英美文学重点整理

AM ROMANTIC

What

’

s symbolism?

1

）

Symbolism is a movement in

literature and the visual arts

that originated in France in the late

19th

century.

In

literature,

symbolism

was

an

aesthetic

movement

that

encouraged

writers

to

express their ideas, feelings, and values

by means of symbols or suggestions

rather than by direct

statements.

Hawthorne and Melville

are masters of symbolism in America in the 19th century.

2

）举例。

WALT WHITMAN

HAWTHORNE

48.

“

Young Goodman Brown

”

is one of Hawthorne

’

s most profound tales.

What is the allegorical meaning of Brown, the protagonist? What does Hawthorne set out to

prove in this tale? How does Melville comment on Hawthorne

’

s manner of concerning with guilt

and evil?

JANE AUSTEN

**ELIZABETH

AM REALISTIC

**

4. A comparison of the three giants: William Dean Howells; Mark Twain; and Henry James

They are the

three

dominant figures of the realistic period. The

forerunner

of American Realism is

Howells.

Though

the

three

writers

wrote

more

or

less

at

the

same

time

,

they

differed

in

their

understanding

of

the

“

truth.

”

While

Mark

Twain

and

Howells

seemed

to

have

paid

more

attention to the

“

life

”

of the Americans

,

Henry James

had apparently laid a greater emphasis on

the

“

inner world

”

of man.

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 on 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.

This

particular

concern

about

the

local

character

of

a

region

came

about as

“

local colorism,

”

a

unique variation

(

变体

) of American literary realism.

**48

．

Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their

view?

Hardy accepted Darwin

’

s idea of

“

survival of the fittest

”

(Origin of Species), and

influenced by Spencer

’

s The First Principle, which led him to the belief that man

’

s

fate is predetermined tragic, driven by a combined force of

“

nature

”

, both inside and

outside. In his works, man is shown inevitably bound by is own inherent nature and

hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for some specific happiness or

success

and

set

him

in

conflict

with

the

environment.

The

outside

nature

–

the

natural environment or Nature herself

–

is shown as some mysterious supernatural

force, very powerful but half-blind, impulsive and uncaring to the individual

’

s will,

hope, passion, or suffering. It likes to plays jokes upon human beings by producing a

series of mistimed (

打乱常规的）

actions and unfortunate coincidences. Man proves

impotent before Fate, however he tries, and he seldom escapes his ordained destiny.

THEODORE DREISER

Dreiser set himself to project the American values for what he had found them to be

materialistic

to the core

. Living in such a society with such a value system, the human individual is obsessed

with a never-ending, yet meaningless search for

satisfaction of his desires.

One of the desires is for money

which was a motivating purpose of life in the United States in the

19th century. For example, in this novel, there is not one character whose status is not determined

economically.

Sex is another human desire

that Dreiser explored to considerable lengths to reveal the dark side

of human nature. Carrie climbs up the social ladder by means of her sexual appeal.

48

．

What's Dreiser' s naturalistic belief? Please discuss the question with Carrie, a character in

Sister Carrie as an example.

EMIL

Y DICKINSON

47. Please summarize Emily Dickinson

’

s poetry features.

Dickson

’

s poetry is unique and unconventional in its own way.

1)

No titles.

2)

Dashes are used as a musical device

3)

Capital letters as a means of emphasis.

3) The form of her poetry is familiar, communal

（公共的）

, and sometimes, irregular.

4) Short;

a single image or symbol one subject matter.

5) Personal and meditative.

6) Personae

人物

and personification

拟人化

are often used

Dickinson

’

s poetry, despite its ostensible

（表面上的）

formal simplicity,

is remarkable for

its variety, subtlety and richness,

and her limited private world has never confined the limitless

power of her creativity and imagination.

HENRY JAMES

Please discuss Henry James

’

contribution to American literature in regard to his representative

works, themes, writing techniques and language.

1. His representative works are:

The Portrait of A Lady; Daisy Miller.

2. His works dealt with the international theme, i.e., to set a novel against a larger international

background,

usually

between

Europe

and

America,

and

centered

on

the

confrontation

of

two

different cultures .

3. His realism is characterized by his psychological approach to his subject matter. His fictional

world is concerned more with the inner life of human beings than with overt human actions.

4. One of James

’

s literary techniques innovated to cater for this psychological emphasis is his

narrative

“

point of view

”

(

视角

). As the author, James avoids the authorial omniscience as much

as possible and makes his characters reveal themselves with his minimal intervention.

5. As to his language, James is not so easy to understand. He is often highly refined and insightful.

With a large vocabulary, he is always acute in word selection, trying to find the best expression for

his literary imagination. Therefore Henry James is not only one of the most important realists of

the period before the WWI, but also the most expert stylist of his time.

MARK TWAIN

50. Mark Twain presented the 19th century America in his own unique way. Discuss Twain

’

s art

of fiction: the setting, the language, and the characters, etc., based on his novel The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn.

A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi alley as his fictional kingdom, writing about the landscape

and people, the customs and the dialects of one particular region, and is therefore known as a local

colorist.

B. He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finn, who runs away

from civilization and stands opposite to conventional village morality.

C.

He

uses

a

simple,

direct

vernacular

language,

totally

different

from

any

precious

literary

language.

It

is

the

kind

of

colloquial

belonging

to

the

lower

class,

the

living

local

American

English.

D. He has created a special humor to satirize and the decayed convention.

makes Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more than a child's adventure

story? Briefly discuss the question from THREE of the following aspects: the setting, the language,

the character

g:

In

the

novel

Mark

Twain

recreates

a

small-town

world

of

America

and

presents

the

local color.

ge:

He

uses

simple,

direct

language

faithful

to

the

colloquial

speech,

the

vernacular

language of the local people.

ter

（

s

）

:

The

author

creates

two

rebels

and

fugitives

running

away

from

civilization,

especially

Huckleberry

Finn,

an

innocent

boy

who

refuses

to

accept

the

conventional

village

morality.

:

The

novel

is

a

criticism

of

social

injustice,

hypocrisy,

conservativeness

and

narrow-mindedness of the American small town society.

: The novel employs a humorous style of narration and is also highly symbolic with the

central symbol.

50. Summarize the story of Mark twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in about 100 words,

and comment on the theme of the novel.

48.

Briefly state Mark Twain

’

s magic power with language in his novels.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE

49. Make a comment on the character of Jane Eyre, the heroine of the novel by Charlotte Bronte.

AM MODERN

ROBERT LEE FROST

BR ROMANTIC

**What

is

the

difference

between

Romanticism

and

Neoclassicism?

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH