美国文学期末复习知识点-绪论
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美国文学复习整理一、殖民主义时期的文学(colonial settlements)&理性和革命时期文学(revolutionary period)(文艺复兴时期)1.清教主义的shaping influence2.代表人物“T he Tenth Muse”第一位移民诗人2. Philip Freneau 菲利普·佛瑞诺有宗教隐喻,关注本土地貌、人文.写印第安人故事。
美国诗歌之父 father of American poetry代表作《野金银花》The Wild Honey Suckle3。
Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰弗逊起草了独立宣言 The Declaration of Independence 17764.Thomas Paine 托马斯·佩因拥护独立宣言代表作:《常识》Common Sense《理性时代》The Age of Reason5.Jonathan Edwards乔纳森·埃德沃兹大觉醒运动的代表人物 the Great Awakening6.Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林代表作:《自传》The Autobiography《穷理查德历书》Poor Richard's Almanac美国梦的代表二.浪漫主义时期的文学(American Romanticism)早期浪漫主义(Early Romantic Period)1.背景:1> 时间:18世纪末到内战爆发前夕(1861)2> 条件:○1国家的快速发展,大量移民和工业化发展错误!小说的发展,期刊杂志(periodical)出现错误!受英国文学的影响2.浪漫主义的基本特征1>Stressing emotion rather than reason2>Stressing freedom and individuality3>Idealism rather than materialism4>Writing about nature, medieval legends(中世纪传说)and with supernaturalelements。
美国文学期末考试复习必备(精)1. What’s Puritanism?A religious and political movement which appeals to the right of the individual to political & religious independence. It includes three parts: a code of values, a point of view & a philosophy of life2. What are the basic Puritan beliefs?1). Total Depravity 2). Unconditional Election 3). Limited Atonement 4). Irresistible Grace 5). Perseverance of the "saints"3. What are American Puritan values?Sobriety thrift, Self-reliance Diligence, Struggle, simple tastes4. What are the features of American literature in the Colonial Period?A. Humble origins: diaries, journals, histories, letters. Its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.B. in content: serving either god or colonial expansion or bothC. in form: imitating English literary traditions.D. in style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery and simplicity of diction.E. Symbolism formed in this period ------To the pious Puritan, the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of God.F. Simple, fresh and direct styleG. the Puritanism formed in this period was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature.5.What are the features of Washington Irving’s works?(1) Gentility, urbanity, pleasantness (2) Avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining (3) Enveloping stories in an atmosphere (4) Vivid and true characters (5) Humor – smiling while reading (6) Musical language6. What is theme of “Rip Van Winkle”?①it reveals conservative attitude of Irving. ②it might be an illustration of Irving’s argument that revolution upset the natural order of things.A. The story of man who has difficulties facing his advancing age;B.The contradictory impulses in America toward work-the puritan attitude as opposed to America desire for leisure;C .The theme of escape from one's responsibilities and even one's history;D .The loss of identity.7. What are the author’s attitude changes?It reveals conservative attitude of Irving and he is Unwilling to accept a modern democratic America and prefers the past & a dream-like world 8. What’s New England Transcendentalism?Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in the history of American literature in the 19th century. Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as “the recognition(认知)in man of thecapacity of knowing truth intuitively(直觉地)”. Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Over-soul, the individual and Nature.9. What are its basic assumptions?The intuitive faculty, instead of the rational or sensical, became the means for a conscious union of the individual psyche with the world psyche also known as the Over soul, life-force, prime mover and God 10. What are Allan Poe’s poetics theories?The poetry should appeal only to the sense of beauty, not truth, and sets himself against realistic details in poetry. He makes good use of a number of poetic devices to create a mood appropriate to the theme of his poems.11. Why was Nathaniel Hawthorne a master of symbolism?He uses concrete objects as well as characters to serve as his symbols. He likes to uses masks, veils, shadows to give dramatic forms to the universal dilemmas of humanity12. What is the theme of Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter?It Condemned the Puritan philosophy of life.Sin, knowledge and human condition; the nature of evil; identity and society4. What is the symbolic me aning of the Scarlet Letter “A”?A.” Adultery", a token of shameB. a sign of Hester's "ability“C. "Angel" appearing in the skyD.”Adamic", since the sin is prehistoric and human E .the rising “America"13. What story is told in Moby-Dick?It is a thrilling adventure story which is the realistic about a whaling voyage within which is set a symbolic account of the conflict between man and his fate.14. What is the symbolic meaning of Moby-Dick?1) Mystery of the universe, 2) power of grant nature, 3) evil of the world 4) Its whiteness-paradoxical color: death and corruption, purity, innocence and youth.15. What are the popular themes of Emily Dickinson’s poetry? Death, love, friendship, nature, immortality.ment on the image of Huckleberry Finn?He is loyal, cheerful, fair-minded boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience, with the eventual victory of his moral conscience over his social awareness, Huck grows. Huck is not only a lovely boy in the novel, but also a portrait standing for the young America. Huck is not only a lovely boy in the novel, but also a portrait standing for the young America.17. What’s the social significance of him?Huck develops a different view of blacks through the story. It is not an instant change, but a gradual process. Huck himself undergoes a change; he stops accepting the social norms and instead follows his own beliefs. He acquires these beliefs after many adventures with the slave Jim. In thisway, Twain encourages people to be like Huck and not to accept the racism just because society accepts it.18. Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their view?A. Naturalism was greatly influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theory and French literatureB. Naturalists accepted the more negative implications of Darwin's theory and used it to count for the behavior of those characters in literary works who are conceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.C. Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic.19.What are the features of Frost’s poetry?1. Frost’s poetry mainly reflects life in rural New England2. His poems often shift dramatically from humorous tones to tragic ones3. Much of his poetry is concerned with how people interact with their environment4. Frost disliked free verse; He often wrote in the standard meter of blank verse20. What is the theme of “The Road Not taken” Individualism, Caution, Commitment, Accepting a ChallengeAnd “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”?The poem isprimarily oriented towards the pleasures of the scene and the responsibility of life.21.What are the features of modernist literature?A. Its strong and conscious break with traditional forms, perceptions and techniques of expression.B. Its great concern with language and aspects of its medium.22. What is “Lost generation”?Literally, it is the generation of people born between 1883 and 1900.They were disillusioned by World War I and displeased with American social values, sexual and aesthetic conventions, and established morality. They first fled to cities such as Chicago & San Francisco; then to Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome. They were full of youthful idealism and pioneered new ways of writing; they were devoid of faith and alienated from civilization.23. What is a typical Hemingway Code Hero?The Code Hero believes in “Nada,” meaning nothing. There is also no after life.•The Code Hero is an individualist and free-willed. He believes in courage and honor and has his own set of morals and principles based on his beliefs in honor, courage and endurance.• A code hero never shows emotions.• A code hero does not commit to women.• A code hero shows qualities such as bravery, adventure, and love of travel.• A code hero dislikes darkness. It symbolizes death and is a source of fear. The rite of manhood for the code hero is facing death.24.What is the theme of the short story “A Clean Well-LightedPlace”?Nothing (or nada) through the old man's unsuccessful suicide and the middle-aged man's soliloquy.25.What is the theme of The Great Gatsby?A sensitive and symbolic treatment of the themes of contemporary life related with irony and pathos to the legend of the "America dream" What kind of person is Gatsby?He is a poor youth from the Midwest and at last became a self-made wealthy man. Gatsby is the last romantic heroes and he is a mysterious figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a mind that embodies America itself.26.What are Faulkner’s famous novels? What are the features of his novels? "The sound and the Fury", "As I Lay Dying", "Light in the August", "Absalom, Absalom!" 