美国文学 1. Romantic

．一般识记：麦尔维尔的生平及创作生涯

2

．识记：麦尔维尔的早期作品：《 玛地》《雷得本》《白外衣》，后期作品

《皮埃尔》《骗子的化装表演》《比利伯德》等

3

．领会：《白鲸》的

（

1

）主题 ：表层及深层意义

（

2

）小说结构：浪漫主义和现实主义的统一

（

3

）象征 手法和寓言的运用

（

4

）语言特色

4

．应用：选读《白鲸》最后一章的节选：主题思想、人物刻画、象征手 法、

语言特色

Chapter l The Romantic Period

(

一

)

识记

内容：

origin of Romantic American literature

The

Romantic

Period,

one

of

the

most

important

periods

in

the

history

of

American

literature,

stretches

from

the

end

of

the

18th

century

to

the

outbreak

of

the

Civil

War.

It

started

with

the

publication

of

Washington

Irving's

The Sketch Book

and ended with

Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

American Renaissance or New England Renaissance is

a period

of the great flowering of American literature, from the i830s roughly

until the end of the American Civil War. It came of age as an expression

of a national spirit.

One of the

most important influences

in the period

was

that

of

the

Transcendentalists,

including

Ralph

Waldo

Emerson,

Henry

David Thoreau. The Transcendentalists contributed to the founding of a

new

national

culture

based

on

native

elements.

Apart

from

the

Transcendentalists, there emerged during this period great imaginative

writers

---Nathaniel

Hawthorne,

Herman

Melville,

and

Walt

Whitman---whose novels and poetry left a permanent imprint on American

literature.

social historical and cultural background

The

development

of

the

American

society

nurtured

literature

of

a

great

nation.

America

was

flourishing

into

a

politically,

economically

and culturally independent country.

Historically

, it was the time of

westward

expansion

in

America

economically

,

the

whole

nation

was

experiencing an industrial transformation. Politically, democracy and

equa1ity

became

the

ideal

of

the

new

nation,

and

the

two-party

system

came

into being. Worthy of mention is

the literary and cultural life

of the

country. With the founding of the American Independent Government, the

nation felt an urge to have its own literary expression, to make known

its new experience that other nations did not have: the early Puritan

settlement,

the

confrontation

with

the

Indians,

the

frontiersmen's

life,

and the wild west. Besides, the nation's literary milieu was ready for

the Romantic movement as we11. Thus, with a strong sense of optimism, a

spectacular outburst of romantic feeling was brought about in the first

ha1f of the 19th century.

writers of this period

There

emerged

a

great

host

of

men

of

letters

during

this

period,

among

whom the better-known are poets such as Philip Freneau, William Cullen

Bryant,

Henry

Wordsworth

Long

Fellow,

James

Russel

Lowell,

John

Greenleaf

Whitter,

Edgar

Ellen

Poe,

and,

especially,

Walt

Whitman,

whose

Leaves

Of

Grass

established

him

as

the

most

popular

American

poet

of

the

19th

century.

The fiction of the American Romantic period is an original and diverse

body of work. It ranges from the comic fables of Washington Irving to

the The Gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe, from the frontier adventures

of

James

Fenimore

Cooper

to

the

narrative

quests

of

Herman

Melville,

from

the

psycho1ogical romances

of

Nathaniel

Hawthorne

to

the social

realism

of Rebecca Harding Davis.

(

二

)

．领会内容

impact of European Romanticism on American Romanticism

Foreign literary masters, especially the English counterparts exerted a

stimulating impact on the writers of the new world. Born of one common

cultural

heritage,

the

American

writers

shared

some

common

features

with

the English Romanticists. They revolted against the literary forms and

ideas

of

the

period

of

classicism

by

developing

some

relatively

new

forms

of fiction or poetry.

(1) They put

emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities

of literature,

which included a liking for the picturesque, the exotic,

the sensuous, the sensational, and the supernatural.

(2) The Americans also placed an increasing

emphasis on the free

expression of emotions and disp1ayed

an increasing

attention

to

the

psychic

states

of

their

characters.

Heroes

and

heroines

exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement.

