常耀信《英国文学简史》考研思考题

第26章多种族文学（2）I.Fill in the blanks.1.The most famous of the Asian American writers is_____,whose The Woman Warrior:Memories of a Childhood among Ghosts won_____for nonfiction for 1976and established her as a preeminent contemporary American writer.【答案】Maxine Hong Kingston,the National Books Critics Circle Award【解析】美国最著名的亚裔作家是汤婷婷（Maxine Hong Kingston），她的第一部作品是回忆录式的小说《女勇士》（The Woman Warrior:memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts），此书于1976年出版后，获当年美国全国书评界奖。

这部作品的文学成就和热销的程度在美国文学史上是空前的。

她从而蜚声美国文坛。

2.Another important Asian American writer is Amy Tan,whose first novel,_____, made quite a stir on the contemporary American literary scene and brought Asian American literature to the intensive scrutiny of readers and critics alike.【答案】The Joy Luck Club【解析】著名华裔美国女作家谭恩美（Amy Tan）的第一部小说《喜福会》一经出版就在美国文坛上引起很大轰动，并引起读者和评论家们对亚裔美国文学的强烈关注。

常耀信《美国文学简史》（第3版）【章节题库（含名校考研真题）】（第24章二战后美国小说（2））【圣第24章二战后美国小说（2）I.Fill in the blanks.1._____by Joseph Heller is the representative novel of black humor.（南开大学2008研）【答案】Catch-22【解析】《第二十二条军规》是约瑟夫·海勒的著名小说，也是黑色幽默的代表作。

2.A great postmodern writer,_____became the cult figure of the counterculture generation at that time,known as“a gum for the youth”in supporting the students in their anti-war movements.【答案】Kurt Vonnegut【解析】在上世纪60—70年代的美国大学里，年轻学生们常常把库尔特·冯内古特的书揣在牛仔裤兜里，他让前卫小说变得好读、有趣，成为美国黑色幽默文学代表人物。

II.Multiple Choice1.William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac belong to_____.A.the Confessional SchoolB.the Black Mountain PoetsC.novelists of absurdityD.the Beat Writers【答案】D【解析】美国作家威廉·巴勒斯（William Burroughs）与艾伦·金斯堡（Allen Ginsberg）及杰克·凯鲁亚克（Jack Kerouac）同为“垮掉的一代”文学运动的创始者。

2.Which beat-poet wrote the work On the Road?A.Allen Ginsberg.B.Jack Kerouac.C.William Burroughs.D.Charles Bukowski.【答案】B【解析】《在路上》是“垮掉的一代”作家杰克·凯鲁亚克的代表作。

