第7章自然主义Ⅰ. Fill in the blanks.1. Jack London’s masterwork _____ is somewhat autobiographical.【答案】Martin Eden【解析】杰克·伦敦名作《马丁·伊登》(Martin Eden)是一部带有自传色彩的长篇小说中,在该书中杰克·伦敦倾注了他的全部心血,写下了自己如何在平庸的资产阶级鄙夷下含辛茹苦地读书和写作的经历。
2. Theodore Dreiser visited the Soviet Union in 1927 and published _____ thefollowing year.【答案】Dreiser Looks at Russia【解析】1927年访苏后,德莱塞发表了一些作品,其中重要的有1928年发表的《德莱塞访苏印象记》(Dreiser Looks at Russia)。
Ⅱ. Explain the following term s1. American Naturalism(北二外2007研;南开大学2008研)Key: American Naturalism appeared in the late 19th to early 20th century. The movement was inspired by the principles and methods of natural science, especially Darwinism, which were adapted to literature and art. In literature, naturalism extended the tradition of realism, aiming at an even more faithful, pseudoscientific representation of reality, presented without moral judgment.Characters in naturalistic literature typically illustrate the deterministic role of heredity and environment on human life. Typical American Naturalism is represented by Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Frank Norris’s McTeague and Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrier.2. “Trilogy of Desire”(中国人民大学2006研)Key: It refers to Theodore Dreiser’s three novels: The Financier,The Titan and The Stoic. The trilogy is based on the life of Charles T.Yerkes,an American transportation magnate. In his trilogy Dreiser’s focus shifted from the pathos of the helpless protagonists at the bottom of the society to the power of the American financial tycoons in the late 19th century.3. Determinism(国际关系学院2007研)Key: Determinism is the view that every event, including human cognition, behavior, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. With numerous historical debates, many varieties and philosophical positions on the subject of determinism exist from traditions throughout the world.4. The Octopus(四川大学2008研)Key: The Octopus is a novel by Frank Norris. It describes the raising of wheat in California, and conflict between the wheat growers and a railway company.Inspired by role of the Southern Pacific Railroad, it depicts the tension between the corrupt railroad and the ranchers and the ranchers’ League. The book emphasized the control of “forces” such as wheat and railroads over individuals.5. Henry Fleming(北航2009研)Key: Henry Fleming is the protagonist of The Red Badge of Courage, written by American novelist Stephen Crane. Henry Fleming is a young farm boy whose dreams of glorious battle lead him to join in the American Civil War. Upon entering battle, his initial confrontation with true war perplexes him and he flees into the woods and feels like a coward. A fter he receives his “red badge of courage,” a head wound, this shame begins to disappear, and however, he feels guilty. He managed to return to battlefield. In the following battles, Henry becomes one of the best fighters in his battalion as well as the flag bearer, finally proving his courage as a man.Ⅲ. Read the following quotation and answer the questions.The advance of the enemy had seemed to the youth like a ruthless hunting. He began to fume with rage and exasperation. He beat his foot upon the ground, and scowled with hate at the swirling smoke that was approaching like a phantom flood. There was a maddening quality in this seeming resolution of the foe to give him no rest, to give him no time to sit down and think. Yesterday he had fought and hadfled rapidly. There had been adventures. For today he felt that he had earned opportunities for contemplative repose. He could have enjoyed portraying to uninitiated listeners various scenes at which he had been a witness or ably discussing the processes of war with other proved men. Too it was important that he should have time for physical recuperation. He was sore and stiff from his experiences. He had received his fill of all exertions, and he wished to rest. Questions:1. From which novel is this paragraph taken?2. Who is the author of this novel?3. How does the author succeed in giving the reader the feeling of war?Key:1. The Red Badge of Courage2. Stephen Crane3. The author compares war to a hunting process. The ruthlessness of war hasturned men into animals. They have to flee or to hunt others or to be hunted.The hero’s psychological anger and restlessness reflected in the passage is a reflection of war’s cruelty.Ⅳ. Short answer questionsHow did Crane’s career as a journalist help him as a fiction writer?Key: Crane’s career as a fiction writer paralleled his career as a newspaper reporter, which explains why his narration is objective, his observation and histime-sequence accurate. Also reflecting his experience as a journalist are the swift impressions he uses to introduce events and characters.Ⅴ. Essay questions1. What is Stephen Crane’s fictional world like in general? In what sense is it naturalistic?Key: Crane’s fictional world is governed by a God who is either indifferent to humanity or is unable to intervene in human affairs. The characters subsist in the struggles of life and in the midst of violence. The author observes them with pessimistic detachment but offers psychological insights about them; in the latter respect, Crane was a decade or so ahead of his time.A distinct character trait in Crane’s fiction is how he, through the effect of fear, reveals the horror of war, depicts irrational human responses to the condition of life, exposes poverty, as well as the associated vices and unprovoked cruelty. In short, his depiction of fear compels the reader to look at the meaninglessness of life. Therefore, it reflects the naturalistic feature of his works.2. What are the common elements in Red Badge of Courage and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets? And what is being mocked in each of the two?Key: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and The Red Badge of Courage have a great deal in common. (1)Both are impressionistic studies of elemental fear, one associated with shame, the other with the failure of courage in military combat.(2)Each portrays a young person facing a crisis in life. (3)Each presents the color and movement of circumstances from without and the psychological and emotional forces from within. (4)Not insignificantly, Maggie Johnson and Henry Fleming are both portrayed in their first encounter with death.In Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, the point of the story, through the ironies, is its mockery of the theory that possessing moral qualities superior to one’s e nvironmental situation can enhance one’s survival. The irony of The Red Badge of Courage turns on the fact that Fleming’s fear first leads to his “cowardly” flight and then ends with his “heroic” attack.3. What is Frank Norris’s own explanation of his fi ction? Why then would critics link him with Crane as naturalists? What is naturalistic about McTeague and The Octopus?Key: What is striking about Norris’s explanation of his fiction is that he denied any kinship with realism and defined himself in the tradition of “romance.”Because that his “romance” clearly shows the naturalist characteristics: pessimism of human existence in the short run; genetic determinism; Darwinist view of nature which is inclusive of sex, growth, hunger, environment; the natural laws of economic forces. In 1899, three years after Maggie was published, Norris’s McTeague appeared. It was then that critics linked Crane and Norris as naturalists.McTeague tells of how an unschooled and crude San Francisco dentist, due。