Unit 1 Introduction to American Literature

l       Key Words: Introduction, American Literature, function of literature, outline

l       Target: This opening unit aims at providing a general introduction to this course: the definition, functions, etc.; telling the students how to learn this course and lastly establishing an outline of American literature.

l       Study Points:

1.      Definition of literature;

2.      Definition of American literature

3.      Why do people read literature

4.      Why we offer this course

5.      Functions of literature

6.      How to study literature

7.      The Outline of American Literature

 1.    What is Literature?

Definition of Literature:

The Word “literature” came into English from the 14th century in the sense of polite learning through reading. From the mid-18th century, literature referred to the practice and profession of writing. Since 19^th century, literature has been the high skills of writing in the special context of high imagination.

Ø        Literature comes from human interest in telling a story, in arranging words in artistic forms, in describing in words some aspects of our human experiences;

Ø        Literature as an art is the creation of individuals and it is experienced by individuals. (A writer is a specialized thinker about the individual.)

Ø        Literature shows us not only what a society is like in a certain age, but also what individuals feel about it, what they hope from it, and how they think they can change it or escape from it.

Suggested Definition: Literature is language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages. Literature is characterized by beauty of expression and form and university of intellectual and emotional appeal.

Definition of American Literature:

i.          Definition

American literature mainly refers to literature produced in American English by people living in the United States. American literature per se has been mainly the literary creation in English. Therefore, it is conventional to define American literature as literature produced in American English by American citizens.

ii.         Basic Qualities of American Literature

General speaking, American writers are independent, individualistic, critical, innovative and humorous.

Ø         Independent: Most of them are free-lance writers. They make living by writing.

Ø         Individualistic: They are free from political prejudice and ideological conformity. They regard highly the rights of individuals and are very ready to protect their rights and interests. Moreover, they view writing as a means of self-expression, a way of expressing their personal views about life and society, a way of advocating liberty, democracy and independent action of individual.

Ø        Critical: They explore social problems keenly and severely so as to discover universal values and then to tell the people how well they can meet the universal values. Their critical attitude has already become a literary tradition in America.

Ø         Innovative: It is always the new ideas, new attitudes, and new cultural faces that urge them to pursue “newness” in life and literature.

Ø         Humorous: American writers esteem humor as a strictly national characteristic. i) American writers amuse the reader by way of exaggeration or aphorism so as to help the reader see his own weak points. ii) They reveal the gruesome events in seemingly pleasant or light-hearted expressions so as to warn the reader of an intolerable social situation he might not be aware of. [When truth is expressed in the pithiest manner possible, humor takes the form of aphorism. When humor is embodied in ironic satire, it creates sadness and anger. When humor combines absurdity with horror, it is called “black humor,” which conveys anguish and fury, bitterness and cynicism. American humor is not always funny or carefree, but the element of surprise is always present—surprise that comes from the violation or the use of logic wit, or from the highest exaggeration to the lowest anti-climax.

 Why Do People Read Literature?

1.      Reading for Pleasure

2.      Reading for Relaxation

3.      Reading to Acquire Knowledge

4.      Reading to Confront Experience

5.      Reading for Artistic Appreciation

 Why Do We Offer this Course:

Get the students have a systematic view of how American literature develop to modern time.

1.     systematic view of American literature

2.     a chance to appreciate different writing

e.g. Hawthorn: (心灵非常敏感的浪漫主义作家，笔触细腻，具有女性化的笔触)

    Mark Twin: (狂荡不羁，浪迹天涯的现实主义作家)

l       What is Naturalism: (It is the development of realism, but more natural than realism. You just write out what is real without any selection. It is trifling account of the real and the details. Dreiser: Sister Carrie )

l          Comparison between the three literary –isms

1)      Realism （现实主义） ：“砰！一声枪响，人倒下。”

2)      Naturalism （自然主义）： “砰的一声枪响，人的脑子出了一个口子。

血浆什么倒了出来，脸扭曲，焦黄的尿流了出来。

人还没死．．．．．．（《红高粱》让人看了觉得毛骨悚然。）

3)      Modernism （现代主义）： “砰”．．．．．．倒下

我感到害怕，这种感觉让我怎么也逃不掉。睡觉，旅游等等我都强烈地感受这一点。

[We usually don’t know how to comment a piece of work after reading. It’s a very common problem.

主题是什么：

什么技巧让你感动： 给一个细节(detail) 支持你的观点

e.g. Mark Twin 他的humor 以及他与其他作家的humor 有什么不同。

e.g. Keat’s “Bright Star” (英国浪漫主义诗人)

A. Theme: 对永恒的向往（你可以永恒地眨眼睛，而我们的生命短暂。）

B. 用了什么修辞，产生了一个什么效果？

分析了技巧，我们就更容易理解文学了。]

In brief, anything you read, you don’t understand is modernism. It is anti-realism, and anti-romanticism. It employs stream-of-consciousness and sub-consciousness. It is obscure and hard to understand. （晦涩难懂）

l          Function of Literature:

A.       studies man

B.       Found relationships of human beings between

a.       man and nature

b.       man and society

c.        man and man

d.       man and self

◇  Man and nature

Ø       In the romantic Age, man and nature are in harmonious. We can Mother Nature. (It’s before industrialization.)

