1. What is Literature?
•Literature refers to the practice and profession of writing. It comes from human interest in telling a story, in arranging words in artistic forms, in describing in words some aspects of human experiences.
•Literature is characterized by beauty of expression and form and by university of intellectual and emotional appeal.
•Literature shows us not only what a 外交部张璐society is like in a certain age, but also what individuals feel about it, what they hope from it, and how they can change it or escape from it.
2. Why we read Literature?
•a. read for pleasure
• Howells obrved that the study of literature should begin and end in pleasure.
•b. read for relaxation
•Modern life is full of pressure. It is people’s common desire to ek temporally relaxation from the stress in life.
•c. read to acquire knowledge
•Literature gives readers an insight into the tradition, custom, beliefs, attitudes, folklore, values of the age in which it is written.
3. How to study Literature?
•a. analytical approach
•The elements of fiction include plot, character, tting, narrator, point of view, structure, theme, symbol, allegory, style, and tone.
•b. thematic approach
•Refers to a work’s controlling idea, or its central insight into life.
•To discover it, you might ask the following Qs:
•1. in what way has the main character changed (learned, realized, or understood sth.) during the cour of the work?
•2. what is the central conflict, and how is it resolved?
•3. How does the title relate to the work?
•e.g.: Pride and Prejudice
•c. historical approach
•Literature is said to be a reprentation of life and society, a window into the past that has been largely produced by the society in which the author lived.
•therefore, people study the author’s historical and social environment to understand the text, in order to reflect, question, respond to, and elaborate on how it deals with contemporary “historical” issues.
•d. Other approaches(1)
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•Marxist/sociological criticism社会批评
• Psychoanalytical criticism精神分析批评
• Feminist/gender criticism女性主义批评
• Mythological and archetypal criticism神话原型批评
• Reader-respon criticism接受-读者反应批评
• Formalist /new criticism形式主义新批评
• Structuralism结构主义批评
•Other approaches(2)
•Post- structuralism后结构主义批评
•prentvalueDeconstructuralism解构主义批评
•
•Our textbook is arranged in chronological order, but we deal with each period analytically with emphasis on theme.
REFERENCES
1.刘炳善，《英国文学简史》，河南人民出版社。
2.张定铨，吴刚，《新编简明英国文学史》，上海外语教育出版社。
3.王佐良，《英国文学名篇选注》，商务印书馆。
4.张伯香，《英国文学教程》，武汉大学出版社。
5.Ifor Evans. A Short History of English Literature. Penguin Book. 1978.
6.G.C.Thornley and Gwyneth Roberts. An Outline of English Literature 1989.
7.Alastair Fowler. A History of English Literature. Basil Blackwell. 1989.
English Literature
•1. mediaeval literature（中世纪文学/约5世纪—1485）
•2. Renaissance literature（文艺复兴时期文学/ 15世纪后期—17世纪初）
•3. 17th Century Literature (17世纪文学/)
•4. Literature Enlightenment period（ 启蒙时期文学/ 17世纪后期—18世纪中期）
•5. Romantic literature period（浪漫主义时期文学/
1798-1832）
•6. Realism period（现实主义时期文学/ 19世纪30年
代— 1918）
•7. Modern Literature period （现代主义文学时期/
1918-1945）
•8. Contemporary Literature（当代文学/ 1945— 今）
Part I. 中世纪文学/mediaeval literature（约5世纪—1485）
Note:“Medieval period” is a quite special period in English history. In Chine “Medieval” or “The Middle Age”.
Overview:
•Many books on English literature begin with Chaucer, who rves as a convenient starting point since he is undoubtedly the first important writer in English history. Such a convenient choice, however, will leave out Beowulf, the most impressive long poem in Old English.
•From the history ,the land (Britain) was occupied by the Celts 凯尔特人before the Romans invaded it.
bear什么意思Part I: job1 Anglo-Saxon Period (449—1066)
六级分值•1.Historical background
•2. literature
惊喜英文•3. Old English Poetry: — Beowulf
The Anglo-Saxon period (449-1066)
•English literature began with the Anglo-Saxon ttlement
•Anglo-Saxon : [‘æŋgləʊ’sæksə星期一到星期天n] pgl
1. historical background
• Three conquests: Roman conquest in 43 AD; Anglo-Saxon conquest in 449; Norman conquest in 1066课外辅导班
• 43 AD, Roman conquered Britain ,making the latter a province of Roman Empire; the withdrawal of Roman troops ,the Teutonic tribes日耳曼人的,条顿人的.
•esp., the Anglos conquered the island and called it Angle-land, then England, their language is Anglo-Saxon old English.
New words:
•pagan [‘peiɡən]:异教徒, 非基督教徒
•Saga ['sɑ:ɡə]:中世纪北欧传说; 英雄传奇 (saga novel)(多卷本)家世小说
•ecclesiastic [i͵kli:zi‘æstik] ：(基督教的)牧师, 教士的
