Major writers in English and American literature;

Geoffrey Chaucer杰弗里乔叟：The Canterbury Tales《坎特伯雷故事集》; William Shakespeare威廉.莎士比亚：The Merchant of Venice，Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth ;

John Bunyan约翰.班扬：The Pilgrim’s Progress《天路历程》;

Swift; Daniel Defoe; Jane Austen; Walter Scott; Dickens; Thackeray; Emily Bronte; Lawrence, Bernard Shaw; Thomas Hardy; Virginia Woolf; James Joyce;

Thoreau;

Washington Irving华盛顿.欧文：The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.《见闻札记》，（Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow《瑞普.凡.温克尔》，《睡谷的传说》

James Fenimore Cooper詹姆斯.菲尼莫.库伯：Leather-stocking Tales“皮袜子”故事集：The Pioneers《拓荒者》，The Deerslayer《猎鹿者》The last of the Mohicans《最后的莫希干人》，The Pathfinder《探路人》，The Prairie《大草原》。

Nathanial Hawthorne纳撒尼尔.霍桑，The Scarlet Letter《红字》，The House of the Seven Gables《带七个尖角阁的房子》，The Marble Faun《玉石雕像》;

Walt Whitman沃尔特.惠特曼：Leaves of Grass《草叶集》，（Song of Myself《自我之歌》，I Sing the Body Electric《我歌唱带电的肉体》Out of the Cradle Endlessy Rocking《走出永不休止地摇动着的摇篮》。

Herman Melville赫尔曼.麦尔维尔，Typee《泰比》，Omoo《奥穆》，Moby-Dick《白鲸》

Emily Dickinson; Henry James亨利.詹姆斯: 《罗德里克.哈德森》，《美国人》The American，《戴茜.米莉》Daisy Miller，《贵妇人的画像》The Portrait of a Lady，《金碗》The Golden Bowl;

Mark Twain马克.吐温：The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》，The Gilded Age《镀金时代》，The Advantures of Tom Sawyer《汤姆.索耶历险记》，The Advantures of Huckleberry Finn《哈克贝利.费恩历险记》。

F.Scott Fitzgerald弗朗西斯.斯格特.菲茨杰拉德：The Great Gatsby《了不起的盖茨比》，The Beautiful and Damned《美丽的与可诅咒的》，Tender is the Night《夜色温柔》，The Last Tycoon《最后的大亨》。 Ernest Hemingway厄内斯特.海明威：The Sun Also Rises《太阳照常升起》，A Farewell to Arms《永别了，武器》For Whom the Bell Tolls《丧钟为谁而鸣》，The Old Man and the Sea《老人与海》。

William Faulkner威廉.福克纳：The Sound and the Fury《喧哗与骚动》，As I Lay Dying《我尼流之际》，Sanctuary《圣殿》，Light in August《八月之光》，Absalom, Absalom!《押沙龙，押沙龙》，Unvanquished《未被征服的》Go Down, Moses《去吧，摩西》

John Steinbeck约翰.斯坦贝克，Tortilla Flat《托第拉平地》In Dubious Battle《胜负未决》，Of Mice and Men《人鼠之间》，The Grapes of Wrath《愤怒的葡萄》。

Literary terms and works: Allegory;

ballad;

dramatic monologue; epic;

imagism;

Utopia;

American Puritanism; American Dreams; local colorism; Naturalism

Beowulf;

Arthurian Romances; The Canterburry Tales; Utopia;

English Renaissance; Blank verse Metaphysical poets The Pilgrim’s Progress Gulliver’s Travels Graveyard poems Lyrical Ballads

Romantic poets Historical writer; Dramatic monologue Stream of consciousness The Leatherstocking Tales Moby Dick

Leaves of Grass

第二篇：The Literature of Realism

The Literature of Realism (1)

I. Background

? 1. three fundamental issues:

