The Literature of Reason and Revolution
(1765-1799)
? Social background
? Enlightenment in American
? Culture
New York State
American Enlightenment
American and English Enlightenment:
Similarities:
Emphasis on education, science, reason, and order
Difference:
“In America Enlightenment ideas nurtured a greater
participatory interest in worldly affairs: Americans
believed that more reasonable political and social
orders should be established. Under the influence of
Enlightenment, Americans also learned to take actions
to resist oppressive power and to criticize and reform
governments.” (Tong, 2002:40).
? Social background
? Enlightenment in American
? Culture
? (2) American Revolution
New York State
The War of Independence (1776-1783)
（Main Literary Genre： essays, speeches, pamphlets）
Thomas Paine– American Crisis (Common Sense)
Thomas Jefferson— “The Declaration of Independence”
The Most Important Writer of the Age
Benjamin Franklin --Autobiography
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Everything seems to meet in this one man, mind and will, talent and art, strength and ease, wit and grace, and he became almost everything: a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador.
Herman Melville described him, “master of each and mastered by none”. (qtd. in Chang, 2006:34)
As an inventor and scientist:
He proved the identity of lightning and electricity
and invented the lightning rod, etc.
As a printer:
He set up his own printing press.
As a statesman and diplomat:
He actively participated in the American Revolution.
As a writer :
Autobiography 《自传》（《富兰克林自传》）
Poor Richard’s Almanac 《格言历书》
? Contents of Poor Richard’s Almanac:
? * Calendar, weather, astronomical information,
? mathematical exercise
? * Proverbs
?
? Sayings in Poor Richard’s Almanac:
? Lost time is never found again.
? A penny saved is a penny found.
? God help them that help themselves.
? Fish and visitors stink in three days.
Autobiography is a book on the art of self-improvement , an inspiring account of a poor boy’s rise to wealth and fame.
Benjamin Franklin
Autobiography
Memoirs
four parts; 65 years old when he wrote it
Contents
An inspiring account of a poor boy’s rise to a high position.
A how-to-do-it book, one on the art of self- improvement;
Covering his life only until 1757 when he was 51 years old;
Describing his life as a shrewd and industrious businessman;
Narrating how he owned the constant felicity of his life, his long-continued health and acquisition of fortune.
Features
a Puritan document
spokesman for American Enlightenment
Style
simplicity, directness and concision
Significance
the beginning of the subject of American Dream in literature
began the genre of autobiography in American lit.
? Structure of the Book:
? Three parts:
? * The first part portrays Franklin as a young man in Boston and Philadelphia. ? (Narrator: a more mature adult Franklin)
? * The second part –an “art of virtue” section.
? * The third part reveals how the adult Franklin uses his principles of conduct to perform
his roles as a scientist and a statesman.
Franklin’s 13 virtues
Autobiography:
1. TEMPERANCE Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation
节制: 食不过饱,饮酒不醉
2. SILENCE Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
寡言: 言必与人与己有益,避免闲聊
3. ORDER Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
生活秩序: 每样东西应有一定地方,每件日常事应有一定时间去做
4. RESOLUTION Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
决心: 决心做的事坚持不懈
5. FRUGALITY Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing.
俭朴: 用钱必须与人与己有益,避免浪费
6. INDUSTRY Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
勤勉: 不浪费时间,每时每刻有事做,去掉一切不必要行动
7. SINCERITY Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; speak accordingly. 诚恳: 不欺骗人,思想要纯洁公正,说话也如此
8. JUSTICE Wrong none by doing injuries; or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 公正: 不做损人利己的事,不要忘记履行应尽的义务
9. MODERATION Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
适度: 避免极端, 人若给你应得处罚, 当容忍之
10. CLEANLINESS Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
清洁: 身体衣服和住所力求清洁
11. TRANQUILITY Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable. 镇静: 勿因小事和不可避免的事而惊慌失措
12. CHASTITY Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
贞节: 绝不损害自己和他人的安宁和名誉
13. HUMILITY Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
谦虚: 仿效耶稣和苏格拉底
?
? What is it mainly about?
? Experiences of reading as a child;
? Experiences of becoming a printer and writing ballads;
? Experiences of taking up prose writing.
? Do you find the language difficult to understand?