Man used to be in harmony with nature and nature protected human beings. （自然诗、画都反映了这样的主题） We are sons of nature.

e.g. Ode to Nightingale (John Keats)

healthy response to nature

中文关于自然的美好的描写：“蓝蓝的天上白云飘”

Ø       But after industrialization: man can conquer nature. “人定胜天”

We are punished by nature. (pollution)

e.g. “天空像一块巨大的裹尸布，

风景和线条只不过是骷髅。” （—英国的“死亡诗人”）

e.g. Elliot “一只老鼠轻轻地穿过草地，

殷实的肚皮拖着地。“

e.g. “我在死水中垂钓”

e.g. “四月丁香花开了，散发着腐烂的气息。”

e.g. 俄罗斯：“出嫁吧，只是我听见自己的脉搏像死人般跳动。”

Ø       Now, be friend with nature （亲近自然）“人与环境的可持续性发展”

[现代诗：有的只是发泄，无陶冶心情而言。传统的诗歌（浪漫主义诗歌）是阳春白雪。 E.g. “春蚕到死丝方尽”， “人比黄花瘦”（不是人比老鼠瘦）

◇  Man and self

Ø       Romanticism: Confident about themselves. “天生我才必有用”

Whitman: 天地之间就我一个大写的人

Ø       Modernism:

Who am I? I’m nothing.

Who are you? You are nothing, too.

E. E. Cummins: “I” 写I 时有的小写。

I am so helpless, so small, so meaningless.

[既不能救人，有不能自救。

 既没有勇气杀人，有没有勇气自杀。

 既诅咒这个世界，又没有办法改变。

 既厌恶生活，有无法逃离地球。

 为什么要生我，我生而为人，真是一大悲哀。]

 How to Study Literature:

1.       Analytic Approach

1)    In order to enhance students’ understanding and appreciation of literature inductively, this approach first provides students with the critical terms of the basic elements (plot, character, setting, point of view, theme, symbol, allegory, style, and tone) that comprise a story, poem, a play, or an essay.

2)    In order to identify and describe the various elements in a text and their interrelationship, students must ask and then try to answer certain basic questions about the text itself.

2.       Thematic Approach

1) It first of all directs the student to the human experience presented and explored in a literary work.

2) This approach indicates that literature is a way of knowing about life and society, and that literature exists not in a vacuum but in a relationship to the large world of shared human experience.

3) This approach emphasis ideas, ideas about peace and violence, alienation and involvement, men and women, brotherhood and responsibility, the nature of humanity, the reality of death, society and individual, etc.

3.       Historical Approach

This approach aims at illustrating the historical development of literature.

1) It teaches the students that all literature exists in time and as such bears the unmistakable imprint of the period and culture in which it is written.

2) It teaches the students that many of the methods and techniques which they take so much for granted in the modern writing are actually the result of a process of slow, irregular experimentation and innovation.

3) It teaches the students that each successive age has its own prevailing mode of literary sensibility—be it classicism, romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, or postmodernism.

 2.    The Outline of American Literature

American literature is the youngest literature in the world. It is about 200 years. (Chinese literature has a history of more than 2000 years, with the beginning of “The Book of Songs”《诗经》. British literature: thousand years, the Song of Beowulf.)

American literature is a miracle. It did not catch up with the speed of European literature until Mark Twin’s (1835--1910) period. After the World War I, American literature became the leader of world literature. Actually, many literary theories were created in Europe (France), but were practiced in America. America won Nobel Prize more than 11 in number altogether. (Stein Beck, O’Neil, etc.)

I.         The Literature of Colonial America (1620—1700)—Colonial Period

This period is considered to begin in 1620, when the Mayflower vessel reached to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where the pilgrims set up the first settlement-- Plymouth Colony. There were almost no writings during this period. People in colonial period could only read last week news. (The news was sent from England once a week.)

Why did America have no literature?

A.      All cultural achievement was done in England.

B.      Those frontiers in America were peasants from northern European countries. They couldn’t make living in their own countries, so they went to America, bringing with them the so-called “American Dreams”. America is the virgin land to make a living.

1st generation of immigrants: hard working, tough life, too busy to read and write.

2^nd generation of immigrants: better life

3^rd generation of immigrants: becoming local

C.     Too poor to afford education. Education was done at home. Few people could read and write. They want it to be their advantage to earn living and they don’t teach others to read and write.