2) On history and the problem of race; on folk human of the south; on horror, violence and abnormal to arouse moral outrage.1.Discuss Twain’s art of fiction2.A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi alley as his fictional kingdom,writing about the landscape and people, the customs and the dialects of one particular region, and is therefore known as a local colorist. B. He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finn, who runs away from civilization and stands opposite to conventional village morality. C. He uses a simple, direct vernacular language, totally different from any precious literary language. It is the kind of colloquial belonging to the lower class, the living local American English.D. He has created a special humor to satirize and the decayed convention.2 1). The story takes place along the Mississippi River before the Civil War in the United States, around 1850. Along the river floats a small raft, with two people on it: One is an ignorant, uneducated black slave named Jim and the other is little uneducated outcast white boy, Huck Finn. The novel relates the story of the escape of Jim from slavery and, more important, how Huck Finn, floating along with Jim and helping him as best as he could, changes his mind, his prejudice, about Black people, and comes to accept Jim as a man and as a close friend as well.2.) (theme)1) The Theme of the novel may be best summed in a word “freedom”: Huck wants to escape from the bond of civilization and Jim wants to escape from the yoke of slavery. 2) The novel is a criticism of social injustice, hypocrisy, conservativeness and narrow-mindedness of the American small town society.3.Make a brief comment on Mark Twain’s achievements in this novel in 200-250 words.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, first published in 1876, is a child’s adventure story; it is also, however, the story of a young boy’s transition into a young man. In some ways, it is a bildungsroman, a novel whose principle subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a youthful main character. It is not a true bildungsroman, however, because Twain did not take Tom into full1. The hero of the novel through adventures with lively style to satirize the American hypocrisy of social custom, vulgar hypocrisy of religious rituals and inflexible stale school education2. "Tom Sawyer--with its strong deep local characteristics of humor and keen observation of the character, had become the greatest of the children's literature works, is a United States rural " golden era "4. 1)The Pequod-a symbol of doom(death);named after a Native American tribe in Massachusetts, did not survive the arrival of white men (extincted), is painted gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones 2) Moby Dick-unknown and unknowable truths, inscrutable, mysterious, mirrors its environment, only the surface of the ocean is available for human observation and interpretation, the depths conceal unknown truths--A metaphor for the human relationship with the Christian God: God is unknown and cannot be pinned down (defined). to the pequod’screw, Moby Dick is a concept onto which they can display their anxiety about dangerous and frightening jobs, to Ahab Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world, It is his destiny to get rid of this symbolic evil 3)Queequeg’s Coffin sy mbolizes life and death.5. Try to discuss the theme of “The Minister’s Black Veil”.A. Sin and EvilB. History and AntiquityC. Alienation - a character is in a state of isolation because of self-cause, or societal cause, or a combination of both.D. Puritan New England - used as a background and setting in many tales.E. Other themes include individual vs. society, self-fulfillment vs. frustration, hypocrisy vs. integrity, love vs. hate, and fate vs. free will, etc.。
(完整word版)美国文学史复习要点整理【手动】美国文学史整理一、Colonial America 殖民时期1、New England:Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, andConnecticut.2、Doctrines of Puritanism清教American Puritanism stressed predestination(命运神定), original sin(原罪), total depravity (彻底的堕落), and limited atonement (有限的赎罪)from God’s grace.3、Writing style:fresh, simple and direct and with a touch of nobility;the rhetoric is plain andhonest.4、Life style:hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.5、Main writer:①Thomas Paine 托马斯·潘恩work:Common Sense (1776) 《常识》American Crisis (1776-1783)《美国危机》The Rights of Man《人权》The Age of Reason《理性时代》②Benjamin Franklin(本杰明·富兰克林)Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷查理历书》Autobiography 《富兰克林自传》③Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰弗逊Declaration of Independence (1776)《独立宣言》二、American Romanticism (early period) 浪漫主义前期1、Characteristics:①A rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism.反对理性主义的客观性。
第一部分殖民时期一、时期综述(关于清教的应该都是重点)1、清教徒采用的文学体裁:A、narratives 日记B、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作内容:①their voyage to the new land ②adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops③about dealing with Indians ④guide to the new land, endless bounty,invitation to bold spirit★3、清教徒的想法:①Puritans want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices.净化信仰和行为方式②wish to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of the Bible to theology.重建教堂,提供简单服务,建立神圣地位③look upon themselves as a chosen people,and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God’s will and is not to be accepted。
认为自己是上帝选民,对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝。
④Puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated.反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步。
⑤religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God。
强调上帝严厉的一面,忽视上帝仁慈的一面.4、典型的清教徒:John Cotton and Roger Williams他们的不同:John Cotton was much more concerned with authority than with democracy。
美国文学史复习资料前4章美国文学史复习1(colonialism)第一部分殖民主义时期的文学一、时期综述1、清教徒采用的文学体裁:a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作内容:1)their voyage to the new land2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops3) About dealing with Indians4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit3、清教徒的思想:1)puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂,提供简单服务,建立神圣地位来源:(/doc/2f10857166.html,/s/blog_5d7e2e330100 blsr.html) - 美国文学史复习1(colonialism)_苗苗_新浪博客3)look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民,对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝4)puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5)religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面,忽视上帝仁慈的一面。
美国文学期末复习选择题Unit 21) To Montresor, the fatal weakness of Fortunato is his _______ for his connoisseurship in wine.A) knowledgeB) arroganceC) faithD) seeming ignorance2) Montresor wants to take revenge on Fortunato during the carnival because _______ .A) almost all the people would habitually celebrate the festival, excessively drinking and dancing in delight and giving less attention to other activities beyond celebration.B) Fortunato would be too busy as a wine connoisseur during the festival so that he might not see through the tricky plan of Montresor to put an end to his life.C) he would work together with Fortunato during the festival so as to have chance to kill him.D) he chooses the time at random instead of a deliberate scheme.3) In the story Amontillado is known as the good wine whose _______ , as Montresor deceptively claims, has strong appeal to Fortunato.A) taste and smellB) reputation and tasteC) reputation and quantityD) recommendations by Italian virtuosos4) Who is Luchresi ?A) a boy in the barB) a arrogant neighborC) a wine connoisseurD) a Sherry producer5) As Montresor and Fortunato walk further into the catacomb, the latter keeps coughing becauseA) the nitre hanging like moss upon the vaults increases to strongly provoke him.B) he pretends so in order to encourage himself.C) he takes "Nemo me impune lacessit".D) the nitre distills the rheum of intoxication.6) Before taking his last breath, Fortunato still seems unable to perceive the intention of Montresor, mistaking what Montresor does to him as " a very good joke, indeed —an excellent jest". Why does he react so slowly?A) Fortunato has drunk too much to see his coming death.B) Poe intends to use Fortunato's slow comprehension as a foil to the blackness of Montresor 's well-planned revenge.C) Fortunato wants to get Montresor's mercy by fooling him this way so that he may free himself from the threshold of death.D) It is only Montresor's illusion because Fortunato has been dead when the former builds up the eleven tiers of the stone wall.7) Where does the story take place?A) It is only a psychological experience without the setting in reality.B) Poe never intends to give any information about the setting.C) It couldn't be identified.D) Italy as the setting of the story is only hinted in such as the names