? Sentence length: mostly2-3 lines
? Diction: mostly homely, simple words of Anglo-Saxon origin
? Syntax: few inverted sentences
? Few rhetorical devices
?
Significance of Franklin's Autobiography
? Subject matter:
? It is probably the first of its kind in Literature.
? * A faithful account of the colorful life of America’s
? first self-made man.
* Poor and obscure
* Wealthy and famous
*A typical example of the fulfillment of the American Dream.
?
? Theme:
? * A reflection of the age: a demonstration of Enlightenment. ? emphasis on reason and order —13 virtues ? e.g.
? Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation. ?
? Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of ? your business have its time.
? * A Puritan document.
? (A Record of self-examination and self-improvement) ? Style:
? A Exhibition of a simple, concise, direct style.
? As Chang points out, “it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary
illustration of the American style of writing”(2006:34).
Other Possible Themes in Franklin’s Writing
? 1. Interest in the individual and society; the creation of an American national
identity.
? 2. Tension between aristocracy and democracy; the awareness of America being
distinct from England in values and interests.
? 3. Tension between appearance and reality; shift from an other worldly to this
worldly viewpoint.
? 4. Tension between romantic idealism and pragmatic rationalism.
第二篇：1.American_Literature
美国文学
American Literature
Literature
What is literature?
?
? Literature has been the high skills of writing with imagination since the 19th century. Types of literature:
Fiction
Poetry
Drama
Essay
Major Literary Schools
I. Classicism and neoclassicism
? Advocation of rationalism
(Reason should be above everything else.)
Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope
II. Romanticism
? Opposition to neoclassicism
? Emphasis on emotion, imagination and intuition.
William Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron…
III. Realism
?
? Focus on common lives of the average people And unromantic observation of human experiences.
Dickens, Bronte, Austen…
IV. Modernism
? Synonym of revolution against traditional art.
? Emphasis on instinct and subconsciousness.
The Spirit of American Literature★
(the thread throughout American literature)★
Individualism★
? Personal ability
? Hard work leads to success.
Compared with the spirit of Chinese literature
Confucianism
? Moderate
To attack human pride, avoid extremes and keep human desires within appropriate reason and order.
Introduction
? American literature may be the youngest national literatures in the world. Its real
history, if calculating from the end of the revolutionary war, is only about 200 years or more. Within such a short period, American literature swiftly developed, began to ?
?
? receive international recognition, and has had a great effect upon world literature. III. Romanticism (1820--1860)★
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?
? IV. Rise of Realism (1860--1914)★
1.Literature of the Colonial Period殖民统治时期文学 (1607-1776)
From my years young in days of youth,
God did make known to me His Truth,
And call’d me from my native place
For to enjoy the Means of Grace.
In wilderness He did me guide,
William Bradford
? God teaches me and guides me to a right way
I. Historical Background
? Settlement★
The result of religious motives and mercantile motives
?
? Puritanism★ Puritan thoughts: ★
predestination (God decides everything before things occur) ★
Original sin (Human beings were born to be evil.)★
Puritan values:
Hard work, thrift, and piety.
? Individualism and American Dream
II. Features of Literature
?
?
?
? The first American literature was neither American nor real literature. ★ Types of Writing It was the work mainly of immigrants from England.★ It was not in the form of poetry, essay or fiction, but the mixture of travel accounts
and religious writings.★ Diary, history, journal, letter, narrative…
III. Writers
? John Smith★
? As the first Amercan writer★
He is a British soldier of fortune,and strictly speakly speaking,was not litirature at all.A Ture Relation Of Such Occurences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia was a long report recording what he saw and heard in the New World, which he sent back to England and was printed in 1608 whitout his knowledge.
? Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor★
(English immigrants)
? The work of the two writers rose to the level of real poetry.★
2.The Age of Reason and Revolution理性与革命时期文学
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(1776--1820)
I. Historical Background
? The Age of Revolution
? The Age of Reason
The Age of Revolution★
American Revolution of Independence (1776--1783)★
?
