1、1. Puritanism (清教主義)：Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Pu rita ns.1. ) simply sp eak ing , America n Pu rita nism just refers to the sp irit and ideal of pu rita ns,who settled in the North America n con ti nent in the early part of the seve ntee nth cen tury because of religious p erse

2、cuti ons.2. )1 n content it mea ns scrupul ous ,moral rigor ,ea pecially hostility to social p leasure and religi on .3. )with time p ass ing it became a dominant factor in America n life , one of the most en duri ng sha ping in flue nces in America n thought and literature .to some exte ntit is a s

3、tate of mind , a part of the n ati onal cultural atmos phere that the America n breathes ,rather than a set of ten ets.4. ) Actually it is a code of values , a philosophy of life and a point of view in America n mi nds , also a two-faceted traditi on of religious idealism and level -headed in com mo

4、n sense .5) Major topic:American PuritanismIn troducti onThere were no writte n literature among the more tha n 500 different Indian Ianguages and tribal cultures , American writing bega n with the work of En glish adve nturers and coloni sts in the New World chiefly for the ben efit of readers in t

5、he mother coun try. Therefore the writ ing in this p eriod was esse ntially two kin ds:(1) practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people“ at home ” what life was like in thenew world, and, ofte n, to in duce their immigrati on;(2) highly theoretical, g

6、en erally po lemical( 好辯的)，discussi ons of religious questi ons.2. The American Romanticism( 浪漫主義)I. What is Roma nticisma literary moveme nt flourished as a cultural forcethe early p eriod and the late p eriod.associated with imag in ati on and boun dless ness, as an historical moveme nt it arose i

7、n the 18th and 19th cen turies. The most clearly defi ned roma ntic literary moveme nt in the U. S.A was Tran sce nden talism.Washi ngton Irving and James Fenimore Cooper,and those of the late p eriod con tai n Ralph Waldo Emers on, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitma n, Natha niel Hawthor ne, Herma n

8、Melville, Edgar Allan Poe.II. Features of America n roma nticism(1) It was the expression of“ a real new ex全e新體驗()”.(2) America n Pu rita nism was a cultural heritage. Many America n roma ntic writ ings inten ded to edify( 啟發)more tha n theyen terta in ed.(3) American Romanticism is full of“ newnes新

9、奇)”.Ideals : Individualism; political equalityDream : America: a new Garden of Eden(4) American romanticism was both imitative and independent. 3.transcendentalism、(超驗主義)transcendentalism: It stressed the po wer of in tuiti on, believ ing that people could lear n thi ngs both from the outside world

10、by means of the five sen ses and from the inner world by in tuiti on .It took n ature as symbolic of sp irit or God. All things in n ature were symbols of the sp iritual, of God p rese nee. It emp hasized the sig nifica nee of the in dividual and believed that the in dividual was the most imp orta n

11、t eleme nt in society and that the ideal kind of in dividual was self-relia nt and un selfish. Tran sce nden talists env isi oned religi on as an emoti onal com muni catio n betwee n an in dividual soul and the uni versal“Oversoul ”4. Naturalism: It views huma n beings as an imals in the n atural wo

12、rld res ponding to en vir onmen tal forces and in ternal stresses and drives, over none of which they have con trol and none of which they fully un dersta nd. The literary n aturalists have a major differe nee from the realists. They look at a differe nt spot to find real life.5. Free verse: It is p

13、o etry that has an irregular rhythm and line len gth and that atte mp ts to avoid any p redeterm ined verse structure; in stead, it uses the cade nces of n atural sp eech. 6ntern ati onal no vel: IN brings together persons of various n ati on alities who rep rese nt certa in characteristics of their

14、 own coun tries.7.the lost gen erati on: reveals the huge destructio n of the wars to the young gen erati on. It describes the America ns who rema ined in Paris as a colony of“ expatriates ” . They were lost indisillusi onment.8,Amenca n Dream: America n dream mea ns the belief that every one can su

15、cceed as long as he/she works hard eno ugh. It usually imp lies a successful and satisfy ing life. It usually framed in terms of American capitalism （資本主義），its associated purported meritocracy,（知識界精華）and the freedoms guaranteed by theU.S. Bill of Rights9.America n Realism: In America n literature, t

16、he Civil Warbrought the Roma ntic P eriod to an end. The Age of Realism came into existe nee. It came as a react ion aga inst the lie of roma nticism and sen time ntalism. Realism turned from an emp hasis on the stra nge toward a faithful ren deri ng of the ordi nary, a slice of life as it is really

17、 lived. It exp resses the concern for com monpl ace and the low, and it offers an objective rather tha n an idealistic view of huma n n ature and huma n exp erie nee .10. Black Humor:also called Black Comedy, writ ing that juxta poses morbid or ghastly eleme nts with comical on es. The term did not

18、come in to com mon use un til the 1960s. The n it was app lied to the works of the no velists Natha nael West, Vladimir Nabokov, and Jose ph Heller. The latters Catch-22 （1961） is a no table exa mple, in which Cap ta in Yossaria n battles the horrors of air warfare over the Mediterra nean duri ng Wo

19、rld War II withhilarious irratio nalities match ing the stupi dities of the military system. The term black comedy has bee n app lied to p laywrights in the Theatre of the Absurd.11. Local colorism: as a trend became dominant in America n literature in the 1860s and early 1870s , it is defined by Ha

20、mlin Garla nd as hav ing such quality of texture and backgro und that it could not have bee n writte n in any other p lace or by anyone else than a n ative stories of local colorism have a quality of circumstantial（詳細的）authenticity（確實性）,as local colorists tried to immortalize（ 使不朽）the distinctive na

21、tural, social and lin guistic features. It is characteristic of vern acular（ 本國語） Ianguage and satirical（諷刺的）humor12. Code Hero Gen eral Features:1. He has great p hysical poten tial and courage.2. The “ code heroes ” have strong willpower.“code heroes is their3. Thirdly , ano ther imp orta nt featu

22、re of the loyalty.” maintairiggireondall4. Fourthly , the code heroes situatio ns.5. Fifthly , the“ code heroes ” are endowed with certain specializedskills , such as fishi ng , bull fight ing , and hunting , etc6. the “ code heroes ” are always put in somesto（u（go situatio ns, what the heroes must

23、always face up to is their own personal fear of death and the threat of destruct ion, and it is this obstacle, death, that they have to overcome.13.iceberg theory:The dig nity of moveme nt of the iceberg is due to only on e-eighth of it being above water.2 America n Tran sce nden talismAs a p hilos

24、op hical and literary moveme nt, America nTranscendentalism （also known as“ American Renaissanee” ）flourished in New En gla nd from the 1830s to the Civil War. It is the high tide of America n roma nticism and its doctri nes found their greatest literary advocates in Emers on and Thoreau.Tran sce nden talists sp oke for the cultural rejuve nati on and aga inst the materialism of America n society.Transcendentalism 超驗主義（+ H. D. Thoreau; NathanielHawthor ne;)The major features of Tran see nden t