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1、英美文学精粹赏析英美文学精粹赏析Selected Readings In English and American Literature人民邮电出版社人民邮电出版社American Realism1. A faithful representation of reality inliterature,alsoknownas“verisimilitude.”2.Writteninnaturalvernacular,ordialect.3.Theultimategoalofarealisticwriter.istodepictlifehonestlyandaccurately4.Prominent
2、from1860-1890.The Civil War1.TheAmericanCivilWar(18611865)wasbetweentheUnitedStatesofAmerica(theUnion)andtheSouthernslavestatesofthenewlyformedConfederateStatesofAmericaunderJeffersonDavis.TheUnionincludedallofthefreestatesandthefiveslaveholdingborderstatesandwasledbyAbrahamLincolnandtheRepublicanPa
3、rty.2.Thewarendedwiththeoverwhelmingtriumphofindustrialismoveragrarianism.3.TheCivilWardestroyedtheromanticconceptofwar.4.TheCivilWarchangedAmericanpeoplesviewsonvalues,moralityandreligion,puritanethicvs.materialism.Gilded AgeAnageofextremesofdeclineandprogress，ofpovertyanddazzlingwealth,ofgloomandb
4、uoyanthope.Mark Twain 1835 - 1910BorninFlorida,Missouri,onNovember30,1835.In1851,hebeganworkingasatypesetterandcontributorofarticlesandhumoroussketchesforanewspaperownedbyhisbrother.From 1857 to 1861,Twain worked as a riverboat pilot on theMississippi River. This occupation gave him his pen name, Ma
5、rkTwain.MarkTwaindiedofillnessonApril21,1910.Whenhepassedaway,newspapers around the country declared, “The whole world ismourning.”I. LifeDuringhisseventeenyearsinHartford(18741891)andovertwentysummersatQuarryFarm,Twainwrotemanyofhisclassicnovels：The Prince and the Pauper(1881)Life on the Mississipp
6、i(1883)A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court(1889)II.Classical WorksTwainsgreatestfameandhisimportanceinAmericanliteraturerestlargelyonhistwobestknownnovels,TheAdventuresofTomSawyerTheAdventuresofHuckleberryFinnII.Classical Works1.ComicnarratorTwainsnarratorcanbehimself,amischievousboyoranaveto
7、urist.Hisnarratorisascolorfulashisvarietiesoflaughter.Yetwhoevertheyare,theyareallofcomicnature.2.LocalcolorismTwainhasbroughtlocalcolorismtoworldfame.Itishewhogivesliterarylifetothemotherriverandtruthfullydepictsthecolorsofthelocallife.III. Special features3.Humor Twain is a great humorist. His hum
8、or is indeed a serious way to poke at social injustice, human disgrace and human follies.4.Language With his great mastery and effective use of vernacular, Twain has make colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history. 1.ComicnarratorTwainsnarratorcanbehimself,ami
9、schievousboyoranavetourist.Hisnarratorisascolorfulashisvarietiesoflaughter.Yetwhoevertheyare,theyareallofcomicnature.2.LocalcolorismTwainhasbroughtlocalcolorismtoworldfame.Itishewhogivesliterarylifetothemotherriverandtruthfullydepictsthecolorsofthelocallife.III. Special featuresTheAdventureofHuckleb
10、erryFinnAccordingtoErnestHemingway,itwastheonebookfromwhichallmodernAmericanliteraturecame,andcontemporarycriticsandscholarshavetreateditasoneofthegreatestAmericanworksofart.OfallMTsnovels,itwasalsotheonethatsoldbestatitsinitialappearance.Ontheotherhand,itwascondemnedbymanyreviewersinMTstimeascoarse
11、andbymanycommentatorsinourtimeasracist.Thenovel,richinmeaning,canbeinterpretedonmultiplelevels.First,itisaboutslaveryandfreedom.Second,itcanbeseenasajourneyofHucksmoralgrowth.Third,itcanberegardedasasatireonsentimentalismandcheapromanticism.HuckisundeniablyanAmericanboy,notedforhistoughness,friendli
12、ness,andadventurousspirit.HisvoyagewithJimisajourneyoflearninganddiscoverythroughhisownobservation.Likehiscountry,heisalwaysonthemoveandontheroadtogrow.Withhimeverythingispossibleandnothingisfixed.IV. Selected readings Emily Dickinson1830-1886BornandspentherlifeinAmherst,Massachusetts,asmallCalvinis
13、tvillage.Nevermarried,ledanunconventionallifethatwasoutwardlyuneventfulbutwasfullofinnerintensityDeeplylovednatureSpentthelatterpartofherlifeasarecluseThemostsolitaryliteraryfigureofhertime,almostunpublished,butcreatedsomeofthegreatestAmericanpoetryofthe19thcenturyandhasfascinatedthepublicsincethe19