(3) The strong tendency to

exalt the individual and the common man

was

almost

a

national

religion

in

America.

Writers

like

Freneau,

Bryant,

and

Cooper

showed

a

great

interest

in

external

nature

in

their

respective

works.

(4)

The

literary

use

of

the

more

colorfu1

aspects

of

the

past

was

also

to

be

found

in

Irving's

effort

to

exploit

the

legends

of

the

Hudson

River

region, and in Cooper's long series of historical tales.

(5)

In

short,

American

Romanticism

is,

in

a

certain

way,

derivative.

unique characteristics of American Romanticism

Although

greatly

influenced

by

their

English

counterparts,

the

American romantic writers revealed

unique characteristics of their own

in their works and they grew on the native lands. For examp1e,(1) the

American national experience of

a

rich

source

of

material

for

American

writers

to

draw

upon.

They

celebrated

America's

landscape

with

its

virgin

forests,

meadows,

groves,

endless

prairies,

streams,

and

vast

oceans.

The

wilderness

came

to

function

almost

as

a

dramatic

character

that

symbolized

moral

1aw.

(2)The

desire

for

an

escape

from

society

and

a

return

to

nature

became

a

permanent

convention

of

American

literature.

Such

a

desire

is

particularly

evident

in Cooper's

Leather Stocking Tales, in Thoreau's Walden and, later, in

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

(3) With the growth of

American

national

consciousness,

American

character

types

speaking

local

dialects

appeared in poetry and fiction with increasing frequency. (4)

Then

the

American

Puritanism

as

a

cultural

heritage

exerted

great

influences over American moral values and American Romanticism. One of

the

manifestations

is

the

fact

that

American

romantic

writers

tended

more

to moralize

than their English and European counterparts. (5) Besides,

a

preoccupation

with

the

Calvinistic

view

of

origina1

sin

and

the

mystery

of evil

marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser

writers.

(

三

)

．应用内容

1.

The

American

Puritanism

and

its

great

influence

over

American

moral

values, as is shown in American romantic writings.

(1)

American Puritanism

Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. (The Puritans

were

originally

members

of

a

division

of

the

Protestant

Church,

who

came

into

existence

in

the

reigns

Que

en

Elizabeth

and

King

James

Ⅰ.The

first

settlers

who

became

the

founding

fathers

of

the

American

nation

were

quite

a few of them Puritans. They came to America out of various reasons, but

it

should

be

remembered

that

they

were

a

group

of

serious,

religious

people,

advocating

highly

religious

and

moral

principles.

As

the

word

itself

hints,

Puritans

wanted

to

purify

their

religious

beliefs

and

practices.

They

felt

that

the

Church

of

England

was

too

close

to

the

Church

of

Rome

in

doctrine

form of worship, and organization of authority.) The American Puritans,

like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the

church should be restored to complete

They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total

depravity,

and

limited

atonement

through

a

special

infusion

of

grace

from

God.

But

in

the

grim

struggle

for

survival

that

followed

immediately

after

their

arrival

in

America,

they

became

more

and

more

practical, as

indeed

they had to be. Puritans were noted for a spirit of moral and religious

earnestness that determinated their whole way of life.

Puritans' lives

were

extremely

disciplined

and

hard.

They

drove

out

of

their

settlements

all

those

opinions

that

seemed

dangerous

to

them,

and

history

has

criticized

their

actions.

Yet

in

the

persecution

of

what

they

considered

error, the Puritans were no worse than many other movements in history.

As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the

early American mind and American values. American Puritanism also had a

conspicuously

noticeable

and

an

enduring

influence

on

American

literature.

It had become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, so much a part

of the national cultural atmosphere, rather than a set of tenets.

(2) One of the manifestations is the fact that

American romantic

writers

tended

more

to

moralize

than

their

English

and

European

counterparts.

Besides,

a

preoccupation with

the

Calvinistic

view

of

origina1 sin and the mystery of evil

marked the works of Hawthorne,

Melville and a host of lesser writers.

2. New England Transcendentalism

New England Transcendentalism

is the mot clearly defined Romantic

literary

movement

in

this

period.