D.     People believe that religious thought is very random. Religious books satisfied the need of reading, and led people to the right way, but literature led people to a wrong way.  (In Old China, girls were not allowed to receive education.)

◆     American Puritanism

 II.        The Literature of Reason and Revolution (1700—1783)—18th Century

Eighteenth-century American thinking was dominated by two basic patterns of thought. One is the new concept of the universe (Impacted by Newton’s “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”); another is the persistent Calvinist beliefs and tenets that man was, since the Fall, basically evil and enslaved by his sense of sin, and that God was all, and would in His mercy and love work for man’s salvation, but as for man, all he could do was to worship the Almighty and hope. (“Great Awakening”: a series of religious revivals in 1730s and 1740s.) Thus, the 18th century America experienced an age of reason and order.

◇ Jonathan Edwards (1703--1758) and his “Great Awakening”

◇ Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790) Autobiography, Poor Richard’s Almanac

III.      The Literature of Romanticism (1783—1865)—Romantic Period

1.       The post revolutionary period (1783—1836) — Early Romantics

It’s very short period, not very influential.

1)     Free and tough period: All rules were broken, new rules were not yet set up.

2)     People were very irrational, excited, emotional, because they won the independence. So excited as they were that they went to write poems, essays and the others to share their feelings. Overnight, there appeared so many writers. People try to write everything. It’s a very flourish and prosperous period. Yet it didn’t produce great writers. However, they were famous at their time and they paved the way for the high romantic period.

◇ James Fenimore Cooper (1789—1851) The Spy, The Pilot, Leatherstocking Series

◇ Washington Irving (1783—1859) Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

2.       Transcendentalism (American Renaissance) (1836—1855)

With the publication of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature, a new way of intellectual thinking in America occurred. Therefore, many experts hold that American literature begins at this age. 

◇ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882) Nature,

◇ Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862) Walden (华尔登)

◇ Edgar Allan Poe (1809—1849) The Raven (乌鸦)，Tales of the grotesque and Arabesque (怪诞奇异故事集)

◇ Nathaniel Hawthorn (1804—1864) The Scarlet Letter

◇ Herman Melville (1819—1891) Moby Dick

◇ Walt Whitman (1819—1892) Leaves of Grass， Song of Myself

◇ Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830—1886) The Poems of Emily Dickenson

IV.     The Literature of Realism (1865—1900)—Realistic Period

Realism reflects the reality. It is the imitation of life. Writer is like photographer. The writing must be like picture.

—      Realism: mirror of life;

—      Romanticism: an exaggerated mirror;

Realism is influenced by historical background

1)      the Civil War (1861—1865) abolish of slavery system;

2)      Gold Rush;

3)      Industrialization

◆ Local Color Fiction

◇ Mark Twin —the father of American literature (1835—1910) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

◇ Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811—1896) Uncle Tom’s Cabin

◆     Other realist

◇ O Henry The Cop and the Anthem

◇ Henry James (1843—1916) Daisy Miller, The Portrait of a Lady

◆     Naturalism

◇ Stephen Crane (1871—1900) The Red Badge of Courage

◇ Theodore Dreiser (1871—1945) Sister Carrie

◇ Frank Norris (1870—1902) The Octopus

◇ Jack London (1867—1916) The Call of the Wild, Martin Eden, The Sea- Wolf, etc.

V.       20th Century American Literature (1900—1999)

In the modern time, American literature takes the lead in the world literature. The 20^th century literature is the most complex one. People in the world experience two great wars. The structure of society and people’s way of life are totally changed. Science and technology dramatically advanced forward. In literature, so many terms rushed in, especially, after 1980s. (“还没有弄清楚现代主义，后现代主义就来了。而后现代主义没有弄清楚，后后现代主义又来了。”)

Modernist literature is against traditional literature (romanticism and realism.) They are rebellious in everything, in style, in language, etc. Modernists believe that traditional way of writing cannot describe modern life.

“When the atomic bomb flew above our heads, can we still read My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose?” (—An American Writer once said. )

◆     People and Social Atmosphere

1)       People’s life is under dilemma, fear. Life has changed so much in modern time.

2)       Modernist writers believe that there must be some new ways to describe life. (spiritual torture, spiritual crisis, no spiritual reliance…)

3)       Mental problems:

Anxiety, pressure, illusion and disillusion, disappointment, frustration, fear, loneliness, handicap, communication, etc.

—   Anxiety: Don’t know what will happen tomorrow; unstable; too much pressure; be pressed under so much pressure. Everyone, everything is under the pressure.

—   Disillusion: Everyone is ready for your coming, but everyone refused you. Sometimes you don’t know who you are.

—   Disappointment: Disappointment follows us all of our lives. (Who will be China’a future, farmers and peasants?)

—   Communication: We keep farther and farther away from others.