14、50s,whenherpoetrywasrediscovered.RankedwithWhitmanastheharbingerofmodernAmericanpoetry,shewrotealtogether1,775poems,ofwhichonlysevenhadappearedduringherlifetime.I. Life1.religion2.deathandimmortality3.love4.natureII. Themes tellingimages,suggestiveandconnotative,sometimesincomprehensibledirectandpla
15、inwords(Anglo-Saxonorigin),simplesyntaxfaultygrammarnoregularrhythm,atmostofforslantrhymesunusualcapitalizationunusualuseofpunctuationmarksShortlines,typicallylacktitlesherpoems,andtheeditorsnumberedthemapproximatelyaccordingtothetimesequenceinwhichtheywerewritten.Herpoetryisaclearillustrationofherr
16、eligious-ethicalandpolitical-socialideas.III.Characteristics of Her PoetryBecauseIcannotstopfordeathBecauseIcannotstopfordeathThe poem is discussing death, a very gloomy subject, but it is done with a rather light tone. The tone is light just because the author does not take death as a catastrophe;
17、instead, she treats the angel of death as a very polite gentleman, as a long-missing guest, giving up her work and leisure, putting on her fine silky dresses, she accompanies death in the same carriage to eternity. All the beauty of this work lies in the poetess open-minded attitude towards death. I
18、V. Selected readings Theodore Dreiser 1871 - 1945I. LifeBornonAugust27,1871,inTerreHaute,Indiana,astrictCatholicfamily.Fromtheageoffifteen,heearnedmeagersupportfromavarietyofmenialjobs.1889-1890,heattendedIndianaUniversityaftergraduatingfromhighschoolinWarsaw,INFrom1892to1902,heworkedasanitinerantjo
19、urnalist.In1904,hewasonthewaytoseveralsuccessfulyearsasaneditor.1945-DreiserdiedofheartfailureathishomeinHollywood,Californiaattheageof74,onDecember28.HewasburiedatForestLawnCemeteryinHollywood.1900-publishedfirstnovel,SisterCarrie(hasbeencalledthegreatestofallAmericanurbannovels”).1901-theshortstor
20、y,NiggerJeff,appearedinAinsleesMagazine.Hewroteitbecausehewitnessedalynchingin18931911-publishedsecondnovel,JennieGerhardt.1918-publishedhisfirstcollectionofshortstories,FreeandOtherStories.1925-publishedAnAmericanTragedy,hisfirstcommercialsuccess.II. Literary CareerNaturalisticviewToDreiser,sincema
21、nisnotcontrolledbyreason,manismerelyananimaldrivenbygreedandlustinastruggleforexistenceinwhichonlythefittest,themostruthless,survive.TheillusionofAm.DreamDreisersoughtconsistently,throughhistragicprotagonist,tocondemntheAm.Dreamasadestructiveillusion.TheuseofthesymbolDreiserusesalotofsymbolsinhiswor
22、ks.TherockingchairattheendofSisterCarrieissymbolicofthefluxofNature.III.Literary StyleSister Carrie The novel is about the story of a poor country girl Carrie who comes to Chicago and seek for a new life. At first, she think that she can live in the big city and have a better life. But the reality i
23、s often brutal. Due to the pressures of life and she did not satisfied with her new life, she becomes a cold and ambitious girl whose goals are beautiful clothes, money and fame. At last, she becomes one of the most popular actress in New York city by chance, while her lover Hurstwood killed himself
24、.Carrie: hopeful-ambitious-vain-immoral 1.When Carrie was taking the train to Chicago , she imagined a bright future. She hopes to seek employment so that she can get and buy all the nice things that she wants. Carrie does not have any idea how hard this is going to be. 2.She wanted to realized her
25、dream in cities. 3.Carrie desire for materials and wealth.4. During her life in the city. she lived with two men as their mistress. They gave her the material things which she wanted. Her judgment in selecting men was based on their money and not on their character or something else . Finally, she was without support and forced to make it on her own.IV. Selected readings