常耀信《英国文学简史》考研思考题英国文学史研究思考题1 Define the major features of a literary genre—epic, allegory, romance, drama or novel and trace its development with reference to at least three British writers in different literary periods.2 Discuss the different ways in which the Bible, Greek mythology, and the Arthurian legend had influenced English and American and world writers.3 Beowulf is thematically concerned with Germanic society and the Christian values and its formal features such as alliteration and kenning have been an influence over later writers. Discuss.4 The Arthurian legends took a long time and the efforts of many writers of different ages to grow and become finalized. Discuss with special reference to such writers such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Layaman, Wace of Jersey, and Malory.5 Chaucer sees literature as an agent to moral education discuss with support from his works such as The Canterbury Tales. Your answers may include different views of the function of literature as expressed by other authors of different periods.6 The Canterbury Tales presents a social portrait of the 14th century England. Discuss.7 Some “other worlds”are portrayed in a number of medieval and later English works such as some tales from The Canterbury Tales, Utopia, The Faerie Queen, Pilgrim’s Progress, and Gulliver’s Travels. How do these other- cultures help to achieve the themes of these works. Your answer may include an example or two from these works of other literary periods.8 Although the pre-Elizabeth period (roughly 1400 through the beginning of the Elizabethan period) did not produce many great writers, a lot happened to be conductiveto the growth of humanism and the flowering of the Renaissance in the Elizabethan period. Discuss with supportive evidence from one or both the periods under discussion.9 In the history of English literature there has been a long line of critics who helped mold the critical standard of their times like literary dictators with their different tastes and values. Discuss with references to at least three of the following: Jonson, Dryden, Johnson, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Arnold, Pater, and T S Eliot.10 Some writers’genius lies in the reworking of some existing materials, but they make their sources infinitely better. Discuss with references to Shakespeare or Chaucer. You may glean additional support from other literary period.11 Define tragedy and discuss with reference to Marlowe and Shakespeare. You may glean additional support from other literary period and cultures.12 Shakespeare has been said to possess the Midas touch. Discuss.13 Samuel Johnson says in his Preface to Shakespeare that Shakespeare has no heroes. Do you agree? Discuss with reference Shakespeare’ major wo rks.14 Shakespeare’s tragedies all contain a tragic recognition,a moment of terrible enlightenment. Discuss with reference to Othello, Hamlet, and one or two other tragedies.15 Choose two or three passages from Shakespeare’s plays that you consider memorable, and explain your reasons why you think so, mentioning their relevance to achieving the thematicconcerns of the play as well as their relevance to life.16 Define 16th century humanism and discuss its representation in Elizabethan literature with reference to some of the major works of Marlowe, Shakespeare, and some other Elizabethan writers.17 Define Metaphysical poetry. Discuss its critical fortunes and its historical influence, and explain what is meant by a metaphysical conceit with evidence from the metaphysical poets and from poets writing in other literary period.18 Paradise Lost has sparked off some discussions about the Fall. Some argued that Milton seems to see it as fortunate, but others see it differently about Milton’s treatments of t he subject. You may get additional support from other cultures such as American literature.19 Milton seems to have written his own life story into his major works like Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. Discuss with emphasis on the analysis of Satan and Samson.20 The neoclassicism of Dryden and Pope was the natural corollary of the development of English literature from the Renaissance through the beginning of the 18th century. Discuss the difference between the works and theories of Dryden, Pope and Elizabethan exuberance and the eventual cooling down in Pope.21 Gulliver’s Travels may prove that Jonathan Swift was a misanthrope, discuss.22 Despite the staunch efforts of such influential neo-classical as Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson, the 18th century poetry still slowly but steadily moved away from their control veered in a radical different direction. Discuss with a brief analysis of the following poets: Thomson, Cowper, Gray,Goldsmith, and Crabbe, the poems of Ossian, Bishop Percy, Burns, and Blake.23 The genre novel appeared in the 18th century with some novelists like Henry Fielding practicing and theorizing about it. Discuss the basic features and theories of the 18th century novel that impacted novel writing in the Victorianperiod. Be sure to mention also such writers such as Sterne and Smollett.24 Poets of different periods use images of nature to convey different messages. Discuss with support from the works of different ages such as the 18th century and the Romantic period.25 Wordsworth was said to be a limited genius in a special—his—period of the time in history. Discuss with reference to the works of Coleridge and Keats as well as Wordsworth.26 Discuss the symbolism of The Rime of Ancient Mariner, keeping in mind the moral of the poem ( if it has any ) and the fact that the mariner is an archetypal figure.27 The French revolution had exercised a visible influence on some British writers such as Blake, Wordsworth, and Shelley. Discuss.28 What would Samuel Johnson have said about Lyrical