美国文学史

nullII. Literature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (1)II. Literature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (1)I. Cultural Background: Discovery of America and early settlers II. American Puritanism 1.Puritans – American Puritans – American Puritanism 2.Calvinism:Predestination,Original Sin, Total Depravity, Limited Atonement 3. Its influence upon American writings: a. (technique): symbolism b. (tone): optimism c. (language): simplicity d. (theme): redemption and salvationnullThe Embarkment of the pilgrims/puritansnullnullWhitefield preachingLiterature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (2)Literature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (2)III. The Literary in the Colonial Period 1. General features: Of Humble origin; documentary; personal 2. Literary Forms: histories, letters, journals, sermons, narratives, poetry, novels, etc. A. histories: Captain John Smith’s A Description of New England William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation John Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia B. Personal account: Slave narratives, prisoner’s narratives, etc. e.g. Marry Rowlandson’s personal account of her being captured and imprisoned by the American Indians C. Sermons: Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God nullnullnullnullnullWilliam bradfordnullnullThe front page of the Bradford journal nullJohn Winthrop Tomb Boston nullnullnullMonticello, Jefferson’s neoclassical mansion nullThe Lawn, University of VirginianullThe Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.II. Literature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (3)II. Literature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (3)D. Poetry: Anne Bradstreet and her religious and secular poetry John Norton and John Rogers’s elegies for Anne Michael Wigglesworth’s The Day of Doom (1662) Edward Taylor's religious poetry: Preparatory Meditations Benjamin Tompson: New England Crisis (satirical poem) Ebenerzer Cook, Sotweed Factor (1708) (Bath’s in 1959) (In the Revolutionary Period) John Trumbull, Progress of Dulness and M’Fingal (political satire) Francis Hopkinson, The Battle of kegs (1779) Joel Barlow, The Hasty Pudding (1796), The Vision of Columbus(1787) Timothy Dwight, The Conquest of Canaan (1785) David Humphreys, The Anarchiard (1787) Philip Freneau’s patriotic/nature poetry: “The Indian Burial Ground” Phillis Wheatley the first Afro-American poetess: On Messrs Hussey and Coffin, Thoughts on the Works of Providence nullnullnullnullWoburn, Massachusetts, Library with statue of Benjamin Thompson Benjamin Thompson JOHN TRUMBULL 1750–1831JOHN TRUMBULL 1750–1831JOHN TRUMBULL, American Poet American poet, b. Westbury (now Watertown), Conn. He passed the entrance examinations to Yale when he was seven, but did not enter until he was thirteen. While tutoring at Yale he wrote The Progress of Dulness (1772–73), a satire on educational follies. In 1773 he entered the law office of John Adams and was drawn into the political fervor of his times, writing the bombastic An Elegy of the Times (1774) and the mock-epic burlesque of Tory politics, M'Fingal (1775–82). One of the Connecticut Wits, he contributed to the Anarchiad and the Echo and was an ardent Federalist.nullnullnullnullOld South Meetinghouse II. Literature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (4)II. Literature in the Colonial Period (1607-1820) (4)E. Novels: 1.William Hill Brown, Power of Sympathy, 1789 (Sentimental epistolary novel). 2.Susana Rowson, Charlotte Temple (1791), third-person narrative 3.Hannah Foster, The Coquette (1797) 4.Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry, (1792-1815) (Picaresque novel) 5.Gilbert Imlay, The Emigrants (1793) 6.Royall Tyler, The Algerine Captive (1797) 7.Charles Brockden Brown and his gothic novels Wieland(1798), Edgar Huntly (1799), Ormond (1799), Arthur Mervyn (1800) nullThe Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown (1789), title page William Hill Brown nullnullnullHugh Henry Brackenridge, first American novelist and founder of the University of Pittsburgh. Modern Chivalry first editionnullnullnullCharles Brockden Brown1811 reprint edition of Wieland; or, the Transformation Chapter Two (I) Edwards, Franklin, and CrevecoeurChapter Two (I) Edwards, Franklin, and Crevecoeur1. The Intellectual Backgrounds for the 18th Century: A. American Puritanism (still dominating) B. The Great Awakening in 1730s and 1740s Jonathan Edwards as one of the leading advocates C. Deism: a Compromise between Science and Religion Newton and his “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (in which he put forward his famous principle of universal gravitation) D. The Influence of The Enlightenment Movement (in France: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Voltaire) (in England: Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe)Chapter Two (2) Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)Chapter Two (2) Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) Man Of GodChapter Two (2) Jonathan EdwardsChapter Two (2) Jonathan EdwardsII. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) 1. Status: a puritan writer, theologian, colonial American preacher and missionary to Native Americans 2. Comments: Edwards “is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian". He is known as one of the greatest and most profound of American theologians and revivalists. (born for religion and died for science) 3. Works: The Freedom of the Will (1954); The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended (1758); The Nature of True Virtue (1765) “Personal Narrative” and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” are his frequently anthologized pieces. nullChapter Two (2) Jonathan EdwardsChapter Two (2) Jonathan Edwards4. Criticism: His work is very broad in scope, but he is often associated with his defense of Calvinist theology, the metaphysics of theological determinism, and the Puritan heritage. His famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” emphasized the just wrath of God against sin and contrasted it with the provision of God for salvation; the intensity of his preaching sometimes resulted in members of the audience fainting, swooning, and other more obtrusive reactions. Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Man of ActionChapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)III. Benjamin Franklin A. Status: one of the greatest founding fathers of the American Nation a rare genius in human history Jack of all trades: essayist, autobiographical writer, printer, scientist, postmaster, almanac maker, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador, parlor man, almost everythingChapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)B. Life and Career (Early Years): 1.Calvinist background in Boston 2.Candle-maker’s family – “poor and obscure” 3.Little formal education Self-taught and self-made 4.Apprentice to his half brother – composer His maiden writing in the pseudo-name Silence Dogood A runaway boy from Boston to Philadelphia to make his own fortune Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)B. Life and Career (A Story of Success) 5.A successful printer who retired at 42 6. He founded the Pennsylvania Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, a subscription library, volunteer fire departments 7. He invented a musical instrument called glass harmonica, the effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, efficient heating system, and lightning-rod for which he was praised as “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven by Immanuel Kant” Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)B. Life and Career (Public Career) 8. A member of the Pennsylvania Assembly The Deputy Postmaster-General for the colonies Representative of the colonies in London for 18 years; Minister to France; Minister to Sweden A delegate to the Continental Congress 9. Member of the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence 10. The only American to sign the four documents that created the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the constitutionChapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)C. His Major Writings: Poor Richard’s Almanac 1. Time: almost a quarter of century 2. Content: Literary pieces such as poems and essays, a good many adages, commensense witticisms 3. Sources: he borrowed them from such famous writers such as Rabelais, Defoe, Swift and Pope and tried to simplify these quotations 4. Examples: Famous sayings such as “Lost time is never found again”, “God help them that help themselves”, “Fish and visitors stink in three days”, etc.. 5. Function: practical, instructive, and amusingChapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)C. His Major Writings: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 1. Nature: Probably the first of its kind in literature. A simple yet fascinating record of a man’s success. A faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man. 2. Structure: The book consists of four parts, written at different times. Franklin was 65 when he began to write. 3. Content: (a) Puritanism: It is first of all a Puritan document, a record of self-examination and self-improvement, a meticulous chart of 13 virtues to cultivate. (b) Enlightenment: It embodies the new order of the 18th century Enlightenment. (Order and Moderation)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Chapter Two (3) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)C. His Major Writings: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 4. Style: This work is written in the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision. The most salient features are such as the plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax, and expression. 5. Tone: Optimism The American dream began with the settlement of the American continent – the promised land – the Garden of Eden – optimistic about the futureChapter Two (4) Hector St. John de CrevecoeurChapter Two (4) Hector St. John de CrevecoeurIV. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur A. Birth: born in a French noble family B. Settlement: Settled in America and hoped that the New World man would be able to shake off the shackles of the old and live the way mankind should. C. Works: Letters from an American Farmer (1775) He wrote 12 letters back to Europe, explaining the meaning of America to the outside world. The first 8 letters reveal the pride of a man being an American, and, thereupon, optimistic. Starting from his ninth letter, he began to speak with the voice of a disillusioned man, rendering the last 4 letters pessimistic. Chapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperI. American Romanticism 1. Intellectual Background The Romantic period stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War. (1820-1865) Politically: Democracy and political equality became the ideal of the nation; and the two-party political system was in the making. Economically: The spread of industrialism, the sudden influx of immigrants, and the pioneers pushing the frontier further west lead to an economic boom. Literarily: The new nation cried for newer literary expressions; magazines appeared in big numbers such as The American Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper’s Magazine, facilitating literary expansion in this new country. Chapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * Cooper2. Foreign Influence (Derivative and Imitative) The Romantic movement, which had flourished earlier in the century both in England and Europe, proved to be a decisive influence without which the upsurge of American romanticism would hardly have been possible. The British romantic writers such as William Wordsworth, Taylor Coleridge, Byron, Robert Burns, Shelley and Sir Walter Scott exerted a great influence upon their American brothers. The British Romantic literary pieces such as Lyrical Ballads (1798) by Wordsworth and Coleridge and Walter Scott’s border tales were esp. prevalent in America. (Scott’s Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley and The Heart of Midlothian) Chapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * Cooper3. Native Factors (Different and Distinctive) Although the foreign influences were