1) conflict between the agrarianism and the industrialism

2) the conflict between the South and the North

3) the conflict between the East and the West

? 2. reaction against “the lie” of romanticism and sentimentalism

? 3. battle between “idealists” and “realists”

? 4. more attention to the immediate facts of life

5. the year 1865 an important shift from Romanticism to Realism a most significant event → the holocaust or destruction of the Civil War ● a notable impact on American literature and art ● a profound emotional and philosophical impact on thinkers and writers ◆ some changes 1) putting to rest the romantic concept of war

Romantics: a glorious, grand and noble encounter, something heroic

Realists: a way of destroying romantic outlook on life a negative review of war — its destruction

2) changing the romantic concept of man

Romantics: man as “the noblest work of God”

Realists: man as a product of the environment, of his heredity, of fate or chance

3) stimulating industrialization

A. an explosive growth of business and industry a period of amazing engineering achievements, a period of frantic building and expansion

B. the emergence of an urban civilization a period of great plunder and exploitation, of greedy materialism and political corruption

C. the miserable social ills the voices of criticism and voices of anger

4) becoming the “melting-pot” society the influx of millions of immigrants — more freedom or a better living, or both — a land of opportunity

5) changing the concept of reality

Romantics: the romantic concept of reality, the spiritual reality

Realists: the visibly concrete world, the physical reality

II. Major Features of American Realism

? 1. truthful treatment of material

1) examining characters in depth

A. the individual — highly

B. the function of environment — shaping character

C. characterization — the center of the story

D. the effect of action on characters

E. the psychology of the people in the story

2) open ending

? 2. commonness of the lives of the common people

3. objectivity; an objective view of human nature and human experience

? 4. moral visions

1) the problems of the individual conscience in conflict with social institutions

? 2) focusing on the dilemma

III. Local Color Fiction

1. Background 1) the shift of the publishing center:

A. a new freedom B. a greater openness

2) the growth of communication and transportation

3) the rapid growth of local magazines

? 2. Local-color Realism or Regionalism

1) a quality in literature fidelity to a particular geographical section and a faithful representation of its habits, speech, manners, history, folklore, or beliefs

2) a subordinate order of realism unique in his or her living section

3) more popular after the Civil War 4) a new freedom

5) much more interested in learning about life in other parts of the country

6) the desire to preserve distinctive ways of life and to come to terms with the harsh realities

? 3. Representatives

women: Mary E. Wilking Freeman, Sarah Orne Jewett and Harriet Beecher Stowe: New England Kate Chopin: Louisiana

men: Bret Harte: the Far West O. Henry: New York City Mark Twain: the Mississippi River

? 4. Local Color Fiction

1) a form of regionalism: local colorism A. people’s realization

B. asserting their unique identity and seeking understanding and recognition

C. the frontier humorists’ preparation

D. the appearance of a lot of magazines

2) a quality of circumstantial authenticity

A. not only an authentic surface but also the depths

B. strong sketches of an environment

C. simplicity: characteristic of vernacular language and satirical humor

? 5. Basic Features

1) a locale distinguished from the outside world the local character of their particular region

2) the exotic and the picturesque A. not common in other regions

B. an attempt at accurate dialect reporting

C. a tendency toward the use of eccentrics as characters

D. the use of sentimentalized pathos or whimsical humor in plotting

3) the past A. not merely as nostalgia but also as realism in the social criticism

B. the world of agrarian life

a. the farms b. the people who were soon going to leave the farms

c. the small towns d. a life that was vanishing

4) a great contradiction

A. how things are right now B. how great the past had been

5) the influence of setting on character the diversity of America

IV. Naturalism

? 1. Background

1) Charles Darwin’s ideas

A. the struggle for existence B. survival of the fittest C. natural selection

2) Herbert Spencer’s theory of social Darwinism the weak and stupid would fall victim in the natural course of events to economic forces

