美国文学选读名词解释

nism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs

of the Puritans.

speaking ; American Puritanism just refers to

the spirit and ideal of puritans;who settled in the North

American continent in the early part of the seventeenth

century because of religious persecutions.

content it means scrupulous ;moral

rigor ;especially hostility to social pleasure and

religion .

time passing it became a dominant factor in

American life ; one of the most enduring shaping

influences in American thought and some

extent it is a state of mind;a part of the national

cultural atmosphere that the American breathes ;rather

than a set of tenets.

ly it is a code of values;a philosophy of life

and a point of view in American minds;also a two-faceted

tradition of religious idealism and level -headed in

common sense .

American Romanticism浪漫主义:a literary movement

flourished as a cultural force the early period and the

late period.

associated with imagination and boundlessness; as an

historical movement it arose in the 18th and 19th

Whitman; Nathaniel Hawthorne; Herman

Melville; Edgar Allan Poe.

es of American romanticism

1 It was the expression of “a real new experience全新体验”.

2 American Puritanism was a cultural heritage. Many

American romantic writings intended to edify启发 more

than they entertained.

3 American Romanticism is full of “newness新奇” .

Ideals：Individualism; political equality

Dream：America: a new Garden of Eden

(4)

American romanticism was both imitative and

independent.

endentalism 超验主义

The major features of Transcendentalism:

① The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit; or

the Oversoul; as the most important thing in the universe.

思想 超灵 宇宙

② The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the

individual. To them; the individual is the most

important element of Society.

③ The Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of

nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was not

purely matter. It was alive; filled with God’s

overwhelming presence. 自然+上帝

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

American Transcendentalism:As a philosophical and

literary movement; American Transcendentalism also

known as “ American Renaissance” flourished in New

England from the 1830s to the Civil War. It is the high

tide of American romanticism and its doctrines found

their greatest literary advocates in Emerson and Thoreau.

Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation

and against the materialism of American society.

lism: It views human beings as animals in the

natural world responding to environmental forces and

internal stresses and drives; over none of which they

have control and none of which they fully understand.

The literary naturalists have a major difference from

the realists. They look at a different spot to find real

life.

verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm

and line length and that attempts to avoid any

predetermined verse structure; instead; it uses the

cadences of natural speech.

is the Lost Generation

The Lost Generation refers to the disillusioned

intellectuals and artists of the years following the

First World War; who rebelled against former ideals and

values but could replace them only by despair of a

cynical hedonism. The remark of Gertrude

Stein;Hemingway

an Dream: American dream means the belief that

everyone can succeed as long as he/she works hard enough.

It usually implies a successful and satisfying life. It

usually framed in terms of American capitalism; its

associated purported meritocracy;and the freedoms

guaranteed by the U.S. Bill of Rights

an Realism: In American literature; the Civil

War brought the Romantic Period to an end. The Age of

Realism came into existence. It came as a reaction

against the lie of romanticism and sentimentalism.

Realism turned from an emphasis on the strange toward

a faithful rendering of the ordinary; a slice of life

as it is really lived. It expresses the concern for

commonplace and the low; and it offers an objective

rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human

experience .

Humor:also called Black Comedy; writing that

juxtaposes morbid or ghastly elements with comical ones.

Black humor is a type of modern humor that is caused by

anger. It often describes gruesome events; which are

normally associated with pleasant occasions; thus

producing the congruous effect for humor. Black humor

attacks on social mores through shocking language and

offensive imagery. Black humor is a kind of desperate

humor. It is the

laughter at tragic things. In this meaningless world;

according to Black Humorists; man’s fate is decided by

incomprehensive powers. We can’t do anything about it;

therefore we may as well laugh. Thomas Pynchon; John

Barth; and Kurt Vonnegut;Nathanael West;Joseph Heller.

colorism: as a trend became dominant in American literature in the 1860s and early 1870s;Local

Colorism: The definition of local colorism is made c

lear by Hamlin Garland in his Crumble Idols; he claims that it has “such quality and texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or anyone else than a native.” Here “text”

refers to the elements which characterizes a local culture; elements such as speech; customs; and mores

peculiar to one particular place. And his “background” covers physical setting and those distinctive qualities of landscape which condition human thought and behavior. The ultimate aim of the local colorism is to create the illusion of an indigenous little world with qualities that differs from the world outside.

Hero硬汉形象General Features:

has great physical potential and courage; have

strong willpower.

3. Thirdly;another important feature of the “code

heroes" is their loyalty.

4. Fourthly ; the" code heroes ”maintain great dignity

in all situations.

5. Fifthly ; the “code heroes ” are endowed with

certain specialized skills ; such as fishing ; bull

fighting ; and hunting ; etc

6; the “code heroes ”are always put in some touch-and

go situations; what the heroes must always face up to

is their own personal fear of death and the threat of

destruction; and it is this obstacle; death; that they

have to overcome.

g theory:

The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only

one-eighth of it being above water.