? Britain’s suppression on America in economy and politics Revolt against Britain
The Age of Reason★
Enlightenment
? Intellectual movement in Europe (1660’s—1780’s)★
? Humanism: the equality and freedom among men
(to stimulate Americans to strive for the establishment of their independent and democratic nation)
? Rationalism: reason and order
II. Features of Literature
? Utilitarian tendency
(Nothing is good or beautiful but in the measure that is useful.)
? Clear, concise and powerful expression
? Essay as a prominent part
III. Writers and Works
Essayists
? Thomas Paine: Common Sense★
(to make Americans see the necessity to have an independent nation of their own)
? Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence★
(to inspire his contemporaries)
? Benjamin Franklin本杰明.富兰克林: Autobiography★
Poor Richard’s Almanac★
Poet
? Philip Freneau飞利浦.费瑞诺: To the Memory of the Brave Americans★
The Wild Honeysuckle★
Benjamin Franklin本杰明.富兰克林 (1706 – 1790)
Identity
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
? He’s a writer. He’s a scientist. He’s a businessman. He’s a politician. He’s an inventor. He’s the most versatile and enligh-tened man of his generation Born on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts from a very large family. At the age of 12, apprenticed to be a newspaper printer in Boston.
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?
?
?
?
? In 1729, already owned his own printing shop and published the newspaper Pennsylvania Gazette 《宾夕法尼亚报》. In 1732, offered his Poor Richard’s Almanac《格言历书》.★ From 1771 to 1790, wrote his Autobiography《自传》.★ Being one of those who drafted articles leading to the Declaration of Independence. Served to draft the constitution, which was finally adopted in 1789. Literary term
? Autobiography:
- A written account of one’s own life.
- Autobiographical writing as a literary genre.
? It is significant: (1) it is a classic of its kind in American literature; (2) it
indicates the fact that Franklin was the spokesman of American enlightenment.
? Franklin embodied the transition from Puritan piety, and idealism to the
more secular and utilitarian values of the American enlighten-ment.
Significance of Franklin’s Autobiography
? Franklin’s autobiography remains one of the classics of its kind. It shows Franklin
as a man of versatile energy and new ideas, a man who represented American. enlightenment and the fulfillment of American dream.
It is a humorous and fascinating record of an old man’s reflections on his rise from a poor boy to a rich and famous personage through self-examination, self-reliance, and self improvement
Philip Freneau飞利浦.费瑞诺 (1752—1832)
I. Life
Poet of the American Revolution★
? Involvement in the War, and brutal treatment by British in 1780
? Political satires
? Patriotic revolutionary verses
Father of American Poetry★
? Return to nature after political position
? Love of rural life
? Beauty and perfection of nature
Romantic Attitudes★(浪漫主义先驱)
II.Features of poems
Classification of two categories
? Poems on American Revolution
Hatred toward the British colonists
Resentment toward slavery
? Poems of natural beauty
Subject matter: American landscape and images
To avoid imitation of English poets
III. Works
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?
? To the Memory of the Brave Americans《纪念英勇的美国人》★ The Wild Honey Suckle《野金银花》★
3.American Romanticism美国浪漫主义时期文学 (1820-1860)
(From the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the civil war)★
Feature of American Romanticism was both imitative indepandent.★
Imitative:English and European Romanticists★
Independent:Emersn and Whitman★
Romanticism →romantic →romance
? Romantic
remote from the real life
? Romance
story about the adventure and love of knights
? Romanticism
the revival of romance
Precondition of Romanticism
? Intellectually
Reaction against enlightenment
? Politically
Inspired by French revolution
? Socially
Guided by progressive causes
? Emotionally
Emphasis on the value of individual
? focus on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination
―All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings‖
? a heightened interest in nature
American Romanticism
The First Renaissance of American Literature
I. Background
Development of politics, economy and culture
? Expansion of the West
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?
? Rise of industrialism Transmission of literature
? Progressive and developing society
Romantic movement in European countries
Esp. in Britain
II. Features of American Romanticism
?
?
? American puritanism as a cultural heritage American romanticism was both imitative and independent It presented a new experience;the exotic landscape, the frontier life and the
westward expansion
Section I Early Romanticism
i. W. Irving华盛顿.欧文★
Popularize romanticism in American
?
?
?
?