3) the way of the development of the society

4) Darwin’s natural selection: a way to explain human behavior

? 2. Emergence

1) Emile Zola: the purpose of a novelist

A. to be a scientist

B. to place his characters in a situation

C. to watch the influences of heredity and environment destroy them, or, to

watch them overcome the inimical force of heredity and environment

2) some American writers

A. human beings: no longer free and strong

B. human life: governed by the two crushing forces of heredity and environment

C. Howellsian realism: too restrained and genteel in tone

? 3. Major Features

1) the application of the principles of scientific determinism

2) three major concepts of literary naturalism

A. humans: controlled by laws of heredity and environment naturalist fiction: no

evidence of effective choice, or free will, or autonomous action

B. life: a struggle for survival the naturalist’s concerns: a. social systems that

destroy and dehumanize b. individual experience of loss and failure

C. a major difference between the literary naturalists and the realists

a. the violent, sensational, sordid, unpleasant, and ugly aspects of life

b. all the aspects of life that are not too pleasant to consider

3) naturalist characters: A. being unable to resist the conditions that press upon them

B. more or less combinations of innate traits and socialized habits

? 4. American Naturalistic Writers

1) not as pessimistic about life as the French

2) an optimistic feeling

3) a great regard for rugged individualism

4) similarities in theme and technique

A. the forbidden subjects B. in a daring, open, and direct manner

C. original and experimental in their respective styles

5) two examples of American literary naturalism: Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser

A. an optimistic strain B. the influence of pessimistic determinism

? 5. Comparison With Realists and Romantics

1) naturalists: reduce to nil the human chances of winning on their own terms

realists: stress freedom of choice with large provisos concerning the power of outside forces

romantics: stress the possible triumph of the human will

2) naturalists: see human beings no more than a physical object under the control of

biological and environmental forces realists: see human beings just human beings romantics: see

human beings almost as a god

? 6. Decline of Naturalism

1) the growth of psychological science and of psychoanalysis

2) the tendency to turn into the mythic through sheer immersion in the typical

3) disappearing with World War I

4) reviving during the period of the Great Depression in the 1930s

The Literature of Realism (2)

Some Leading Writers

? 1. Mark Twain (1835-1910)

1) Life A. born in Florida, Missouri

B. a journey man printer at the age of 18

C. a pilot on the Mississippi River

“Mark Twain”: “safe water” or “two fathoms deep”

D. in 1865, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》

2) Literary Achievements

A. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1867) a collection of short stories

B. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)《汤姆·索耶历险记》

C. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》

3) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

(1) the idea of lost boyhood

(2) the first person narration

(3) Mark Twain’s greatest achievement A. the world’s view of America; a profound impact onthe development of American writing

B. his influences on American writers of the 20th century

a. his presentation of native American material

b. his art of the vernacular idiom

c. his departure from the tradition of the 19th century gentility d. his sense of alienation

(4) Satire A. Twain’s satire on southern culture before the Civil War

a. two different subjects: ◆ the experience of westward expansion

◆ the experience of southern slavery

b. attitudes toward the South and the West

◆ much less pleasant

◆ the problem of slavery & the problem of mistreatment of humans by humans c. condemning racial discrimination

d. making fun of typical American values

e. a brooding pessimism about American values and life itself

B. Twain’s satire on the poor whites their ludicrous idea: they were white and they were better than black slaves

C. Twain’s satire on the genteel upper-class southerners

a. a very aristocratic life b. being violent accepting their violence as right

(5) Style A. vernacular language: unpretentious, colloquial, and poetic style; the directness of the language

B. local color: descriptions of local places and people; playing tricks on the reader;

C. cracker-barrel philosopher: the moral stance of a cracker-barrel philosopher (someone who understand folk wisdom, has a pretty good common sense of view of life, and is pretty realistic about social problems)

(6) Significance A. the major achievements of his art:

a. the carefully controlled point of view, with its implicit ironies expressed

through the voice of a semiliterate boy

b. the masterful use of dialects c. the felicitous balancing of nostalgic romanticism and realism, humor and pathos, innocence and evil

