《新編美國文學史（第三卷）》課件lecture 9

1、Holy Sonnet 10Death, be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;For those, whom thou thinkst thou dost overthrow,Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,A

2、nd soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones, and souls delivery.Thourt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,And better than thy stroke ; why swellst thou then ?One short sleep past

3、, we wake eternally,And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.1Realism and Naturalism, 1865-1900 (II)Lecture 92Outline Jamesian RealismHenry James: Life and worksThe Portrait of a Lady: reading and discussion3backgroundthe Civil War“the Civil War marks an era in the history of the American

4、mind. It introduced into the national consciousness a certain sense of proportion and relation, of the world being a more complicated place than it had hitherto seemed, the future more treacherous, success more difficult. At the rate at which things are going, it is obvious that good Americans will

5、be more numerous than ever; but the good American, in the days to come, will be a more critical person than his complacent and confident grandfather. He has eaten of the tree of knowledge.”“The Gilded Age” “the birth of the modern United States” 4American RealismAgainst romanticism“As a practitioner

6、 and critic, he sought to hold himself and other writers to a standard of realism that rose above the romantic exaggerations and implausible adventures that characterized popular fiction in his day and, indeed, in ours.” (John Updike) “Realism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treat

7、ment of material”- Howells“The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.” Historian and novelist5Jamesian Realism“they are incapable of fun, of rapid motion, of carnalitytheir clothes will not take off, the diseases that ravage them are anonymous, like the s

8、ource of their income, their servants are noiseless or resemble themselvesthere are no stupid people in their world, no barriers of language and no poor.”(E. M. Foster)Jamesian Realism: The Art of Fiction (1884)Psychological realismReality“the very atmosphere of the mind”“The Beast in the Jungle”: J

9、ohn Marcher & May Bartram.6“hehad a mind so fine no idea could violate it.”(T. S. Eliot)Henry James: Life and worksI am that queer monster, the artist, an obstinate finality, an inexhaustible sensibility. The Place Vendme its . tall and glorious column.7Henry James at eleven years old with his fathe

10、r,Henry James, Sr. 1854 8William James Henry James Alice James9Henry James at sixteen years old Charles Eliot Norton10Events October 1861 a horrid even if an obscure hurt 1869 A Passionate Pilgrim “Le mot juste”(Flaubert)1870 Minny Temple:“The end of our youth” 11writing career I take up myownold pe

11、n again-the pen of all my old unforgettable efforts and sacred struggles. To myself-today-I need say no more. Large and full and high the future still opens. It is now indeed that I may do the work of my life. And I will. First periodmoral realism The AmericanDaisy Miller: A StudyWashington SquareTh

12、e Portrait of a Lady Second perioddramatic realism Last period: psychological realism The BostoniansThe Princess CasamassimaGuy DomvilleThe Turn of the ScrewThe Wings of the DoveThe AmbassadorsThe Golden Bowl12Im old. Its too late. It has gone past me-Ive lost it. You have time. You are young. Live!

13、 the appalling blackness of it all, and the horror of having lived to see it!Portrait of Henry James, oil painting byJohn Singer Sargent(1913) On 26 July 1915,Jamesbecame a British citizen 13Significance1. prodigious quantity 22 novels 113 short stories10 books: criticism7 books of travel 3 of autob

14、iography15 plays2 critical biographies 15,000 of his personal letters142. the international themeIts a complex fate being an Americanand one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe.”the European dream of social accommodation + the American dream of

15、perfect freedom American inexperience and European sophistication 3. center of consciousness a nameless governess vs. Miles and Flora15The Portrait of a LadyThe story of a certain young woman affronting her destiny 16The story Isabel Archer Ralph TouchettCaspar Goodwood, a rich AmericanLord Warburto

16、n, an English aristocrat Gilbert Osmond, an American expatriate, a widower and dilettante living in FlorenceMadame Merle Pansy , Osmonds young daughter17Chapter 42It is a representation simply of her motionlessly SEEING, . It represents, for that matter, one of the identifications dear to the noveli

17、st, and even indispensable to him; but it all goes on without her being approached by another person and without her leaving her chair. It is obviously the best thing in the book, but it is only a supreme illustration of the general plan.-Henry James, 190818Question:1 How does Isabel experience the

18、suffering her marriage has brought her?2. Does Isabel think that Osmond still loves her?Discussion 3. What attracts Isabel to Gilbert Osmond? Why does marry him?4. What triggers Isabels fireside vigil? What is the couples relationship? Why does he “hate” her?19 Isabel Archer “I dont see what harm there is in my wishing not to tie myself. I dont want to begin life by marrying. There are other things a woman can do.”20Topics for further discu