It

was

started

in

the

area

around

Concord,

Mass.

by

a

group

of

intellectual

and

the

literary

men

of

the

United

States

such

as

Emerson,

Henry

David

Thoreau

who

were

members

of

an

informal

club,

i.

e.

the

Transcendental

Club

in

New

England

in

the

l830s.

The

transcendentalists

reacted

against

the

cold,

rigid

rationalism

of

Unitarianism in Boston. They adhered to an idealistic system of thought

based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation , the innate

goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience

for

the

revelation

of

the

deepest

truths.

The

writings

of

the

transcendentalists prepared the ground of their contemporaries such as

Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The main issues involved in the debate were generally philosophical,

concerning nature, man and the universe.

Basically, Transcendentalism

has

been

defined

philosophical1y

as

recognition

in

man

of

the

capacity

of

knowing

truth

intuitively,

or

of

attaining

knowledge

transcending the reach of the senses.

Emerson once proclaimed in a speech,

integrity

of

your

own

mind.

Other

concepts

that

accompanied

Transcendentalism

inc1ude

the

idea

that

nature

is

ennobling

and

the

idea

that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-re1iant.

3. American Romanticists differed in their understanding of human

nature.

To the transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau, man is divine in

nature

and

therefore

forever

perfectible;

but

to

Hawthorne

and

Melville,

everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore

indispensab1e

for

the

improvement

of

human

nature,

as

is

shown

in

Hawthorne's

The Scarlet Letter.

< br>二

.

美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家

Ⅰ. Washington Irving(1783

-l859)

Irving's position in American literature Washington Irving was one

of the first American writers to earn an international reputation, and

regarded

as

an

early Romantic

writer

in

the

merican

literary

history

and

Father of the American short stories.

一．一般识记

His life and major works

Washington

Irving

was

born

in

New

York

City

in

a

wealthy

family.

From

a

very

early

age

he

began

to

read

widely

and

write

juvenile

poems,

essays,

and plays. In l798, he conc1uded his education at private schools and

entered a law office, but he loved writing more.

His

first

successful

work

is

A

History

Of

New

York

from

the

Beginning

Of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty,

which, written under the

name

of

Diedrich

Knickerbocker,

won

him

wide

popularity

after

it

came

out

in

1809.

With

the

publication

of

The

Sketch

Book

of

Geoffrey

Crayon,

Gent.

in serials between 1819 and 1820, Irving won a measure of international

fame on both sides

of the

Atlantic.

The book contains familiar essays on

the Eng1ish life and Americanized versions of European folk tales like

＂

, and

Geoffrey Crayon

is a carefully contrived persona and behind Crayon stands Irving,

juxtaposing the Old World and the New, and manipulating his own

antiquarian interest with artistic perspectives.

The major work

of his

later years

was

The Life of George

Washington.

二．识记

's great indebtedness to European literature

Most

of

Irving's

subject

matter

are

borrowed

heavily

from

European

sources,

which are chiefly Germanic.

Irving's relationship with the Old World

in terms of his literary

imagination

can

hardly

be

ignored

considering

his

success

both

abroad

and

at home.

A History of New York

is a patchwork of references, echoes, and

burlesques.

He

parodies

or

imitates

Homer,

Cervantes,

Fielding,

Swift

and

many other favorites of his. He was also absorbed in German Literature

and got ideas from German legends for two of his famous stories

Winkle

Alhambra

is usually

regarded

as

Irving's

Sketch

Book

simply

because

it

has

a

strong

flavor

of

Spanish

culture.

Most

of

the

thirty-three

essays

in

The

Sketch

Book

were written in England, filled with English scenes and quotations

from English authors and faithful to British orthography. Washington

Irving brought to the new nation what its peop1e desired most in a man

of 1etters

the respect of the Old World.

's unique contribution to American literature

Irving's

contribution

to

American

literature

is

unique

in

more

than

one way. He was the first American writer of imaginative literature to

gain international fame. Although greatly influenced by European

literature, Irving gave his works distinctive American flavor.

Winkle

are,

are

among

the

treasures

of

the

American

language

and

culture.

These

two stories easily trigger off American imagination with their focus on

American

subjects,

American

landscape,

and,

in

Irving's

case,

the

legends

of

the

Hudson

River

region

of

the

fresh

young

1and.

