Transcript American Literature

Karen
2008.8--12
 Can you define literature?
What makes a literary writing?
孤灯，青卷，寂夜，香烟……我的每一
天几乎都是这样地开始，然后，又这样
地结束。
Lecture 1
1.What is literature?
Writings that are valued as works of art, esp.
fiction, drama and poetry.
2.Forms (genres) of literature?
Poetry, novel (fiction), drama, prose, essay,
epic, elegy, short story, journalism, sermon,
(auto) biography, travel accounts, novelette,
etc.
Lecture 1
Why Learn Literature?
• Is it just a course to get scores?
• To make us more civilized, qualified and
knowledgeable
• To amuse ourselves and others
• For further study
1.Postgraduate of English and American
literature in FL institute
2. Postgraduate of literature of foreign
countries in Chinese department
• research
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• more
• 常识不具，难语专攻，集拢
常识，加以条贯，便容易达
到深湛。
------毛泽东
Lecture 1
What and How to Learn?
• Not merely satisfied with the textbook
• Learning literature is much more than
reading famous works or knowing some
schools of literature: history, philosophy and
theories of literature and art at least
• Be an active reader: read, think and write
sth on an author or work you are interested
inmost.
• History, philosophy, psychology, aesthetics
and other disciplines to help learn literature
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Our Aims
• Knowledge
To form a brief outline of the history of the
British literature up to the end of the 19th
century.
To acquire a better understanding of the
nation through the cultural and literary
study
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• Fluency
To further develop the ability to
recognize and express emotional and
moral attitudes on a higher level than
about daily occurrences so as to
facilitate our communication with
educated native speakers;
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• Appreciation
To introduce the learners to
imaginative and creative use of
English and to help them towards an
appreciation of literary language and
literature;
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• Preparation and growth
To prepare us for the study of literature in
English at a higher level and to help us to
develop interest in and, hopefully, the
habit of，reading extensively.
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Course Description:
﹡one-semester compulsory course
﹡for the 3rd year English majors
﹡to offer a survey of the development of American literature
﹡to gain an insight into the development of American literature as an important part of the country’s
culture
Lecture 1
Course book:
A Survey of American Literature, the
2nd Edition
(good and authoritative one; a little
bit difficult and lack in order; so
prepare a notebook and copy the
outline I provide)
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• Suggestions:
• 左金梅《美国文学》青岛海洋出版社（条理较
好）；
• 李公昭《20世纪美国文学导论》（可以帮助理解
20世纪美国文学）；
• 吴伟仁《美国文学史及选读》（很多学校考研的
指定书目，但过于简单）
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Assessment:
 Class attendance, participation and
presentation, 20%
 homework, 20%
 Final examination, 60%
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Requirements
• Reading before class
Note-taking, participation and presentation
in class
• Active thinking and Double-entry journal
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Requirements for presentations:
•
•
•
•
•
•
1. 3-5 minutes
2. Relevancy to research questions
3. website reference
4. PPT
5. Relevancy to literary texts
6. Q/A (5)
Lecture 1
Brief Outline of American literature
1. Colonial period 3.
(1607-1775)
Anne Bradstreet
Edward Taylor
2. Revolutionary
period (1775-1783)
Thomas paine
Benjamin Franklin
Philip Freneau
Edward
Crevecoeur
Romanticism (1820-1861)
Washington Irving
Edgar Allan Poe
Cooper
Howthorne Melville
Whitman & Dickinson
* Transcendentalism
* (New England
Renaissance)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fillip Thoreau
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5. Realism (1861-1914)
willam Dean Howells
Mark Twain
Henry James
6. Naturalism:
Stephen Crane
Theodore Dreiser
Jack London
O.Henry
7. The 1920s
T.S. Eliot
Ernest Hemingway
(Lost Generation)
Imagism:
Ezra Pound
Robert Frost
Wallace Steves
F.Scott Fitzgerald
Anderson
Lewis
8. The Southern
Renaissance
William Faulkner
9.The 1930s
Steinbeck
Lecture 1
Syllabus:
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Early Am. Lit. (17th—18th centuries)
Jonathan Edwards
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (excerpts)
Images or Shadows of Divine Things (excerpts)
Benjamin Franklin
The Autobiography (excerpts)
Lecture 1
Week 3: American Romanticism and Transcendentalism (1800—1850s)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature (excerpts)
“Self-Reliance” (excerpts)
Week 4:
Edgar Allan Poe
“The Raven”
Week 5:
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
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Week 6: Walt Whitman
“Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”
“Calvary Crossing the Ford”
“Come up from the Fields, Father”
“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”
Week 7: Emily Dickinson
“Because I could not stop for Death—”
“I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—”
“A narrow Fellow in the Grass”
“I died for Beauty—but was scarce”
“A Bird came down the Walk—”
“Essential Oils—are Wrung—”
Lecture 1
Week 8: American Realism and American Naturalism
(1860s—1890s)
Mark Twain
“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
Week 9:
Jack London
“The Law of Life”
Lecture 1
Week 10: American Modernism (1900—1940s)
Ezra Pound
“In a Station of the Metro”
Week 11: May Day Holiday
Lecture 1
Week 12:
Robert Frost
“Mending Wall”
“The Road Not Taken”
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
“Fire and Ice”
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
Lecture 1
Week 13:
Ernest Hemingway
“A Clean, Well-lighted Place”
Week 14:
William Faulkner
“A Rose for Emily”
Week 15:
Eugene O’Neill
Desire Under the Elms
Lecture 1
Week 16: Post-war American literature (1940s— )
J. D. Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye
Alice Walker
“Everyday Use”
Review
Lecture 1
Lecture 1
• 佳人自在阑珊处
• To read ,to explore, to learn…
• What’s your expectation of the
course?
Lecture 1
Homework
Lecture 1
For next class:
1.Presentation topics:
A Brief Outline About American History
Great events in early American history:
? 1492
? 1607
? 1620
? 1776
? 1778
? 1789
? 1791
Lecture 1
Preview:
1.What are the religious doctrines of the
Puritans?
2.Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)
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