? The Sketch Book《见闻札记》（the first work to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic）★ Legend of Sleepy Hollow《睡谷传说》★ Rip Van Winkle《瑞凡.凡.温克尔》★ Leatherstocking Tales《皮袜子故事集》 (the American national experience of adventure into the West)★ The spy《间谍》★ ii. J.F. Cooper库伯
iii. W.C. Bryant布莱恩特
? To A Waterfowl《致水鸟》★
Section II. Summit of Romanticism—American Transcendentalism I. Appearance: Nature by Emerson in 1836★
II. Focus on intuition and oversoul:
nature—the symbol of spirit
i. R. W. Emerson爱默生★
? Nature《论自然》★
ii. H. D. Thoreau梭罗★
? Walden《瓦尔登湖》★
? Civil Disobedience《论公民之不服从》★
Section III. Late Romanticism
i. N. Hawthorne霍桑★
? The Scarlet Letter《红字》★
ii. H. Melville赫尔曼.梅尔维尔★
? Moby Dick《白鲸》★
? Typee《泰比》★
iii. E. A. Poe库泊★
? Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔.李》★
iv. H. W. Longfellow★
? A Psalm of Life, Song of Hiawatha★
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v. W. Whitman★
? The Leaves of Grass《草叶集》
vi. E. Dickinson★
Edgar Allan Poe 爱伦.坡
?
?
? Famous American poet, short-story writer and critic★ Father of modern short story★ Father of detective story and story of horror ★
I. Life (1809—1849)
?
?
?
? Death of his parents Break with his foster father Work as an editor Marriage to his cousin (gambling and drinking)
? Poverty, little reputation in his life time
Life Story
?
?
?
?
?
?
? Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was orphaned at the age of two. Poe was adopted by John Allan. Poe ran away from home, due to his gambling and drinking debts. Poe had to make a living by writing or editing some magazines Poe married his 13-year old cousin. Her early death may have inspired his writing. Poe died in poverty and with little reputation. An artist with literary genius, indulging himself in a bohemian life style. II.Position in Literary History
?
? The most controversial figure in the history of American literature The unique importance of Poe as a great writer of fiction, a poet of first rank, and a
critic of insight
? The position among the greatest writers of the world.
Writing Features
? Poe’s writing style is traditional.
?
? Poe is not easy to read, just because of his ability to make good use of implications.
The object of poetry is pleasure, not truth.
III. Works
Poetry
? The Raven 《乌鸦》★
?
? To Helen 《致海伦》★ Annabel Lee《安拉贝尔.丽》★The poem is a mourning song for the death of his wife.
Poe did not use her real name, nor did he use the real background.★
Short Story
? The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍房屋倒塌记 》★
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Nathaniel Hhawthorne霍桑(1804-1864)
I. Life
Three important things in his life:
? Puritan family background
? Study in Bowdoin College
? Publication of The Scarlet Letter
Life Story
? Hawthorne was born in Salem Massachusetts. (His ancestors were men of ?
?
? prominence in the Puritan theocracy of seventeenth-century New England. ) His relatives financed his education at Bowdoin College. Among his classmates were many of the important literary and political figures of the day. The Scarlet Letter represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius
II. Works
Fours novels:
The Scarlet Letter (his masterpiece)《红字》★
The House of the Seven Gables《七个尖角阁的房子》★
The Blithedale Romance: experience of transcendentalists experiment. 《福谷传奇》★ The Marble Faun: evil educates. 《大理石雕像》★
Two collections of short stories:
? Twice-Told Tales 《故事重述》★
? Mosses form an Old Manse 《古宅青苔》★
Features of his works
Setting Puritan New England
Themes Evil & sin
Idea Dark view toward human beings
Technique symbolism
Hawthorne as a Literary Artist
?
? First professional writer Hawthorne displayed a love for allegory and symbol.
? His writing is representative of 19th century.
The Scarlet Letter
?
?
?
?
? Hester sin★ Chillingworth(Hester’s husband) evil★ Dimmesdale(Hester’s lover) sin★ Pearl(Hester and Dimmesdale’s child) ★ What does A in The Scarlet Letter symbolize?★
Adultlery--------Ability-----------Angel★
Walt Whitman华特.惠特曼
1. Representative work:
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Leaves of Grass — first genuine epic poem★
2. Free verse — the poetic style he devised★
3. Influence
Contemporary American poetry, whatever school or form, bears witness to his great influence.