of characters and those of wines.8) Montresor and Fortunato mean "wealth " and "treasure" in the Italian language, symbolically mirroring _______ .A) their identical parentageB) something hidden as their mutual weaknessC) their mutual love of goldD) their mutual mania for material possession9) As it is suggestive of the Italian culture where the story is set, the word Palazzo means _______ .A) a fancy restaurant serving good winesB) a large, splendid residence or building such as a palace or museum for public activitiesC) a dreamy place as paradiseD) a place as storage of wine10) The story end with a Latin quotation "In pace requiescat", by which Poe hints that _______ .A) Montresor thinks he will die soonB) Montresor seems to be sorry for the death of FortunatoC) Montresor's hatred for Fortunato is still so strong that he couldn't get it over even when he murdered the latter half a century agoD) Montresor eventually regrets for what has done to Fortunato and implores God to give peace to the latter参考答案BACCA BDBBCUnit 41) The story is set in Boston because this town as one of the largest communities of European immigrants of the time could stand in many ways for ________.A) the Puritan culture;B) the Continental culture;C) the typical culture of the native Indians;D) the trend of immigration.2) Generally speaking, the Puritan culture is characterized by ________.A) its moral rigor and its hostility to social pleasures and indulgences.B) a stress on education and simplicity of life.C) a stress on human creation and free will.D) its concern for the afterlife of man.3) Antinomian refers to a person who believes ________.A) that all the laws are harmful to human freedom.B) that Puritanism is the key to all social problems.C) that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to any law, whether scriptural, civil, or moral, and that salvation is attained solely through faith and the gift of divine grace.D) that moral power is the strongest and most useful for man’s self-perfection and social development.4) Why do people call Hester Prynne “Madam Hester”or “Mistress Prynne”, respectively?A) It reflects their habitual use of the English language.B) It makes no difference.C) It hints their social status.D) It shows their different attitudes toward her.5) Why doesn’t Hawthorne explicitly tell his audience the weaver of the scarlet letter upon the bosom of Hester Prynne, though its image he presents is “so fantastically embroidered and illuminated”?A) It means that no one knows the identity of the weaver.B) It means that he wants to increase the suspension of the story.C) He is reluctant to tell it because the weaver is the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, who is seemingly free from the scandal at the moment.D) He just hints that Hester Prynne is the weaver of the meaningful letter by way of the positive comment of a spectator on her skills at needlework, because he seems to think that such an indirect narrative helps mirror how much she has tried to reclaim herself without the public knowledge.6) The grim beadle loudly orders Hester Prynne to show her scarlet letter to all the spectators in the market place, as he desires to ________.A) make all the spectators know the power he has in the community.B) fulfill his duty there.C) humiliate her as an adulterous woman.D) gratify the demand of the spectators.7) As it is compared to “the guillotine among the terrorists of France”, the scaffold, in the front of which Hester Prynne and her daughter are humiliated, symbolizes ________.A) the severity of the social punishment on her.B) the long history of humiliating the convict in the market place.C) her courage in face of dilemma.D) the on-going influence of the European law in America.8) Whom does “the image of Divine Maternity”refer to?A) Hester Prynne.B) Blessed Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ.C) Hester Prynne’s mother living in England.D) The mother of a papist.9) It is by associating the figure of Hester Prynne to “the image of Divine Maternity”that Hawthorne intends to show that ________.A) He is sympathetic with Hester Prynne.B) he looks down on the cowardice of Dimmesdale.C) Hester Prynne’s visage resembles that of the Virgin Mary.D) as Virgin Mary is sinless, so is Hester Prynne.10) Standing on the scaffold and looking downwards at the assembly, Hester Prynne suddenly clutches her daughter so fiercely to her breast that it sends forth a cry, because she wants to ________.A) distract herself from the dreadful gaze of the assembly.B) assure herself that her daughter is still with her.C) wake herself up from somewhat incontroable illusion about her early life.D) wake up her daughter.参考答案AACDD CABDCUnit 51) There are many biblical allusions in Moby Dick such as characters’ names, which often have symbolic meaning. The narrator Ishmael as an example in point was the son of Abraham and cast out after the birth of Isaac, and as the Old Testament tells, he is traditionally considered to be the forebear of the Arabs. Ishmael may be symbolically seen as ________.A) an outsider when an event takes place.B) a marginalized participant when an event takes place.C) a witness with holy mission.D) a marginalized participant/survivor in a disastrous event.2) Why does Melville name the White Whale Moby Dick and call him so in the story instead of the whale or the white whale?A) He seems to personify the evil and mysterious whale representing all that is mysteriously powerful and antagonistic to mankind.B) It is common in the West to give a creature a human name.C) He names it so for the convenience of his narration.D) He happens to do it without any connotation.3) Moby Dick gives a comprehensive and detailed account of whale fishing such as location, ship, skills, and various kinds of facilities because ________.A) whale fishing was already a developed industry in the nineteenth century, with which Melville was familiar.B) Melville was fond of whale fishing and he had such experiences.C) Melville thinks it necessary to give a realistic picture of whale fishing when narrating the story of Moby Dick.D) Melville wants to appeal to his urban readers by presenting something beyond their everyday experiences.4) Why does Captain Ahab make his mind to hunt for Moby Dick despite of the opposition ofmany whale men as well as the risk of the fatal destruction on his crew?A) He never takes the advice of others.B) His crew want him to make that decision.C) He doesn’t think his pursuit is risky.D) It shows their different attitudes toward her.5) What does the Leviathan imply in the story?A) It implies all perils in nature.B) It is a monstrous sea creature mentioned in the Old Testament and thus its name is mentioned in the story to imply the fatally destructive nature of the White Whale.C) It implies that the Leviathan is less aggressive than the whale.D) It stands for the inexplicable power of all creatures such as the White Whale.6) As the name of the Captain in the Pequod, Ahab is said to come from the Bible. If so, who is Ahab in the Bible?A) He was a heroic captain who was good at sea adventures.B) He was a prophet of the Egyptian.C) He was a Pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel, who was killed by Jehu, an Israeli king proverbially known for his swift chariot driving.D) He was a blind poet known for his songs of celebrating agricultural harvests.7) What does Ahab imply as the name of the Captain in the Pequod?A) It seems to imply that the captain is destined to die for his sailors.B) It seems to imply that the captain is a kingly conqueror of all his enemies.C) It seems to imply that the fate of the captain is predetermined as there is something fatally defective in his nature.D) It seems to imply that this tragic captain embodies Melville’s view on the fate of mankind.8) To make Moby Dick an interestingly convincing story, Melville is good at ________.A) picturing the whale fishery with deliberate exaggeration.B) telling all the episodes in the omniscient third person.C) characterizing his characters with exoticism.D) narrating with factual details that are combined with exoticism and biblical allusions.9) In addition to his sympathy for the catastrophic death of Ahab, Ishmael gives a vivid account of the whole story of the Captain mainly because ________.A) he was fond of the whale fishery.B) he wanted to give more people access to sharing such interesting experiences.C) he shared the feud of the decedent as stated in the first paragraph of the selected reading.D) he was keen to explore how the tragedy of Ahab took place.10) In comparison with other equally successful novels by Melville’s contemporaries, Moby Dick is unique in that its author wrote it ________.A) by resorting to the encyclopedia about the whale fishing in America.B) chiefly out of his own encyclopedic experiences in sea instead of sheer imagination.C) out of sheer imagination as his contemporary readers were morbidly interested in sea adventures.D) to turn the attention of the reading public from focusing on the social vanity to the unfathomable recesses of human mind.