(单词翻译:单击)
Section 1 The 1920s I. Introduction The 1920s is a flowering period of American literature. It is considered ※the second renaissance§ of American literature.
The nicknames for this period:
(1)Roaring 20s 每 comfort
(2)Dollar Decade 每 rich
(3)Jazz Age 每 Jazz music
II. Background 1.First World War 每 ※a war to end all wars§(1)Economically: became rich from WWI. Economic boom: new inventions. Highly-consuming society.
(2)Spiritually: dislocation, fragmentation.
2.wide-spread contempt for law (looking down upon law)
3.Freud*s theory
III. Features of the literature Writers: three groups(1)Participants
(2)Expatriates
(3)Bohemian (unconventional way of life) 每 on-lookers
Two areas:(1)Failure of communication of Americans
(2)Failure of the American society
Imagism I. Background Imagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient Chinese poetry and Japanese literature ※haiku§
II. Development: three stages 1.1908~1909: London, Hulme
2.1912~1914: England -> America, Pound
3.1914~1917: Amy Lowell
III. What is an ※image§?
An image is defined by Pound as that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time, ※a vortex or cluster of fused ideas§ ※endowed with energy§. The exact word must bring the effect of the object before the reader as it had presented itself to the poet*s mind at the time of writing.
IV. Principles 1.Direct treatment of the ※thing§, whether subjective1 or objective;
2.To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation;
3.As regarding rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome.
V. Significance 1.It was a rebellion against the traditional poetics which failed to reflect the new life of the new century.
2.It offered a new way of writing which was valid3 not only for the Imagist poets but for modern poetry as a whole.
3.The movement was a training school in which many great poets learned their first lessons in the poetic2 art.
4.It is this movement that helped to open the first pages of modern English and American poetry.
VI. Ezra Pound 1.life
2.literary career
3.works
(1)Cathay
(2)Cantos
(3)Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
4.point of view
(1)Confident in Pound*s belief that the artist was morally and culturally the arbiter4 and the ※saviour§ of the race, he took it upon himself to purify the arts and became the prime mover of a few experimental movements, the aim of which was to dump the old into the dustbin and bring forth5 something new.
(2)To him life was sordid6 personal crushing oppression, and culture produced nothing but ※intangible bondage§.
(3)Pound sees in Chinese history and the doctrine7 of Confucius a source of strength and wisdom with which to counterpoint Western gloom and confusion.
(4)He saw a chaotic8 world that wanted setting to rights, and a humanity, suffering from spiritual death and cosmic injustice9, that needed saving. He was for the most part of his life trying to offer Confucian philosophy as the one faith which could help to save the West.
5.style: very difficult to read
Pound*s early poems are fresh and lyrical. The Cantos can be notoriously difficult in some sections, but delightfully10 beautiful in others. Few have made serious study of the long poem; fewer, if anyone at all, have had the courage to declare that they have conquered Pound; and many seem to agree that the Cantos is a monumental failure.
6.Contribution
He has helped, through theory and practice, to chart out the course of modern poetry.
7.The Cantos 每 ※the intellectual diary since 1915§
Features:
(1)Language: intricate and obscure
(2)Theme: complex subject matters
(3)Form: no fixed11 framework, no central theme, no attention to poetic rules
VII.T. S. Eliot
1.life
2.works
(1)poems
l The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
l Hollow Man
l Ash Wednesday
l Four Quarters
(2)Plays
l Murder in the Cathedral
l Sweeney Agonistes
l The Confidential14 Clerk
(3)Critical essays
l The Sacred Wood
l Essays on Style and Order
l Elizabethan Essays
l The Use of Poetry and The Use of Criticisms
l After Strange Gods
3.point of view
(1)The modern society is futile15 and chaotic.
(2)Only poets can create some order out of chaos16.
(3)The method to use is to compare the past and the present.
