美国文学选读复习资料

The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values.

Romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics:moral enthusiasm,faith in value of individualism and intuitive perception,and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man’s societies as a source of corruption.

二、Edgar Allan Poe埃德加·爱伦·坡

---poet,short story writer and literary critic(48poems,70short stories)

He greatly influenced the devotees of“Art for art’s sake.”

He was father of psychoanalytic criticism(心理分析批评),and the detective story.诗歌的精髓就是追求美

小说的主题常常是恐怖和死亡，其中还运用了象征手法。

The Poetic Principle:

1.The poem,should be short,readable at one sitting;

2.Beauty(the rhythmical creation of beauty);

3.Melancholy忧伤(especially the death of a beautiful woman).

代表作：The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍大厦的倒塌》

Ligeia《莉盖亚》

Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔·李》

The Raven《乌鸦》

The Cask of Amontillado《阿芒提拉多的酒桶》---gothic novel

人物：蒙特利瑟Montresor,弗图纳多Fortunato，筵席上男人将喝醉的死对头哄骗至地窖并砌墙活埋的故事。

三．爱默生

Emerson =The chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism超验主义

He was a descendent（后裔）of a long line of New England clergymen牧师【pastor】. 散文家、诗人、超验主义的哲学的主要倡导者。

American Transcendentalism

As a philosophical and literary movement, American Transcendentalism (also known as “American Renaissance”) flourshed in New England from the 1830s to the Civil War. It is the high tide of American romanticism and its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in Emerson and Thoreau.Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society.

Transcendentalism超验主义(+ H. D. Thoreau; Nathaniel Hawthorne; )

The major features of Transcendentalism:

①The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit,or the Oversoul,as the most

important thing in the universe. 思想超灵宇宙

②The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual.To them,

the individual is the most important element of Society. 个体+社会

③The Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was not purely matter. It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. 自然+上帝

代表作：Nature《论自然》---the Bible of Transcendentalism by Emerson；

Self-Reliance《论自助》---是表达他的超验主义观点的最重要作品之一

一The American Scholar《论美国学者》；

The Over-soul《论超灵》

四、Nathaniel Hawthorne纳撒尼尔?霍桑---effected by超验主义

He was born into a prominent Puritan family.

One of the most ambivalent（矛盾的）writers in the American literary history.

主要成就：美国心理分析小说的开创者浪漫主义小说家心理小说家

代表作：Mosses from an Old Manse《古宅青苔》;

Twice-Told Tales《故事重述》;

The Marble Faun《玉石雕像》;

The House of the Seven Gables《带有七个尖角阁的房子》

The Scarlet Letter《红字》

Many of his earlier stories had treated themes that led to The Scarlet Letter.

Theme:

Puritan severity toward sex and matrimony and its tendency to suppress bright color an d true feelings.

The Scarlet Letter《红字》：

Hester Prynne---strong-willed,impetuous,a king of compassionate,maternal figure; Pearl---innocent,perceptive;

Roger Chillingworth---a man deficient in human warmth,true evil in the story;

Arthur Dimmesdale---intelligent and emotional.

[Symbolism in his works

Hawthorne is a master of symbolism,which he took from the Puritan tradition清教徒传统and bequeathed to American literature in a revivified form.In his masterpiece,by using Pearl as a thematic symbol,Hawthorne emphasizes the consequence the sin of adultery h as

brought to the community and people living in that community.With the scarlet A as the biggest symbol of all,which is ambiguous,he proves himself to be one of the best] symbolists.

五、Herman Melville赫尔曼·梅尔维尔

The early sailing experiences were rewarding.

代表作：White Jacket《白外衣》

Billy Budd《毕利·伯德》,