美国文学简史笔记(常耀信)

A Concise History of American Literature

What is literature?

Literature is language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages.

Chapter 1 Colonial Period

I.Background: Puritanism

1.features of Puritanism

(1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.

(2)Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be

passed down from generation to generation.

(3)Total depravity

(4)Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved.

2.Influence

(1) A group of good qualities –hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and

thoughtful) influenced American literature.

(2)It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden.

(3)Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly

instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly

American.

(4)With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is

plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct

influence of the Bible.

II.Overview of the literature

1.types of writing

diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons

2.writers of colonial period

(1)Anne Bradstreet

(2)Edward Taylor

(3)Roger Williams

(4)John Woolman

(5)Thomas Paine

(6)Philip Freneau

III.Jonathan Edwards

1.life

2.works

(1)The Freedom of the Will

(2)The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended

(3)The Nature of True Virtue

3.ideas – pioneer of transcendentalism

(1)The spirit of revivalism

(2)Regeneration of man

(3)God’s presence

(4)Puritan idealism

IV.Benjamin Franklin

1.life

2.works

(1)Poor Richard’s Almanac

(2)Autobiography

3.contribution

(1)He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical

Society.

(2)He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case)

from heaven”.

(3)Everything seems to meet in this one man –“Jack of all trades”. Herman Melville

thus described him “master of each and mastered by none”.

Chapter 2 American Romanticism

Section 1 Early Romantic Period

What is Romanticism?

●An approach from ancient Greek: Plato

● A literary trend: 18c in Britain (1798~1832)

●Schlegel Bros.

I.Preview: Characteristics of romanticism

1.subjectivity

(1)feeling and emotions, finding truth

(2)emphasis on imagination

(3)emphasis on individualism – personal freedom, no hero worship, natural goodness

of human beings

2.back to medieval, esp medieval folk literature

(1)unrestrained by classical rules

(2)full of imagination

(3)colloquial language

(4)freedom of imagination

(5)genuine in feelings: answer their call for classics

3.back to nature

nature is “breathing living thing” (Rousseau)

II.American Romanticism

1.Background

(1)Political background and economic development

(2)Romantic movement in European countries

Derivative – foreign influence

2.features

(1)American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience

and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place”

was radically new and alien.

(2)There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. American romantic

authors tended more to moralize. Many American romantic writings intended to

edify more than they entertained.

(3)The “newness” of Americans as a nation is in connection with American

Romanticism.

(4)As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticism

was both imitative and independent.

III.Washington Irving

1.several names attached to Irving

(1)first American writer

(2)the messenger sent from the new world to the old world

(3)father of American literature

2.life

3.works

(1) A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch

Dynasty

(2)The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of international

recognition with the publication of this.)

(3)The History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus

(4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

(5)The Alhambra

4.Literary career: two parts

(1)1809~1832

a.Subjects are either English or European

b.Conservative love for the antique

(2)1832~1859: back to US

5.style – beautiful

(1)gentility, urbanity, pleasantness

(2)avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining

(3)enveloping stories in an atmosphere

(4)vivid and true characters

(5)humour – smiling while reading

(6)musical language

IV.James Fenimore Cooper

1.life

2.works

(1)Precaution (1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)

(2)The Spy (his second novel and great success)

(3)Leatherstocking Tales (his masterpiece, a series of five novels)

The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The

Prairie

3.point of view

the theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs.

democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights

4.style

(1)highly imaginative

(2)good at inventing tales

(3)good at landscape description

(4)conservative

(5)characterization wooden and lacking in probability

(6)language and use of dialect not authentic

5.literary achievements

He created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history of

the United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and

pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales

effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West.

He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western

tradition to American literature.

Section 2 Summit of Romanticism – American Transcendentalism

I.Background: four sources

1.Unitarianism

(1)Fatherhood of God

(2)Brotherhood of men

(3)Leadership of Jesus

(4)Salvation by character (perfection of one’s character)

(5)Continued progress of mankind

(6)Divinity of mankind

(7)Depravity of mankind

2.Romantic Idealism

Center of the world is spirit, absolute spirit (Kant)

3.Oriental mysticism

Center of the world is “oversoul”

4.Puritanism

Eloquent expression in transcendentalism

II.Appearance

1836, “Nature” by Emerson

III.Features

1.spirit/oversoul

2.importance of individualism

3.nature – symbol of spirit/God

garment of the oversoul

4.focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)

IV.Influence

1.It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that

human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off

shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and

distinctly American culture.