4.Style
(1)Fresh visual imagery, flexible tone and highly expressive17 rhythm
(2)Difficult and disconnected images and symbols, quotations18 and allusions19
(3)Elliptical structures, strange juxtapositions20, an absence of bridges
5.The Waste Land: five parts
(1)The Burial of the Dead
(2)A Game of Chess
(3)The Fire Sermon
(4)Death by Water
(5)What the Thunder Said
VIII. Robert Frost
1.life
2.point of view
(1)All his life, Frost was concerned with constructions through poetry. ※a momentary21 stay against confusion§.
(2)He understands the terror and tragedy in nature, but also its beauty.
(3)Unlike the English romantic poets of 19th century, he didn*t believe that man could find harmony with nature. He believed that serenity22 came from working, usually amid natural forces, which couldn*t be understood. He regarded work as ※significant toil§.
3.works 每 poems
the first: A Boy*s Will
collections: North of Boston, Mountain Interval23 (mature), New Hampshire
4.style/features of his poems
(1)Most of his poems took New England as setting, and the subjects were chosen from daily life of ordinary people, such as ※mending wall§, ※picking apples§.
(2)He writes most often about landscape and people 每 the loneliness and poverty of isolated24 farmers, beauty, terror and tragedy in nature. He also describes some abnormal people, e.g. ※deceptively simple§, ※philosophical poet§.
(3)Although he was popular during 1920s, he didn*t experiment like other modern poets. He used conventional forms, plain language, traditional metre, and wrote in a pastured tradition.
IX. e. e. cummings
※a juggler26 with syntax, grammar and diction§ 每 individualism, ※painter poet§
Novels in the 1920s I. F. Scott Fitzgerald
1.life 每 participant in 1920s
2.works
(1)This Side of Paradise
(2)Flappers and Philosophers
(3)The Beautiful and the Damned
(4)The Great Gatsby
(5)Tender is the Night
(6)All the Sad Young Man
3.point of view
(1)He expressed what the young people believed in the 1920s, the so-called ※American Dream§ is false in nature.
(2)He had always been critical of the rich and tried to show the integrating effects of money on the emotional make-up of his character. He found that wealth altered people*s characters, making them mean and distrusted. He thinks money brought only tragedy and remorse28.
(3)His novels follow a pattern: dream 每 lack of attraction 每 failure and despair.
4.His ideas of ※American Dream§
It is false to most young people. Only those who were dishonest could become rich.
5.Style
Fitzgerald was one of the great stylists in American literature. His prose is smooth, sensitive, and completely original in its diction and metaphors29. Its simplicity30 and gracefulness31, its skill in manipulating the relation between the general and the specific reveal his consummate32 artistry.
6.The Great Gatsby
Narrative33 point of view 每 Nick
He is related to everyone in the novel and is calm and detected observer who is never quick to make judgements.
Selected omniscient34 point of view
II. Ernest Hemingway
1.life
2.point of view (influenced by experience in war)
(1)He felt that WWI had broken America*s culture and traditions, and separated from its roots. He wrote about men and women who were isolated from tradition, frightened, sometimes ridiculous, trying to find their own way.
(2)He condemned35 war as purposeless slaughter36, but the attitude changed when he took part in Spanish Civil War when he found that fascism was a cause worth fighting for.
(3)He wrote about courage and cowardice37 in battlefield. He defined courage as ※an instinctive38 movement towards or away from the centre of violence with self-preservation and self-respect, the mixed motive§. He also talked about the courage with which to face tragedies of life that can never be remedied.
(4)Hemingway is essentially39 a negative writer. It is very difficult for him to say ※yes§. He holds a black, naturalistic view of the world and sees it as ※all a nothing§ and ※all nada§.
3.works
(1)In Our Time
(2)Men Without Women
(3)Winner Take Nothing
(5)The Sun Also Rises
(6)A Farewell to Arms
(7)Death in the Afternoon
(8)To Have and Have Not
(9)Green Hills of Africa
(10) The Fifth Column
(11) For Whom the Bell Tolls41
(12) Across the River and into the Trees
(13) The Old Man and the Sea
4.themes 每 ※grace under pressure§
(1)war and influence of war on people, with scenes connected with hunting, bull fighting which demand stamina42 and courage, and with the question ※how to live with pain§, ※how human being live gracefully43 under pressure§.