参考答案DAADB CCDCBUnit 131. Katherine Anne Porter wrote many short stories but only _______ novel.A) oneB) twoC) threeD) four2. Why is the story titled "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"?A) Granny Weatherall rejects George, her husband-to-be.B) John rejects Granny Weatherall by not appearing at the wedding.C) George rejects Granny Weatherall by not appearing at the wedding.D) Granny is first rejected by her lover and then later by God.3. The jilting took place ______years ago.A) 20B) 40C) 60D) 354. Granny Weatherall rebukes Cornelia and Doctor Harry because ______.A) she wants to sleep.B) she hates them.C) she doesn't think there is any wrong with her.D) She thinks they should mind their own business.5. What is it that Granny Weatherall doesn't like to be reminded of?A) It is that she should go through the letters in the attic.B) It is that she is old and weak.C) It is that she should look for HapsyD) It is that she has to take care of the children, the land and the house.6. What is it that Granny Weatherall can never forget?A) It is that she was jilted by her lover George 60 years ago.B) It is that her husband John died when he was still quite young.C) It is that Cornelia always keeps things secret in a public way.D) It is that her children no longer ask her for advice.7. The "fog" rising over the valley is a symbol to indicate______.A) Granny Weatherall is in her right mindB) Granny Weatherall can still see a lot through the fogC) Granny Weatherall's mind is so confused that she can no longer tell the present from the pastD) The beauty of the scenary8. Who does Granny Weatherall want to see most as she is dying?A) CorneliaB) GeorgeC) JohnD) Hapsy9. Who "cursed like a sailor's parrot and said 'I'll kill him for you.'"?A) GeorgeB) JohnC) Doctor HarryD) Father Connolly10. On what occasion does Granny Weatherall have to face a priest all by herself?A) It is at the wedding from which George runs away.B) It is when she is dyingC) It is when she has to put up post holes.D) It is when Hapsy comes to see her.参考答案ADCCB ACDBAUnit 141. Fitzgerald's first novel ___________ was an immediate success.A) The Great GatsbyB) This Side of ParadiseC) Tales of the Jazz Age2. Fitzgerald fell in love with Zelda Sayre while serving in the military _________.A) and married her immediately afterwardsB) but they never got marriedC) but they broke their engagement only to be joined in matrimony later after his first novel had been published.3. The Fitzgeralds lived _______.A) extravagantlyB) a moderate lifeC) in frugality4. The Great Gatsby was published when Fitzgerald was living in _______.A) New YorkB) EuropeC) Africa5. On the day of Gatsby's funeral, ___________ came to pay last respects to him.A) many of his friendsB) quite a few of his friendsC) few of his friends6. When Wolfsheim exclaimed, "I made him," referring to Gatsby, he meant that ________.A) without him, Gatsby could not have gotten where he was before his ill-fated deathB) he made Gatsby a good manC) he made business deals with Gatsby7. Gatsby's father _______.A) was tremendously proud of his son in spite of his grief over his son's deathB) really understood his sonC) knew what his son's business was8. The man with owl-eyed glasses at the funeral called Gatsby "the poor son-of-a-bitch," because______.A) he detested GatsbyB) he thought Gatsby was a son-of-a-bitchC) he felt sorry for Gatsby9. Nick described Gatsby's house as "huge incoherent failure of a house, meaning ________.A) the house would fall soonB) what the house symbolized failedC) the parties held in the house failed10. When Nick said, "the dazzling parties of Gatsby's were with me so vividly that I could still hear the music and the laughter," he meant _______.A) he missed the partiesB) he was haunted by the memories of the partiesC) he had been to too many such parties11. Gatsby believed in the green light, thinking _________.A) it was beautifulB) he was very close to itC) he could reach it参考答案BCABC AACBBC简答题Unit21) Who is the narrator? What wrong does he want to redress?2) What is the pretext Montresor uses to lure Fortunado to his wine cellar?3) What happens to Fortunado in the end?4) Describe briefly how Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as contrasts.参考答案1)It is Montresor. Fortunato has given Montresor thousands of injuries that he has to bear before he has this opportunity of taking revenge.2)He claims that he has just got a cask of Amontilado and stores it in the wine cellar before he may find a connoisseur to testify to its authenticity.3)The deceived Fortunado is killed because of his inability of getting out of the catacomb.4)Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as seemingly contrasting characters chiefly by presenting their identical habit in wine and their different manners towards each other, but actually he intends to show some similarly defective aspects in their nature. The similarity in their nature is also suggested by their names as synonyms in Italian: Mortresor means “fortune” while Fortunado “treasure”. Their defective nature is highlighted when the revenger Mortresor, who is fully prepared on psychological and operating levels, throws the hardly prepared but totally deceived wrong-doer Fortunado into the deep and damp catacomb and blocks up its entrance with huge rocks.Unit41) Why is the prison the setting of Chapter II?2) Describe the appearance of Hester Prynne and the attitude of the people toward her.3) What has happened to Hester? Why does she make the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate? How does this tell us about her character?参考答案1)The prison is used as the setting of the story because the execution of Hester Prynne as an infamous culprit is expected to take place here and the sentence of a legal tribunal on her has but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment. In addition, the setting also suggests the tragic fate of the protagonist.2)Hester Prynne is a young and tall woman with dark and abundant hair that is so glossy that it may throws off the sunshine with a gleam. She has a beautiful face with the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. With a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale, she is ladylike with such character as characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace. Besides, the attitudes of the people toward her are diverse, but mostly negative and unsympathetic largely from the conventional moral stand of the times.3)As a married woman, Hester falls in love with Dimmesdale, a reverend minister of the local community, and their love affair is discovered after she gives birth to a baby daughter. She makes the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate in the hope that the letter may embody her affirmative attitude toward the dilemma in her life, and that it may have the effect of a powerful spell to take her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclose her in a sphere by herself. This detail also mirrors her idea of love and moral value, which is explicitly different from the cowardice and hypocrisy of Dimmesdale.Unit5What are the stories Ishmael tells about Moby Dick?As one of the crew in the Pequod, Ishmael is the only sailor having survived the fatal shipwreck. Thus according to what he witnesses when following Ahab and the crew in search of Moby Dick, he relates how the white whale Moby Dick bites off one of Ahab’s legs and how the latter seeks his own revenge on the former.Why does Ahab react so violently against the while whale? Ishmael sUggests that Ahab is “crazy” and calls him “ a raving lunatic”. Do you agree with him? Why or why not?In their earlier contact Moby Dick bit off one of Ahab’s legs and thus the latter determined to kill the former with the help of his crew. Despite of the advice from his counterparts in other ships, Ahab couldn’t free himself from the idea of revenge. That is why Ishmael describes Ahab as madly obsessed with a search of Moby Dick. Ishmael’s attitude seems convincing because Melville intends to show in the romance that extreme elements in the human soul could be fatally destructive.What narrative features can you find in the selected chapter?Like the other parts of Moby Dick, this chapter is written in the first-person perspective and because the narrator Ishmael is said to have survived the Pequod shipwreck, so what the narrative "he" gives is a recollection of the process of Ahab and his crew’s hunting of Moby DickUnit13Does Granny Weatherall like Doctor Harry? Why or why not?Granny does not like Doctor Harry. First, she does not think she is ill and has to see the doctor. Second, she thinks the doctor treats her as if she were a child. He is not respectful to her.Granny intends to do a