美国文学史的相关问题_美国文学史及选读分析

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一。超验主义的特征和影响Features

1.spirit/oversoul(The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodne, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part.It existed in nature and man alike and constituted the chief element of the universe.)

2.importance of individualism(Individual was the most important element of society.)

3.nature – symbol of spirit/God(Nature was not purely matter.It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence.It was garment of the OversoulTherefore it could exercise a healthy and restorative influence on the human mind.“Go back to nature, sink yourself into its influence, and you’ll become spiritually whole again.”)

4.focus in intuition(irrationalism and subconsciousne)

Influence

1.It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature.It streed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2.It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral neceity for rising to spiritual height.3.It helped to create the first American renaiance – one of the most prolific period in American literature.二。3.Comparison(比较): Whitman vs.Dickinson

1.Similarities:(1)Thematically,? they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergent America, its expansion, its individualism and its Americanne, their poetry being part of “American Renaiance”.(2)Technically, they both added to the literary? independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before: they were pioneers in American poetry.2.differences:(1)Whitman seems to keep his eye? on society at large;Dickinson explores the inner life of the individual.(2)Whereas Whitman is “national” in his outlook, Dickinson is “regional”.?(3)Dickinson has the “catalogue technique”(direct, simple style)which? Whitman doesn’t have.三。4.Comparison of the three “giants” of American Realism（三个的比较）

1.Theme: Howells? – middle cla, James – upper cla?,Twain – lower cla?2.Technique: Howells – smiling/genteel realism，James –? psychological realism，Twain – local colourism and colloquialism3.William Dean Howells – “Dean of American Realism”(1)①Realistic principles：a.Realism is “fidelity to experience and probability of motive”.b.The aim is “talk of some ordinary traits of American life”.c.Man in his natural and unaffected dullne was the object of Howells’s fictional representation.d.Realism is by no means mere photographic pictures of externals but includes a central concern with “motives” and psychological conflicts.e.He condemns novels of sentimentality and morbid self-sacrifice, and avoids such themes as illicit love.f.Authors should minimize plot and the artificial ordering of the sense of something “desultory, unfinished, imperfect”.g.Characters should have solidity of specification and be real.h.Interpreting sympathetically the “common feelings of commonplace people” was best suited as a technique to expre the spirit of America.i.He urged writers to winnow tradition and write in keeping with current humanitarian ideals.j.Truth is the highest beauty, but it includes the view that morality penetrates all things.k.With regard to literary criticism, Howells felt that the literary critic should not try to impose arbitrary or subjective evaluations on books but should follow the detached scientist in accurate description, interpretation, and claification②Aesthetic ideas：a.The aim of novel: represent lifeb.Common, even ugly side of lifec.Social function of artd.Avoiding omniscient point of viewPoint of view：a.Psychological analysis, forefather of stream of consciousne b.Psychological realismc.Highly-refined languageStyle

– “stylist” a.Language: highly-refined, polished, insightful, accurate b.Vocabulary: large c.Construction: complicated, intricate③style

(1)colloquial language, vernacular language, dialects(2)local colour(3)syntactic feature:

sentences are simple, brief, sometimes ungrammatical(4)humour(5)tall tales(highly exaggerated)(6)social criticism(satire on the different ugly things in society)

四。现代主义和后现代主义的不同Tell the difference between Modernism and Post-Modernism in American literature.Time：Modernism—before the Second World War(1939—1945)Postmodernism—after the Second World War(1939—1945)

Modernism: ①Tends to present a fragmented view of human subjectivity and history, but presents that fragmentation as something tragic, something to be mourned as a lo②Modernists uphold the idea that art can provide unity, coherence and meaning which has been lost in most of modern life ③Knowledge is scientific: learn things just to know them Post modernism: ①Celebrates, not mourns, the idea of fragmentation or incoherence ② The idea of not to pretend that art can make meaning, but let’s just play with nonsense③Knowledge becomes functional: learn things to use the information