B. his ability

a. to capture the enduring, archetypal, mythic images of America b. to create the most memorable characters in all of American fiction

2. O. Henry (1862-1910): one of the most prolific modern American short story writers

1) LifeA. born at Greensboro, North Carolina

B. named William Sidney Porter

C. using the penname “O. Henry” in his creative writing

D. died at 48

2) Literary Achievements A. a great master of the art of fiction

B. popular mainly for his short stories

a. typically American b. self-sacrificing member of a family c. the surprise ending

C. illustration of his styleoriginal conception, exaggeration, simile and metaphor, humor, and surprise ending

D. the list of his short stories: about 300 titles

Cabbages and Kings 《白菜与国王》

The Gift of the Magi 《麦琪的礼物》

The Cop and the Anthem 《警察与赞美诗》

A Municipal Report 《城市纪实》

? 3. Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)

1) Life A. born from a large, poor, religious, immigrant family at Terre Haute, Indiana

B. bitter poverty, lacking education, skill and status

C. against the poverty and narrowness of life

D. direct personal experience and independent reading and thinking

E. Spencer’s social Darwinism

F. various jobs

G. writing short stories

H. one of the first American writers to come from the lower level of society

2) Literary Career

A. in September of 1899, Sister Carrie

a. a landmark novel

b. virtually ignored for more than a decade: the heroine transgresses the sexual code — a breach of proper moral conduct

c. republliation in 1907: very popular, one of the key works in the Dreiser canon

d. a female character, the new woman — more freedom in society, more independence, more ability to run her own life without being tied to a family, or without being tied to a husband — the beginning of women’s liberation movement

e. Carrie: no control, no freedom of will, a slave to her heredity and to her environment

B. Dreiser’s second novel Jennie Gerhardt (1911)《珍妮姑娘》

C. “The Trilogy of Desire”: The Financier (1912)《金融家》

The Titan (1914)《巨头》/《巨人》

The Stoic (1947)《斯多葛》

and an aptly autobiographical novel:

The Genius (1915)《天才》

a. financially successful people are of high sexual energy

b. the chaotic nature of life prevents spiritual satisfaction c. normal and right for one to get the most from a society’s economic system

D. Plays of the Natural and Supernatural (1916)《自然与超自然戏剧集》 The Hand of the Potter (1918) : a tragedy 《陶工巧手》

E. An American Tragedy (1925): his masterpiece《美国的悲剧》

F. political activism and polemical writing

a. Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928)《德莱赛对俄罗斯的观感》

b. “Tragic America” (1931) “悲剧的美国”

America Is Worth Saving (1941)《美国是值得拯救的》

G. attending International Peace Conference

H. awarded the Merit Medal for Fiction

I. joining the American Communist Part

J. The Bulwark (1946)《堡垒》

3) Major Features A. stressing determinism:

a. unable to assert their will against natural and economic forces

b. pathetic in their inability to escape their fates

c. subject to the control of the natural forces of heredity and environment

B. society’s effect on a person

a. truthfully reflecting the society and people of his time

b. treating human beings scientifically

c. finding the explanation that man is the product of social evolution

C. narrative method: natural and free from artifice

a. his tone: serious, never satirical or comic

b. powerful narrative based on large quantities of material and detailed descriptions

c. his powerful frankness widens the social and sexual range possible for literature in America d. striking at the American myth that success and famewere to be achieved by work and virtue e. dramatizing chance as a means of compelling characters to pay or gain for actions

f. characteristic of journalistic method of reiteration, word-pictures, sharp contrast, truth in color, and movement in outline

g. its stubborn honesty and realism

D. “the wheelhouse of American naturalism”, “chief spokesman for the realistic novel” and “a profound and prescient critic of debased American values”

a. American naturalism came of age

b. recording the course and the vulgar and the cruel and the terrible founder of American Realism; the most prominent critic of the entire realistic period

Henry James a most prominent critic;

an early psychological novelist

one of the fathers of the psychological novel