Ballads, its preface and its poems if he had a chance to do so?29 In the late 18th century and all through 19th century, women writers began to write for self-expression as well as on life in general. Include in your essay such writers as Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, and Elizabeth Browning.30 In both thematic and formal terms, Wuthering Heights appears to be an oddity in the literary and social milieu of the Victorian period. Discuss with reference to prevailing Victorianvalues and include, preferably, with a look at the book’s critical fortunes.31The theories of evolution were important to Victorian writers. Discuss with reference to Tennyson, Meredith, Butler, and Hardy.32 Define the Utilitarianism (Benthamism) and discuss its historical importance in the Victorian literature with the following writers such as Dickens, Tennyson, Carlyle, and Mill.33 Victorian writers were regarded as prophets, who were supposed to have some messages for the public. Special reference should be made to the works of such writers as Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, and George Eliot.34 Some people see Charles Dickens as a social historian. Discuss.35 Victorian writers reacted against feminism differently. Discuss with reference to at least two of the following: Tennyson, Ruskin, Hardy, and Mill.36 The idea of progress is dealt with in the works of some Victorian writers such as Tennyson, George Eliot, Arnold, Carlyle, Meredith, and Arnold. Discuss.37 The Victorian middle class features prominently in the works of such writers as George Eliot, Trollop, Dickens, Browning, and Meredith. Discuss.38In Memoriam both the elegiac tradition and possesses poetic resources independent of that tradition.39 Although his poetic innovation seemed to place him outside of the Victorian literary milieu, Browning is in final analysis a typical Victorian poet. Discuss.40 The artistic value of writers changes with time. For instate,Tennyson was regarded as a teacher and a prophet in his own day, but his reputation rests on a different basis today. Such is the case with Robert Browning. Discuss.41 In the 19th century, some intellectually thinking minds felt keenly the loss of faith happening in their day. Discuss with reference to the works of some of the followings: Coleridge, Arnold, Tennyson, and Hopkins.42 Victorian writers tend to reveal a “divided self” in their works or the opposing forces within them to help enrich their creativity. Discuss with reference to Arnold,Wilde, Ruskin, and Tennyson.43 The three major long poems that came out of the Victorian period, The Ring and the Book, Idylls of King, and The Wreck of the Deutschland, while representing Victorian approaches to the presence evils in the world, all tried to justify “the ways of God to men”. Discuss.44 Both George Eliot and Thomas Hardy are philosophically oriented novelists. Discuss their similarities and differences.45 Discuss the late Victorian aesthetic movement with reference to its literary and cultural origins, its aesthetic credos in theory and practices, and its manifestations in literature. The authors who contributed to the movement should include, among others, Ruskin, Pater, Morris, Rossetti, Swinburne, Wilde, and Moore.46 Dickens, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy shared in their art and thought something “ Victorian”, but they each reflecteda different phrase of the period. Discuss.47 Why were the Georgians popular in the first years of the late 19th century and again in the 1950s? When the first anthology of the Georgian poets appeared in 1916, D H Lawrenceand Robert Frost were also included. How well did they or did they not fit in there.48 Discuss the different ways in which the poets of early 20th century wrote about war with reference to the works of Rupert Brooke, Edward Thomas, and the war poets such as Wilfred Owen.49 In her famous essay entitled The Modern Novel, Virginia Woolf places labels the Edwardians on the writers such as Arnold Benett. Discuss the historical significance of Mrs Woolf’s statement with reference to the distinction between these and writers such as Viginia Woolf and James Joyce.50 Discuss the major contribution of Jame Joyce toEnglish and world literature. Be sure to include an analysis of his major works.51 D H Lawrence both drew from and reacted against Frued’s psychoanalysis. Discuss with reference to his novles and poems.52 Yeats had a long varied career. Discuss with reference to the representative works of his differenrt phases. Be sure to include in your answer an analysis of his mythic-symbolic system and its importance to his poetry.53 There has been long line of distinguished writers who, Irish either by birth or upbringing or both, have made a unique contribution to English literature. Discuss with reference to at least three of the following writers—Sheridian, Swift, Shaw, Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, Auden, Dylan Thomas, and Beckett.54 The poetic scene of the 1930s was a colorful one. Discuss with supportive evidence from the works of such diverse poets as Auden, Thomas, and Empson.55 The novelists who lived and wrote in the 1930s and through the war most revealed a satirical edge in their works.Discuss with reference to ar least three of the following—Graham Greene, Orwell, Jorcy Cary, Evely Waugh, Huxley, Elizabeth Browen.56 Different generations of English writers have theorized about novel-writing. Discuss briefly the criticalhistory of the novel from Henry Filding through the present.57 Different generations of poets in different cultures have theories about poetry. Discuss briefly the critical history of poetry with a look at the major theories of Plato, Aristltle, Chaucer, Dryden, Pope, Samuel Johnson, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Emerson, Poe, and T S Eiot.。