Free Verse
a poem without regular rhymes and meters
O Captain! My Captain!
Emily Dickinson 艾米丽.迪金森
1. Life
recluse—to separate herself from the world at the age of 23
single in her life
unhappy love affair
death of her teacher, lover, father before her
2. Themes: based on her own experiences, joys and sorrows
(1) – kind and cruel (300 poems)★
(2) – suffering and frustration caused by love （120 poems)★
Alter? When the hills do
Falter? When the sun
Question if his glory
Be the perfect one.
……
I will of you! (729)
(3) ★ — desire for death★
— moment of death★
— death and immortality★
MY life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell. (1732)
3. Style
(1) poems without titles.★
(2) severe economy of expression.★
(3) capital letters, dash – emphasis.★
(4) short poems, mainly two stanzas.★
She is one of the most innovative poets of 19th-century American literature.
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Because I Could Not Stop for Death
4.Realism现实主义时期 (1860--1914)
The rise of realism and the decline of romanticism
I. Historical Background
? Civil War (1861--1865)★
? Capitalism—freedom and democracy
Development of society before 1880
Financial crisis—unrest society after 1880
II. Features of Literature
Two literary streams★
? Realism (1860--1880)★
Truthful description of life
Objective rather than idealized
Tone: hopeful and optimistic★
? Naturalism (1880--1914)★
Theory of Darwinism: survival of the fittest
Focus on environment and human
Tone: hopeless and gloomy★
III. Writers and Works
? Three giants: M. Twain, H. James and W. D. Howells★
Writers of realism
?
?
? W.D.Howells:The Rise of Silas Lapham★ Mrs. Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin★ Mark Twain: the true father of American literature★
representation of local colour★
★
The Adventures of Huckle Finn(1884)★
? O. Henry: founder of American short story★
The Cop and the Anthem★
? Henry James: psychological novels★
The Art of fiction★
Writers of Naturalism
? Jack London: The Sea Wolf★
The Call of the Wild★
? Stephen Crane:The Red Badge Courage(his most successful work)★ ? Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie★
An American Tragedy(the most successful one)★
5.The Modern Period现代主义时期 (1914-- )
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Literature during WWI and WWII (1914--1945)★
? Section I: Literature in the 1920’s
I. Introduction
A flowering period of American literature
The Second Renaissance of American literature★
II. Background★
1. The first world war:★
?
? Economically: great wealth, economic boom, highly-consuming society Spiritually: fragmentation
2. Freud’s theory (psychology)★
3. Emigration (to Asia)★
?the influence of Japanese and Chinese culture and literature III. Literary Schools★
1. Imagism (poets)★
? Representatives: E. Pound, T. S. Eliot,
R. Frost
2. Lost Generation (novelists)★
? E. Hemingway, F. Scott. Fitzgerald
3. Southern Literature★
?W. Faulkner
Section II: Literature in the 1930’s
I. Background
? Great Depression (1929)
II. The Main Stream
?
?
? Left-oriented J. Steinbeck Imagism Image 意象
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意―意识，abstract ideas
象―世间物象，concrete objects
eg:圆月―思家之情 longing for home
? Imagism
to use concrete objects to express abstract ideas
?
? Symbolism Symbol ― image
to compress a very complex idea into an image eg: rose, spring
love, life
(Both writers and readers know what the symbol represents.) eg: A in Scarlet Letter
adultery, ability, angel ?
? (Symbols created by writers to convey particular meanings.) Three Principles of Imagism
I. Direct treatment of objects
II. Free verse
III. Economy of expressions
Images in Chinese and western literature
Strong will : pine, plum,oak
Love :peach blossom rose
Purity: lotus lily ? ?
?
? In Chinese the sound of bell, 梅、兰、竹、菊 In English paradise, snake, west wind, nightingale, daffodil E. Pound 庞德
?
? He spearheaded the new school of poetry: Imagist Movement★ Imagism’s founder★
I. Life
? to emigrate to Asian and study Japanese literature II. Works
? Cantos (a collection of poems)
In a Station of the Metro★
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T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965) 艾略特
I. Life
―A royalist in politics, a classicist in literature, and an Anglo-Catholic in religion‖
a royalist: the change of his nationality
American to English ?