[写信：此致，敬礼—— 打电话：等一下——CALL 机：生日快乐（留言）——手机时代：你找谁，打错了/短信——网络时代（QQ）：你是帅哥/美眉吗？——后网络时代：在网上吗？喂，你是人吗？（有人们，担心对方是外来生命）

除了上帝和野兽，没有人喜欢孤独。“在人多时，我们最沉默，笑容也寂寞。”]

—   Handicapped: prepare a face to meet different faces (— Eliot). You don’t know what the real face of other’s is. Even your are in good intention and kind to others, they doubted. You don’t know what is on in other’s mind.

Modernists focus on mental problems. They don’t care everyday problem. Modernist writers go to the inside world (internal world) of the people in order to find what is going on. (Influenced by Freud)

◆     Freud held that

A.      Conscious part is clear;

B.      Underconscious part is unclear, but to us, it is there and decides our decision.

Between them, there is a guard, called precociousness.

不管有多少冲动（impulse），但你们不敢与别人不一样，就是因为前意识（precociousness）作用。

而作为潜意识（underconsciousness）最主要是desire, 有两种：a. sexual desire (controversial); b. pleasure principle.

潜意识要向上冲，前意识要把它向下压，所以有焦虑，痛苦。弗罗伊德认为人之所以在经济、政治、文学、艺术、文化等方面有成就，是在释放他在其他方面的压力，来取代sexual pressure.

政治：为什么世界上出头的人都很丑，在政治上的成功，解释了sex 的pressure.

经济：挣大钱，要美女。

历史：为什么要重演？因为潜意识里，人们有很多相同的东西。

◆     Freud’s other contribution: (三重人格)

A.      本我：idiocracy

B.     自我：ego

C.     超我：super ego

本我被自我压抑，而力图达到一种超我。

4)       Four Great Literary Figures

Darwin (Social Darwinism: the evolution theory, the jungle law. Why some people are strong, some weak? Marginal man: physical strong, but weak in will),

Karl Marx (View on class struggle),

Freud (Psychological analysis),

Einstein (Theory of relativity: impact on literature, reader’s response.)

20th Century Literature

1. Modern Poetry

◆     Modernism

◆     Imagism

◇ Robert Frost (1874—1963) The Road Not Taken, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

◇ Ezra Loomis Pound (1885—1972) In a Station of the Metro

◇ Thomas Sterns Eliot (1888—1965) The Waste Land

2. Modern Fiction Before 1945

◆     Lost Generation

◇ Ernest Hemingway (1899—1961)

◇ Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896—1940) The Great Gatsby

◇ Sinclair Lewis (1885—1951)

◇ John Steinbeck (1902—1968) The Grapes of Wrath

◆     The Southern Renaissance

◇ William Faulkner (1897—1962) The Sound and the Fury, A  Rose for Emily

3. Modern Drama

◇ Eugene O’Neil (1888—1953)

◇ Tennessee Williams (1911—1983)

◇ Arthur Miller (1915—?) Death of a Salesman

4. Postwar Literature

1)       Postwar Poetry (1940s)

2)       Postwar Realism in Fiction

◆     Beat Generation (1950s)

◇ Allen Ginsberg (1926—1997)

◇ Saul Bellow (1915—?) Seize the Day

◇ Jerome David Salinger (1919—?) The Catcher in the Rye

◆     Black Humor

◇ Joseph Heller (1923—?) Catch-22

◆     Other Writers

◇ John Updike (1932—?) Rabbit, Run

5. Black Literature

◆     Black Literature experienced three periods:

1)     Oral traditions

2)     Literature in written form

3)     Harlem Renaissance

◆     The Four stages of the black people images in literature:

1)      1^st Stage: docile; —Uncle Tom’s Cabin (By Harriet Beecher Stowe)

2)      2^nd Stage: protesting;—Native Son (By Richard Wright)

3)      3^rd Stage: finding identity;—Invisible Man (By Ralph Waldo Ellison)

4)      4^th Stage: new-consciousness

◆     Writers:

◇ Laugston Hughes (1902—1967)

◇ Richard Wright (1908—1960)

◇ Ralph Ellison (1914—1994) Invisible Man

◇ Toni Morrison (1931—?)

◇ Alice Walker (1944—?) The Color Purple

3.    Comparative Study of English and American Literature

* Detailed information of 20th Century American Literature

Reference Books:

q      Chang Yaoxin: A Survey of American Literature, the 2^nd edition. Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 2003.12

q      Liu Cunbo: Selected Readings in British and American Literature, Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2001

q       李翠葶，李正栓：《美国文学学习指南》，北京：清华大学出版社，2002

q       万　莉，陈范霞：《英美文学选读》，北京：光明日报社，2001

q    吴定柏：《美国文学大纲》，上海：上海外语教育出版社，1998

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