strong, American Romanticism exhibited from the very outset distinct features of its English and European counterpart. American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience” and “a new sensibility”: new place; new faces; new sight, smells, and sounds; new cultural factor (American Indians). American Puritanism as a cultural heritage rendered American moral values basically puritan. Public atmosphere of the nation predominantly conditioned social life, cultural taste, and literary expression. One of its palpable manifestations is the fact that American Romantic writers tended more to moralize and use symbols than their English and European brothers. As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American Romanticism was both imitative and distinctive, both derivative and independent. Chapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperII. Washington Irving (1783-1859) 1. Literary Status Father of American literature The first professional American writer The first American Romantic writer The first American short story writer The first American imaginative writer to be recognized by the Europeans 2. Life Born into a wealthy New York merchant family Read widely from very early age – studied law Cared for his family business in England Went bankrupt – wrote to support himself Chapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * Cooper3. His Works: A History of New York (1809) The Sketch Book (1819-20) The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828) The Alhambra (1832) Life of Goldsmith, Life of Washington The short story as a genre in American literature probably began with Irving’s The Sketch Book, a collection of essays, sketches, and tales, of which the most famous and frequently anthologized are “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. 4. Division of his writings: Irving’s career can be roughly divided into two important phases, the English period which span from his first book up to 1832 the American period stretching over the remaining years of his life. Chapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * Cooper5. Writing Style Irving’s style can only be described as beautiful though imitative. A. Irving avoids moralizing as much as possible: he wrote to amuse and entertain. B. He was good at enveloping his stories in a rich atmosphere, which is often more than compensation for the slimness of plot. C. His characters are vivid and true so that they tend to linger in the mind of the reader. D. He was such a humorous writer that it is difficult not to smile and occasionally even chuckle. E. His language was finished and musical. Chapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * Cooper6. His Masterpieces “Rip Van Winkle” got suggestions from a German source. Irving changed the setting of the original and added conflicts of his own to make it American. It is a fantasy tale about a man who somehow stepped outside the main stream of life. Rip Van Winkle is a simple, good-natured, and hen-pecked man. He does everything except take care of his own farm and family. He helps everyone except his wife and his own folks. So he is welcome everywhere except at home. “He is one of those happy mortals, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound.” Plot Summery of “Rip Van Winkle”Plot Summery of “Rip Van Winkle” The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. Rip Van Winkle, a villager of Dutch descent, lives in a nice village at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains. An amiable man whose home and farm suffer from his lazy neglect, he is loved by all but his wife. One autumn day he escapes his nagging wife by wandering up the mountains. After encountering strangely dressed men, rumored to be the ghosts of Henry Hudson’s crew, who are playing nine-pin, and after drinking some of their liquor, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. Plot Summery of “Rip Van Winkle”Plot Summery of “Rip Van Winkle”He wakes up twenty years later and returns to his village. He finds out that his wife is dead and his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately gets into trouble when he hails himself a loyal subject of King George III, not knowing that in the meantime the American Revolution has taken place. An old local recognizes him, however, and Rip's now grown daughter eventually puts him up. As Rip resumes his habit of idleness in the village, and his tale is solemnly believed by the old Dutch settlers, certain hen-pecked husbands especially wish they shared Rip's luck.nullPlot Summery of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” narrates the memorable event of an apparently headless horseman throwing his head at his rival in love, and the memorable character of Ichabod. The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town，New York，in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer. Plot Summery of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Plot Summery of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman，who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolution War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head". Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related".Plot Summery of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”nullChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperChapter Three American Romanticism * Irving * CooperIII. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) 1. Literary Status: The first American Frontier novel The first American Sea novel The first American Spy Novel The first American Historical Novel His Leatherstocking Tales as the American National Epic 2. Life: Locally famous family – Yale University at 14 – five years at sea – comfortable life – began to write accidentally – failed in his first novel Precaution – his second novel The Spy (Harvey Birch) – firmly established with his The Leatherstocking Tales III. James Fenimore CooperIII. James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) 3. His major works: Precaution (1820) The Spy (1821) “The Leatherstocking Tales” includes The Pioneers (1823) The Last of the Mohicans (1826) The Prairie (1827) The P