2.It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where

opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral

necessity for rising to spiritual height.

3.It helped to create the first American renaissance – one of the most prolific period in

American literature.

V.Ralph Waldo Emerson

1.life

2.works

(1)Nature

(2)Two essays: The American Scholar, The Poet

3.point of view

(1)One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the

“oversoul”.

(2)He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man,

and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature.

(3)If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine in

himself, he can hope to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson

means by “the infinitude of man”.

(4)Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that

he makes the world by making himself.

4.aesthetic ideas

(1)He is a complete man, an eternal man.

(2)True poetry and true art should ennoble.

(3)The poet should express his thought in symbols.

(4)As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrate America which

was to him a lone poem in itself.

5.his influence

VI.Henry David Thoreau

1.life

2.works

(1) A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River

(2)Walden

(3) A Plea for John Brown (an essay)

3.point of view

(1)He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was

vehemently outspoken on the point.

(2)He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.

(3)Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw nature as a genuine restorative,

healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being.

(4)He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.

(5)He was very critical of modern civilization.

(6)“Simplicity…simplify!”

(7)He was sorely disgusted with “the inundations of the dirty institutions of men’s

odd-fellow society”.

(8)He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a new generation of men. Section 3 Late Romanticism

I.Nathaniel Hawthorne

1.life

2.works

(1)Two collections of short stories: Twice-told Tales, Mosses from and Old Manse

(2)The Scarlet Letter

(3)The House of the Seven Gables

(4)The Marble Faun

3.point of view

(1)Evil is at the core of human life, “that blackness in Hawthorne”

(2)Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from

generation to generation (causality).

(3)He is of the opinion that evil educates.

(4)He has disgust in science.

4.aesthetic ideas

(1)He took a great interest in history and antiquity. To him these furnish the soil on

which his mind grows to fruition.

(2)He was convinced that romance was the predestined form of American narrative.

To tell the truth and satirize and yet not to offend: That was what Hawthorne had in

mind to achieve.

5.style – typical romantic writer

(1)the use of symbols

(2)revelation of characters’ psychology

(3)the use of supernatural mixed with the actual

(4)his stories are parable (parable inform) – to teach a lesson

(5)use of ambiguity to keep the reader in the world of uncertainty – multiple point of

view

II.Herman Melville

1.life

2.works

(1)Typee

(2)Omio

(3)Mardi

(4)Redburn

(5)White Jacket

(6)Moby Dick

(7)Pierre

(8)Billy Budd

3.point of view

(1)He never seems able to say an affirmative yes to life: His is the attitude of

“Everlasting Nay” (negative attitude towards life).

(2)One of the major themes of his is alienation (far away from each other).

Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism (individualism causing disaster

and death), rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over

the comforting 19c idea of progress

4.style

(1)Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through

employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives.

(2)He tends to write periodic chapters.

(3)His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic power have been profusely commented

upon and praised.

(4)His works are symbolic and metaphorical.

(5)He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of

what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)

Romantic Poets

I.Walt Whitman

1.life

2.work: Leaves of Grass (9 editions)

(1)Song of Myself

(2)There Was a Child Went Forth

(3)Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

(4)Democratic Vistas

(5)Passage to India

(6)Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking

3.themes –“Catalogue of American and European thought”

He had been influenced by many American and European thoughts: enlightenment,

idealism, transcendentalism, science, evolution ideas, western frontier spirits,

Jefferson’s individualism, Civil War Unionism, Orientalism.