lot "tomorrow." What is the most important thing? Can she do it?The most important thing is to go through George's letters and John's letters and her letters to them both. She cannot do this because she is now sick and has to stay in bed.What advice does Granny give her family?She gives advice to Lydia about how to bring up children, to Jimmy about how to do business, even how to move the furniture to Cornelia.What happened 60 years ago? Who is George? How does Granny feel about him?She was jilted by George, the man she was to marry. He did not come to the wedding. Granny is psychologically much wounded by George's jilting. She tries very hard to forget the event and suppresses her grief. However, just before her death, the agony surfaces and she cannot forget him.Who is John? How does Granny feel about him?John is the man Granny marries eventually. They have several children during their marriage. Granny is thankful that John is sympathetic to her being jilted. She feels that, with John, there is nothing to worry about any more. But John dies when he is still rather young. She misses himfrom time to time, hoping to see him again in order to show him that she does not do badly without a husband.What is it that she would like to tell George?She, like any other woman, had a husband, fine children and a house. She is given back everything he takes away. However, the agony he causes her is 'unbelievable,' so great that she tries to think of it as that of having a baby.What is it that she would like to tell John?She has brought up their children, kept a good house and taken good care of the farm. She has changed, becoming tough by overcoming all the difficulties.Who does Granny want to see most before her death? Who is this person? Is Granny's wish realized?It is Hapsy. She is Granny's daughter and she dies in childbirth. In her semi-consciousness, Granny feels as if she had to go through many rooms to find Hapsy with her baby. She even hears Hapsy say “I thought you'd never come,” and “You haven't changed a bit!” Even at the time of death, she is concerned w ith the question “ What if I don't find her?”What is Granny's attitude towards death?She thinks that she is well prepared for death. Twenty years ago, she felt very old and finished. So she went around making farewell trips to her children. Later she made her will and came down with a long fever. Then she got over the idea of dying for a long time. However, she becomes surprised when the real time comes and thinks it is not time yet and that she cannot go. Eventually, she accepts death by blowing out the light herself.When does Granny realize that she is going to die?It is when she realizes that her children have come a long way and are there by her bed to say good-bye to her.What is the sign she looks forward to at the end of her life? Does it appear?It is the sign of Jesus in the form of a bridegroom coming to take her to Heaven. But it does not appear. So she is jilted again.Unit 141. Who was described as "madman" after Gatsby's death?2. How did Gatsby's father learn of his son's death?3. Did Nick reach Daisy by phone after Gatsby's death?4. Did Gatsby's friend Wolfsheim plan to attend his funeral?5. What did Gatsby's father proudly show to Nick?6. Where did Nick meet the man with owl-eyed glasses for the first time?7. Where did Gatsby, Nick, Daisy and Jordan come from?8. Was Jordan once attracted to Nick?9. How did Nick feel toward Jordan when he parted with her?10. Why did Nick think Tom was in a sense justified for doing what he had done?参考答案1)Wilson. 2)He saw the news in a newspaper.3)No, he didn't. 4)No, he didn't.5)Gatsby's Schedule he wrote down as a young boy. 6)In Gatsby's library.7)Middle West. 8)Yes, she was. 9)He had mixed feelings toward her. 10)He was one of those careless people who smashed up things and creatures and then retreat back into their money or their vast carelessness and let other people clean up the mess they had made.Unit151. Where is the Harris-versus-Snopes case tried?2. Why does Mr. Harris stop asking Sarty to be his witness?3. What causes Abner to walk with a limp?4. Why does Abner have the habit of making small fires?5. What does Abner teach Sarty that night?6. What does Sarty feel when he first saw De Spain's house?7. Why does De Spain's black servant refuse Abner's entrance into the house?8. Is Sarty willing to pay the amount of corn for De Spain's damaged rug?9. Does Sarty get the can of oil as his father has told him?10. Where does Sarty go and what for after he gets free of his mother's hold?参考答案1)In the store. 2)The boy will not tell the truth. 3)He was wounded in the heel on a stolen horse. 4)A habit he formed when hiding from people with his stolen horses. 5)He should stick to his own blood. 6)It stands for peace and dignity. 7)He has not wiped his feet. 8)No. He will hide it. 9)No. 10)To De Spain's house to warn De Spain.英译汉Unit2At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion if the great catacombs of Pads. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see."Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi — ""He is an ignoramus ", " interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while Ifollowed immediately at his heels. In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock . Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess. "Pass your hand, " I said, "over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I will first render you all thelittle attentions in my power.""The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment. "True," I replied; " the Amontillado."As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.在墓穴的尽头,又出现了更狭窄的墓穴。
美国文学一.术语解释1,Transcendentalism(超验主义):简略版:It started in 1830s in US; which emphasis on spirit or oversoul and stressing importance of the individual; regarding nature as symbols of the spirit or God. It took idea from the romantic literatures of Europe, from Neo-Platonism and so on. Emerson was its representative.深层次版:American Transcendentalism: the emergence of the Transcendentalists as an identifiable movement took place during the late 1820s and 1830s, but the roots of their religious philosophy extended much farther back into American religious history. Transcendentalism and evangelical Protestantism followed separate evolutionary branches from American Puritanism, taking as their common ancestor the Calvinism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the Universe. They stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society. They offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to them, alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Transcendentalism is based on the belief that the most fundamental truths about life and death can be reached only by going beyond the world of the senses. Emerson’s Nature has been called the “Manifesto of American Transcendentalism” and his The American Scholar has been rightly regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”.美国超验主义:美国超验主义出现的19世纪20年代末期到三十年代,但是它的根源在宗教史上要远得多。
美国文学笔记III. The Romantic period (浪漫主义时期): (1800-1865)American Transcendentalism(美国超验主义)(1830s- Civil War)Summit of Romanticism/ American Renaissance1. Appearance1836, ―Nature‖ by Emerson2. Features of Transcendentalism(1). Spirit(思想)/Oversoul(超灵)(2). importance of individualism(3). nature – symbol of spirit/God;garment of the oversoul(4). focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)IV. The American Realism 现实主义时期(1865-1918)1. Three Giants in Realistic PeriodWilliam Dean Howells –―Dean of American Realism‖Henry JamesMark Twain2. Comparison:Theme:Howells –middle classJames –upper classTwain –lower classTechnique:Howells –smiling/genteel realismJames –psychological realismTwain –local colourism and colloquialismMark Twain (1835-1910):1. Summary:American writer, short story writer/Humorist2. Major works:The Celebrated jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865)《卡拉维拉县弛名的跳蛙》Innocents Abroad (1869) 《傻子国外旅行记》The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) 《汤姆.索亚历险记》Life on the Mississippi (1883) 《密西西比河上》The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1886)《哈克贝里.费恩历险记》: All modern American literature comes from his masterpiece ―The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.