The Romantic Period Lecture美國文學 浪漫主義時期.doc

Lecture 2 The Romantic Period (1800-1865)1. What is Puritanism?2 What is “original sin”? Original sin: the tendency to evil supposedly innate in all human beings, held to be inherited from Adam in consequence of the Fall. The concept of original sin was established by the writings of St. Augustine.3 What are major works by Franklin?(1) Poor Richards Almanac(2) Autobiography（1）Franklins Poor Richards Almanack, begun in 1732 and published for many years, made Franklin prosperous and well-known throughout the colonies. In this annual book of useful encouragement, advice, and factual information, amusing characters such as old Father Abraham and Poor Richard exhort 勸告the reader in pithy精練的, memorable sayings. In The Way to Wealth, which originally appeared in the Almanack, Father Abraham, a plain clean old Man, with white Locks, quotes Poor Richard at length. A Word to the Wise is enough, he says. God helps them that help themselves. Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Poor Richard is a psychologist (Industry pays Debts, while Despair encreaseth them), and he always counsels hard work (Diligence is the Mother of Good Luck). Do not be lazy, he advises, for One To-day is worth two tomorrow. Sometimes he creates anecdotes to illustrate his points: A little Neglect may breed great Mischief.For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for want of a Horse the Rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the Enemy, all for want of Care about a Horse-shoe Nail. Franklin was a genius at compressing a moral point: What maintains one Vice, would bring up two Children. A small leak will sink a great Ship. Fools make Feasts, and wise Men eat them. （2）Franklins Autobiography is, in part, another self-help book. Written to advise his son, it covers only the early years. The most famous section describes his scientific scheme of self-improvement. Franklin lists 13 virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. He elaborates on each with a maxim; for example, the temperance maxim is Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation. A pragmatic實用主義的scientist, Franklin put the idea of perfectibility to the test, using himself as the experimental subject. Romantic Period1 Brief Introduction 2. Early Romantic Period3 .Summit of Romanticism American Transcendentalism超自然論，超越主義4. Late Romanticism 5. Romantic Poets During the Revolutionary Age, 1765-1790, some of the greatest documents of American history were authored. In 1776, Thomas Paine authored Common Sense and Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence. In 1781, The Articles of Confederation were ratified. Between 1787 and 1788, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote The Federalist Papers. Finally, in 1787, The Constitution of the United States was drafted and in 1789 it was ratified. （2）The Early National Period of American Literature saw the beginnings of literature that could be truly identified as American. The writers of this new American literature wrote in the English style, but the settings, themes, and characters人物角色 were authentically American. In addition, poets of this time wrote poetry that was relatively independent of English precursors先驅(qū)者. Three of the most recognized writers of this time areWashington Irving華盛頓歐文, James Fenimore Cooper庫柏, and Edgar Allan Poe. 埃德加愛倫坡 （女The period 1828-1865 in American Literature is commonly identified as the Romantic Period in America, but may also be referred to as the American Renaissance or the Age of Transcendentalism超自然論. The writers of this period produced works of originality and excellence that helped shape the ideas, ideals, and literary aims of many American writers. Writers of the American Romantic Period include Ralph Waldo Emerson, 拉爾夫瓦爾多愛默生 Henry David Thoreau亨利大衛(wèi)梭羅, Edgar Allan Poe埃德加愛倫坡, Herman Melville赫爾曼麥爾維爾, Nathaniel Hawthorne納撒尼爾霍桑, Harriet Beecher Stowe哈里特比徹斯托,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow亨利沃茲渥斯朗費羅, Emily Dickinson艾米莉迪金森, and Walt Whitman沃爾特惠特曼. Elements of Romanticism 1. Frontier: vast expanse, freedom, no geographic limitations. 2. Optimism: greater than in Europe because of the presence of frontier. 3. Experimentation: in science, in institutions. 4. Mingling of races: immigrants in large numbers arrive to the US. 5. Growth of industrialization: polarization 兩級分化of north and south; north becomes industrialized, south remains agricultural.Romantic Subject Matter主題1. The quest for beauty: non-didactic, pure beauty. 2. The use of the far-away and non-normal - antique and fanciful: a. In historical perspective歷史展望: antiquarianism古物研究; antiquing or artificially aging; interest in the past. b. Characterization and mood: grotesque奇異風格, Gothicism哥特式風格, sense of terror, fear; use of the odd and queer同性戀者3. Escapism空想；逃避主義 - from American problems. 4. Interest in external nature - for itself, for beauty: a. Nature as source for the knowledge of the primitive. b. Nature as refuge. 