1. A General Introduction to American Literature

AmericanLiteratureLecture1AGeneralIntroduction张慧[e-mail]terature1607-1765ColonialAmericanLiterature1765-1800RevolutionaryAmericanLiterature1800-1865Romanticism1865-1918Realism1918-1945Modernism1945-ContemporaryAmericanLiteratureColonialAmericanLiteratureTimeearly17thcentury-themiddleof18thcenturyDominantThoughts:PuritanismLiteraryForms:travelogue,journal,reports,lettershistoricalrecords,religioustracts,piouspoetryMajorWriters:AnneBradstreetEdwardTaylorCharacteristics:religious,moral,political,historicalandpracticalRevolutionaryAmericanLiteratureTime:1765–theendof18thCenturyDominantThoughts:AmericanEnlightenmentLiteraryFormsPoliticalpamphletsandstatepapersMajorWriters:BenjaminFranklin,AutobiographyThomasJeffersonThomasPainePhilipFreneau,“TheWildHoneySuckle”AmericanRomanticismTimeThefirsthalfofthe19thcenturyDominantThoughtsDomesticFactorsForeigninfluencesLiteraryFormsEssays,poems,shortstoriesandnovelsRomanticismischaracterizedbyaheightenedinterestinnatureemphasisontheindividual’sexpressionofemotionandimaginationdeparturefromtheattitudesandformsofclassicismrebellionagainstestablishedsocialrulesandconventionsEarlyRomanticWritersNewEnglandTranscendentalistsMajorWritersandRepresentativeworksWashingtonIrvingThefirstimportantwriterinAmericanliteratureTheSketchBook•RipVanWinkle•TheLegendofSleepyHollowJamesFenimoreCooperLeatherstockingTalesForthefirsttimethefrontierandthewildernesswaswellillustratedEarlyRomanticwritersNewEnglandTranscendentalists1840sClimaxofRomanticismNewEnglandTranscendentalismThefirstAmericanrenaissanceTranscendentalistsRalphWaldoEmerson•Nature•“TheAmericanScholar”HenryDavidThoreau•WaldenManifestoofAmericanTranscendentalismDeclarationofIntellectualIndependencePoetsWaltWhitman•LeavesofGrassEmilyDickinson•BecauseIcouldnotStopforDeathNovelistsNathanielHawthorne•TheScarletLetterHermanMelville•MobyDickWritersinfluencedbyTranscendentalismOtherfiguresinthisperiodEdgarAllanPoeThemostcontroversialofAmericanwriters“TheRaven”,TheFalloftheHouseofUsher“NewEnglandpoets”or“Schoolroompoets”WilliamCullenBryantHenryWadsworthLongfellowJamesRusselLowellOliverWendellHolmesJohnGreenleafWhittierAmericanRealismTime:StretchingfromtheoutbreakoftheCivilWartotheendofthe19thcenturyMajorLiteraryForms:ShortstoriesandnovelsCharacteristicsReactionagainst“thelieofromanticism”ObjectivelyviewhumannatureandhumanexperienceConcernforthecommonplaceandthelowMajorwritersandworksWilliamDeanHowellsEditoroftheAtlanticMonthlyDeanofAmericanliteratureforthreedecadesMarkTwainLocalcoloristTheAdventuresofTomSawyerTheAdventuresofHuckleberryFinnHenryJamesPsychologicalrealistInternationalthemeThePortraitofaLadyNaturalismTime1890sDominantthoughtsSocialDarwinismManwashelplessandhopelessinacold,indifferentandGodlessuniverseMan’slifeiscontrolledbyheredityandenvironmentMajornaturalistsStephenCraneMaggie:AGirloftheStreetsthefirstAmericannaturalisticworkFrankNorrisMcTeagueManifestoofAmericannaturalismTheodoreDreiserSisterCarrieModernismTime1918-1945DominantThoughtsCommondisillusionmentanddespairLossoffaithChaosanddisorderinsocietyCharacteristics“Break”awayfromthetraditioncapturethecomplexityofmodernlifevariedexpressioninthefieldofliterature•Impressionism;Dadaism;Expressionism•Symbolism;SurrealismThesecondAmericanrenaissanceMajorLiteraryformsPoems,novels,dramaMajorWritersandworksPoetsDramatistsNovelistsLiteratureofModernism—PoetryChicagopoetsCarlSandburg,ChicagoPoemsOverseaAmericanpoetsEzraPound,CantosT.S.Eliot,TheWasteLandNewEnglandpoetsRobertFrost,“TheRoadNotTaken”,“StoppingbyWoodsonaSnowyEvening”EdwinArlingtonRobinson,“MiniverCheevy”“RichardCory”LiteratureofModernism—DramaHistoryThoughstartedverylate,AmericandramadevelopedfastinthisperiodThemeWithsocialproblemsasmainsubjecttargetedtocriticizeandexposethedarksidesofthesocietyRepresentative:EugeneO’NeillBeyondtheHorizonEmperorJonesTheHairyApeDesireUndertheElm1920s,TheLostGenerationF.S.Fitzgerald•TheSideofParadise;TheGreatGatsby;TenderistheNightEarnestHemingway•TheOldManandtheSea;TheSunAlsoRises•AFarewelltoArms;ForWhomtheBellTolls1930s,LeftorSocialistwritersJohnSteinbeck,TheGrapesofWrathSouthernwritersWilliamFaulkner,TheSoundandtheFury,LightinAugustBlackwriter:HarlemRenaissanceLangstonHughes,TheWearyBluesRichardRight,NativeSonLiteratureofModernism—NovelContemporaryAmericanLiteratureTime1945-DominantThoughtsDespairandworriesChaosIsolationMajorLiteraryFormsPoems,novels,dramaMajorWriters(1)NovelistsTheWarnovelists:JamesJones,IrwinShawThesouthernnovelists:KatherineAnnePorter;FlanneryO’ConnortheJewishnovelists:SaulBellow,J.D.Salingertheblacknovelists:RalphEllison,AliceWalker,ToniMorrison….PoetsAcademypoets:ElizabethBishop,RobertLowellThebeatgeneration:AllenGinsbergTheBlackMountainpoets:CharlesOrsonTheNewYorkpoets:FrankO’Hara,JohnAshberyMajorWriters(2)DramatistsWilliamIngeTennesseeWilliamsArthurMillerEdwardAlbeeEth