美国文学期末考试复习大纲.doc

美国文学期末考试复习大纲 Ⅰ. 文学史 American Puritanism (美国请教主义): Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century. Background: Puritanism 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 “elect” can be saved. Influence A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden. Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. Overview of the literature types of writing: diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons writers of colonial period Anne Bradstreet Edward Taylor Roger Williams John Woolman Thomas Paine Philip Freneau Jonathan Edwards Benjamin Franklin American Enlightenment (美国启蒙运动): Enlightenment is a philosophical movement of the 18th century that emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted doctrines and traditions and that brought about many humanitarian reforms. The American Enlightenment is a term sometimes employed to describe the intellectual culture of the British North American colonies and the early United States (as they became following the American Revolution). It is commonly dated from 1750—1820. Among the leading intellectual figures of this period are Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Democratic Origins and Revolutionary Writers, 1776—1820 Background: American Revolution——historical