1、America n Literature: A Con cise HistoryI. Review1. Who wrote The America n? (2021)A. Herman MelvilleB. Natha niel HawthorneC. Henry JamesD. Theodore Dreiser2. Death of a Salesma n was written by. (2007)A. Arthur MillerB. Ernest Hemi ngwayC. Ralph EllisonD. James Baldwin3. The novel For Whom the Bel

2、l Tolls is written by. (2006)A. Scott FitzgeraldB. William Faulk nerC. Eugene O' NeilD. Ernest Hemingway4. William Sydney Porter, known as O ' Henry, is most famous for.(2005)A. his poemsB. his playsC. his short storiesD. his no velsII. Historical Periods1. Colo nial Period: 17th18th (faithf

3、 reaso n)2. Roma ntic Period: e nd of 18th to the Civil War3. The Age of Realism: 1865-18904. The Age of Naturalism: 1890-19005. Modern Period: 1912-19456. Postwar Realism: 1950s-1960s7. Postmodernism: 1960s-1980sIII. Key Figures1. Benjamin Fran kli n2. James Fenimore Cooper,Wash ingtonIrvi ng; Edga

4、r Alla n Poe, WaltWhitma n,EmilyDickinson/Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville (R. W. Emerson, H.D. Thoreau)3. O ' Henry, Henry James, Mark Twain4. Stepha n Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London5. Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, R.L. Frost/Ernest Hemingway, F.S. Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, JohnSte in bec

5、k/ Euge ne O Neill,Tenn essee Williams, Arthur Miller6. Jerome Sali nger7. NabokovMark Twain: Trend: realism (local colorism) Genre: fiction Masterpiece: The Adventures of Huckleberry Fi nn Dist in ctive Style: vern acular Ian guage Other Importa nt WorksIV. Sample1. America n literature produced on

6、ly one female poet duri ng the 19th cen tury. She was.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane Auste nC. Katheri ne Anne Porter D. Emily Dick inson2. The first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was a sharp social critic, whose namewas.A. T.S. EliotB. Sinclair LewisC. Ern est Hemi ngwayD. William Faulk

7、 ner3. Which of the followi ng is NOTin eluded in Dreiser ' strilogy of desire concerning the ruthless ness of capitalists?A. The Geni usB. The Finan cierC. The Tita nD. The Stoic4. With Howells, James, and Mark Twa in active on the scene,became the major trend inthe seve nties and eighties of t

8、he nin etee nth cen tury.A. sen time ntalismB. roma nticismC. realismD. n aturalism5. From 1732 to 1758, Fran kli n wrote and published his famous, an annual collectio n ofproverbs.A. AutobiographyB. Poor Richard ' s AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The Gen eral Magaz ine6. “The American Renaissanee is

9、the period of_ in the history of American literature.A. local colorismB. Roma nticismmoder nC. Transcenden talismD. Col on ism7. is Mark Twai n' s master work, the one book from which as Hemin gway no ted, “ AllAmerica n literature comes .A. The Gilded AgeB. Life on the MississippiC. The Adve nt

10、ures of Tom SawyerD. The Adve ntures of Huckleberry Finn8. is the on ly America n playwright awarded Nobel Prize of Literature.A. Arthur MillerB. Eugene O ' NeillC. Tenn essee WilliamsD. Sin clair Lewis9. Which of the followi ng does NOT belo ng to“ Beat Gen eratio n ？A. Jack KerouacB. F. S. Fit

11、zgeraldC. Allen GinsbergD. William Burroughs10. is ide ntified as the father of moder n America n poetry, who also plays an importa ntrole in transmitting Chinese culture to the English-speaking world.A. T. S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra Pou ndD. Walt WhitmanI. Col on ial Period: 17th18thThe in flue

12、 nee of Purita nism on writ ing: fresh, simple and pla intraceable to the direct i nflue nee of the Biblefreque nt refere nee to the tech nique of symbolismAnne BradstreetThe Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in AmericaMichael WigglesworthThe Day of DoomEdward Taylor: a metaphysical poetBenjamin Franklin:

13、 the spokesma n of the America n En lighte nmen t (Age of Reas on/Great Awake nin g);created the image of the Yan keepseudo nym: Sile nee DogoodPoor Richard ' s AlmanacAutobiographyThomas Pai ne (his style: plai n)CommonSense the first pamphlet urging immediate independence from Britain; his mos

14、t famous pamphlet; the greatest of the Revolutio nary pamphletsPhilip Fren eauThe first America n-bor n poet; Poet of the America n Revoluti onTheme: n ati on alismThe beg inning of America n Roma nticismII. Romantic Period: 1) Early RomanticsNew En gla nd Poets (Fireside/Schoolroom Poets):Henry Wad

15、sworth Lon gfellowThe song of Hiawatha the first America n epic in bla nk verse about the America n In dia nsThe first American poet to be honored by having his bust placed in the Poets' Corner of Westminster AbbeyWilliam Culle n Bryant: the America n WordsworthThan atopsis (pon deri ng on death

