《美国文学史及作品选读教案(6)》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《美国文学史及作品选读教案(6)（5页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、Lecture 6The Age of Realism and Naturalism: Henry James Teaching ContentAmerican Realism; Henry James Time Allotment2 periods Teaching Objectives and Requirements1 Help the students to know about American Realism. 2 Help the students to know about Henry James Key Points and Difficult Points in Teach
2、ing1 American Realism 2 Henry James 3 Daisy Miller Teaching Methods and MeansLecture; Discussion; Multi-media Teaching Process1 American Realism (1865-1918) 1.1 Historical Background The Civil War (1861-1865), a struggle of industry and capitalist democracy against agriculture and slavery, was a tur
3、ning point in American history. After the War, great changes took place in America. First of all, the Civil War affected both the social and value system of the country: a Jeffersonian agrarian community into an industrialized and commercialized society; wilderness giving way to civilization. The Wa
4、r also brought some noticeable changes to the American economy: industry developing at an unprecedented rate; agricultural productivity increasing dramatically; cities expanding at an alarming rate. However, the changes were not all for better: the wealth was more than ever in the possession of the
5、few; business and financial tycoons were honored as national heroes and as models for the youth; life for the millions was fast becoming a veritable struggle for survival. It was what Mark Twain called “The Gilded Age”, an age of extremes: of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, of
6、gloom and buoyant hopean age of gaudy excesses that one historian described as “The Great Barbecue”. (P116-117) 1.2 Features of American Realism American Realism, a literary movement, came in the latter half of the nineteenth century in the form of local color (the careful attention to details of th
7、e physical scene and to those mannerisms in speech, dress, or behavior peculiar to a geographical locality) as a reaction against “the lie” of romanticism and sentimentalism. It expressed the concern for the world of experience, of the commonplace, and for the familiar and the low. It aimed at the i
8、nterpretation of the actualities of any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color. In matters of style, there was a contrast between the genteel and graceful prose on the one hand, and vernacular diction and rough and ready frontier humor on the other. (P118) (Willi
9、am Dean Howells, defining realism as “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material”, Henry James, Mark Twain) 2 Henry James (1843-1916) 2.1 Life Born into a wealthy and talented New York City family on April 15, 1843. Was one of the few authors in the American literary histo
10、ry who was not obliged to work for a living. As a youth, lived in New York, London, Paris and Rhode Island, and received a remarkably cosmopolitan and eclectic education. In 1862, entered Harvard Law School, where he met William Dean Howells and developed a lifelong friendship with the man. During h
11、is study at Harvard, read intensively Balzac, Merimee and George Sand, and also studied earnestly the novels of Gorge Eliot and Hawthorne. He toured England, France and Italy, and met among others, Flaubert and Turgenev. In 1876, settled in London. In 1915, became a naturalized British citizen. In 1
12、916, died without being married.2.2 James creative life The first period: 1865-1882, a period of “international theme”, The American (1877), Daisy Miller (1878), The Europeans (1878), The Portrait of a Lady (1881), considered to be his masterpiece. The second period: 1882-1895, a period of different
13、 themes and forms, focusing on inter-personal relationships, The Bostonians (1886), The Princes Casamassima (1886), The Private Life (1893), The Death of a Lion (1894) The third period: 1895-1905, a major period, returning to “international theme”, The What Maisie Know (1897), Turn of the Screw (189
14、8), What Maisie Knew (1897), The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Beast in the Jungle (1903), The Ambassadors (1903), The Golden Bowl (1904) 2.3 James contribution to literature Jamess fame generally rests upon his novels and stories with the international theme. He helped perfect the art of writing. H
15、e developed gradually from early evaluation in terms of stiff moral standards to inductive inquiry, flexibility, and a subtle perfection of aesthetic nuances. James literary criticism is an indispensable of his contribution to literature. His criticism is both concerned with form and devoted to huma
16、n values. He holds art must be related to life and art form would give the truthful impression of actuality (Essay: The Art of Fiction). He advocates an immense increase of freedom in novel writing and argues for inclusion of the disagreeable, the ugly, and the commonplace. He declares a work of art must lift up the heart; there is no substitute for the force and beauty of its process. He argues that the artist s
