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 .