‖——Ernest Hemingway3. Style:(1). colloquial language(口语), vernacular (本土的)language, dialects(2). local colour(3). syntactic feature: sentences are simple, brief, and sometimes ungrammatical(4). humour(5). tall tales (highly exaggerated) (荒诞不经的故事)(6). social criticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)4. ContributionOne of Mark Twain’s significant contributions to American literature lies in the fact that he made colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country.Henry James (1843-1916)1. Summary:An American and British novelist, literary criticFounder of psychological realismFirst of the modern psychological novelistInitiator of the international theme: American innocence in face of European sophistication2. Major works:Daisy Miller (1878)《戴茜·米勒》The Portrait of a Lady (1881) 《贵妇的肖像》The Wings of the Dove (1902)《鸽翼》The Ambassadors (1903)《专使》The Golden Bowl (1904)《金碗》The Art of Fiction(1884)《小说的艺术》3. His Point of view(1). Psychological analysis, forefather of stream of consciousness(2).Psychological realism(3). Highly-refined language4. Style –“stylist”(1). Language: highly-refined, polished, insightful, and accurate(2).V ocabulary: large(3). Construction: complicated, intricateNaturalism(自然主义)1. Background:(1). Dar win’s theory: ―natural selection‖(2).Spenser’s idea: ―social Darwinism‖(3). French Naturalism: Zora2. Features(1). environment and heredity(2). scientific accuracy and a lot of details(3). general tone: ironic and pessimistic, hopelessness, despair, gloom, ugly side of the societySt ephen Crane (1881-1900)1. Summary:Novelist, poetPioneer in the naturalistic traditionPrecursors(先驱)of Imagist poetry2. Major Works:Maggie: A Girl of the Streets 《街头女郎麦姬》: the first naturalistic novel in AmericaThe Red Badge of Courage 《红色英勇勋章》The Open Boat《海上扁舟》V. AMERICAN MODERNISM (1918-1945)(美国现代主义)F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)1. Summary:Famous American novelist, short story writer, and essayistthe representative of the 1920sthe spokesman for the Jazz Ageone of the“lost generation”writers2. Major WorksThis Side of Paradise (1920) 《人间天堂》Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) 《爵士乐时代的故事》Tender Is the Night (1934) 《夜色温柔》The Great Gatsby (1925) 《了不起的盖茨比》:Narrative point of view – Nick CarrawayTheme: The decline of the American Dream3. His Point of view(1). He expressed what the young people believed in the 1920s, the so-called ―American Dream‖ is false innature.(2). He had always been critical of the rich and tried to show the integrating effects of money on theemotional make-up of his character. He found that wealth altered people’s characters, making them mean and distrusted. He thinks money brought only tragedy and remorse.(3). His novels follow a pattern: dream – lack of attraction – failure and despair.4. His ideas of “American Dream”It is false to most young people. Only those who were dishonest could become rich.William Faulkner (1897-1962)1. Sumary:An American novelist and poetInitiator of American Southern RenaissanceOne of the most influential modern novelists of 20th centuryNobel Prize winner for literature in 19492. Major Works:The Sound and the Fury 《喧哗与骚动》As I Lay Dying 《在我弥留之际》Light in August 《八月之光》Absalom, Absalom 《押沙龙,押沙龙!》Go Down, Moses 《去吧,摩西》Barn Burning 《烧牲口棚》Yoknapatawpha County(约克纳帕塔法县):--- A fictional county in northern Mississippi, the setting for most of William Faulkner’s novels and short stories, and patterned upon Faulkner’s actual home in Lafayette County, Mississippi.3. Major Themes of his Works(1). history and race(2). Deterioration(3). Conflicts between generations, classes, races, man and environment(4). Horror, violence and the abnormal4. Faulkner's narrative technique(1).Withdrawal of the author as a controlling narrator(2). Dislocation of the narrative time: The most characteristic way of structuring his stories is to fragment thechronological time.(3). the modern stream-of-consciousness(意识流)technique and the interior monologue(内心独白):(4). Multiple points of view(多重视角)(5). symbolism and mythological and biblical(圣经的)allusionsErnest Hemingway (1899—1961)1. Summary:Novelist and short-story writerOne of the great American writers of the 20th centuryThe Spokesman of the ―Lost Generation‖Nobel Prize winner for literature in 19542. Major worksThe Sun Also Rises 《太阳照常升起》A Farewell to Arms《永别了,武器》For Whom the Bell Tolls 《丧钟为谁而鸣》/ 《战地钟声》The Old Man and the Sea 《老人与海》A Clean, Well-lighted Place 《一个干净,明亮的地方》3. Major Themes(1).The ―Nada‖(虚无) Concept(2).Grace under pressure(压力下的优雅)―Man is not made for defeats. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.‖------The Old Man and the Sea(3). Code Hero(准则英雄/ 硬汉)a. The Hemingway hero is not a thinker; he is a man of action.b.―Grace under pressure is their motto.c.The Hemingway code heroes are best remembered for their indestructible(不可毁灭的)spirit.4. Artistic features(1) .The iceberg(冰山)techniqueThe dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.(2). Language stylea. simple and naturalb.direct, clear and freshc. lean and economicald.simple, conversational, common found, fundamental wordse. simple sentencesf. Iceberg principle: understatement, implied thingsg.SymbolismEzra Pound (1885—1972)1. Summary:A leading spokesman of the ―Imagist Movement‖(意象主义运动)One of the most influential American poets and critic2. Major works:Cathay:《华夏集》《神州集》《中国诗章》Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·赛尔温·毛伯利》Cantos /《诗章》3. Imagism (1909-1917)(1) .Background:Imagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient Chinese poetry and Japaneseliterature ―haiku‖(2). Defintion : The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to expressthe these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.(3): Manifesto of Imagism:•Direct treatment•Economy of expression•New rhythmIn a station of the Metro《在一个地铁站》: a quintessential(典型的)imagist textRobert Frost(1847-1963)1. Summary:the most popular American poetWon Pulitzer Prize four timesReceived honorary degrees from forty-four colleges and universitiesRead ― The Gift Outright‖ at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 19612. Famous Poems:F ire and Ice《火与冰》The Road Not Taken 《未选择的路》Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 《雪夜伫立林边有感》Mending Wall《补墙》After Apple-Picking《摘罢苹果》3. Frost’s writing featureHis combination of the traditional verse pattern and a colloquial distinctive language (New England Speech)Eugene O’Neil (1888-1953)1. Summary:America's greatest playwrightWon the Pulitzer Prize four timesWon Nobel Prize in 1936Founder of the American drama2. Major WorksBeyond the Horizon (1920) 《天边外》The Emperor Jones(1920) 《琼斯皇帝》The Hairy Ape (1922)《毛猿》Desire under the Elms (1924) 《榆树下的欲望》美国文学笔记整理完整版18世纪末-19世纪中后浪漫主义时期Romanticism1. 早期浪漫主义华盛顿·欧文美国文学之父father of American Literature(为美国文学第一次赢得世界声誉)Washington Irving 以笔记小说和历史传厅闻名,humor1783-1859 The Sketch Book见闻札记(标志浪漫主义开始)A History of New York纽约史---美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作;----The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说---成为美国第1个获国际声誉作家-----Rip Van Winkle里普·万·温克尔(李伯大梦)The Alhambra阿尔罕伯拉2.超验主义New England Transcendentalism埃德加·爱伦·坡侦探小说之父Father of western detective stories and psychoanalytic criticism精神批Edgar Allan Poe 评,首开近代侦探小说先河,又是法国象征主义运动的源头1809-1849 Novelist小说家, poet, critic批评家good at writing Gothic(哥特式)and detective fictionPoetryThe Raven《乌鸦》To Helen《献给海伦》Short storiesHorror ( suspense, terror, Insanity, death,Revenge and rebirth)The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍古屋的倒塌》The Masque of the Red Death 《红色死亡的化妆舞会》The Black Cat《黑猫》The Cask of Amontillado《一桶白葡萄酒》Ligeia《丽姬娅》Detective /ratiocinative(推理的)(originator)The Purloined Letter 《窃信案》The Muder in the Rue Morgue 《莫格街谋杀案》The Mystery of Marie Rog《玛丽.罗热疑案》The Gold Bug 《金甲虫》拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生Nature论自然-----新英格兰超验主义者的宣言书manifestoRalf Waldo Emerson The American Scholar论美国学者;American essayist,lecturer, poetThe Founder of Transcendentalism1803-1882 Self-reliance论自立The Transcendentalist超验主义者Representative Men代表人物School Address神学院演说Days日子-首开自由诗之先河free verseRalph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher, essayist, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism个人主义.纳撒尼尔·霍桑subject: human soul first great American writer of fiction 虚构Nathaniel Hawthorne 象征主义大师American novelist and short story writer1804-1864 The Scarlet Letter红字Twice-told Tales尽人皆知的故事Mosses from an Old Manse古屋青苔The House of the Seven Gables有七个尖角阁的房子The Marble Faun玉石雕像The Blithedale Romance福谷传奇Young Goodman Brown年轻的布朗The Birthmark胎记His point of view : Hawthorne is influenced by Puritanism(清教主义)deeply.(1). Evil is at the core of human life 邪恶是人类生活的中心(2).whenever there is sin 罪恶, there is punishment 惩罚. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation 代代相传(3). Evil educates. 邪恶的教育(4). He has disgust in science科学. One source of evil is overweening (自负的) (too proud of oneself) intellect . His intellectual characters聪明的特征are villains反派角色, dreadful可怕的and cold-blooded冷血的赫尔曼·迈尔维尔擅长航海奇遇和异域风情Herman Melville Moby Dick/The White Whale白鲸(first American prose epic史诗)1819-1891 Main characters: Ishmael(以实玛利): the narrator 叙述者Ahab(埃哈伯): the protagonist 主要人物Moby DickTypee泰比Omoo奥穆Mardi玛地White Jacket白外衣Pierre皮尔埃; Billy Budd比利·巴德沃尔特·惠特曼Father of free verse自由诗之父Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass草叶集(the birth of truly American poetry and the1819-1892 end of romanticism)共和圣经Democratic Bible 美国史诗American EpicAmerican poet, essayist散文家, journalist新闻工作者, and humanist人道主义学家The father of free verse(自由诗)Song of Myself自我之歌Democratic Vistas 民主的前景One’s Self I Sing 《我歌唱一个人的自己》O Captain! My Captain! 