colonialperiod
美国⽂学
American Literature
◆The four main categories of literature:
1.fiction: novel, novella, short stories, myth, legend, folktale…
2. poetry: epic, ballad, free ver, lyrics, psalm, eulogy , sonnet…魔力水滴
3. drama: play , opera, radio/TV
/film scripts…
4. pro: essay , criticism, literary theory ,
(auto)biography…
◆How to Approach a Literary Work?
takeaway
模式英文Analytical
< the elements of fiction: plot, character, tting, point of view, theme, symbol, allegory , style, tone, etc.
Thematic
What is it about? e.g. love, freedom, courage, alienation, etc.
Historical
The historical development of literature, e.g. romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, post-modernism.
◆Some Basic Characteristics of American Literature:
Short history but great achievement
Began with oral myths, legends, tales
charts
Poetry , fiction, drama, essay all highly developed
Female, ethnic literature came into the centre
放风筝的英文Drawn immen interest from Chine readers
◆Brief Introduction of American History
殖民时期以前(1607以前) →殖民时期(1607～1753) →独⽴运动(1754～1783) →组成新政府(1784～1819) →向西扩张(1820～1849) →南北冲突(1850～1869) →⼯业化与改⾰(1870～1916) 世界的新地位(1917～1929) →不景⽓时代和第⼆次世界⼤战(1930～1959) → 1960年以来
1.
The Colonial Period: 1609—1776 2.
The Revolutionary Period: 1776—1820 3.
出国留学中心The Romantic Period: 1820—1865 4.
The Realism and Naturalism: 1865—1920 5.
The Modern Period: 1920—1960 6. The Post-modern Period: since 1960
⼀、The Colonial Period: 1609—1776 (Puritan writing)
◆ 1. (1) Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred. (2) Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be pasd down from generation to generation. (3) Total depravity (4) Limited atonement: Only the ―elect‖ can be saved.
◆Influence
1、A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (rious and thoughtful) influenced
American literature.
kabbalah2 It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is bad on a myth – garden of Eden.
3 Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perc eption was chiefly instrumental
查莉成长日记主题曲in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American.
4 With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest,
not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.元宵节英语
◆Could you give a description of American Puritans? 关于美国清教徒的描绘
Like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the Church should be restored to the ―purity‖ of the first-century Church as established by Jesus Christ Himlf. To them religion was a matter of primary importance. They made it their chief business to e that man lived and thought and acted in a way which tended to the glory of God. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God, all that John Calvin, the great French theologian who lived in Geneva had preached. It was this kind of religious belief that they brought with them into the wildness. There they meant to prove that were God’s chon people enjoying his blessings on this earth as in heaven.
◆清教徒的想法：①Puritans want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices.②wish to restore simplicity to church rvices and the authority of the Bible to theology.③look upon themlves as a chon people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God’s will and is not to be accepted.④Puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated.⑤religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.
龅牙兔
◆清教徒在美国的写作内容：①their voyage to the new land ②adapting themlves to unfamiliar
climates and crops ③about dealing with Indians ④guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit
◆早期的六个州：缅新佛康马罗
Maine 缅因New Hampshire 新罕布什尔V ermont 佛蒙特Connecticut 康涅狄格Massachutts 马萨诸塞Rhode Island 罗德岛◆John Smith (the first American writer)
―A True Relation of Such Occurences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony”; “A Map of Virginia: with a Descriotion of the Country”; “General History of Virginia”; “New England Trialss”.
◆典型的清教徒：John Cotton and Roger Williams
他们的不同：John Cotton was much more concerned with authority than with democracy.
Williams begins the history of religious toleration in America.
Williams的宗教观点：Toleration did not stem from a lack of religious convictions. Instead, it sprang from the idea that simply to be virtuous in conduct and devout in belief did not give anyone the right to force belief on others. He also felt that no political order or church system could identify itlf directly with God.
⾏为上的德，信仰上的诚，并没有给任何⼈强迫别⼈该如何⾏事的权利。没有任何政治秩序和教会体制能够直接体现神本⾝的意旨。
◆英国最早移民到美国的诗⼈：Anne Bradstreet
◆在殖民时期最好的清教徒诗⼈：the best of Puritan poets is Edward Taylor.
◆William Bradford(1590-1657) “The History of Plymouth Plantation”
◆John Winthrop “The History of New England”