Major themes in his poems (almost everything):

●equality of things and beings

●divinity of everything

●immanence of God

●democracy

●evolution of cosmos

●multiplicity of nature

●self-reliant spirit

●death, beauty of death

●expansion of America

●brotherhood and social solidarity (unity of nations in the world)

●pursuit of love and happiness

4.style: “free verse”

(1)no fixed rhyme or scheme

(2)parallelism, a rhythm of thought

(3)phonetic recurrence

(4)the habit of using snapshots

(5)the use of a certain pronoun “I”

(6) a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure

(7)use of conventional image

(8)strong tendency to use oral English

(9)vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even

常耀信《美国文学简史》(第3版)笔记和考研真题详解(9-14章)【圣才出品】

第9章地方色彩小说?马克?吐温 9.1复习笔记 I.Local Colorism（地方色彩主义） The vogue of local color fiction was the outgrowth of historical and aesthetic forces that had been gathering energy since early19th century.Local colorism as a literary trend first made its presence felt in the late1860s and early seventies.It is a variation of American literary realism. Local colorists were consciously nostalgic historians of a vanishing way of life,recorders of a present that faded before their eyes.They concerned themselves with presenting and interpreting the local character of their regions.They tended to idealize and glorify,but they never forgot to keep an eye on the truthful color of local life.Major local colorists are Bret Harte,Hanlin Garland, Harriet Beecher Stowe,Kate Chopin and Mark Twain. 地方色彩小说的流行是自19世纪早期以来历史和艺术力量凝聚的产物。作为一种文学潮流，地方色彩主义在19世纪60年代晚期和70年代早期初展头角。它是美国现实主义文学的一个分支。 地方色彩主义作家是怀念正在消逝的生活方式的历史家，他们记录了在他们眼前逝去的现在。他们致力于展示描述自己地方的特色，倾向于赞颂地方生活并将其理想化，但是他们又注意不失地方生活的真实色彩。主要的地方色彩主义作家包括布莱特·哈特、汉林·加兰德、哈里耶特·比彻·斯托、凯特·肖邦及马克·吐温等。 II.Mark Twain(1835-1910)（马克·吐温） 1.Life（生平） Mark Twain,pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens,is a great literary giant of America. He was brought up in the small town of Hannibal,Missouri,on the Mississippi River.He was twelve when his father died and he had to leave school.He was successively a printer’s apprentice,a tramp printer,a silver miner,a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi,and a frontier journalist in Nevada and California.This knocking about gave him wide knowledge of humanity. With the publication of his frontier tale,he became nationally famous.His first novel The Gilded Age was an artistic failure,but it gave its name to the American of the post-bellum period.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was his masterwork.Mark Twain was essentially an affirmative writer.But toward the latter part of his life,due to some tragic events,he changed to an almost

美国文学简史(第三版)复习 常耀信

美国文学作者作品 Edwards: 爱德华兹 The Freedom of the Will 《论意志自由》 Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended 《论原罪》 The Nature of True Virtue 《论真实德行的本原》 名篇：Personal Narrative 《自述》 Sinners in the hands of an Angry God 《愤怒上帝手中之罪》 Benjamin Franklin:本杰明·富兰克林 Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷理查德年历》Autobiography 《自传》 Washington Irving:华盛顿·欧文 A History of New York《纽约外传》The Sketch Book 《见文札记》名篇：Rip Van Winkle《瑞普·温·凡克尔》 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 《睡谷传奇》 James Fenimore Cooper:詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库柏Leatherstocking Tales 《皮袜子故事集》 The Pioneer 《拓荒者》The Prairie 《大草原》 The Last of Mohicans《最后的莫希干人》 The Pathfinder《探路人》The Deerslayer 《猎鹿者》

Ralph Waldo Emerson:拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生 Nature 《论自然》Self-Reliance 《论自立》Essays 《随笔集》名篇：The American Scholar 《美国学者》（has been regarded as “American Declaration of Intellectual Independence”被誉为美国思想的独立宣言） The Poet Henry David Thoreau:亨利·戴维·梭罗 Walden 《瓦尔登湖》 Nathaniel Hawthorne:纳撒尼尔·霍桑 The Scarlet Letter《红字》 The House of the Seven Gables 《七个尖角阁的房子》 Mosses from an Old Manse《古厦青苔》 The Blithedale Romance《福谷传奇》 The Marble Faun 《玉石神像》 Ethan Brand 《伊桑布兰德》 Young Goodman Brown 《好小伙子布朗》 Dr. Heidggeger’s Experiment 《海德格博士的体验》 The Ambitions Guest 《野心勃勃的客人》 The Greast Stone Face 《巨石脸》