16、) his greatest poemNovelist:James Fenimore Cooper: the first successful America n no velist32 novels3 ki nds:about the revoluti onary past The Spyabout the sea The pilot about the frontier The Leatherstocking Tales (The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans. The Prairie, The Pathfi nder, and The Deersl

17、ayer; protag oni st: Natty Bumppo-“ the esse ntial America n soul by D. H. Lawre nee)Story Writer and Prose Stylist:Wash ington IrvingThe Sketch Book won him intern atio nal fame“ Rip Van Win kle &“ The Lege nd of Sleepy Hollow “ Cray on sty leIn troduced the familiar essay to AmericaII. Roma nt

18、ic Period: 2) Transcenden talistsNew En gla nd Transcenden talism=America n Ren aissa neeFeatures:It stressed the power of in tuiti on.It placed spirit first and matter second.It took n ature as symbolic of spirit or God.It emphasized the sig ni fica nce of the in dividual.It en visi oned religi on

19、as an emoti onal com muni cati on betwee n an in dividual soul and the uni versal“ Oversoul .It held that commerce was degrad ing.The Transcenden tal Club & their journal The DialEssayists:Ralph Waldo Emers onTranscendentalism ' s most seminal forceThe Lyceum Moveme ntNature “ the mani festo

20、 of America n transcenden talismThe American Scholar “America' s Declaration of Intellectual IndependenceHenry David ThoreauHis first major in flue nce: non viole nt struggle as expressed in his“ Civil Disobedie nce His sec ond major in flue nce: call of“ Back to Nature Walde na classic of Ameri

21、ca n prose; reads like a diary of a n ature loverSymbolismII. Romantic Period: 3) High RomanticsEdgar Allan PoeLiterary theories:1) A theory of PoetryThe most important purpose of poetry is the creation of beauty (Englishas a medium of pure musicaland rhythmic beauty).The tone of its highest manifes

22、tation is one of sadness.The death of a beautiful woma n is the most pote ntial topic.death predominant theme in Poe ' s writing“Poe is not interested in anything alive. Everything in Poe' s writings is dead. 2) About His Fictio nThe men tal world of the people should be illumi nated.The pri

23、nciple of concentration and thematic totality should be stressed.Truth rather tha n beauty is ofte n the aim of the tale.Literary achieveme nts:The Raven his most famous n arrative poemDetective stories, ratioc in ative stories & scie nce ficti onThe Murders in the Rue MorgueThe Fall of the Hous

24、e of UsherThe Masque of the Red DeathWalt WhitmanLeaves of Grass (9 editions)America' s first genuine epic poemStyle: free verseThe en velope structure, catalogue tech niq ue, thought rhythmReprese nts a tur ning point in the history of America n poetryEmily Dick insonFor the whole 19th cen tury

25、 she was the only woma n poet who enjoys high academic esteem today.PoemsThemes:religion - doubt and belief about religious subjectsdeath and immortalitylove sufferi ng and frustrati on caused by lovephysical aspect of desirenature- kind and cruelfree will and huma n resp on sibilityNathaniel Hawtho

26、rne the first American romancer; the first major novelistin English to wed moralityto artHis no vels were perhaps the deepest and most psychological in the 19th cen tury.The Scarlet LetterHester Prynne, Pearl, Chilli ngworth, DimmesdalePoint of view: Evil is at the core of huma n life. Wherever ther

27、e is sin, there is puni shme nt. Sinor evil can be passed from generation to generation.Herma n Meiville an adve nture writer, known as “ a man who lived with canni balsMoby Dick the first America n prose epic; the greatest America n no vel by some criticsA symbol to represe nt cruel, brutal, malici

28、ous powers of n atureThe tech nique of multiple viewsStyle: highly symbolic and metaphoricalIII. The Age of RealismFeatures:truthful descripti on of lifetypical character un der typical circumsta neeobjective rather than idealized, close observation and investigation of life“ Realistic writers areli

29、ke scie ntists.ope n-ending:Life is complex and cannot be fullyunderstood.It leaves much room for readers to think by themselves.William Dea n HowellsProductive except the genre of poetryThe Rise of Silas LaphamWilliam Syd ney Porter (O. Henry)The surprise ending is his specialty, e.g.“ The Cop and

30、the An them .Sherwood An ders on: Win esburg, Ohio Henry James: no vels of mannersDeveloped the intern atio nal novelDaisy Miller established his reputati on at home and abroad (theme: America ninnocence vs. Europea n sophisticati on)The Ambassadors: his most “ perfect work of art, claimed by himsel

31、f3 in flue ntial subjects: childre n, new wome n and artistsTheory of fictio n in his The Art of Fictio nChief criterion: showing rather than tellinghonors: the f irst of the“ moder n psychological no velistsA "realist of the inner lifeA bridge of America n and Europea n culturesLocal ColorismT

32、he late 1860s to early 1870sTo write or present local characters of their regions in truthful depictiondistinguishedfrom others,usually a very small part of the world.Hamlin Garland ' s “ Under the Lion ' s PawHarriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom ' s Cabin the greatest of all anti-slavery li

