英美文学选读之美国文学The Realistic period (一)
2009-12-11 14:42阅读：
美国部分 The Realistic period
(现实主义文学时期)
本章概述
一. 十九世纪中期现实主义文学产生的历史、文化背景；
二、美国现实主义文学创作的基本特征、基本主张；
三、对同时代与后期美国文学的影响；
四、主要作家作品。
文学史分析
一、The time period :
The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as the
Age of Realism in the literary history of the United States
.
二. The theoretical base
:
1.The thoughts of Howells
:
A. The literary principle :
The fidelistic reflection of human reality is most clearly
expressed by William Dean Howells .
B. The influence :
Guided by this principle of adhering to the
truthful
treatment of life , the realists touched upon various comtemporary
social and political issues .
2. The subject matters
:
A. The characters :
They introduced industrial workers and farmers , ambitious
businessmen and vagrants , prostitutes and unheroic soldiers as
major characters in fiction .
B. The modes :
They approached the harsh realities and pressures in the post Civil
War society either by a comprehensive picture of modern life , or
by a psychological exploration of man's subconsciousness
.
3. The three towering figures
:
The three dorminant figures of the
period are William Dean Howells , Mark Twain and Henry James
.
A. The common features
:
a.They brought to fulfillment native
trends in the realistic portrayal brought to perfection teh
vernacular style .
b.They established the literary
indentity of distinctively American protagonists , specifically the
vernacular hero and the 'American Girl .'
C. In short , they set teh example
and charted the future course for teh subjects , themes ,techniques
and styles of fiction .
B. The distinctions
:
a. They differed in their
understanding of the ' truth ' .While Mark Twain and Howells seemed
to have paid more attention to the 'life' of teh Americans ,Henry
James had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the 'inner world '
of man .
b. Though Twain and Howells both
shared the same concern in presenting the truth of the American
society , they had each of them different emphasis . Howells
focused his discussion the rising middle class and the way they
lived , While Twain preferred to have his own region and people at
the forefront of his stories .
三. The naturalism in literature
:
1. The sources
:
The impact of Darwin's evolutionary
theory and the influence of the 19th century French literature on
the American men of letters gave rise to yet another school of
realism: American naturalism .
2. The subject matter :
They chose their subjets from the lower ranks of society , and
portrayed misery and poverty of the 'underdogs ' who were
demonstrably victims of society and nature .
3.The themes :
One of the most familiar themes in American naturalism is the theme
of human 'bestiality 'especially as an explanation of sexaul desire
.
4.The features:
Artistically ,naturalistic writings are usually unpolished in
language , lacking in academic skills and unwieldy in structure .
Philosophically , the naturalists believe that the real and true is
always partially hidden from the eyes of teh individual , or beyond
this control . In a word , naturalism is evolved from realism when
the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less
sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic
.
主要作家作品
A. 马克.吐温
B.亨利.詹姆斯
C.艾米莉.狄金森
D.西奥多.德莱塞
A. 马克.吐温
一. The works :
1.The early period
:
A.With works like Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn an Life on the Mississippi Twain shaped the
world's view of America .
B. The first among these books is
Roughing it .
C. Two of the best books during this
period are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn .
2.The late period :
A. the Gilded Age is Written in collaboration with Warner , the
novel explored the scrupulous individualism .
B.In A Connecticut Yankee in king
Arthu's Court , Twain follows the journey of a representative of
modern technology and ideas into a historically backward , feudal
society .
C.The others include:
The Tragedy of Pudd's nhead Wilson The man That Corrupted
Hadleyburg and The Mysterious Strager .
二. The masterpieces
:
1. The literary status :
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
proved themselves to be the milestone in American literature , and
thus firmly established Twain's position in the literary world
.
2. The features:
The books are noted for their unpretentious ,colloquial yet poetic
style ,their wide -ranging humor , and their unviversally shared
dream of perfect innocence and freedom .
3. The language :
the novel is written in a language which is not grand , pompous ,
but simple , direct , lucid , and faithful to the colloquial speech
.
4. The character portrayal
:
The profound portrait of Huckleberry
Finn is another great contribution of the book to the legacy of
American literature .
三. The artistic
features:
1.The local color :
Twain is also known as a local colorist , who preferred to present
social life through portraits of the local characters of his
regions , Unlike James and Howells , Mark Twain wrote about the
lower -class people .
2. The language :
Another fact that made Twain unique is his magic power with
language , his use of vernacular . His words are colloquial ,
concrete and direct in effect , and his sentence structures are
simple ,
3.The sense of humor :
Mark Twain's humor is remarkable , too . Mark Twain shared the
popular image of the American funny man . However , his humor is
not only of witty remarks , but a kind of artistic style used to
criticize the social inujustic and satirize the decayed romanticism
.