(2)※code hero§
The Hemingway hero is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent, a man of action, and one of few words. That is an individualist keeping emotions under control, stoic44 and self-disciplined in a dreadful place. These people are usually spiritual strong, people of certain skills, and most of them encounter death many times.
5.style
(1)simple and natural
(2)direct, clear and fresh
(3)lean and economical
(4)simple, conversational45, common found, fundamental words
(5)simple sentences
(6)Iceberg principle: understatement, implied things
(7)Symbolism
III. Sinclair Lewis 每 ※the worst important writer in American literature§
1.life
2.works
(1)Main Street
(2)Babbitt
(3)Arrowsmith
(4)Dodsworth
(5)Elmer Gantry
3.point of view 每 satirical critic of American middle class
(1)Lewis showed the villagers to be narrow-minded, greedy, pretentious46 and corrupt47.
(2)He attacked middle class for its indifference48 to art and culture, and its assumption that economic success made it superior.
4.style
(1)photographic, verisimilitude
(2)colloquialism
(3)characterization: he often created a type of character rather than an individual
(4)old fashioned in theme
(5)lack in psychological exploration
IV. Willa Cather
1.life
2.works
(1)Alexander*s Bridge
(2)O Pioneers
(4)My Antonia
3.features of her works
(1)She was one of the few ※uneasy survivors50 of the nineteenth century§. Hanging onto the traditional values, she was never able to come to terms with modernity.
(2)Old west becomes in most of her novels the centre of moral reference against which modern existence is measured.
(3)She withdraws in her later fiction into the historical past.
(4)She often uses women protagonists51 in her novels.
Southern Literature I. Heritage
American southern literature can date back to Edgar Allen Poe, and reach its summit with the appearance of the two ※giants§ 每 Faulkner and Wolfe. There are southern women writers 每 Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O*Connor.
II. Southern Myths 每 guilt52, failure, poverty
1.Chevalier heritage
3.Plantation55 aristocracy
4.Lost cause
6.Purity of womanhood
Southern literature: twisted, pessimistic, violent, distorted
Gothic novel: Poe
III. William Faulkner
1.life
2.literary career: three stages
(1)1924~1929: training as a writer
l The Marble Faun
l Soldier*s Pay
l Mosquitoes
(2)1929~1936: most productive and prolific57 period
l Sartoris
l The Sound and the Fury
l As I Lay Dying
l Light in August
l Absalom, Absalom
(3)1940~end: won recognition in America
l Go Down, Moses
3.point of view
He generally shows a grim picture of human society where violence and cruelty are frequently included, but his later works showed more optimism. His intention was to show the evil, harsh events in contrast to such eternal virtues58 as love, honour, pity, compassion59, self-sacrifice, and thereby60 expose the faults of society. He felt that it was a writer*s duty to remind his readers constantly of true values and virtues.
4.themes
(1)history and race
He explains the present by examining the past, by telling the stories of several generations of family to show how history changes life. He was interested in the relationship between blacks and whites, especially concerned about the problems of the people who were of the mixed race of black and white, unacceptable to both races.
(2)Deterioration
(3)Conflicts between generations, classes, races, man and environment
(4)Horror, violence and the abnormal
5.style/features of his works
(1)complex plot
(2)stream of consciousness
(3)multiple point of view, circular form
(4)violation of chronology
(5)courtroom rhetoric61: formal language
(6)characterization: he was able to probe into the psychology62 of characters
(7)※anti-hero§: weak, fable63, vulnerable (true people in modern society)
He has a group of women writers following him, including O*Connor and Eudora Welty
Section 2 The 1930s Radical64 1930s
I. Background
Great Depression (1929 ※Black Thursday§)
II. Literature
1.Writers of the 1920s were still writing, but they didn*t produce good works.
2.The main stream is left-oriented.
III. Writers of 1930s
1.social concern and social involvement
2.revival65 of naturalistic tradition of Dreiser and Norris
IV. John Steinbeck
1.life
2.works
(1)Cup of Gold
(2)Tortilla Flat
(4)Of Mice and Men
(6)Travels with Charley
(7)Short stories: The Red Pony68, The Pearl
3.point of view
(1)His best writing was produced out of outrage69 at the injustices70 of the societies, and by the admirations for the strong spirit of the poor.