It

is

not

the

sketches

about the Old World but the tales about America that made Washington

Irving

a household

word

and

his

fame enduring.

He

was

father

of

American

short

stories.

And

later

in

the

hands

of

Hawthorne

and

Melville

the

short

story attained a degree of perfection.

三．领会

's

theme of

conservatism as

is revealed in

Irving's taste was essentia1ly conservative and always exa1ted a

disappearing past.

This socia1

conservatism and literary preference for

the

past

is

revea1ed,

to

some

extent,

in

his

famous

story

Van

Winkle.

The

story

is

a

tale

remembered

mostly

for

Rip's

20-year

s1eep,

set

against

the background of the inevitably changing America. Rip went to sleep

before the War of Independence and woke up after it. The change that had

occurred in the 20 years he slept was to him not always for the better.

The revolution upset the natural order of things. In the story Irving

ski1lfu1ly presents to us paralleled juxtapositions of two totally

different worlds before and after Rip's 20 years' s1eep. By moving Rip

back and forth from

a noisy world

with

his wife on

the farm to a wild but

peaceful

natural

world

in

the

mountains,

and

from

a

pre- Revolution

village

to

a

George

Washington

era,

lrving

describes

Rip's

response

and

reaction

in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving

agree on the preferabi1ity of the past to the present, and the

preferability

of

a

dream-like

world

to

the

real

one.

Irving

never

seemed

to accept a modern democratic America.

's literary craftsmanship

Washington

Irving

has

always

been

regarded

as

a

writer

who

the best classic style that American Literature ever produced.

(1) We get a

strong sense

impression

as we read him along, since

the

language

he used best reveals what a Romantic writer can do with words.

We hear rather than read, for there is

musicality

in almost every line

of his prose.

(2) We seldom learn a mora1 lesson because he wants us amused and

relaxed.

So

we

often

find

ourselves

lost

in

a

world

that

is

permeated

with

a dreaming quality.

(3)

The

Gothic

elements

and

the

supernatural

atmosphere

are

manipulated in such a way that we could become so engaged and involved

in what is happening in a seemingly exotic place.

(4) Yet Irving never forgets to associate a certain place with

the

inward movement of a person

and to charge his sentences with emotion so

as to create a

true and vivid character. He is worth the honor of being

for his literary craftsmanship.

四．应用

Selected Reading:

An Excerpt from

The story of Rip Van Winkle

Rip,

an

indolent

good-natured

Dutch-American,

lives

with

his

shrewish wife in a village on the Hudson during the years before the

Revolution. One day while

hunting in the

Catskills with his

dog Wolf, he

meets

a

dwarflike

stranger

dressed

in

the

ancient

Dutch

fashion.

He

helps

him to carry a keg, and with him joins a party silently playing a game

of ninepins. After drinking of the liquor they provide, Rip falls into

a sleep which lasts 20 years, during which the Revolutionary War takes

place. He awakes as an old man and returns to his home village that has

greatly

altered.

Upon

entering

the

village,

he

is

greeted

by

his

old

dog,

which dies of the excitement and then learns that his wife has long been

dead. Rip is almost forgotten but he goes to live with his daughter, now

the mother of a family, and is soon befriended with his generosity and

cheerfulness.

This excerpt below is taken from the story, describing for us Rip's

difficulties at home, which he often escapes by going to the local inn

to spend his time with his friends and sometimes by going hunting in the

woods

with

his

dog,

and

then

focusing

on

Rip

's

return

from

his

20

years'

sleep

to

his

greatly

altered

home

village.

Here,

Irving's

pervasive

theme

of nostalgia for the unrecoverable past is at once made unforgettable.

What are

the theme and the artistic features

of

(1) The theme:

Irving's taste was essentia1ly conservative

and

always exa1ted a

disappearing past.

This socia1

conservatism and literary preference for

the

past

is

revea1ed,

to

some

extent,

in

his

famous

story

Van

Winkle.

The

story

is

a

tale

remembered

mostly

for

Rip's

20-year

s1eep,

set

against

the background of the inevitably changing America. Rip went to sleep

before the War of Independence and woke up after it. The change that had

occurred in the 20 years he slept was to him not always for the better.