常耀信《美国文学简史》笔记和考研真题详解(美国浪漫主义 欧文 库柏)【圣才出品】

第3章美国浪漫主义欧文库柏 3.1 复习笔记 I. Overview of American Romanticism（美国浪漫主义简介） In the history of American literature, the Romantic period is one of the most important periods. It stretched from the end of the eighteenth century through the outbreak of the civil war. 美国文学中的浪漫主义时期开始于18世纪末，到南北战争爆发为止，是美国文学史上的重要阶段。 1. Background（背景） (1) A nation bursting into new life cried for literary expression. The buoyant mood of the nation and the spirit of the times seemed in some measure responsible for the spectacular outburst of romantic feeling. The literary milieu proved fertile and conductive to the imagination. Magazine appeared in ever-increasing numbers. They played an important role in facilitating literary expansion. (2) Foreign influences added incentive to the growth of romanticism. The Romantic Movement, which had flourished earlier in the century both in England

常耀信《美国文学简史》笔记和考研真题详解(美国戏剧)【圣才出品】

第19章美国戏剧 19.1 复习笔记 I. Overview of American drama（美国戏剧概述） American drama began in 1916 when the Provincetown Players produced Eugene O’Neil’s first play, Bound East for Cardiff. It is true that there were no great masters in the theater comparable in stature to such major figures in fiction as Melville or James, but there had been people who did spadework for the rise of American drama in the 1920s. There was a renaissance of drama in the 1920s. American drama began the process of developing itself into a department of American literature equal in significance to both poetry and the novel. The theater of the Depression was not depressing. Like other branches of literature the drama was preoccupied with social concern. The staging of Tennessee Williams’The Glass Menagerie on Broadway in 1945 was an even of unusual significance, as it marked American drama’s coming of age. The late fifties saw a temporary decline in dramatic productions, but in the next decade, American drama picked up a good deal of fresh energy. With the passage of time there has appeared the increasingly more obvious tendency to “decentralize”from Broadway with more and more plays stages Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway. And from the end of the sixties.

美国文学简史名词解释定义

American Puritanism: Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and forth decades of the seventeenth century to the northern English colonies in the New World--- a migration that laid the foundation for the religious, intellectual, and social order of New England, Puritanism, however,was not only a historically specific phenomenon coincident with the founding of New England; it was also a way of being in the world---a style of response to lived experience---that has reverberated through American life ever since. Doctrinally, Puritans adhered to the Five Points of Calvinism as codified at the Synod of Dort in 1619:(1) unconditional election ( the idea that God had decreed who was damned and who was saved from before the beginning of the world); (2) limited atonement ( the idea that Christ died for the elect only); (3) total depravity (humanity's utter corruption since the Fall); (4) irresistible grace (regeneration as entirely a work of God, which cannot be resisted and to which the sinner contributes nothing); and (5) the perseverance of the saints (the elect, despite their backsliding and faintness of heart , cannot fall away from grace). American Dream: The American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. Nowadays the American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and\ or happiness. Gothic tradition: Gothic novel or Gothic romance is a story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. In an extended sense, many novels that do not have a medievalized setting, but which share a comparably sinister, grotesque, or chaustrophobic atmosphere have been classed as Gothic. It contributed to the new emotional climate of Romanticism. Historical novel: a novel in which the action takes place during a specific historical period well before the time of writing ( often one or two generations before, sometimes several centuries), and in which some attempt is made to depict accurately the customs and mentality of the period. The central character---real or imagined---is usually subject to divided loyalties within a larger historic conflict of which readers know the outcome. The pioneers of this genre were Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper American Romanticism:Romanticism refers to an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. The romantic period in American literature stretched from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil

