American literature of naturalism_naturalism名词解释

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American literature of naturalism

Major representatives

a.Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945)

b.Stephan Crane(1871-1900)

c.Frank Norris(1870-1902)

d.Jack London(1876-1916)

 3.Three major concepts of literary naturalism:

 1)Humans ucontrolled by laws of heredity and environment.Characters are considered as a combination of inherited attributes and habits conditioned by social and economic forces. 2)The universe is cold, godle, indifferent and hostile to human desires.Life becomes a struggle for survival.Hence, the struggle of the individual to adapt to environment, the fight for the spouse and the Darwinian idea of “the survival of the fittest” become natural concerns of naturalist fiction and drama.Two recurrent concerns are:

a.social systems that destroy and dehumanize;

b.individual experience of lo and failure. 3)The naturalists think that the true reality is not found in the smiling aspects of middle cla life, but in the dominant forces of Nature in stopping human desires, in keeping humans from accomplishing their dreams.They do not look at the average, but at the violent, sensational(耸人听闻), sordid(肮脏的,卑鄙的), unpleasant, and ugly aspects of life. Differences between naturalism and realism

1)Method of description: the truthfulne of details and extremity.2)The object of description: lower claes who are the typical target of determinism;

3)The purpose of life: existence.Domination by basic desires of life, eg.terror, starvation and sexual demands.As a result, the author takes an amoral attitude toward human life, neither condemnation nor praise;

4)Language: filthy language to represent the filthy and not unsmiling world.5)The outlook of life: deterministic philosophy and peimistic outlook of life..Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945)(P298-304)

.Literary Achievements

1.Sister Carrie(1900)《嘉莉妹妹》

2.Jennie Gerhardt(1911)《珍妮姑娘》

3.Trilogy of Desire《欲望三部曲》

(the Cowperwood Trilogy 《科波伍德三部曲》)：

The Financier(1912), 《金融家》

The Titan(1914), 《巨人》

The Stoic(1947)《斯多葛》

4.An American Tragedy(1925)《美国悲剧》

5.The Bulwalk 《堡垒》(1946)

b.Stephan Crane(1871-1900)(P288-292)

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets(1893): the first novel

《街头女郎麦琪》

The Red Badge of Courage(1894): his greatest novel

《红色英勇勋章》

 Other works:

The Black Riders and Other Lines(1895)

《黑骑士及其它》：a collection of poems

The Open Boat and Other Tales

《海上扁舟及其它故事》(1898, short stories)

War is Kind & Other Lines

《战争是仁慈的及其它》(1899, poetry)

c.Frank Norris(1870-1902)(P277-279)

 I.Major works:

McTeague(1899)《麦克提格》

---“the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel” and “a consciously naturalistic manifesto”

“第一部完整的美国自然主义小说”和“自然主义宣言”

---It is a claic case study of the inevitable effect of environment and heredity on human lives.---McTeague, the hero, a fine specimen of the “human beast” with primitive desires, destroyed by the hereditary elements of his alcoholic father and the adverse environment and dehumanized as a violent, murderous brute. The Epic of the Trilogy of the Wheat

《小麦史诗三部曲》：

---A trilogy on the production, distribution, and consumption of wheat.The Octopus《章鱼》(1901)

---Frank’s best novel

The Pit《深渊》(1903)

---about the distribution and manipulation of the wheat market, published posthumously in 1903.The Wolf《豺狼》(unwritten)

d.Jack London(1876-1916)(P279-281)

 Evaluation

 Jack London, whose life symbolized the power of will(the “Superman”),was the most succeful writer in America in the early 20th Century. His vigorous stories of men and animals against the environment, and

survival against hardships were drawn mainly from his own experience. His work embraced the concepts of unconfined individualism and Darwinism in its exploration of the laws of nature. Jack London’s exceptional brightne and his optimistic, buoyant personality eventually combined to transform his many experiences into a working philosophy of service and survival. He became the personification for his readers of many of the virtues and ideals of a turn-of-the-century Western American man and was the country’s first succeful working cla writer.Literary achievements

 1.Major works:

1)His first novel, The Son Of The Wolf(1900)

《狼的儿子》;

2)His Alaska stories:

The Call Of The Wild(1903)《野性的呼唤》

---a giant pet dog Buck finds his survival instincts in Yukon, Alaska;(P280)

---the story of a dog who becomes wild and leads a wolf packWhite Fang(1906)《白牙》

---the life story of a wolf who comes, after many hardships dealt him by both man and nature, to live a dog’s life with a loving master.Burning Daylight(1910)《大天亮》

To Build A Fire(1910)《生火》

---Considered to be an all-time claic

 3)The Sea-Wolf 《海狼》(1904)

---Based on his experiences at sea;

---About the destruction of arrogant and alienate “Sea Wolf” Larsen  4)The People Of The Aby(1903)

《深渊中的人们》

---His report about the economic degradation of the poor after he studied the living conditions in East End and working cla areas of London;

 5）Love of Life 《热爱生命》(1907)

---the eventual victory of an exhausted man over a sick wolf in the fierce battle for survival under a severe natural environment

 6)The Iron Heel 《铁蹄》(1908)

 7)Martin Eden 《马丁·伊登》(1909)

---His autobiographical novel and his masterpiece;

---one of the greatest realistic novels of late 19th century;

---presenting a penetrating criticism of America of the time;

The differences between Jack London and other naturalistic writers in terms of the naturalistic themes?

Reference:

Similarity: focus on the influence of environment on humans’ destiny;Difference: the power of will and adaptation to the environment.Robert Lee Frost(1874-1963)

 I.Literary position

---Best known New England poet;

---One of America's leading 20th-century poets and a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize.(In 1924,1931,1937and 1943)

---Honors from 44 institutions, including 18 honorary degrees from many universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Michigan, Dartmouth and etc.---The nation’s unofficial Poet Laureate(无冕桂冠诗人)

---Invitation to read his poem, “The Gift Outright”（《全心全意的奉献》）at President Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961.II.Major works

A.Collections of poems:

 1.First book of poetry: A Boy’s Will(1913)

《男孩的意愿》

2.Second volume of poetry:

North of Boston 《波士顿以北》(1914)

3.Mountain Interval 《山间》(1916)

4.New Hampshire 《新罕布什尔》(1923)

5.West-running Brook《西去的溪流》(1928)

6.A Further Range 《又一片牧场》(1936)

7.A Witne Tree 《见证树》(1942)

 8.A Masque of Reason 《理性假面具》(1945)

 9.Steeple Bush 《尖塔丛》(1947)

 10.A Masque of Mercy 《怜悯假面具》(1947)

B.Famous poems

1.Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening 《雪夜林畔小立》

2.The Road Not Taken 《一条为走过的路》

3.Mending Walls《补墙》

4.After Apple-picking《摘苹果之后》

III.Features of his poems

 1.Uniting regularity of the iambic meter withthe freedom of the speaking voice;

His ability of combining colloquial speech patterns with traditional verse forms;

 2.Drawing images and metaphors from simple country life;Most of his well-known poetry is nature poetry.3.Profound ideas loaded under the disguise of plain language and style.The reader tend to find wit and wisdom, peace and harmony, serenity and joy.According to Frost, a good poem “begins in delight and ends in wisdom” “诗歌始于喜悦，而终于智慧”

The Road Not Taken----Robert Frost

 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both

 And be one traveler, long I stood

 And looked down one as far as I could

 To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was gray and wanted wear;

 Though as for that the paing there

 Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay

 In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day!

 Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh

 Somewhere ages and ages hence:

 Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-