Categories of Fiction-Types of prose fiction:
• Flash fiction (小小说）: A work of fewer than 2,000 words. (1,000 by some definitions) (around 5 pages) • Short story （短篇小说）: A work of at least 2,000 words but under 7,500 words. (5-25 pages) • Novelette（中篇小说）: A work of at least 7,500 words but under 17,500 words. (25-60 pages) • Novella （中篇小说）: A work of at least 17,500 words but under 50,000 words. (60-170 pages) • Novel （长篇小说）: A work of 50,000 words or more. (about 170+ pages) • Epic （史诗）: A work of 200,000 words or more. (about 680+ pages)
• As Robert Frost says, literature is a performance in words. It is the work of men who are specially sensitive to the language of their time and who use the skill of language to make their vision of life.
An Outline of English Literature
• I. Old English, or Anglo—Saxon, Era (450-1066) • II. Middle English Period (1066-1485) • III. The Renaissance Period (1485-early 17th century) • IV. The 17th Century • V. The 18th Century • VI. The Romantic Age(1789-1837) • VII. Victorian Age (1837-1901) • VIII. 20th Century Literature
• Unit 1: The Anglo-Saxon Period
Why study literature?
• It improves your language proficiency. • It enriches your knowledge about the English culture. • It helps you explore the nature of human beings. It gives you spiritual and psychological relief.
1 Introducຫໍສະໝຸດ ion to literature
1.1 Nature of literature
What is literature? There have been various attempts to define literature. Many books have been written about introduction to literature, and there have been many answers to the question what is literature.
1.2 Function and significance of literature
a. Reading for pleasure Howells observed that the study of literature should begin and end in pleasure. b. Reading for relaxation Modern life is full of pressure. It is people’s common desire to seek temporally relaxation from the stress in life. c. Reading to acquire knowledge Literature gives readers an insight into the tradition, custom, beliefs, attitudes, folklore, values of the age in which it is written.
What is Literature?
Literature is – Writings that are valued as works of art, esp. fiction, drama and poetry – Composition that tells a story, dramatizes a situation, expresses emotions, analyzes and advocates ideas – Helps us grow personally and intellectually – Provides an objective base for knowledge and understanding – Shapes our goals and values by clarifying our own identities, both positively and negatively – Literature makes us human.
二、课程的基本要求
• • • • • • 1．课程的要求：学完本课程，学生应该掌握如下能力： ①对于英国文学史有整体性的把握； ②掌握分析和鉴赏文学作品的能力； ③独立完成千字左右的文学作品评析的英文论文； ④掌握文学概念和相关文学流派的专业知识。 2．质量标准：检验学生是否了解、认识英国文学各个时 期的主要文化、文学流派、主要作家及其代表作品，了 解英国文学的发展历史，并能够用最基本的文化理论和 批评方法，理解、分析文学作品，提高文学鉴赏力、语 言表达能力，提高文学修养。
Literary genres
Fiction (narrative fiction叙述虚构 ): novel, novella中篇小说, short story, myth, parable 寓言, romance, epic史诗 Poetry images, sound, figurative language Drama Poetic form → daily language Nonfiction非小说类散文文学 prose散文 : news report, feature articles, text-books, historical and biographical works
History and Anthology of British Literature
Today’s Schedule
• Introduction Why do we study British literature? What is literature? What are we going to know in this course?
三、教材与教学参考书
• 1．教材： • 吴伟仁 《英国文学史及选读》 1988年 外语教学与 研究出版社 • 2．教学参考书： • （1）陈嘉，《英国文学史》，1986年 商务印书馆 • （2）刘炳善，《英国文学史》，2004年 河南人民 出版社 • （3）张鑫友，《英国文学史及选读学习指南》 2002年 湖北科学技术出版社
Timeline of British literature
1. Tribal部落的,种族的 society of the Celts凯尔特人 → the Roman conquest → Anglo-Saxons 盎格鲁撒克逊人 → the Norman诺曼底人 Conquest (the old and Medieval中世纪的 period) → 2. mid-15th to early 17th c. (the Renaissance) →
→ In the widest sense literature is just about
anything written.
→ But in the more specialized sense of the word,
literature is the art that uses language as a medium.
What are we going to learn in this course? • Syllabus for this course see the contents of the textbook
一、课程性质与任务
• 该门课程在英语专业人才培养中旨在使学生从 英国历史、语言、文化发展的角度，掌握英国 文学各个时期的主要文学、文化思潮，文学流 派，主要作家及其代表作，同时帮助学生对英 国文学的发展有深刻的了解和认识，并通过介 绍一些最基本的文化理论和批评方法，对部分 在思想上艺术上有代表性，有影响的作家及作 品进行分析、导读，增强学生对英国文学的形 成和发展的理解，提高他们对文学作品的鉴赏 能力和文学修养。
What is Literature?
Literature refers to the practice and profession of writing. It comes from human interest in telling a story, in arranging words in artistic forms, in describing in words some aspects of human experiences. Literature shows us not only what a society is like in a certain age, but also what individuals feel about it, what they hope from it, and how they can change it or escape from it.