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1、American Literature郧阳师专英语系英美文学精品课程Part V Twentieth-Century LiteratureSection 1 The 1920sI. Introduction The 1920s is a flowering period of American literature. It is considered “the second renaissance” of American literature. The nicknames for this period: (1) Roaring 20s comfort (2) Dollar Decade r
2、ich (3) Jazz Age Jazz musicII. Background 1. First World War “a war to end all wars” (1) Economically: became rich from WWI. Economic boom: new inventions. Highly-consuming society. (2) Spiritually: dislocation, fragmentation. 2. wide-spread contempt for law (looking down upon law) 3. Freuds theoryI
3、II. Features of the literature Writers: three groups (1) Participants (2) Expatriates (3) Bohemian (unconventional way of life) on- lookersTwo areas: (1) Failure of communication of Americans (2) Failure of the American societyImagismI. Background Imagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient
4、Chinese poetry and Japanese literature “haiku”II. Development: three stages1. 19081909: London, Hulme 2. 19121914: England - America, Pound 3. 19141917: Amy Lowell III. What is an “image”?An image is defined by Pound as that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time,
5、 “a vortex or cluster of fused ideas” “endowed with energy”. The exact word must bring the effect of the object before the reader as it had presented itself to the poets mind at the time of writing. IV. Principles1. Direct treatment of the “thing”, whether subjective or objective; 2. To use absolute
6、ly no word that does not contribute to the presentation; 3. As regarding rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome.V. Significance1. It was a rebellion against the traditional poetics which failed to reflect the new life of the new century. 2. It of
7、fered a new way of writing which was valid not only for the Imagist poets but for modern poetry as a whole. 3. The movement was a training school in which many great poets learned their first lessons in the poetic art. 4. It is this movement that helped to open the first pages of modern English and
8、American poetry.VI. Ezra Pound1. life 2. literary career 3. works (1) Cathay (2) Cantos (3) Hugh Selwyn Mauberley 4. point of view (1) Confident in Pounds belief that the artist was morally and culturally the arbiter and the “saviour” of the race, he took it upon himself to purify the arts and becam
9、e the prime mover of a few experimental movements, the aim of which was to dump the old into the dustbin and bring forth something new. (2) To him life was sordid personal crushing oppression, and culture produced nothing but “intangible bondage”. (3) Pound sees in Chinese history and the doctrine o
10、f Confucius a source of strength and wisdom with which to counterpoint Western gloom and confusion. (4) He saw a chaotic world that wanted setting to rights, and a humanity, suffering from spiritual death and cosmic injustice, that needed saving. He was for the most part of his life trying to offer
11、Confucian philosophy as the one faith which could help to save the West. 5. style: very difficult to read Pounds early poems are fresh and lyrical. The Cantos can be notoriously difficult in some sections, but delightfully beautiful in others. Few have made serious study of the long poem; fewer, if
12、anyone at all, have had the courage to declare that they have conquered Pound; and many seem to agree that the Cantos is a monumental failure 6. Contribution He has helped, through theory and practice, to chart out the course of modern poetry. 7. The Cantos “the intellectual diary since 1915” Featur
13、es: (1) Language: intricate and obscure (2) Theme: complex subject matters (3) Form: no fixed framework, no central theme, no attention to poetic rules. Thomas Stearns EliotHis life (1888-1965)His works: PoemsThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 普鲁 弗洛克的情歌 The Waste Land (epic) 荒原 Hollow Man 空心人Ashy W
14、ednesday 圣灰星期三 Four Quarters 四个四重奏艾略特的诗歌创作以荒原和伴以英国天主教为标志可以分为早、 中、晚三个时期。早期：主要包括普鲁弗洛克及其他和The Poems（1920）诗集 两个本子。中期：The Waste荒原 The Hollow Man空心人 后期：Gerontion小老头、 Ashy Wednesday 圣灰星期三 Sweeney Among the Nightingales 夜莺中的斯威尼 The Hippopotamus 河马 Four Quarters 四个四重奏 Mr. Eliots Sunday Morning Service艾略特先生的星
15、期日早礼拜Four Quarters 四个四重奏它是诗人登峰造极之作，在诗中诗人对诗歌 语言进行了严肃的思考，思考的结果从该 诗本身的语言特色就可以看出来：普通正 规而又十分精确。此时艾略特担心语言会 因使用不当而退化，进而影响到我们思想 情感的品质。它最初是四首独立的诗： Burnt Norton, 1935 烧毁的诺顿、 East Coker, 1940 东库克、The Dry Salvages, 1941 干燥的塞尔维吉斯 Little Gidding, 1943 小吉丁His works: PlaysMurder in the Cathedral 大教堂谋杀案 The Cocktail
16、 Party 鸡尾酒会 The Confidential Clerk 自信的书记员His works: Critical essays The Sacred Wood Essays on Style and Order Elizabethan Essays The Use of Poetry and The Use of Criticisms After Strange GodsThe Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockIt depicts a timid middle-aged man going to propose marriage to a lady but hesitati
