appears考研英美文学名词解释-2012卷

2012

卷

北二外：

1. Byronic hero

Byronic hero is a character-type found in Byron

’

s celebrated narrative poem

Childe

Harold

’

s

Pilgrimage

,

his

verse

drama

Manfred

,

and

other

works.

He

is

a

boldly

defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but

suffering for some unnamed sin.

2. West humor

West

humor

is

the

type

of

humor

in

the

tall

tales.

West

humor is

not

only

of

witty

remark mocking at small things or of farcial elements making people laugh, but a kind

of artistic style used to criticize the social injustic. West humor is best represented in

Mark Twain

’

s short stories, such as Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

南开大学：

1.

the five-act structure of Shakespeare

’

s plays

Most of his

plays

are in

the format

of 5 acts.

Act

1

is

the exposition, in which the

dramatis personae are presented, and time and place are established. We learn about

the antecedents of the story. Act 2 is the complications in which the course of action

becomes

mre

complicated,

the

“

tying

of

knots

”

takes

place.

Act

3

is

the

climax

of

action

in

which

the

development

of

conflict

reaches

its

high

point.

Act

4

reversals

where the consequences of Act 3 play out, momentum slows, and tension is heighted

by

false

hopes

or

fears.

Act

5

is

the

catastrophe

in

which

the

conflict

is

resolved,

whether through a catastrophe, the downfall of the hero, or through his

victory and

transfiguration. The format of five-act play is familiar from Shakespeare

’

s plays, and

is grounded in the concepts of unity in Aristotle

’

s

Poetics.

2.

denotation and connotation

Denotation and connotation are two principal methods of describing the meanings of

words. Denotation of a word is the thing in the real world the word is linked to, and it

is

the

precise,

literal

definition

of

a

word.

Connotation

of

a

word

refers

to

the

emotional meaning or associated meaning that a word may carry.

3.

gothic novels

Gothic novel is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror

and romance. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, and his novel

The Castle of Otranto

. The gothic novels always include the following elements: the

setting

in

a

castle,

an

atmosphere

of

mystery

and

suspense,

an

ancient

prophecy,

omens,

portents,

supernatural

or

otherwise

inexplicable

events,

high,

even

overwrought

emotion,

women

in

distress

or

threatened

by

a

powerful,

impulsive,

tyrannical

male,

and

the

metonymy

of

gloom

and

horror.

The

gothic

novels

have

influenced the novel, the short story, poetry and even film making up to the present

day.

4.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and his works

Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist

movement of the mid-19th century. He is acclaimed as one of the major writers of the

mid-19th century, one of the most stimulating American minds. His writing falls into

two types: essays and poetry, and his fame comes mainly from his essays. Among his

best are

Nature, The American Scholar and Self- Reliance. Nature

has been called

“

the

manifesto of American transcendentalism

”

; The American Scholar has been regarded

as

“

America

’

s Declaration of Intellectual Independence

”

.

厦门大学：

1.

allegory

Allegory

is

a

story

with

second

distinct

meaning

partially

hidden

behind

its

literal

meaning.

The

principal

technique

of

allegory

is

personification,

whereby

abstract

qualities are given human shape. An allegory may be conceived as a metaphor that is

extended

into

a

structured

system,

as

it

involves

a

continuous

parallel

between

two

levels of meaning in a story.

2.

avant-garde-

先锋派

3.

ballad

Ballad

is

a

folk

song

or

orally

transmitted

poem

telling

in

a

direct

and

dramatic

manner. Some ballad stories usually derived from a tragic incident in local history or

legend.

These

stories

are

told

simply,

impersonally,

and

often

with

vivid

dialogues.

Appearing

in

many

parts

of

Europe

in

the

late

Middle

Age,

ballads

flourished

particularly strongly in Scotland from the 15

th

century onward.

4.

Black mountain poets

The

Black

mountain

poets,

sometimes

called

projectivist

poets,

were

a

group

of

mid-20th

century

American

avant-garde

or

postmodern

poets

centered

on

Black

Mountain

College.

Turning

away

from

the

poetic

tradition

espoused

by

,

these poets emulated the free style of William Carlos Williams. Charles Olson

’

s essay

Projective

Verse

became

their

manifesto.

Olson

emphasized

the

creative

process,

in

which the poet

’

s energy is transferred through the poem to the reader. Inherent in this

new poetry was the reliance upon decidedly American conversational language.

5.

Bloomsbury Group

It is a loose coterie of writers linked by friendship to the homes of Vanessa Stephen

and his sister Virginia in Bloomsbury from 1906 to the late 1930s. It had no doctrine

or aim, despite a shared admiration for the moral philosophy of G

., but the

group had some importance as a centre of modernizing liberal opinion in the 1920s.

6.

Eco-criticism

It is the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view,

where all sciences come together to analyze the environment, and brainstorm possible

solutions

for

the

correction

of

the

contemporary

environmental

situation.

Eco-criticism borrows methodologies and theorectically informs approaches liberally

from other fields of literary, social and scientific study.

A)

Pecola Breedlove-from

The Bluest Eye

B)

Frederic Henry-from A Farewell to Arms

meets the beautiful Catherine Barkley

C) Emma Woodhouse

D) Pip-from

Great Expectation

E) Yoaasrian- from

Catch-22

He

is

the

protagonist

of

the

novel.

He

is

a

captain

in

the

Air

Force

and

a

lead

bombardier in his squadron, but he hates the war. His powerful desire to live has led

him to the conclusion that millions of people are trying to kill him. This insistence on

self- preservation creates a conflict for him. Even though he is determined to save his

own life at all costs, he nonetheless cares for the other members of his squadron and is

traumatized by their deaths.

F) Quentin Compson-from

The Sound and the Fury

He is the oldest one in the Compsons. He feels an inordinate burden of responsibility

to

live

up

to

the

family

’

s

past

greatness

and

prestige.

He

is

a

very

intelligent

and

sensitive

young

man,

but

is

paralyzed

by

his

obsession

with

Caddy

and

his

preoccupation with a very traditional Southern code of conduct and morality. When he

found his own family members have disregarded the Southern code, he was driven to

despondency and eventually suicided.

A)

The first half of the 18

th

century is called the Age of Pope, why?

1)

It

is

under

the

influence

of

the

Enlightenment,

the

guiding

principle

of

which

is

ration,

natural

right

and

equality.

So

the

Neo-classicism

not

only

reflects

principles

and concerns of the literature of ancient Greece and Rome, but also emphasizes the

simple form, restrained emotion and balanced, orderly rationality.

2)

Pope

’

s poems fully express the essential features of English Neo-classicism, such

as the control of emotion, worship of reason and adherence to the styles and aesthetic

principles

of

ancient

Greek

and

Roman

classical

art.

His

philosophical

essays,

his

keen satiric and moral sensibility and his mastering of the heroic couplet make him

outshoot his age and win him the position of one of the greatest poets and satirists.

Above all, Pope and his works best exemplify the Neo- classicism, so the first half of

the 18

th

century is called the Age of Pope.

B)

Sinclair

Lewis

is

the

first

American

writer

who

got

the

Nobel

Prize

for

Literature. Tell the reason.

1)

Lewis is well- known for his masterpiece

Main Street

, which is a bitter criticism of