《噢,我的船长!我的船长!》3.Writing themes (almost everything):equality of things and beings 平等的事情和人divinity 神学of everythingImmanence(无所不在)of GodDemocracy 民主evolution of cosmos(宇宙的演化)multiplicity 多样性of natureself-reliant spirit 自力更生的精神death, beauty of deathexpansion of America 美国的扩张brotherhood 手足情谊and social solidarity(社会团结)(unity of nations in the world世界统一的国家) pursuit 追求of love and happiness4.S tyle: “free verse(自由诗): the verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern固定的韵律模式, the verse without a fixed beat 固定的节拍or regular rhyme scheme规律的格律.(1).Parallelism(排比)(2).phonetic recurrence(同字起句法)(the repetition重复of words or phrases at the beginning of the line, inthe middle or at the end)(3).the use of a certain pronoun ―I‖ (the first person narrator)(4).strong tendency to use oral English使用英语口语的强烈倾向(5).the habit of using snapshots 生活小照(6).a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure语法结构(7).use of conventional image 传统的想象(8).vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even wrong(9). sentences – catalogue目录technique: long list of names, long poem lines5. Significance of Leaves of GrassLeaves of Gras s, either in content or in form, is an epoch-making work in American literature:无论是在内容还是在形式上,是一个划时代的作品在美国文学→Its democratic content marked the shift from Romanticism to Realism. 其民主内容标志着从浪漫主义到现实主义的转变→Its free-verse form broke from old poetic conventions to open a new way for American poetry.其生发的形式从旧的诗意的约定了打开新的思路对美国诗歌。
第三部分1.美国南北战争以北方的彻底胜利告终,蓄奴制瓦解了,为工业资本主义的大发展开辟了道路,标志着旧时代的结束和新时代的开始。
2.美国与欧洲的交往增多,英国查尔斯·达尔文的《物种的起源》和哲学家赫伯特·斯宾塞的“适者生存”理论传入美国,影响深远。
3.马克·吐温与查尔斯·华纳合著的《镀金时代》成了19世纪最后二十五年的简称。
4.宗教界的神学理论也出现了相应的变化。
神学家们指出财富是神圣的标志,根据上帝的旨意,政府的职责是保护私人财富。
哲学家和神学家顺应时势,力图证明自由竞争是合法的,政府应给予大力支持,让民众享受内战后重建时期带来的好处。
5.内战后的十年最突出的变化是商业成了全国实力和尊严的主要象征。
6.1899年,美国文学艺术院成立;1904年又建立美国文学艺术科学院,进一步从体制上巩固了严肃文学的地位。
7.来自欧洲的现实主义和自然主义思潮进一步推动了美国文学的发展。
8.批评家泰纳将孔德的实证主义理论引入文艺批评,提出文学本质上来说是观察和分析人的主要方法,小说是社会的科学实验室,可以观察各种复杂的社会因素。
他强调种族、环境和时代是文学创作的三要素,他的观点成了美国现实主义的理论基础。
9.法国的自然主义也受到美国作家重视,法国作家左拉认为社会像个生物的有机体,小说家应该收集事实,做个“人与人的情欲的审问官”。
10.20世纪初,法国巴黎出现了现代主义文学思潮,影响了不少英美青年作家。
斯坦因是美国现代主义小说的奠基人。
诗歌方面,诗人庞德等在欧洲倡导意象派诗歌运动,后来由艾米·洛厄尔引入美国诗坛,揭开了美国现代片诗歌的序幕。
11.马克·吐温是美国伟大的批判现实主义文学大师,其代表作是长篇小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》。
海明威曾评价该书:全部现代美国文学作品来自马克·吐温写的《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》这本书。
12.威廉·迪恩·豪威尔斯的代表著作是《塞拉斯·拉法姆发家记》。
一Colonial America1.The first English colony: Jamestown in Virginia in 16072Puritanism :Influence on American value system: simplicity, freedom, independence, hard work, etc. 3Anne Bradstreet,once called “Tenth Muse”二Reason and Revolution1.Benjamin Franklin---Poor Richard’s AlmanacModeled on farmers’annual calendar; kept publishing for many years;includes many classical sayings,2.Thomas PaineCommon Sense: a strong push for the Revolution Warfour parts (British enslavement of the colonies; praising democratic election; America’s economic and military potential to protect the rights of people)三RomanticismAn expression of an individual’s feeling and experiences; imagination & natureThe first literary Renaissance, in the history of American literature. It stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War. It st arted with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.1.Washington Irving (1783-1859)(1)Literary status: the first American to earn an international reputation; Father of the American short stories(2)Tow short stories----“Rip V an Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: Americanized versions of European folk tales, from German legends, but achieving a distinct American tone and theme(3)The Sketch Book:The first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature, winning him international popularity2.James Fenimore Cooperthe first major American writer to deal imaginatively with American life, a critic of the political, social and religious problems of the day.Leatherstocking TalesIncluding: The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The DeerslayerCentre Character: Natty Bumppo (an ideal romantically; various names: Leatherstocking, Deerslayer, Pathfinder, Hawkeye; with two noble red men: Mohican Chief Chingachgook and his son, Uncas)3.William Cullen BryantLiterary status: one of America’s earliest naturalist poets; “the American Wordsworth”most famous poems: “Thanatopsis”; “To a Waterfowl”4.Edgar Allen PoeThe Raven:The poem is a verse-narrative and has 108 lines in 18 stanzas.TranscendentalismNature’s voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism, thesummit of American Romanticism.5.Henry David ThoreauLiterary status: a thorough practitioner of Transcendentalism; greatly influenced by Emerson (more radical)Civil Disobedience(在什么情况下写的:没交战争税,入狱)Walden (Walden is a faithful record of his reflections when he was in solitary communion with nature, an eloquent indication that he not only embraced Emerson’s Transcendentalist philosophy but went even further to illustrate that pantheistic quality of nature.)6Nathaniel HawthorneThe Scarlet Letter 《红字》(a simple but very moving story in which four people living in a Puritan community are involved in and affected by the sin of adultery in different ways, showing the reader the tension between society and individuals)7.Herman Melvillea master of allegory and symbolismmost of his novels based on sea sailors and adventur e except The Confidence-Man(1857) Literary achievements: Moby Dick四Realism1Walt Whitman ---Innovative poetic form: “free verse 自由体诗” (poetry without a fixed beator regular rhyme scheme; intriguing the reader’s own imagination); a looser and more open-ended syntactical structure; lines and sentences of different lengths; few compound sentences2.Theodore Dreiser(填空题)(1)欲望三部曲The Financier The Titan The Stoic(2) American Tragedy为什么叫美国悲剧-------典型地反应了当时美国人对财富的追求2.Mark Twain(1)The Gilded Age 《镀金时代》: written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner, exploring the individualism in a world of unstable values, naming the get-rich-quick years of the post-Civil War(2).Mark Twain的贡献:making colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country3.Henry James(1)the first American writer to conceive his career in international termsInternational themes:the clashes between two different cultures and the emotional and moral problems of Americans in Europe, or Europeans in America 主题:inner world(2)The Portrait of A Lady -------It incarnates the clash between the Old World and the New World in the life journey of an American girl in a European environment(3)International theme--American innocence in face of European sophistication4 .Bret Harte in the 1860s was the first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity,presenting stories of western mining towns with colorful gambles, outlaws, and scandalous.5.Naturalism emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministicforces shaping individualized characters who were presented in specialand detailed circumstances. At bottom, life was shown to be ironic even tragic五Twentieth-Century Literature1.Scott Fitzgerald(1)了不起的盖尔茨比反应了那个年代-----Jazz Age2.Robert Frost(填空题)(1)Robert Frost had rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, choosing instead" the old -fashioned way to be new". He employed the plain speech of rural New Englanders and preferred the short , traditional forms of lyric and narrative.(2)After Apple-PickingOf apple-Picking: I am overtiredOf the great harvest I myself desired.What is the two sentences imply?The speaker is indifferent to what he once desired.3The imagist Movement flourished from 1908 to 1917 and involved quite a number of British and American writers and poets4.PoundA Pact 契约(Ezar Pound)主要表达了意思5.With the slow disintegration of old prejudices came the “Harlem Renaissance” a burst of literaryachievement in the 1920s by Negro playwrights, poets, and novelists who presented new insights into the American experience and prepared the way for the emergence of numerous black writers after mid-century.阅读题一We passed the school, where children stroveAt recess----in the ring----We passed the fields of gazing grain----We passed the setting sun----1.作者Emily Dickinson作名:Because I could not stop for death2.Three images: school, field, setting sun, which stand for three stages of life: youth, mature period, end of life3.The school, the fields of Gazing Grain, the setting sun symbolize three stages of one's life:youth, manhood and old age.4."we" were riding in a hearse, heading toward Eternity.二Moby Dick1.作者:Herman Melville 作名:Moby Dick2.船长:Ahab3.发生的事:The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby-Dick, a white whale of tremendous size and ferocity, which destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to exact revenge. However, at last the Pequod is sunk and the whole crew perish in the sea except Ishmael三The woods are lovely, dark and deepBut i have promises to keep,And miles to go before i sleep,And miles to go before i sleep.1.