美国文学选读期末复习资料The Colonial Period or The Enlightenment and Revolution Period American Puritanism ( roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th)一、Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林作品：1、Poor Richard's Almanac 《格言历书》--- A Collection of maxims, or proverbs, on the value of work and savings for success.2、The Autobiography 《自传》---“美国梦”的根源3、参与起草《独立宣言》American RomanticismThe Romantic Period stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It is a period of the great flowering of American literature.浪漫主义两大主题：爱和大自然的力量The social and cultural background of Romanticism：---The young Republic was flourishing into a politically, economically and culturally independent country.---The Romantic writings revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands.---The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature.---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 (48 poems,70 short 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、Ralph Waldo Emerson 拉尔夫·华尔多·爱默生---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）.散文家、诗人、超验主义的哲学的主要倡导者。
?American TranscendentalismAs 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.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. Puritan severity toward sex and matrimony and its tendency to suppress bright color and 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 worksHawthorne 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 has 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》,Typee《泰比》,Omoo《欧穆》,Mardi《玛地》.Moby Dick 1851 《白鲸》---百科全书式性质/海洋作品/动物史诗（《熊》福克纳、《老人与海》海明威、《白鲸》梅尔维尔）Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived. It is at once Godless and purposeless. Man in this universe lives a meaningless and futile life, meaningless because futile. Once he attempts to seek power over it he is doomed. The idea that man can make the world for himself is nothing but a Transcendentalist folly. Moby Dick thus reveals the basic pattern of 19th century American life:loneliness and suicidal individualism in a self-styled democracy. (a negative reflection upon Transcendentalism)Symbolism in Moby Dick：---It is regarded as the first American prose epic. It is not merely a whaling tale or sea adventure, considering that Melville is a great symbolist. It turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth 寻找真理and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology.---Different people on board the ship are representations of different ideas and different social and ethnic groups; facts become symbols and incidents acquire universal meanings; the Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truth. The white whale, Moby Dick, symbolizes nature for Melville, for it is complex, unfathomable难以理解的,malignant恶性的, and beautiful as well.Moby Dick相关人名、地名人名：Ishmael Ahab Queequeg Moby Dick地名：Pequod Jeroboam (where they meet Gabriel, a prophet.Samuel Enderby ( whose captain is Boomer)The Rachel The Delight六、Henry David Thoreau 亨利·大卫·梭罗As a young man, Thoreau took a more than usual interest in the natural world. Like Emerson, but more than him, he saw nature as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being, and regarded it as a symbol of spirit.Thoreau was very critical of modern civilization. It was, in his opinion, degrading and enslaving man.新英格兰超验主义的重要作家，最有代表性的两件事情就是在瓦尔登湖畔度过的两年和在监狱度过的一夜。