American Literature 美国文学概论.ppt

American Literature 美国文学教学内容主要包括五部分 早期美国文学（Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, etc. ）； 美国浪漫主义与超验主义文学（Ralph W. Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson , etc ）； 美国现实主义与自然主义文学（Mark Twain, Jack London , etc ）； 美国现代主义文学（Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O’Neill , etc ）； 战后美国文学:美国戏剧（Eugene O’Neil，Tennessee Williams，Arthur Miller，Theatre of the Absurd , etc ），还有犹太文学（Saul Bellow , etc ），黑人文学（Ralph Ellison，Toni Morrison) Chapter 1 Colonial Period the settlement of North America——1607 the Independence War——1783 Early history In 1542, Christopher Columbus found the new continent called America In 1607, Captain John Smith led some Englishmen across the ocean. In 1620, 102 passengers sailed on the ship Mayflower across the ocean and settled on the new continent “New England” Background: Puritanism Puritans wanted to purify the church to its original state, they thought the churches are corrupted Features of Puritanism Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred. Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. Total depravity Limited atonement: Only the “selected” can be saved. Idealist: they dream to build a new Eden on earth. Everlasting myth--garden of Eden. Pragmatists: Become tougher, more practical: hard conditions for survival, preoccupied with business and profit A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. . Influence on literature: Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American Writers of Colonial Period Benjamin Franklin life works Poor Richard’s Almanac Autobiography contribution He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Soc