33、teratureMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)“the Lincoln of our literature ; the true father of AmericanliteratureOne famous essay:“ To the Pers on Sitti ng in Darkn essHis greatest achieveme nt: The Adve ntures of Huckleberry FinnOther works: His penname was made famous by “The Notorious Jumping Frog of the

34、 Calaverus County； The Gilded Age: a satire aga inst corruptio nThe Adve ntures of Tom Sawyer; Life on the Mississippicolloquial la nguage, vern acular Ian guage, dialectslocal coloursyn tactic feature: senten ces are simple, brief, sometimes un grammaticalhumourtall tales (highly exaggerated)social

35、 criticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)III. The Age of Realism: Comparis onThemeHowells middle classJames - upper classTwain - lower classTech niqueHowells - genteel realismJames - psychological realismTwain - local colorism and colloquialismIV. The Age of NaturalismRealism vs. N

36、aturalism:Though n aturalists also describe real life, they prese nt harsher reality, usually the viole nt,sen sati on al, un pleasa nt, and ugly aspects of life.Their writi ng style and tech nique were more inno vative.Stepha n Cran e-pessimismMaggie, A Girl of the Streets the first n aturalistic n

37、ovel written by an America nThe Red Badge of Courage his most famous book about the America n Civil WarStyle: realistic, n aturalistic, and impressi oni sticFrank Norris-optimismMcTeague the first full-bodied n aturalistic America n novelThe Octopus his most impressive prose epicTheodore Dreiser -“

38、the wheelhouse of America n n aturalism Sister Carrie: a slave to her heredity and to her environmentAn America n Tragedy: his masterpieceStyle: journ alistic method of reiterati on, word-pictures, sharp con trast, stubbor n hon estyJack LondonThe Son of the Wolf first collectio n of the storiesThe

39、Call of the Wild an all-time best sellerHis fiction has the unusual and intriguing power of ancient myth.The originator of a new type of writing: rough realismV. Moder n Period: 1)PoetrySub-bra nches:Imagism, symbolism, impressi oni sm, futurism, con structivism, surrealism, etcFeatures:Moder nism d

40、ramatized disc on ti nu ity.Moder ni sts had a sense of fragme ntati on.It has a strong and con scious break with traditi on. (stream of con scious ness)V. Moder n Period 1) PoetryEzra Pound the father of moder n America n poetryCan tos his major work of poetryCathay a volume of Chin ese tran slati

41、onsStyle: clarity, precisi on and a direct con versati onal dict ion, economy of verseImagismT. S. Eliot a poet, a playwright, and a literary criticHe declared himself a “ classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and An glo-Catholic inreligio nThe Waste Land a central poem of modernism; reads

42、 like a manifesto of the"Lost Generation Five segme ntsOrga nizing prin ciple: the myth of death and rebirthNew En gla nd Poets:E. A. Robinson won Pulitzer for three times.Robert Lee Frost the most popular America n poet from 1914 to his deathHe won Pulitzer for four times.Pastoral poetryV. Mod

43、ern Period 2) FictionLost Gen erati on:The term was first used by Gertrude Stein.Ernest Hemi ngway a Nobel Prize Winner (1954)The Sun also RisesA Farewell to Arms: established his reputation as a great American writerFor Whom the Bell TollsThe Old Man and the SeaTelegraphic styleIceberg theory of wr

44、it ing“the code hero Fran cis Scott FitzgeraldThis Side of Paradise his first novel; the first American novel depicting the casual dissipations of “ flam ing youth The Great Gatsby his best no vel which deals with the frustrati on and despair result ing from the failure of the America n dream Sin cl

45、air Lewis the first America n writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1930)Main Street satirizes the smug prov incial complace ncy of the middle classBabbitt his masterpieceThe word “babbittry meansenergetic shallowness and self-satisfactionSatiric mono logueJoh n Stein beck the foremost w

46、riter of the Great Depressi onThe Grapes of Wrath his masterpiece, won a Pulitzer PrizeA comb in ati on of n aturalist and symbolist tech niqueV. Moder n Period: 3) DramaEugene O Neill the founder of modern American drama3 Pulitzer Prizes & the Nobel PrizeIn troduced trends of realism, n aturali

47、sm and expressi onismBeyond the Horiz onLong Day' s Jour ney into NightTenn essee WilliamsThe Glass Men agerieA Streetcar Named Desire won him his first Pulitzer PrizeColloquial souther n speechArthur MillerDeath of a Salesma n his masterpiece; an America n myth and a con temporary tragedyVI. Po

48、stwar RealismJoh n Cheever short ficti onJohn Updike the most realistic of all the postwar realists;“ Olinger storiesJames Thurber the greatest America n literary humorist of the 20th cen turyJerome Sali nger a represe ntative of alie nated young America ns; gen erati on gapThe Catcher in the Rye a moder n Huck FinnVII. Post-modernism:Fictio nModer nism vs. post-moder nismUn like moderni sm, which suggested a historic period, post-modern ism described a sen sibility, a feeli ng for inno vati on.Con trollable vs. unc