避難所c. Nature as revelation of God to the individual.Romantic Attitudes態(tài)度，看法1. Appeals to imagination; use of the willing suspension of disbelief. 2. Stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism, geniality. 親切，溫暖舒適3. Subjectivity. 主觀性，主觀: in form and meaning.Romantic Techniques技術(shù)1. Remoteness of settings in time and space. 2. Improbable plots. 3. Inadequate不充分的，不適當?shù)膐r unlikely characterization. 4. Authorial subjectivity. 5. Socially harmful morality; a world of lies. (Compare the above with Realistic Techniques.)6. Organic principle in writing: form rises out of content, non-formal. 7. Experimentation in new forms: picking up and using obsolete patterns. 廢棄的；老式的8. Cultivation of the individualized, subjective formPhilosophical Patterns 哲學的模式1. Nineteenth century marked by the influence of French revolution of 1789 and its concepts of liberty自由, fraternity友愛, equality平等: a. Jacksonian democracy杰克遜民主 of the frontier. (Andrew Jackson on the Web) b. Intellectual and spiritual revolution - rise of Unitarianism政府集權(quán)制. c. Middle colonies - utopian experiments like New Harmony, Nashoba, Fourierism傅立葉主義, and the Icarian community.2. America basically middle-class and English - practicing laissez-faire 放任政策；不干涉主義(live and let live), modified because of geographical expansion and the need for subsidies for setting up industries, building of railroads, and others. 2. Institution of slavery in the South - myth of the master and slave - William Gilmore Simms modified references to Greek democracy (Pericles Athens which was based on a slave proletariat, but provided order, welfare and security for all) as a way of maintaing slavery1 Early Romantic PeriodWhat is Romanticism? (1) An approach from ancient Greek: Plato 柏拉圖(2) A literary trend: 18c in Britain (17981832) Characteristics of romanticism 1. Subjectivity 主觀性，主觀(1)Feeling and emotions, finding truth (2)Emphasis on imagination (3) Emphasis on individualism personal freedom, no hero worship, Natural goodness of human beings 2. back to medieval, esp medieval folk literature (1) unrestrained by classical rules 自然的，無限制的，放縱的(2) full of imagination (3) colloquial language 通俗語(4) Freedom of imagination (5) Genuine in feelings: answer their call for classics 3. back to nature nature is “breathing living thing” (Rousseau盧梭) American Romanticism 1. Background (1) Political background and economic development (2) Romantic movement浪漫主義運動 in European countries Derivative衍生物，派生物 foreign influence 2. features (1) American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien. (2) There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. American romantic authors tended more to moralize. Many American romantic writings intended to edify more than they entertained. (3) The “newness” of Americans as a nation is in connection with American Romanticism. (4) As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticism was both imitative and independent. Washington Irving 華盛頓歐文1. Several names attached to Irving (1) First American writer (2) the messenger sent from the new world to the old world (3) father of American literature 2. life 3. works (1) A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (2) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of international recognition with the publication of this.) (3) The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus 克里斯多弗哥倫布（意大利航海家）(4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada 格拉納達（西班牙格拉納達省會）(5) The Alhambra 阿罕布拉（美國加利福尼亞州的一個城市）；阿爾罕布拉宮（西班牙格拉納達的摩爾人王宮） Literary career: two parts (1) 18091832 a. Subjects are either English or European b. Conservative love for the antique (2) 18321859: back to US 2. style beautiful (1) gentility文雅, urbanity都市風格；雅致, pleasantness 愉快(2) avoiding moralizing 說教 amusing and entertaining (3) enveloping stories in an atmosphere (4) vivid and true characters (5) humour smiling while reading (6) musical language James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯費尼莫爾庫柏1. life 2. works (1) Precaution (1820, his first novel, imitating Austens Pride and Prejudice傲慢與偏見) (2) The Spy (his second novel and great success) (3) Leatherstocking Tales皮襪子五部曲 (his masterpiece, a series of five novels) The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans最后的莫希干人, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The Prairie 3. point of view 觀點立場the theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat 貴族vs. democrat民主主義者, natural rights vs. legal rights法定權(quán)利 4. style (1) highly imaginative (2) good at inventing tales 故事(3) good at landscape description (4) conservative 保守派，守舊者(5) characterization wooden and lacking in probability (6) language and use of dialect not authentic 5 .literary achievements He created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history of the United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Coopers Leatherstocking Tales 皮襪子五部曲effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western tradition to American literature. 2. Summit of Romanticism American Transcendentalism I.Background: four sources 1. Unitarianism 政府集權(quán)制(1) Fatherhood of God (2) Brotherhood of men (3) Leadership of Jesus (4) Salvation by character (perfection of ones character) (5) Continued progress of mankind (6) Divinity of mankind (7) Depravity 神；神性；神學of mankind 2. Romantic Idealism Center of the world is spirit, absolute spirit (Kant) 3. Oriental mysticism Center of the world is “oversoul” 超靈 , 上帝4. Puritanism Eloquent expression in transcendentalism I. Appearance 1836, “Nature” by Emerson ,愛默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson 美國思想家，詩人）II. Features 1. spirit/oversoul 超靈；大靈2. importance of individualism 3. nature symbol of spirit/God garment of the oversoul 4. focus in intuition直覺 (irrationalism非理性主義 and subconsciousness潛意識) III. Influence 1. It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture. 2. It advocated提倡 idealism唯心主義，理想主義that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height. 3. It helped to create the first American renaissance復興 one of the most prolific period in American literature. Ralph Waldo Emerson拉爾夫瓦爾多愛默生（美國作家）v 1. life v 2. works v (1) Nature v (2) Two essays: The American Scholar, The Poet v 3. point of view v (1) One major element of his philosophy哲學；哲理；人生is his firm belief in the transcendence of the “oversoul” 超靈. v (2) He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature. v (3) If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine in himself, he can hope to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson means by “the infinitude of man”. v (4) Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself. v aesthetic ideas 美的；美學的v (1) He is a complete man, an eternal man. v (2) True poetry and true art should ennoble授予爵位. v (3) The poet should express his thought in symbols. v (4) As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrate America which was to him a lone poem in itself. v 2. his influence Henry David Thoreau 亨利大衛(wèi)梭羅（美國作家及自然主義者）1. life v 2. works v (1) A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River v (2) Walden 瓦爾登湖v (3) A Plea for John Brown (an essay) v 3. point of view v (1) He did not like the way a materialistic 唯物主義的；唯物論的America was developing and was vehemently 激烈地outspoken on the point. v (2) He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system. v (3) Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw nature as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on mans spiritual well-being. v (4) He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man. v (5) He was very critical of modern civilization. v (6) “Simplicitysimplify!” v (7) He was sorely disgusted with厭惡 “the inundations of the dirty institutions of mens odd-fellow society”. v (8) He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a new generation of men. 3 Late Romanticism v I.Nathaniel Hawthorne 納撒尼爾霍桑v 1. life v 2. works v (1) Two collections of short stories: Twice-told Tales, Mosses from and Old Manse v (2) The Scarlet Letter 紅字，紅色禁戀v (3) The House of the Seven Gables v (4) The Marble Faun v 3. point of view v (1) Evil is at the core of human life, “that blackness in Hawthorne” v (2) Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation (causality). v (3) He is of the opinion that evil educates. v (4) He has disgust in science. aesthetic ideas美的；美學的；審美的(1) He took a great interest in history and antiquity. To him these furnish the soil on which his mind grows to fruition. (2) He was convinced that romance was the predestined 注定的form of American narrative. To tell the truth說實話and satirize寫諷刺作品 and yet not to offend冒犯: That was what Hawthorne had in mind to achieve. 2. style typical romantic writer (1) the use of symbols (2) revelation啟示of characters psychology (3) the use of supernatural mixed with the actual (4) his stories are parable寓言 (parable inform) to teach a lesson (5) use of ambiguity to keep the reader in the world of uncertainty multiple point of view Herman Melville赫爾曼麥爾維爾（美國作家1. life 2. works (1) Typee (2) Omio (3) Mardi (4) Redburn (5) White Jacket (6) Moby Dick 白鯨記(7) Pierre (8) Billy Budd 3. point of view (1) He never seems able to say an affirmative肯定的，積極的 yes to life: His is the attitude of “Everlasting Nay不” (negative attitude towards life). (2) One of the major themes of his is alienation異化；疏遠(far away from each other). Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism (individualism causing disaster and death), rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19c idea of progress .4.h style (1) Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives. (2) He tends to write periodic定期 chapters. (3) His rich rhythmical有韻律的 prose and his poetic power have been profusely commented upon and praised. (4) His works are symbolic and metaphorical. (5) He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick) Romantic Poets I. Walt Whitman惠特曼1. life 2. work: Leaves of Grass草葉集 (9 editions) (1) Song of Myself (2) There Was a Child Went Forth (3) Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (4) Democratic Vistas (5) Passage to India (6) Out of the Cradle Endless