The revolution upset the natural order of things. In the story Irving

ski1lfu1ly

presents

to

us

paralleled

juxtapositions

of

two

totally

different worlds before and after Rip's 20 years' s1eep. By moving Rip

back and forth from

a noisy world

with

his wife

on the farm to a wild

but

peaceful

natural

world

in

the

mountains,

and

from

a

pre- Revolution

village

to

a

George

Washington

era,

lrving

describes

Rip's

response

and

reaction

in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving

agree

on

the

preferabi1ity

of

the

past

to

the

present,

and

the

preferability

of

a

dream-like

world

to

the

real

one.

Irving

never

seemed

to accept a modern democratic America.

(2) The artistic features:

not only

well- known for

Rip's 20-year sleep but

also

considered a model of perfect English in American Literature and in the

English language as well. Washington Irving has always been regarded as

a writer who

ever produced.

He has a clear, easy style.

(a) We get a

strong sense

impression

as we read him along, since

the

language

he used best reveals what a Romantic writer can do with words.

We hear rather than read, for there is

musicality

in almost every line

of his prose.

(b) We seldom learn a mora1 lesson because he wants us

amused and

relaxed.

So

we

often

find

ourselves

lost

in

a

world

that

is

permeated

with

a dreaming quality. He uses genial humor to exaggerate the seriousness

of situation. He uses dignified words to produce a half-mocking effect.

(c)

The

Gothic

elements

and

the

supernatural

atmosphere

are

manipulated in such a way that we could become so engaged and involved

in what is happening in a seemingly exotic place.( Rip Van Winkle was

overwhelmed by the magic power of the drink and fell into sleep for 20

years.)

(d)Yet Irving never forgets to associate a certain place

with the

inward movement of a person

and to charge his sentences with emotion so as to create a

true and

vivid

character.

He

is

worth

the

honor

of

being

American

Goldsmith

for his literary craftsmanship.

II. Ralph Waldo Emerson

一

.

一般识记

His

life:

Ralph

Waldo

Emerson

is

the

chief

spokesman

of

New

England

Transcendentalism,

which is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the

Romantic period in the history of American literature.

Emerson was son of a Unitarian minister. Though born of an impoverished

family, Emerson never failed to receive some formal education. Whi1e a

student at Harvard he began keeping journals, a practice he continued

throughout his 1if e. He later drew on the journal for materials for his

essays and poetry. After Harvard, he taught as a schoolmaster, which he

soon gave up for the study of theology. He began preaching in 1826 and

three years later he became a pastor in a church in Boston. Emerson was

ardent

at

first

in

his

service

in

religion,

but

gradually

grew

skeptical

of

the

beliefs

of

the

church;

feeling

Unitarianism

intolerable,

he

finally

left the ministry in l832.

Emerson was greatly influenced by European Romanticism. He Carlyle,

and

listened

to

some

famous

Romantic

poets

like

Coleridge

and

Wordsworth.

Through his acquaintance with these men he became closely involved with

German idea1ism and Transcendentalism. After he was back from Europe,

Emerson retreated to a quiet study at Concord, Massachusetts, where he

began to pursue his new path of

there at Concord with peop1e like Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller,

which was later known

as the Transcendenta1 Club. And the unofficial

manifesto for the Club was Nature

(l836), Emerson's first little book,

which established him ever since as the most eloquent spokesman of New

England Transcendentalism. Nature was the fundamental document of his

philosophy

and

expressed

also

his

constant,

deeply-felt

love

for

nature.

It was called

helped

to

found

and

edit

for

a

time

the

Transcendental

journal

,

The

Dial

.

Emerson lived an intel1ectually active and significant life between the

mid-1830s

and

the

mid-1840s,

1ecturing

all

over

the

country,

and

occasionally, abroad. He preached his Transcendental pursuit and his

reputation

expanded

dramatically

with

his

lectures

and

his

essays.

Though

the rest of Emerson's life was a slow anticlimax to his midd1e years,

people

continued

to

honor

the

most

influentia1

prophet

and

the

intellectua1 liberator of their age, and his reputation as a family man

of conventional life and a decent, solid citizen has remained always.

