Introduction to American Literature

美国文学： 与思想伟 人和文学大师 同行！

主要参考书

 常耀信 : 《美国文学简史》  李宜燮，常耀信 : 《美国文学选读》  童明 : 《美国文学史》, 外语教学与研究出版 社；  吴定柏 : 《美国文学大纲》, 上海外语教育出 版社  吴定柏 : 《美国文学欣赏》, 上海外语教育出 版社  杨金才 : 《新编美国文学史》  秦小孟 : 《当代美国文学》

Introduction  American literature may be among the youngest national literatures in the world.  Its real history, if calculating roughly from the end of the Revolutionary War (October,1781), is only about 200 years or more.

 Within such a short period, American literature  swiftly developed  well matured  began to receive international recognition  has exercised an impactful effect upon world literature  In fact American writers have brought out some of the world’s best literature.

Nobel Prize nine American Nobel Prize Winners in Literature  1930: Sinclair Lewis, 刘易斯  1936: Eugene O’Neill, 奥尼尔  1938: Pearl S. Buck, 赛珍珠  1949: William Faulkner, 福克纳  1954: Ernest Hemingway, 海明威  1962: John Steinbeck, 斯坦贝克  1976: Saul Bellow, 索尔 · 贝娄  1978: Isaac Bashevis Singer, 辛格  1993: Toni Morrison, 莫里森

 1980: Czeslaw Milosz 米沃什 (Poland/USA)  1987: Joseph Brodsky 布罗德斯基 (USSR/USA) 1948: T. S. Eliot 艾略特 (USA/UK)

 Basic common qualities of American Writers:  Independent ，独立精神  Individualistic ，个性意识  Critical ，批判精神  Innovative ，革新意识  Humorous ，幽默风格

I. The Early Age: the foundation of a Great Nation  1. The Colonial Period ( )  2. The Period of Independent Revolution ( )

 主要内容 : General background, major writers and their works  重点难点 : American Puritanism

 Beginning: the settlement of America in the early 17th century  Ending: the end of the 18th century

Contents  I. Historical Introduction  II. Puritan and Puritanism

I. Historical Introduction  European nations came to the Americas to  increase their wealth  broaden their influence over world affairs  The Spanish: the first to settle in what is now the United States

 By 1650, however, England had established a dominant presence on the Atlantic coast.  The first colony founded at:  Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607  Many of the people who settled in the New World came to escape religious persecution.

Two Important New England Settlements  1. The Plymouth Colony  2. The Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Mayflower

1. The Plymouth Colony  Flagship name: “Mayflower”  Arrives: 1620  Leader : William Bradford ( 布拉德福 )  Settlers: known as Pilgrims and Separatists Separatists: 脱离英国国教者

Mayflower

 “The Mayflower Compact”  provides for social, religious, and economic freedom  still maintains ties to Great Britain

2. The Massachusetts Bay Colony  Flagship name: Arbella  Arrives: 1630  Leader: John Winthrop ( 温斯洛普 )  Settlers: mostly Puritans or Congregational Puritans ( 公理会教徒 )

“The Arbella Covenant”  clearly establishes a religious and theocratic settlement  free of ties to Great Britain

 In the two settlements, the colonists flourished with some assistance from Native Americans. (Thanksgiving)  New World grains:  Corn: kept the colonists from starving  Tobacco: provided a valuable cash crop

 Great Britain's 13 North American colonies  Enslaved Africans  By 1770, more than 2 million people lived and worked there.

II. Puritans and Puritanism  1. Puritans  2. Puritanism

1. Puritans strict religious discipline simplification  A member of a group of English Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries advocated strict religious discipline along with simplification of the ceremonies and creeds of the Church of England.

 puritan: one who lives in accordance with Protestant precepts ( 教训, 训诫 ), especially one who regards pleasure or luxury as sinful.

 English religious and political reformers  fled their native land in search of religious freedom  settled and colonized New England in the 17th century

 They wished to reform or “purify” their religious beliefs and practice.  To them, religion should be a matter of personal faith rather than a ritual.

2. Puritanism (1) Features of Puritanism Predestination a. Predestination ( 命运, 造化 ) : God decided everything before things occurred.

b. Original sin  Human beings were born to be evil  this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation

“In Adam’s fall, we all sin. ”  Through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born sinful.  They considered that man  was born sinful  was a sinner  could not redeem his original sin

Total depravity c. Total depravity  As a consequence of the Fall of Man, every person born into the world is  enslaved to the service of sin  utterly unable to choose to follow God or choose to accept salvation as it is freely offered

Limited atonement d. Limited atonement Only the “elect” can be saved.

More Terms The Holy Bible:  the guidebook to man’s behaviors. Unconditional Election:  God “saves” those he wishes  only a few are selected for salvation  concept of predestination

Limited Atonement  Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.

Irresistible Grace:  God’s grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied.  Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.

 Over the years in the new homeland, they built a way of life that stressed  hard work  thrift  piety  sobriety

 Religious activities: a matter of first importance and all others should serve the religion  Their lives: disciplined and hard

(2) Influence of Puritanism on American literature  a. The spirit of optimism  b. Symbolism as a technique  c. Simplicity

(3) The Function of Puritan Writers  1. To transform a mysterious God.  2. To make him more relevant to the universe.  3. To glorify God.

(4) The Style of Puritan Writing a. Protestant - against ornateness; reverence for the Bible. b. Purposiveness c. Puritan writing reflected the character and scope of the reading public, which was literate and well-grounded in religion.

 The style: fresh, simple and direct  The rhetoric: plain and honest, with a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.

The main literary works (no 1 st -rank literary works produced)  diaries & journals  travel books  collections of letters  histories  poetry  biographies  prose

(2) writers of colonial period  a. Anne Bradstreet  b. Edward Taylor  c. Roger Williams  d. Thomas Paine  e. Philip Freneau

III. Literary Scene in Colonial Period  Form, content and writing style in the literature of the early colonial period  a. Form: personal literature in its various forms;  b. Content: served either God or colonial expansion or both  c. Writing style: imitated and transplanted English literary traditions

 The first American writer: Captain John Smith  The best poet in the colonial America: Edward Taylor  The most famous poetess in the colonial America: Anne Bradstreet

 Class Is Over.