作者:Robert Frost 作名:stopping by woods on a snowy evening2.第二个sleep的意思:die3.what's the meaning of the passage?On the surface, the passage is deceptively simple. However, with the commonest words, it is deeply meditative. The simple poem uses its superb craftsmanship to come to a climax of responsibility: the promises to be kept, the obligations to be filled. The poet seems to show that he would like to stay forever in the beautiful snowy woods, but as a poet, he still has many tasks to fulfill in his life and has to go ahead.四“God knows,”exclaimed he, at his wit’s end; “I’m not myself----I’m somebody else----that’s me yonder----no----that’s somebody else, got in my shoes,----I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they’ve changed my gun, and every thing’s changed, and I’m changed, and I can’t tell what’s my name, or who I am!”A: Identify the work and the authorB: The speaker says he is changed. Do you think he is changed?C: What idea does the quoted sentences express?Answers ---A: Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Wrinkle”B: It’s the social environment that is changedC: When Rip is back home after a period of 20 years, he find that everything has changed. All those old values are gone, and he can hardly feel at home in a changed society. One of the functions that Rip serves in the story is to provide a measuring stick for change. It is through him that Irving expresses the theme that a desire for change, improvement, and progress subvert a stable society.问答题1.The symbolic meaning of the Letter A in the Scarlet Letter worn by Hester.The Letter A worn by Hester h as undergone great changes in meaning as the novel progresses.At first,it stands for a token of shame ----Adultery. Then Hester suffered from loneliness and alienation. Later with Hester's self-sacrificing sympathy and help offered to her fellow villagers the meaning of theletter A begins to imply Able and Admirable ,even Angel at the end of the story.2Herman MelvilleOne of the major themes in Melville is alienation, which he sensed existing in the life of his time on different level, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Captain Ahab seems to be the best illustration of it all.He is a typical Melvillean “isolato”, whose lips are set ever for an “I prefer not to”. He cuts himself off from his wife and kid, and stays away most of the time from his crew. He hates Moby Dick which is an embodiment of nature. He is angry because his pride is wounded. After the loss of his leg in his encounter whith the white whale, he seems to hold God responsible for the presence of evil in the universe. Thus his anger assumes the proportions of a cosmic nature. He is bent on avenging himself. He hears of no objection. In his egocentric obsession he loses his sanity and humanity and becomes a devilish creature rushing headlong toward his doom.Moby Dick thus reveals the basic pattern of 19th century American life: loneliness and suicidal individualism in a self-styled democracy3The major characteristics of imagist poetry are:1.Direct treatment of objects, concreteness of imagery . 2. No idea or insight but things or images . 3.Free verse without imposing a rhythmical pattern. 4. Cpmmon speech ,economy of expression.4Emily Dickinson 的诗歌特点Artistic features of Emily Dickinson’s poemsUnique and unconventional1). Her poems have no titles, always quoted by their first lines2). A particular stress pattern: dashes are used as a musical device to create cadence and capital letters as a means of emphasis3). The form of her poetry is like the hymns in the churches, familiar, communal, and irregular (sentences)4). Short: rarely more than twenty lines5). Centered on a single image or symbol and focused on one subject matter6). Personal and meditative due to her deliberate seclusionHer poetry is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness;Her limited private world has never confined the limitless power of her creativity and imagination5naturalismNaturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France and it came to be led by Emile Zola, who claimed a "scientific" status for his studies of impoverished characters miserably subjected to hunger, sexual obsession, and hereditary defects. Natural fiction aspired to a offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored comes of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English is Dreiser's Sisiter Carrie.6transcendentalism1.Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as "the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively , or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the sense".Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the Over-soul ,the Individual and Nature.Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual divine and, therefore, self-reliant.The New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.7Mark TwainAt first, through a local and particular book, it touches upon the human situation in a general, in deed “universal”way. Mark Twain once wrote about the book as “the struggle between a healthy heart and a deformed conscience.”between the false religious beliefs Huck has been taught and his good natural impulses. Humanitarianism ultimately triumphs. Mark Twain gives his young hero very adult problems.In the second, escaping “down”the river is a cruel irony in itself, provides the episodic structure which like in a picaresque novel, is the thread that holds together the developing relationship between the two runaways on the raft. The escape, the quest for freedom, is literal for both Huck and Jim as they flee from Pap and Miss Watson. It may also be seen as symbolic on several planes: historical, philosophical, and moral. The flight down the rivers is a flight from the complexities of the ever-expanding, westward-moving settlements of new civilization.Finally, having learned about the evil of the world during their trip in the various towns and villages along the way, Huck, meantime, is facing a big moral problem. The law of society says he must return Jim to his “owner”. But the moral climax of the novel comes in Chapter 31, when Huck decides that he “will go to hell”rather than turn in Jim. Huck thinks deeply about morality and then decides to break the law. The slave, to Huck, is now a man, not a “thing”. Many critics see Huck Finn as the great novel of American democracy. It shows the basic goodness and wisdom of ordinary people, of course it fully exhibits Twain’s particular humor. It is “a love song of the river.”。
绪论
1.一般认为,美国文学史大致可分为七个时期,分别是殖民地时期、独立战争
前后时期、南北战争时期、南北战争后至第一次大战前时期、两次大战之间时期、第二次大战后至越南战争前时期、越南战争后至新世纪初时期。
2.殖民地时期的美国文学主要有三类,它们是原住民印第安人口头文学和民间
故事、欧洲探险者到北美的探险日记和航海记录、早期到北美殖民地的英国官员和牧师的散文和游记。
3.在殖民地英国官员和牧师作家们中大致可分为两类,即清教主义作家和反清
教主义作家。
4.独立战争前后的美国文学中,发展成果最为突出的文学类型是散文。
5.第一位获得国际声誉的美国小说家是华盛顿·欧文,他的短篇小说代表作是
《瑞普·凡·温克尔》、《睡谷传奇》。
6.詹姆斯·范·库柏创作了“皮袜子五部曲”:《开拓者》、《最后一个莫希干人》、
《草原》、《探路人》、《逐鹿者》;他是第一位描写美洲殖民地历史的历史小说家、第一位刻画印第安人形象的小说家。
7.爱默生的散文《论自然》是美国超验主义运动的宣言,在该文中,爱默生提
出新大陆需要精神独立。
超验主义是民主思想在哲学上的表现。
8.美国诗人瓦尔特·惠特曼的诗集《草叶集》的问世标志着美国浪漫主义运动
达到高潮,爱默生欢呼的伟大的美国诗人诞生了。
9.惠特曼去世标志着浪漫主义文学时代的结束,美国文学迅速走进一个现实主
义和自然主义文学发展新时代。
10.马克·吐温的小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》开创了美国文学的一代新风;
威廉·豪威尔斯被认为是美国现实主义文学的奠基人,他最先指出“金钱成了时代的史诗”,“当个百万富翁成了美国人的理想”;而亨利·詹姆斯则开创了20世纪美国心理小说的新方向。
11.欧·亨利被誉为“美国短篇小说之父”,与法国作家莫泊桑和俄国作家契诃
夫并列为世界三大短篇小说家。
12.弗兰克·诺里斯是第一个名副其实的美国自然主义作家,西奥多·德莱赛被
称为第一次世界大战前最优秀的自然主义作家,其代表作品有《嘉莉妹妹》、《美国的悲剧》。
13.19世纪末20世纪初的美国涌现出一批优秀的女作家,如萨拉·奥恩·朱厄
特是新英格兰小说传统的乡土文学代表,代表作是《尖枞树之乡》;凯特·肖宾的小说《觉醒》流露了女权主义的现代意识;伊迪丝·华顿的代表作《纯
真年代》深刻揭示了纽约“金字塔”里妇女的不幸命运,抨击金钱至上的社会环境对青年的毒害和困扰;威拉·凯瑟是开发中西部边地新题材的杰出的先驱者。
14.女诗人艾莉米·狄更生是意象派诗人的先驱,一生共创作了一千七百七十五
首诗,生前仅发表了七首,诗歌主题主要包括自然、爱情、死亡、人生。
15.意象派诗歌运动的发起人主要包括狄更生、弗林特、奥丁顿、休姆,此后美
国女诗人艾米·洛厄尔又将意象主义引入美国诗坛,推动了美国现代主义新诗的发展。
16.第一次世界大战颠覆了西方社会传统的价值观,欧洲出现了所谓的精神上的
“荒原时代”。
17.美国“迷惘的一代”作家主要包括海明威、安德森、菲茨杰拉德、多斯·帕
索斯等,美国文学出现了第二次文艺复兴。
18.哈莱姆文艺复兴指的是20年代美国黑人文学的繁荣,一批朝气蓬勃的黑人
诗人和小说家迅速崛起。
19.1930年,辛克莱·路易斯成为第一位荣获诺贝尔文学奖的美国作家,这标志
着美国文学成为公认的独立的民族文学。
此后,美国文坛先后有_____位作家获得诺贝尔文学奖,这些作家及其代表作分别是_____________。
20.两次世界大战之间的美国南方文学发展成就辉煌,如威廉·福克纳用意识流
手法创作了《愤怒与喧嚣》等十余部长篇小说,玛格丽特·米切尔的长篇小说《飘》等等。
21.美国现代主义诗歌成就辉煌,五大诗人诗风各异,将美国诗歌推向世界,这
些诗人及其代表作分别是罗伯特·弗洛斯特反应新英格大地生活的《诗集汇总》、埃兹拉·庞德的长诗《诗章》、托·斯·艾略特的长诗《荒原》、威廉·卡洛斯·威廉斯的长诗《佩特森》、华莱士·史蒂文斯的《星期天的早晨》。
22.1936年,尤金·奥尼尔荣获诺贝尔文学奖,美国戏剧结束了徘徊几十年的局
面,逐渐赶上世界戏剧水平。
23.二十世纪的文学批评空前发展,逐渐成为一门独立的学科,各种批评流派兴
起。
其中,新批评派逐渐成为二十世纪上半叶美国文学批评的主宰力量,对文学创作、研究、教学等影响深远。
它发源于20年代的英国,30年代在美国形成一个重要流派,40至50年代主宰美国文坛。
代表人物有艾略特、瑞哈兹、燕卜孙、兰色姆、塔特等。
24.二十世纪60年代,嬉皮士运动催生了反文化潮流,大众文化有了新发展。
25.1961年,约瑟夫·海勒的《第二十二条军规》揭开了美国后现代派小说的序
幕。
26.二战之后的美国诗坛流派纷呈,走向多元,代表诗派如黑山派、垮掉派、自
白派、纽约派等。
27.二十世纪后半叶,新批评由盛而衰,以弗莱为代表的芝加哥学派和纽约批评
家们指出新批评形式主义的狭隘性。
28.80年代末,后现代派小说的发展达到高潮,代表作家有托马斯·品钦、威廉·加
迪斯、威廉·加斯、唐纳德、巴塞尔姆、约翰·霍克斯。
90年代初,后现代主义作为一个哲学思潮已过去。
但后现代派文学仍保持着活力并继续发展。
29.华裔作家汤亭亭和谭恩美分别以《女勇士》和《喜福会》打破了华裔文学多
年的停滞局面,吸引了美国文学界的目光。
30.世纪之交的美国文学批评也呈现多元化趋势。
女权主义的新发展最为突出。
乔纳森·卡勒和雅克·德里达将结构主义传入美国,耶鲁大学学派的保尔·德曼、希利斯·米勒和哈罗德·布鲁姆主持美国批评界多年。
詹姆逊是西方马克思主义批评派的代表。
萨义德则系统地阐述了后殖民主义产生的背景、特色及表现形式。
80年代末兴起的新历史主义批评和生态文学批评显示了前所未有的活力。
文学批评和文学创作的关系更密切了。