二．识记内容：

His major works:

Emerson is generally known as an essayist. During all his life he

worked steadily at a succession of essays, usually derived from his

journals or lectures he had already given.

Nature

did not establish him

as an important American writer. His lasting reputation began only with

the

publication

of

Essays

(1841

).

Many

of

his

famous

essays

are

included

in

Essay

,

which convey the best of his philosophical discussions and

transcendental pursuits,

such as

The American Scholar, Self Reliance,

The

Over

Soul.

The

second

collection

of

Emerson's

essays,

Essays:

Second

Series

(1844) demonstrated even more thorough1y than the first that

Emerson's

intellect

had

sharpened

in

the

years

since

Nature

.

The

Poet

and

Exprience

are

examples,

the

former

a

reflection

upon

the

aesthetic

problems in terms of the present state of literature in America and the

latter

a

discussion

about

the

conflict

between

idealism

and

ordinary

1ife.

三．领会

1.

Emersonian Transcendentalism

Emersonian Transcendentalism is actual1y a philosophical school which

absorbed some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European

Romanticism, with its

focus on the intuitive knowledge of human beings

to grasp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man.

In his

essays,

Emerson

put

forward

his

philosophy

of

the

over-sou1,

the

importance of the Individual, and Nature.

(1) Emerson's philosophy of

the over-sou1

Emerson rejected both the formal religion of the churches and the

Deistic

philosophy;

instead

he

based

his

religion

on

an

intuitive

belief

in

an

ultimate

unity,

which

he

called

the

Emerson

and

other

Transcendentalists believed in the transcendence of

an impersonal force that is eternal, moral, harmonious, and beneficient

in

tendency.

They

believed

that

there

should

be

an

emotional

communication

between

an

individual

soul

and

the

universal

since

the

over-sou1 is

an all-pervading

power

from which all things come from and

of which a1l are a part. One of the tendencies of the

express itself in form, hence the world of nature as an emanation of the

world of spirit. Emerson's remarkable image of

marks a paradoxical state of being, in which one is merged into nature,

the over-soul, whi1e at the same time retaining a unique perception of

the experience.

(2)

Emerson's philosophy of

the importance of the Individual

Emerson is affirmative about man's intuitive knowledge, with which

a man can trust himself to decide what is right and to act accordingly.

The ideal individual should be a self-reliant man.

wrote

in

Self

Reliance

,

by

which

he

means

to

convince

people

that

the

possibilities for man to develop and improve himself are infinite.

(3) Emerson's view

on nature

Emerson's nature is emblematic of the spiritual world, alive with

God's overwhelming presence. It mediates between man and God, and its

voice

leads

to

higher

truth;

hence,

it

exercises

a

healthy

and

restorative

inf1uence on human mind.

nature, sink yourse1f

back into its

inf1uence

and

you'1l

become

spiritually

who1e

again.

By

employing

nature

as

a

big

symbol

of

the

Spirit,

or

God,

or

the

over-soul,

Emerson

has

brought

the Puritan 1egacy of symbolism to its perfection.

Emersonian Transcendentalism inspired a whole generation of famous

American authors like Thoreau, Whitman, and Dickinson.

u's Transcendentalism

Henry

David

Thoreau

(1817-1862)

is

most

often

mentioned

as

inspired

by Emerson, the most representative of the phi1osophical and literary

school

which

is

American

Transcendenta1ism.

Thoreau

embraced

his

master's

ideas as a disciple. In 1845 he built a cabin on some land belonging to

Emerson

by

Walden

Pond

and

moved

in

to

live

there

in

a

very

simple

manner

for

a

litt1e

over

two

years,

which

gave

birth

to

a

great

transcendentalist

work

Walden

(1854).

The

book

not

only

fully

demonstrates

Emersonian

ideas

of

self- reliance

but

also

develops

and

tests

Thoreau's

own

transcendental

philosophy.

(1)For Thoreau,

nature is not merely symbolic, but divine in itself

and

human

beings

can

receive

precise

communication

from

the

natural

world

by

way

of pure

senses

. So

he

was often alone in the woods

or by

the pond,

lost in spiritual communion with nature.

