南开大学 外国语学院 美国文学 浪漫主义.doc

American Romanticism (1820-1860) As a literary trend or movement, Romanticism, occurred and developed in Europe America at the turn of the 18th 19th centuries under the historical background of the Industrial Revolution around 1760 the French Revolution (1772-1829). Romanticism marked the reaction in literature, philosophy, art, religion, and polities from the Neoclassicism （新古典主义）and formal orthodoxy （正统学说）of the past. Romanticism The term ,Romantic, as a designation for a school of literature opposed to the Classic was first used by the German critic Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) at the beginning of the 19th century. Romantic Attitudes Stressing individual creative function of imagination. Placing individual at the very center of all life and all experience and at the center of art. Time Range From the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War. Social Background Industrial urban society ---Economic boom: 1. Industrialism optimism 2. Immigration ( and hope 3. Westward expansion among people Characteristics 1. A rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism 2. The feelings, intuitions(直觉），emotions more important than reason common sense. 3. Believing the world as a living, breathing being: the close relationship between man nature; nature as a revelation of truth, living garment of God, suitable subject for true art. 4. Emphasizing individualism : individual against group, authority; emphasizing personal freedom freedom from formalism (形式主义） tradition . 5. Affirming the inner life of the self: each person free to develop express own inner thoughts. 6. Cherishing strong interest in the past, esp. the medieval （中世纪） Attracted by the wild, irregular, indefinite, remote, mysterious the strange Interested in variety: typical forms of Romanticism – ballad(民谣，通俗叙事诗歌）, lyric （抒情诗）, sentimental comedy, problem novel, historical novel, gothic romance, critical essay Cultural nationalism– national literature