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1、常耀信美国文学A Concise History of American LiteratureWhat is literature?Literature is language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages.Chapter 1 Colonial PeriodI. Background: Puritanism1. features of Puritanism(1) Predestination: God decided everythin
2、g 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 (s
3、erious 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 puritans metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly Amer
4、ican.(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 literature1. types of writingdiaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, a
5、utobiographies/biographies, sermons2. writers of colonial period(1) Anne Bradstreet(2) Edward Taylor(3) Roger Williams(4) John Woolman(5) Thomas Paine(6) Philip FreneauIII. Jonathan Edwards1. life2. works(1) The Freedom of the Will(2) The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended(3) The Nature of True
6、 Virtue3. ideas pioneer of transcendentalism(1) The spirit of revivalism(2) Regeneration of man(3) Gods presence(4) Puritan idealismIV. Benjamin Franklin1. life2. works(1) Poor Richards Almanac(2) Autobiography3. contribution(1) He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophica
7、l 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 RomanticismSection 1 Early Romant
8、ic PeriodWhat is Romanticism? An approach from ancient Greek: Plato A literary trend: 18c in Britain (17981832) Schlegel Bros.I. Preview: Characteristics of romanticism1. subjectivity(1) feeling and emotions, finding truth(2) emphasis on imagination(3) emphasis on individualism personal freedom, no
9、hero worship, natural goodness of human beings2. 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 classics3. back to naturenature is “breathing livin
10、g thing” (Rousseau)II. American Romanticism1. Background(1) Political background and economic development(2) Romantic movement in European countriesDerivative foreign influence2. features(1) American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience and contained “an alien quality”
11、 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
12、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 Irving1. several names attached to Irving(1) first American writer(2) the messenger sent from th
13、e new world to the old world(3) father of American literature2. life3. 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 Hist
14、ory of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus(4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada(5) The Alhambra4. Literary career: two parts(1) 18091832a. Subjects are either English or Europeanb. Conservative love for the antique(2) 18321859: back to US5. style beautiful(1) gentility, urbanity, pleas
15、antness(2) avoiding moralizing amusing and entertaining(3) enveloping stories in an atmosphere(4) vivid and true characters(5) humour smiling while reading(6) musical languageIV. James Fenimore Cooper1. life2. works(1) Precaution (1820, his first novel, imitating Austens Pride and Prejudice)(2) The
16、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 Prairie3. point of viewthe theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights4. style(1) highly imaginative(2) good at inventing tales(3) good at landscape description(4) conservative(5) characterizat