?
? a classicist: poetic theory, the use of allusion
an Anglo-Catholic: religious conversion to Christianity
II. Works
1. Poems
?
? The Waste Land 《荒原》including 5 parts, has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English★ Four Quartets 《四个四重奏》(he found the way out and believed only God could
save people)★
2. Critical Essays
? The Sacred Wood《圣林》 (New Criticism)★
3. Plays
? Images in his works
the waste land, water, fire
story of king Fish, rain and river, burning and purifying ―death and rebirth
Robert Frost 弗洛斯特
Lost Generation
? The Lost Generation:
The Lost Generation is a term used to describe a group of American intellectuals, poets, artists and writers fled to France in the post WWI years to reject the values of American materialism and to seek the bohemian lifestyle in Paris.
His Poems
1) After Apple-Picking 《摘罢苹果》★
2) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 《雪夜林边驻足》★
3) The Road Not Taken 《没有选择的路》★
F. Scott Fitzgerald 菲茨杰拉德(1890 - 1940)
His masterpiece：
The Great Gatsby《伟大的盖茨比》★
Ernest Hemingway (1899 -1961)
I. Biography:
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?Born in Illinois, the son of a country doctor, Hemingway worked as a reporter in 1917.
?During World War I, he served as a driver for the American Red Cross in Italy.
?During the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway served as a correspondent.
?He fought in World War II and then settled in Cuba in 1945.
In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (The Old Man and the Sea).
?In 1961, depressed, and ill with cancer, he shot himself.
Literary achievements
Novels:
The Sun Also Rises
A Farewell to Arms (1929) tells of a tragic wartime love affair between an ambulance driver and an English nurse. ★
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) in detailing an incident in the war, argues for human brotherhood. ★
The Old Man and the Sea (1952) celebrates the courage of an aged Cuban fisherman, Santiago. ★
Story collections:
In Our Time (1925) 《在我们的时代》
Men without Women(1927)《没有女人的男人》
Winner Take Nothing (1933) 《胜者无所得》
The Lost Generation
?The Lost Generation:
The Lost Generation is a term used to describe a group of American intellectuals, poets, artists and writers fled to France in the post WWI years to reject the values of American materialism and to seek the bohemian lifestyle in Paris. without a meaningful future to fall on, they were lost in disillusionment.
Main Character:
Santiago: The hero of the story. He is an old Cuban fisherman who is a perfectionist when it comes to fishing. Despite his precise methods, he has no luck at sea. Santiago wants to be unique: a greater and stranger person than his peers out at sea. He is alone, except for the company of Manolin. He is determined to catch one big fish.
Writing Style:
Hemingway’s fiction usually focuses on people living essential, dangerous lives—soldiers, fishermen, athletes, bullfighters—who meet the pain and difficulty of their existence with courage.
His celebrated literary style is direct, terse, and often monotonous, yet particularly suited to his elemental subject matter.
His language is characterized by features including: economy of expression, short sentences and paragraphs, vigorous and positive language, and deliberate avoidance of gorgeous adjectives, and etc.
?Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory
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美国文学
Eugene O’Neill 尤金.奥尼尔( 1888 – 1953)
?―American Shakespeare‖
?Born in a Broadway hotel in New York City, a son of a famous and popular actor. ?He came in close contact with the outcasts of society and tasted the bitterness of life. ?In 1920 his first full-length play, Beyond the Horizon, was professionally produced on Broadway and won the Pulitzer Prize.
?His major work Long Day’s Journey into Night 《长夜慢慢路迢迢》(1956).
?Four Pulitzer Prizes (1920, 1922, 1928, 1957) and the Nobel Prize in 1936 show his achievement and influence at home and abroad.
Joseph Heller (1923 – 1999)
?New York author who served in the air force in World War II.
?Received an A. B. from New York University, an M.A. from Columbia, studied at Oxford, and taught briefly before writing Catch-22 (1961) 《第二十二条军规》.
What is Catch-22?
If the men are really crazy, then they will want to fly the missions, regardless of whether or not they want to be killed. If they do not want to fly the missions, then they are sane and must fly them.
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