英国文学简史重点笔记(1-4章)（南开大学出版社常耀信版）Chapter 1 The old English periodBeowulf作品特点及历史意义：1. The only organic whole poem to come out of the Anglo-Saxon period. 2. epic(史诗). 3. The story takes place in Scandinavia, there is no mention of England.作品概述：two part narrative-Beowulf’s fight with the sea-monsters Grendel and his mother; his killing a fiery dragon and his death.写作特点：1. Pagan story has an Christian overlay.2. using of kenning(一种描写手法)。

e.g.: sea is often “swan’s way” or “whale-path”3.conspicious occurrence of alliteration(头韵).4. story’s disgressive manner of narration.5. elevated tone.Chapter 2 Chaucer. The pre-Elizabethan Period. More Geoffrey Chaucer代表作：The Canterbury Tales作家：1. first preeminent English poet. 2. Chaucer was the first most significant poet in English literary history to write in Middle English. 3. a master of realism.作品：Canterbury Tales:主要内容：a collection of 20-odd stories, 4 fragments.作品特点：1. substance is from others, the telling isChaucer’s own. 2. enormous sense of humor. 3.loyalty toreality. Offers such a panorama (全景)of social life. 4.infinite (无限的)sense if humanity.Thomas More代表作：Utopia作家：a humanist. He witnessed the evils of the future of the world and sought to help mend things.作品：Utopia:主要内容：1. consist of two book with emphasis on book two in which the Utopian weal republic is described in detail. 2. book two has 9 sections: section 1: geographic contours. Section 2: city life. Section 3: administration of the country. Section4: lifestyle. Section5: family structure. Section6: utopia travel. Section 7: bondmen. Section 8: attitude towards war. Section 9: religion.作品特点：1. nothing private in Utopia, no one has anything, yet everyis rich. Offers best ideal social system possible. 2. someproblems: strict adherence to conformity; slave system; superpower politics; male-dominated.Chapter 3 The Elizabethan Age. Spenser. Sidney. Marlowe Edmund Spenser代表作：The Faerie Queene; The Shepheardes Calendar.作家：a non-dramatic poet; of Queen Elizabeth’s period; read and loved Chaucer andsaw him as his pattern in literary creation.作品：The Shepheardes Calendar: 主要内容：1. consists of 12 pastoral eclogues(田园牧歌)，one for each month of the year. 2. Dialoguesbetween shepherds or of soliloquies, the everyday life ofcountry people, their feelings and attitudes, and their simplelife of harmony with nature. 3. around with suchobservations on the religious strife and political turbulence ofhis day.作品特点：1. full of archaic(古代的) or“Chaucerian” words, bring into relief a rustic（乡村的，纯朴的）effect.2. The eclogues in the Calendarfall into three groups-plaintive, recreative, and moral.The Faerie Queene: 主要内容：1. praise of ElizabethⅠ’s England in itself.2. Consistent of six books and a fragment of the seventhbook. 3. tell respectively about the Red Cross Knight ofHoliness, the Knight of Temperance, the legend of chastity,that of friendship, the Knight of Justice, and the Knight ofCourtesy.作品特点：1. Courageous experimentation with themeters. Special rhyme scheme of the Spenserian sonnets ,and in the Spenserian stanza.Marlowe代表作：The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus; The Jew of Malta作家：The most preeminent figure among the University wits.作品：The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: 主要内容：1. first part of the play tellsof Faustus’s dissatisfactionwith earthly knowledge and of hispart with the devil.2. second part about his satisfaction withhis newly acquired knowledge and power. 3.The third partsoul being dragged down to hell, tries to pray to God’s save.作品特点：1. famous both for itsthematic and formal features. 2. Thematically, Faustusrepresents the archetypal Renaissance humanist of 16thcentury, and a supreme specimen of Everyman for all time.3.Formally, uses some dramatic devices like the choruses.Chapter4Shakespeare主要作品：sonnets, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchantof Venice, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello,King Lear, Macbeth作品：sonnets: 154 in totalTheme: 1. love, passion, and sparks of wisdom. 2.clear vision of lifeand people. 3. Renaissance paean of man. 4. a faithful recordof the mood and tenor of the times.Style: grace in form, depth in thought, and vivacity in tone.Plays: first period: generally happy and cheerful. All dramas this period endhappily.Second period: frustration, tragic period. All his major tragedies werewritten within the space of a few years.Last period: acceptance of the inevitability of life.特点：1. highly moral. Evil be punished and good rewarded.2. wisdom and profound philosophy.3. tolerant of human foibles and faults4. avoids the use of just one color-pure black or white5. comic element alongside the serious.6. sense of individual worth.7. borrows from existing works but revises and makes themsubstantially and superior.Bacon代表作品：Essays作品特点：wisdom and his unique style.Intimate knowledge of human nature。

