美国文学11 F.Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1890 - 1940)II. His masterpiece: The Great Gatsby1.The story summary:The entire story takes place in one summer in 1922.The novel describes the life and death of Jay Gatsby, as seen through the eyes of a narrator who does not share the same point of view as the fashionable people around him.The narrator learns that Gatsby became rich by breaking the law. Gatsby pretends to be a well-educated war hero, which he is not, yet the narrator portrays（描绘）him as being far more noble than the rich, cruel, stupid people among whom he and Gatsby live.Gatsby’s character is purified by a deep, unselfish love for Daisy, a beautiful, silly woman who, earlier, married a rich husband instead of Gatsby and moved into high society.Gatsby has never lost his love for her and, in an era when divorce has become easy, he tries to win her back by becoming rich himself. He does not succeed, and in the end he is killed by accident because of his determination to shield Daisy from disgrace.None of Gatsby’s upper class friends come to his funeral. The narrator is so disgusted that he leaves New York and returns to his original home.Chapter NineNick makes plans for the funeral.Gatsby's Funeral, three people show up.Nick returns to the west.Nick meets with Tom BuchananNick gets a last view of Gatsby's house.小说表面上是一个爱情故事，但实际却是对社会现状的讽刺批判。

美国文学中的主要作家及其代表作品美国文学是世界文学的重要组成部分，拥有众多杰出的作家和作品。

本文将介绍一些主要的美国作家以及他们的代表作品，以展示美国文学的丰富与多样性。

一、马克·吐温（Mark Twain）马克·吐温是美国文学史上最著名的作家之一，他以幽默和讽刺的风格闻名于世。

他的代表作品《汤姆·索亚历险记》和《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》被视为美国文学的经典之作，揭示了美国南方社会的黑暗和种族歧视现象。

二、欧内斯特·海明威（Ernest Hemingway）海明威是20世纪美国文学的巨匠，他以简洁明快的写作风格和对战争、人性的深刻洞察而闻名。

他的代表作品《老人与海》讲述了一个老渔夫与大海的搏斗，通过对人性、毅力和命运的思考，展现了人类的勇气和坚韧。

三、威廉·福克纳（William Faulkner）福克纳是美国南方文学的代表人物，他的作品充满了对美国南方历史和文化的深度思考。

他的代表作品《喧哗与骚动》和《押沙龙，押沙龙！》以其复杂的叙事结构和深刻的人物描写而著称，探讨了种族、阶级和家庭关系等重要议题。

四、弗朗西斯·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德（F. Scott Fitzgerald）菲茨杰拉德是美国爵士时代文学的代表人物，他的作品描绘了上层社会的繁华与堕落。

他的代表作品《了不起的盖茨比》通过对财富、爱情和美国梦的探索，揭示了人类对幸福的追求与现实的冲突。

五、托尼·莫里森（Toni Morrison）莫里森是美国当代文学的重要代表，她以其对种族、性别和历史的关注而获得了广泛的赞誉。

她的代表作品《亲爱的》和《宠儿》通过对非洲裔美国人的生活经历和心理状态的刻画，探讨了种族歧视和自我认同等重要议题。

六、约翰·斯坦贝克（John Steinbeck）斯坦贝克是美国现实主义文学的代表人物，他的作品关注农民和工人阶级的生活困境。

The Roaring Twenties

The 1920s proved the most influential decade of Fitzgerald's development. His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, published in 1922, represents an impressive development over the comparatively immature This Side of Paradise. The Great Gatsby, which many consider his masterpiece, was published in 1925.

Fitzgerald began working on his fourth novel during the late 1920s but was sidetracked by financial difficulties that necessitated his writing commercial short stories, and the schizophrenia that struck Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald in 1930.

Fitzgerald is regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. In his own age, Fitzgerald was the selfstyled spokesman of the "Lost Generation", or the Americans born in the 1890s who came of age during World War I.

plot
Jay Gatsby is a man possessed—driven by greed, ambition and, most of all, an unwavering desire for a woman he met before the Great War, when he was poor and she was unobtainable. As Gatsby reinvents himself in an attempt to buy his way into the social elite of Long Island's Gold Coast, he yearns to rekindle his romance with the woman who stole his heart years before. But when the chance finally arrives, a shadow of tragedy is cast over what Gatsby long-imagined would be his triumphant moment.
It means this generation had lost the beautiful sense of the calm idyllic past.
Stein’s comment suggests the ambiguous and pointless lives of expatriates as they aimlessly wandered about the Continent, drinking, making love, traveling from place to place and from party to party. These activities seem to justify their search for new meanings to replace the old ones.