(2)His theme was usually simple human virtues, such as kindness and fair treatment, which were far superior to the dehumanizing cruelty of exploiters.
4.style
(1)poetic prose
(2)regional dialect
(3)characterization: many types of characters rather than individuals
(4)dramatic factors
(5)social protect: spokesman for the poverty-stricken people
5.The Grapes of Wrath
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subjective
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a.主观(上)的,个人的 | |
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poetic
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adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
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valid
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adj.有确实根据的;有效的;正当的,合法的 | |
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arbiter
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n.仲裁人,公断人 | |
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forth
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adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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sordid
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adj.肮脏的,不干净的,卑鄙的,暗淡的 | |
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doctrine
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n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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chaotic
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adj.混沌的,一片混乱的,一团糟的 | |
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injustice
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n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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delightfully
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大喜,欣然 | |
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fixed
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adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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epic
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n.史诗,叙事诗;adj.史诗般的,壮丽的 | |
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cocktail
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n.鸡尾酒;餐前开胃小吃;混合物 | |
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confidential
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adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的 | |
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futile
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adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
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chaos
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n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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expressive
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adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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quotations
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n.引用( quotation的名词复数 );[商业]行情(报告);(货物或股票的)市价;时价 | |
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allusions
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暗指,间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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juxtapositions
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n.并置,并列( juxtaposition的名词复数 ) | |
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momentary
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adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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serenity
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n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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interval
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n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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isolated
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adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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philosophical
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adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的 | |
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juggler
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n. 变戏法者, 行骗者 | |
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tycoon
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n.有钱有势的企业家,大亨 | |
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remorse
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n.痛恨,悔恨,自责 | |
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metaphors
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隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
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simplicity
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n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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gracefulness
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consummate
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adj.完美的;v.成婚;使完美 [反]baffle | |
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narrative
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n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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omniscient
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adj.无所不知的;博识的 | |
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condemned
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adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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slaughter
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n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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cowardice
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n.胆小,怯懦 | |
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instinctive
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adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
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essentially
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adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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torrents
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n.倾注;奔流( torrent的名词复数 );急流;爆发;连续不断 | |
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tolls
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(缓慢而有规律的)钟声( toll的名词复数 ); 通行费; 损耗; (战争、灾难等造成的)毁坏 | |
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stamina
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n.体力;精力;耐力 | |
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gracefully
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ad.大大方方地;优美地 | |
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stoic
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n.坚忍克己之人,禁欲主义者 | |
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conversational
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adj.对话的,会话的 | |
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pretentious
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adj.自命不凡的,自负的,炫耀的 | |
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corrupt
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v.贿赂,收买;adj.腐败的,贪污的 | |
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indifference
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n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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lark
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n.云雀,百灵鸟;n.嬉戏,玩笑;vi.嬉戏 | |
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survivors
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幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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protagonists
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n.(戏剧的)主角( protagonist的名词复数 );(故事的)主人公;现实事件(尤指冲突和争端的)主要参与者;领导者 | |
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guilt
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n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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agrarian
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adj.土地的,农村的,农业的 | |
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virtue
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n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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plantation
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n.种植园,大农场 | |
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supremacy
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n.至上;至高权力 | |
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prolific
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adj.丰富的,大量的;多产的,富有创造力的 | |
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virtues
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美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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compassion
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n.同情,怜悯 | |
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thereby
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adv.因此,从而 | |
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rhetoric
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n.修辞学,浮夸之言语 | |
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psychology
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n.心理,心理学,心理状态 | |
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fable
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n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
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radical
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n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
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revival
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n.复兴,复苏,(精力、活力等的)重振 | |
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dubious
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adj.怀疑的,无把握的;有问题的,靠不住的 | |
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wrath
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n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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pony
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adj.小型的;n.小马 | |
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outrage
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n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
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injustices
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不公平( injustice的名词复数 ); 非正义; 待…不公正; 冤枉 | |
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