《美国文学Unit2Poe》-精选·课件.ppt

Selected Readings in American Literature Unit 2 The American Romanticism I. What is Romanticism A literary movement flourished as a cultural force associated with imagination and boundlessness. The 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. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. The most clearly defined romantic literary movement in the U. S.A was Transcendentalism.  Washington Irving and James Fennimore Cooper,  and those of the late period contain Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe. II. Features of American romanticism (1) It was the expression of “a real new experience(全新 体验)”.  (2) American Puritanism was a cultural heritage. Many American romantic writings intended to edify(启发) more than they entertained. (3) American Romanticism is full of “newness(新奇)” . Ideals：Individualism; political equalityDream：America: a new Garden of Eden (4) American romanticism was both imitative and independent. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) E.A. Poe (1809—1849) (3) He worked as editor and writer most of his life and he was always poor. (4) At 27 he married his 13-year-old cousin, whose death in 1847 left him inconsolable. (5)One winter night, he was found unconscious on the street and died the next day in hospital in 1849 Demons Alcohol addiction Gambling Addiction Guilt of Incest Emotional Instability Social “Misfit” Financial Failure Catalytic Sleeping Illness the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure.  Works Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque《奇异怪诞故事集》 MS. Found in a Bottle 《瓶子里发现的手稿》 The Murders in the Rue Morgue 《毛格街杀人案》 The Fall of the House of Usher 《厄舍古屋的倒塌》 The Masque of the Red Death 《红色死亡的化妆舞会》 T