第2章爱德华兹•富兰克林•克里夫古尔I.Fill in the blanks.1.In his_____Benjamin Franklin creates the image of a boy’s rise from_____to riches and demonstrates his belief that the new world of America was a land of opportunities which might be met through hard work and wise management.（天津外国语学院2008研）【答案】Autobiography,poor【解析】富兰克林在《自传》中讲述了其白手起家、自力更生的故事，平凡却生动的讲述表明他坚信通过努力就能实现美国梦。

2.If we say Jonathan Edwards represents the upper levels of the American mind, _____represents the lower levels.【答案】Benjamin Franklin【解析】美国文学评论家范·威克·布鲁克斯（Van Wyck Brooks）在《美国的成年》(America’s Coming Age)中指出乔纳森·爱德华兹和本杰明·富兰克林是美国18世纪的两位重要的哲学家，他们是不同层次思想的代表。

3.Before his death,_____had gained a position as America’s first systematic philosopher.【答案】Jonathan Edwards【解析】乔纳森·爱德华兹（1703-1758）是美国“大觉醒”（the“Great Awakening”）的领军人物，他生前赢得了“美国第一位系统的哲学家”称号。

第22章纽约派诗人•沉思型诗歌•黑山派诗人22.1 复习笔记I. The New York School（纽约派诗人）1. Features of the New York School（纽约派诗歌的特点）The so-called New York School became well known with the publication of Donald Allen’s 1960 anthology. The poets of the New York School were different in their separate pursuits, but their poetry reveals something they shared in common.(1) For one thing, they were all vehemently up against the dominant New Critical values such as the impersonal presentation of images, and tried to assert their individual poetic voice.(2) They also introduced the popular and the low features of life into their writings like popular songs, comic strip figures, and Hollywood movies.(3) Thirdly, they exhibited a huge sense of humor, offering room as their poems did for elements like the vulgar and the sentimental.(4) Finally, they experimented with Surrealism, for a while.所谓的纽约派是随着唐纳德·艾伦1960年发表的文集而出名的。

常耀信《美国文学简史》（第3版）【章节题库（含名校考研真题）】（第4章新英格兰超验主义第4章新英格兰超验主义?爱默生?梭罗I.Fill in the blanks.1.Ralph W.Emerson believes in the concept of the_____.It is the_____within which every man’s particular being is contained and made one with all other.（国际关系学院2009研）【答案】Transcendentalism;Oversoul【解析】爱默生信奉超验主义，在他看来，超灵为人所共有，每个人的思想存在于超灵之中，人能以直觉官能与之交融。

2.Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote_____,which has been called“the Manifesto of American Transcendentalism,”and_____,which has been regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence.”（南开大学2007研）【答案】Nature;“The American Scholar”【解析】爱默生的《论自然》被称为“美国超验主义的宣言”，其《美国学者》则被誉为美国知识分子的独立宣言。

3.In1836,a little book came out which made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America.It was entitled Nature by_____.【答案】Ralph Waldo Emerson【解析】拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson,1803-1882）美国散文作家、思想家、诗人。

第4章新英格兰超验主义•爱默生•梭罗I.Fill in the blanks.1.Ralph W.Emerson believes in the concept of the_____.It is the_____within which every man’s particular being is contained and made one with all other.（国际关系学院2009研）【答案】Transcendentalism;Oversoul【解析】爱默生信奉超验主义，在他看来，超灵为人所共有，每个人的思想存在于超灵之中，人能以直觉官能与之交融。

2.Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote_____,which has been called“the Manifesto of American Transcendentalism,”and_____,which has been regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence.”（南开大学2007研）【答案】Nature;“The American Scholar”【解析】爱默生的《论自然》被称为“美国超验主义的宣言”，其《美国学者》则被誉为美国知识分子的独立宣言。

3.In1836,a little book came out which made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America.It was entitled Nature by_____.【答案】Ralph Waldo Emerson【解析】拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson,1803-1882）美国散文作家、思想家、诗人。

1836年出版处女作《论自然》（Nature）。