(2)Thoreau

strongly

believed

in

se1f-culture

and

was

eager

to

identify himself with the Transcendental image of the

self- reliant

man.

To achieve personal spiritual perfection, he thinks, the most important

thing

for

men

to

do

with

their

lives

is

to

be

self-

sufficient,

so

he

sought

to reduce his physical needs and material comforts to a minimum to get

spiritual richness.

(3)His positiveness about

the importance of individual conscience

was such that he even considered the society fetters of the freedom of

individuals.

Though Thoreau became more than Emerson's disciple eventually, his

indebtedness to Nature and its author has never been over1ooked.

3. The style of Emerson's essays

Emerson's essays often have a

casual

style, for most of them were

derived

from

his

journals

or

lectures.

They

are

usually

characterized

by

a series of short

,

declarative sentences

, which are not quite logically

connected but will flower out into illustrative statements of truth and

thoughts. Emerson's philosophical discussion is sometimes difficult to

understand but he

uses comparisons and metaphors

to make the general idea of his work

clearly expressed. Well-read in the classics of Western European

literature, Emerson often employed these literary sources to make and

enrich his own points but never let them take the full reins of his

discussion. In general, Emerson was showing to the world a distinctive

American style.

四．应用

Selected Reading:

An Excerpt from

Nature

Question

: What is Emerson's view on nature?

Emerson's nature is emblematic of the spiritual world, alive with God's

overwhelming presence; hence, it exercises a healthy and restorative

inf1uence on human mind.

nature, sink yourse1f

back into its

inf1uence

and

you'1l

become

spiritually

who1e

again.

By

employing

nature

as

a

big

symbol

of

the

Spirit,

or

God,

or

the

over-soul,

Emerson

has

brought

the Puritan 1egacy of symbolism to its perfection.

The essay

Nature

discusses the love of nature, the uses of nature,

the

idealist

philosophy

in

relation

to

nature,

evidences

of

spirit

in

the

material universe, and the potential expansion of human souls and works

that

will

result

from

a

general

return

to

direct,

immediate

contact

with

the

natural

environment.

In

the

essay

Emerson

clearly

expresses

the

main

principles of his Transcendentalist pursuit and his love for nature. In

expressing

his

belief

in

the

mystical

of

nature,

Emerson

develops

his concept of the

Emerson's famous metaphor of

illustrate his philosophical discussion.

III. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-l864)

Imbued

with

an

inquiring

imagination,

an

intense1y

meditative

mind,

and unceasing interest in the

,

Nathaniel

Hawthorne

remains

one

of

the

most

interesting,

yet

most

ambiva1ent writers in the American literary history.

一．一般识记

Hawthorne's life and writing career

His

life

story

is

tota1ly

without

the

exciting

events

which

characterize the lives of so many American writers. He was born on the

Fourth of July, l804 in Salem, Massachusetts, into a prominent Puritan

family. His first American ancestor, William Hawthorne, as a magistrate

of

the

Bay

Colony,

was

active

in

the

1650's

in

persecution

of

the

Quakers,

while William's son, John, was a judge at the Salem witchcraft trials.

However, the 17th century prominence of his family dec1ined during the

century

that

followed.

Nathaniel's

father,

a

sea

captain,

died

of

yellow

fever in 1808 leaving at Salem a widow and three children in genteel

poverty. With the financial support from his more prosperous maternal

relations, Hawthorne passed a serene childhood in spite of his father's

death and spent his adolescence reading some books of those literary

master minds, especially Bunyan, Spenser and Shakespeare, which were

essential for his formation as a writer. From 1821 to 1825, he attended

Bowdoin

Co1lege

in

Maine,

where

the

decision

to

devote

himself

to

writing

was gradually taking shape and finally put into practice during those

years when he was living with his mother in Salem. The solitary years

proved to be fruitful, for in 1837, he published

Twice-Told

Tales

,

a

collection

of

short

stories

which

attracted

critical

attention.

After

1837,

a

series

of

salient

events

of

Hawthorne's

life

happened

that

mattered

a

lot

to

his

literary

imagination

and

creation.

