文学术语 美国文学部分

Literary terms

1.

American Puritanism

（美国清教主义）

American

Puritanism

refers

to

the

beliefs

and

practices

of

those

Puritans

who

came

out

f

different

reasons to the New Continent and settled in what is now the United States. American Puritans accepted as

their

theological

foundation

the

Calvinistic

doctrine

of

predestination,

original

sin,

total

depravity,

and

salvation

of

a

selected

few

through

a

special

infusion

of

grace

from

God.

Being

a

group

of

seriously

religious

people,

they

had

a

strong

sense

of

mission

and

very

idealistic,

for

they

thought

they

were

the

people God chose and sent to the New World to purify the beliefs and practices of the Church of England,

from which they had separated themselves, and built in America a new church. On the other hand, they

were very practical, for the struggle of survival in the New World had taught them to work hard for profits

and

material

success,

which

they

believed

was

a

sign

of

God’s

benevolence.

Puritans

in

America

were

living a very disciplined and simple style of life, devoid of earthly joy and extravagancy, so they are often

criticized.

But

as

a

philosophy

of

life

and

a

culture

heritage,

American

Puritanism

has

produced

an

everlasting influence on the American life, and especially the American mind.

2.

American Dream

（美国梦）

The American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States of America that through hard work,

courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity.

These

were

values

held

by

many

early

European

settlers,

and

have

been

passed

on

to

subsequent

generations. Nowadays the American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of

success and happiness.

3.

American Romanticism

（美国浪漫主义文学）

Romanticism

refers

to

an

artistic

and

intellectual

movement

originating

in

Europe

in

the

late

18

th

century

and

characterized

by

a

heightened

interest

in

nature,

emphasis

on

the

individual’s

expression

of

emotion

and

imagination,

departure

from

the

attitudes

and

forms

of

classicism,

and

rebellion

against

established social rules and conventions. The romantic period in American literature stretches from the end

of the 18

th

century through the outbreak of the Civil War. It was an age of great westward expansion, of the

increasing gravity of the slavery question, of an intensification of the spirit of embattled sectionalism in the

South, and of a powerful impulse to reform in the North. In literature it was America’s first great creative

period, a full flowering of the romantic impulse on American soil. Although foreign influences were strong,

American

romanticism

exhibited

from

the

very

outset

distinct

features

of

its

own.

First,

American

romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience” and contained “an alien quality” for

the simple reason th

at “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien. Second, Puritan influence over

American

romanticism

was

conspicuously

noticeable.

Emerging

as

new

writers

of

strength

and

creative

power were the novelists Hawthorne and Melville; the poets Poe, Longfellow, Dickinson and Whitman; the

essayists Thoreau and Emerson. These American writers had made a great literary period by capturing on

their pages the enthusiasm and the optimism of that dream.

4.

Transcendental ism

（超验主义）

Transcendentalism refers to a kind of attitude that believes in the recognition in man of the capacity of

knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses. In another word,

transcendentalists believe that man learns things not only through reasoning based on his five senses, or by

his own sensual experiences, and that he also learns truth spontaneously, out of his soul or instincts. In a

literal

sense,

it

means

the

belief

that

knowledge

and

principles

of

reality

can

be

obtained

by

studying

thought,

not

necessarily

by

practical

experiences.

In

this

sense

the

term

is

almost

synonymous

with

the

word mysticism. It was first applied to the German philosophical systems of Hegel, Kant, and Fichte. Later

the word came to be used more loosely to apply to a movement that began in New England around 1830,

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the spokesman of which was Ralph Waldo Emerson.

5.

American Realism

（美国现实主义）

American

literary

realism

refers

to

a

literary

movement

that

sprang

up

in

the

latter

half

of

the

19

th

century in the United States. It is considered as a reaction against the romantic idea about the reality and

human nature, and an answer to the gloomy picture of American life after the Civil War. American literary

realism

aims

at

the

interpretation

of

the

actualities

of

any

aspect

of

life,

free

from

subjective

prejudice,

idealism, or romantic color. Realistic writers are more concerned with the moral and social effects of their

writings

than

the

transcendental

and

symbolic

implications

of

their

art.

Instead

of

thinking

about

the

mysteries

of

life

and

death

and

heroic

individualism,

their

focus

of

attention

is

now

directed

to

the

interesting features of everyday existence, to what is brutal or sordid, and to the open portrayal of class

struggle.

The

three

dominant

figures

of

the

period

are

William

Dean

Howells,

Mark

Twain,

and

Henry

James.

Howells,

as

the

spokesman

of

the

Age

of

Realism

in

American

Literature

and

the

“Dean”

of

American letters, advocates in his critical essays the general principles of American literary realism, saying

that lit

erary creation should be “true to the motives, the impulses, and the principles that shape the life of

actual men and women”. Henry James addresses the issue of international and cross

-cultural confrontations

by

way

of

probing

into

the

psychological

and

moral

nature

of

his

characters.

Mark

Twain,

by

contrast,

prefers

to

have

his

own

region

and

people

at

the

forefront

of

his

stories;

hence

his

works

are

fresh

and

American.

6.

American Naturalism

（美国自然主义）

Naturalism is a particular school of philosophy that proved to be popular in the late 19

th

century. It has

been

in

general

defined

in

two

words

as

pessimistic

determinism.

The

naturalistic

writers

were

all

determinists in

that they believed in the omnipotence of abstract forces. They were

pessimistic as far as

they believed that men and women, devoid of the freedom of choice, were absolutely incapable of shaping

their own destinies. They tore the mask of gentility to pieces and wrote about the helplessness of man, his

insignificance

in

a

cold

and

indifferent

world,

and

his

lack

of

dignity

in

face

of

the

crushing

forces

of

environment and heredity. They reported truthfully and objectively, with a passion for scientific accuracy

and

overwhelming

accumulation

of

factual

detail.

The

writers

included

in

the

discussion

of

American

Naturalism are Theodore Dreiser, Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, and Jack London.

7.

Local Colorism

（乡土小说）

Local Colorism refers to a kind of writings in the late 19

th

century which carry with them the quality

of

texture,

that

is,

the

elements

that

characterize

a

local

culture.

Elements

such

as

speech,

customs

and

mores peculiar to one particular place, and the quality of background, which covers physical setting and

those distinctive qualities of landscape that condition human thought and behavior. The ultimate aim of the

local colorists is to create the illusion of an indigenous little world with qualities that tells it apart from the

world outside. Hamlin Garland is the forerunner of the group and other noticeable writers of the local color

include Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Willa Cather, to name only a few.

8.

The Gilded Age

（镀金时代）

Mark

Twain

called

the

late

19th

century

the

Age.

By

this,

he

meant

that

the

period

was

glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In the popular view, the late 19th century was a period of

greed and guile: of rapacious Robber Barons, unscrupulous speculators, and corporate buccaneers, of shady

business practices, scandal-plagued politics, and vulgar display. It is easy to caricature the Gilded Age as an

era of corruption, conspicuous consumption, and unfettered capitalism. But it is more useful to think of this

as modern America’s formative period, when an agrarian society of small producers was transformed into

an urban society dominated by industrial corporations.

9.

Harlem Renaissance

（哈莱姆文艺复兴）

Harlem

Renaissance

is

used

to

describe

a

flowering

of

African-American

literature

and

art

in

the

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