常耀信《美国文学简史》笔记和考研真题详解(纽约派诗人 沉思型诗歌 黑山派诗人)【圣才出品】

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。纽约派诗人的追求各异，但他们的诗歌都有相同的特点。

英国文学简史&美国文学简史--背诵版

1. Beowulf赏析 英国现存最早、最完整的民族史诗。1反映当时部落社会的面貌。背景取自欧洲。2古Anglo-Saxon人崇拜英雄的部落文化。政治观点：“王”，权利来自武力，王权的继承还需要仁义。3历史事实+神话传说。 主人公Beowulf英勇顽强。自我牺牲精神。爱护臣民。有责任感。 简洁明快。头韵。隐喻：用复合词来比喻某种事物或现象。 2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight赏析 传奇文学是贵族人生理想的反映，与平民百姓没有丝毫的关系。 头韵诗。2个主题：1砍头游戏检验Gawain的勇敢和信守诺言。2女主人的诱惑检验Gawain的诚实和忠贞。 以重读音节为基础的韵律。每一个stanza后面有一个只有一个重读音节的短促诗句，再加一个abab韵的4行诗节。语言朴素自然，流畅通顺。 反映出Norman征服的宗教影响：基督教成统治地位。Gawain是基督徒，拥有人的弱点。他在困境中祈求圣母玛利亚的帮助，又因死亡的威胁而背弃诺言。他身上有亚当的影子，原罪的概念。 3. Chaucer特点 “英国诗歌之父”。人文主义。现实主义。明快、诙谐。伦敦方言创作。首创heroic couplet。钟情于中世纪的文学形式。第一个用韵脚韵律诗，以重音-音节为基础的格律诗。 一方面用贵族式的理想眼光看待生活。一方面又以现实的态度思考。 1法国影响时期—2意大利影响时期—3成熟时期 强调人权，今生今世幸福快乐的权利，反对神权与禁欲主义。反对滥用宗教教义。 人物：个人与社会关系的主题。突出人物之间性格冲突和物质利益矛盾。幽默讽刺地描写了新兴资产阶级所反感的阶级出身问题。人物形象是立体的，有独特的气质和性格。 押尾韵。八音节对偶句（octosyllabic couplet），iambic pentameter的heroic couplet。 4. Canterbury T ales赏析 现实主义。但未能摆脱中世纪的偏见。 轻松、欢快 文艺复兴的先驱。人生来就有谋求世俗幸福的权利。 General Prologue+24个故事。每个故事有“小引”、“开场语”、“结束语”。 General Prologue：赞扬骑士、骑士之子、乡勇。讽刺院长嬷嬷的矫揉造作。 24个故事题材：多是关于爱情婚姻。还有揭露了宗教的压迫、僧侣的道德败坏、官吏的专横。 Iambic pentameter couplet, 即heroic couplet 5. Hamlet赏析 Shakespeare的巅峰之作。尽管讲的是丹麦故事。但反映的却是英国的事情。人文主义。对他所生活的那个时代的方方面面进行了评论。复仇悲剧。 家丑引起Hamlet对美好世界、人类善良的怀疑。个人悲剧演变成社会的悲剧，变成铲除罪恶、匡扶正义的巨大社会责任心。Hamlet的悲剧在于，他的责任是如此艰巨，自己又是日次势孤力单。他的弱点：多愁善感，疑虑重重；善于思考，贫于行动。他代表了善于思考，贫于行动的新兴资产阶级。 6. The Merchant of V enice赏析 Shylock—唯利是图，爱财如命的拜金主义者。作为犹太民族受到歧视和迫害。 Portia—人文主义者对新女性的理想 7. Francis Bacon

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A Concise History of American Literature What is literature? Literature is language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages. Chapter 1 Colonial Period I.Background: Puritanism 1.features of Puritanism (1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred. (2)Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. (3)Total depravity (4)Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved. 2.Influence (1) A group of good qualities –hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. (2)It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden. (3)Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. (4)With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. II.Overview of the literature 1.types of writing diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons 2.writers of colonial period (1)Anne Bradstreet (2)Edward Taylor (3)Roger Williams (4)John Woolman (5)Thomas Paine (6)Philip Freneau III.Jonathan Edwards 1.life 2.works (1)The Freedom of the Will (2)The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended (3)The Nature of True Virtue 3.ideas – pioneer of transcendentalism (1)The spirit of revivalism (2)Regeneration of man (3)God’s presence (4)Puritan idealism IV.Benjamin Franklin 1.life 2.works (1)Poor Richard’s Almanac (2)Autobiography 3.contribution (1)He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society.

