imagism（北二外2015研）Key:An influential literary movement that took place in Europe and America from 1910to1920.The imagist poet creates a simple,clear,and vivid image which in itself is the expression of art and meaning to evoke an emotional response in the reader.Imagism was in part a reaction to the“bad habits”of19th century poets who were too explicit in their commentary and too repetitious in their subjects,patterns,and meters.One of the representatives of Imagism is Ezra Pound,whose major works include In a Station of the Metro,and Cathay.9.Antagonist（北航2011研）Key:In literary works,antagonist is a person or force opposing the protagonist in a narrative,a rival of the hero or central character who is often hindered by some opposing force either human or animal.The antagonist may not be a human being.Sometimes the antagonist may not be a living creature at all,but the hostile social or natural environment.10.Oversoul（北二外2014研）Key:Oversoul,is a concept by Ralph Waldo Emerson introduced in his1841 essay by the same name,meaning“over abiding presence”.It refers to an impersonal force that is eternal moral,harmonious,and beneficent in tendency.Emerson believed that there should be an emotional communication between an individual soul and tee universal“oversoul”,since the over-soul is anall-pervading power from which all things come from and of which all is a part.One of the tendencies of the“over-soul”is to express itself in form hence the world of nature as an emanation of the world of spirit.11.Aesthetic distance（北航2012研）Key:Aesthetic distance refers to the gap between a viewer’s conscious reality and the fictional reality presented in a work of art.William Faulkner tends to invoke a close aesthetic distance by using the first person narrative and stream of consciousness,while Earnest Hemingway tends to invoke a greater aesthetic distance from readers by using the third person narrative.12.Black humor（北二外2014研）Key:In contemporary literary criticism,black humor is a term applied to a large group of American novels beginning in the1950s.Although the writers of black humor did not intentionally form a school of literary’movement,there is in their novels a common core of satire which is directed against hypocrisy, materialism,racial prejudice,and above all,the dehumanization of the individual by a modem society.In their opinion,their society is full of institutionalized absurdity.Therefore,all of them hold a cynical attitude toward society and the conventional moral values which support that society.This despondency is reflected in their novels,not by angry protest,but by the use of exaggeration asa vehicle for satire.The satire is based on the exposition and exaggeration of theabnormal and the seamy side of both people and society to the point of ridiculousness and absurdity.It is humor out of despair and laughter out of tears.13.Harlem renaissance（北航2011研）Key:Harlem renaissance originally called the New Negro Movement,was a literary and intellectual flowering that fostered a new black cultural identity in the1920s and1930s.It was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.The Harlem Renaissance changed the images of literature created by many black and white American writers.New black images were no longer obedient and docile.Instead they showed a new confidence and racial pride.The representative writers include Langston Hughes,Claude Mckay,Jean Toomer and Countee Cullen.14.Darwinism（北二外2015研）Key:Darwinism refers to the evolutionary theories raised by Charles Darwin.The naturalists applied these theories to human society,stressing the animality of man and suggesting that he was dominated by the irresistible forces.One of the representatives of Social Darwinism is Herbert Spencer,whose major works include On the Proper Sphere of Government,The Philosophy of Style,Principles of Psychology,and A Theory of Population.。