He

met

Sophia

Peabody, whom he married later and with whom he had three children: he

worked in the United States Custom House in Boston and later in Salem,

which definitely provided some authentic materials for his long works;

he also stayed for some time at Concord and Lenox, where he met the

principal

literary

figures

of

the

time,

Emerson

and

Thoreau

and

Melville.

He was affected by the former's transcendentalist theory and struck up

a very intimate relationship with the latter, and all the three people

had played an indispensable role in Hawthorne's literary career.

二．识记

Hawthorne's major works

Hawthorne

wrote

and

published

many

good

works,

which

have

doubtlessly become part of the American literary heritage. Among them,

the

tales

collected

in

Moses

from

an

Old

Manse

(1846)

and

The Snow-Image

and

Other

Twice- Told

Tales

(1851)

best

demonstrate

Hawthorn's

early

obsession

with

the

moral

and

psychological

consequences

of

pride,

selfishness, and secret guilt that manifest themselves in human beings;

The

Scarlet

Letter

(1850),

always

regarded

as

the

best

of

his

works,

tells

a simple but very moving story in which four people living in a Puritan

community

are

invo1ved

in

and

affected

by

the

sin

of

adultery

in

different

ways;

The House of the Seven Gables

(1851 ) was based on the tradition

of a curse pronounced on the author's family when his great-grandfather

was

a

judge

in

the

Salem

witchcraft

trials;

The

Blithedale

Romance

(l852)

is a novel he wrote to reveal his own experiences on the Brook Farm and

his own methods as a psychological novelist.

The Marble Faun

(1860) is

a

romance

set

in

Italy,

concerned

about

the

dark

aberrations

of

the

human

spirit.

三．领会

1. Hawthorne's thematic concerns

(1) his

human sin and evil

Hawthorne's

literary

world

is

a

most

disturbed,

tormented

and

problematical

one

mostly

because

of

his

vision

of

life

and

human

beings. He rejected the Transcendentalists' transparent optimism about

the potentialities of human nature. Instead he looked more deeply and

perhaps

more

honestly

into

life,

finding

in

it

much

suffering

and

conflict

but also finding the redeeming power of love. According to Hawthorne,

through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity.

A

piece

of

literary

work

should

how we

are

all wronged and

wrongers,

and avenge one another.

So in almost every book he wrote, Hawthorne

discusses sin and evil. In

that

everyone

possesses

some

evil

secret.

Its

hero,

a

naive

young

man

who

accepts

both

societies

in

general

and

his

fellow

men

as

individuals

worth

his regard, is confronted with the vision of human evil in one terrible

night, and becomes thereafter distrustful and doubtful.

B1ack Veil

to suggest that

everyone

tries to hold

the evil

secret from one another in the way the minister tries to convince his

people with his black vei1.

Hawthorne's

point

that

evi1

is

man's

birthmark,

something

he

is

born

with.

One

source

of

evil

that

Hawthorne

is

concerned

most

is

over-reaching

intellect, which usually refers to someone, who is too proud, too sure

of himself. The tension between the head and the heart constitutes one

of the dramatic moments when the evil of

be

fully

revealed.

Hawthorne's

intellectuals

are

usually

villains,

dreadful

because

they

are

devoid

of

warmth

and

feeling.

What's

more,

they

tend

to

go

beyond

and

violate

the

natural

order

by

doing

something

impossible and reaching the ultimate truth, without a sober mind about

their own limitations as human beings. Chillingworth, Dr. Rappaccini in

Daughter

are

but

a

few

specimens

of

Hawthorne's

chilling,

cold-blooded human animals.

(2)Hawthorne's view of Puritanism:

Hawthorne's view of man and human history originates, to a great

extent, in Puritanism. He was not a Puritan himself, but he had Puritan

ancestors

who

p1ayed

an

important

role

in

his

life

and

works.

He

believed

that

wrong

doing

of

one

generation

lives

into

the

successive

ones,

and often wondered if he might have inherited some of their guilt. This

sensibility 1ed to his understanding of evil being at the very core of

human

life,

which

is typical

of

the

Calvinistic

belief

that

human

beings

are

basically

depraved

and

corrupted,

hence,

they

should

obey

God

to

atone

for their sins.