常耀信《美国文学简史》(第3版)【章节题库(含名校考研真题)】(第2章 爱德华兹

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”）

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电子书（题库） ?常耀信《美国文学简史》（第3版）配套题库【考研真题精选＋章节题库】?常耀信《美国文学简史》（第3版）笔记和考研真题详解 ? 试看部分内容 考研真题精选 一、填空题 1. As an Am e ri c an po e t o f n ature, _______(1874—1963) h ad o b vi o u s aff i n i ti e s wi th rom an ti c wri te r s, n o tab l y W o rdswo rth an d Em e rso n. He saw n atu re as a sto re h o

use of an alogy and symbol, bu t he had little f aith in re l i gi o u s do gm a o r s pe cu l a ti v e th o u gh t.[暨南大学2017研] 【答案】Robert Frost查看答案 【解析】罗伯特·弗罗斯特被誉为美国非官方的“桂冠诗人”，代表作有诗集《少年的意志》（1913）、《波士顿以北》（191 4）。其诗歌多以新英格兰为背景，取材于普通人的日常生活，以自然为主要内容，诗歌中充满着机敏与智慧，平静与和谐。 2. A ve ry influ e nti al no vel in the 1960s Ame ri ca i s S al inger’s _____ which relates the painful story of a high -school boy growing up in the w orld of decade nt New York. [北科大2011研] 【答案】The Catcher in the Rye查看答案 【解析】塞林格的代表作《麦田里的守望者》的故事的起止局限于16岁的中学生霍尔顿·考尔菲德从离开学校到纽约游荡的三天时间内，并借鉴了意识流天马行空的写作方法，充分探索了一个十几岁少年的内心世界。愤怒与焦虑是此书的两大主题。3. In1620, l e d b y W i l l i am B rad f o rd, a gro u p o f Pi l gri m s arri ve d in pre se n t-day M assach u se tts o n a sh i p cal led ______. [暨南大学2013研] 【答案】M ayflower查看答案

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美国文学 第一章浪慢主义时期 一、学习目的和要求通过本章的学习，了解19世纪初期至中叶美国文学产生的历史、文化背景，认识该时期文学创作的基本特征、基本主张，及其对同时代和后时期美国文学的影响；了解该时期主要作家的的文学创作生涯、创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题思想、人物刻画、语言风格等；同时结合注释，读懂所选作品并了解其思想内容和艺术特色，培养理解和欣赏文学作品的能力。 二、课程内容 （一）美国浪慢主义时期概述 1.美国浪慢主义时期概述（1）清教主义思想（2）新英格兰超验主义2.美国浪慢主义在文学上的表现（1）欧洲浪慢主义文学的影响（2）美国本士文学的崛起及其特征 （二）美国浪慢主义时期的主要作家 A.华盛顿欧文1.欧文的生平 2.欧文的创作生涯（1）《纽约外史》（2）《见闻札记》 3.欧文的创作领域、创作思想，及其作品的艺术风格 4.选读《瑞普凡温可尔》的主题及其艺术特色 B.拉尔夫华尔多爱默生 1.爱默生的生平及创作生涯 2.爱默生的超验主义思想 3.爱默生的散文：《论自然》《论自助》《论美国学者》等 4.爱默生与梭罗：梭罗的超验主义思想和他的《沃尔登》 5.选读《论自然》节选：爱默生的基本哲学思想及自然观 C.纳撒尼尔霍桑1.霍桑的生平及创作生涯 2.霍桑的长篇小说 3.霍桑的短篇小说 4.《红字》（1）主题（2）心理描写(3)象征手法(4)小说结构 5.清教主义思想及加尔文教条中的"原罪"对霍桑的影响 6.霍桑对浪慢主义小说的贡献 7.选读《小伙子布朗》的主题结构、象征手法及语言特色 D.华尔特惠特曼1.惠特曼的生平及其创作生涯 2.惠特曼的民主思想 3.惠特曼的民主思想（1）主创意图（2）思想感情及诗体形式 4.惠特曼的个人主义 5.选读《草叶集》诗选："一个孩子的成长"、"涉水的骑兵"、"自己之歌"：主题结构、诗歌的艺术特色、语言风格 E.赫尔曼麦尔维尔1.麦尔维尔生平及创作生涯 2.麦尔维尔的早期作品：《皮埃尔》《骗子的化装表演》《比利伯德》等 3.《白鲸》（1）主题：表层及深层意义（2）小说结构：浪慢主义和现实主义的统一（3）象征手法和寓言的运用（4）语言特色 4.选读《白鲸》最后一章的节选：主题思想、人物刻画、象征手法、语言特色 三、考核知识点 （一）美国浪慢主义时期概述（二）美国浪慢主义时期主要作家的生平、文学生涯、创作思想及重要作品的主要思想、人物刻画、语言风格等1.华盛顿欧文2.拉尔夫华尔多爱默生3.纳撒尼尔霍桑4.华尔特惠特曼5.赫尔慢麦尔维尔

常耀信《美国文学简史》笔记和考研真题详解(安德森 斯坦 刘易斯 凯瑟 沃尔夫)【圣才出品】

第16章安德森?斯坦?刘易斯?凯瑟?沃尔夫 16.1 复习笔记 I. Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941)（舍伍德·安德森） 1. Life（生平） Sherwood Anderson was in born in Ohio. When he was thirty-six, he was already a successful businessman with a happy family. But he suffered a nervous breakdown and felt that he could be servant to words only. So he acted the manager by day and writing novels at night. One day in the middle of a dictation, he stopped and left his office, never to return. He was found wandering about in a confused condition and was sent to a hospital. Thus he said farewell to the business world and began his literary career. 舍伍德·安德森出生于俄亥俄州。36岁时他已经事业成功，家庭幸福。但是他总觉内心不安，着迷于文学创作。故后来白天从事经营事业，晚上时间写作。一天，他在默写时，突然停下来离开了办公室，然后再也没有回来。人们发现他精神混乱、四处游荡，并把他送到了医院。之后，他永远地告别了商界，并开始了他的文学生涯。 2. Literary contributions（文学贡献） (1) Thematically Anderson had the courage to explore new material for fiction:

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美国文学简史精读笔记 The coming of Imagism 1.the first Imagisttheorist, the English writer T.E. Hulme(休姆） Imagism （意向主义） (1)Imagism came into being in Britain and US around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation. （2）The Imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominantimage. (3)Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles: i) directtreatment of subject matter; ii) economy of expression; iii) as regards rhythm,to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence ofmetronome; iv) Ezra Pound’s In a Station of the Metro isa well-known imagist poem. the third phase ofImagism (1914-1917) :the representative: Amy Lowell——Aymgism (艾米主义）；Vorticism(漩涡主义） The influence ofancient Chinese poetry upon imagists Ezra Pound (爱兹拉·庞德） Cathay (1915)《中国》avolume of Chinese translation. He blue-penciled The Waste Land《荒原》the most significant American poem of the twentieth century.Cantos 《诗章》，a mod ern epic Pound’smajor work of poetry。HughSelwyn Mauberley 《休·塞尔温·莫伯利》 In a Station of theMetro《在地铁站》 The apparition of thesefaces in the crowd; 这几张脸在人群中幻景般闪现； Petals on a wet, blackbough. 湿漉漉的黑树枝上花瓣数点。 T.S. Eliot （T.S.艾略特）

常耀信《美国文学简史》笔记和考研真题详解(菲茨杰拉德 海明威)【圣才出品】

第14章菲茨杰拉德?海明威 14.1 复习笔记 I. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)（弗·司各特·菲茨杰拉德） Fitzgerald was essentially a 1920s person. His Tales of the Jazz gave its name to this crucial period in the cultural history of America. He was the spokesman of the Jazz Age. 菲茨杰拉德是20世纪20年代最具代表性的作家。他的短篇小说集《爵士乐时代的故事》赋予了20年代特有的名字，他本人也成为“爵士乐时代“的代言人。 1. Life（生平） Fitzgerald was born into a St. Paul middle-class family. He had education first in private schools and then at Princeton. In 1917 he left Princeton and enlisted in the army. But he never went to the war. During the period of 15 months of service in the army, he fell in love with Zelda Sayre, the daughter of a judge. Zelda told Fitzgerald that she would marry him only if he could get up in the world. In 1920 Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise was published and became immensely popular. On the strength of this one successful book, he won the expressive prize of Zelda. The Fitzgeralds were not always happy in their married life. They were also fighting each