四．应用Selected Reading:　An Excerpt from Scene VⅢ of The Hairy Ape
1.The theme of the play or the tragic vision in it:
The tragic sense of modern man belonging nowhere, being helpless and impotent remained as the common theme of O'Neill's works.
The Hairy Ape is a good illustration. The play concerns the problem of modern man's identity. Yank's sense of belonging nowhere, hence homelessness and rootlessness, is typical of the mood of isolation and alienation in the early twentieth century in the United States and the whole world as well.
Yank was a stroker on a transatlantic liner. He was happy with life until the day when his brutality shocked and made faint Mildred Douglas. He was greatly insulted. Thus became gloomy, sullen and violent. He attempted to seek identity with the aristocratic class, the radical class. In the last scene of the play, rejected, Yank wandered to the zoo where he found affinity with the great ape there, only to be crushed to death. So, Yank's journey in quest of self-identity finished with his death, yet with the realization that he did belong nowhere. The general feeling is one of despairingly tragic. Man is homeless and rootless, alienated from the indifferent society.
2. The expressionistic techniques in the play:
(1) In this expressinistic play, abstract and symbolic stage sets are used to set off against the emotional inner selves and subjective states of mind. Take O'Neill's use of contrastive tones of remarks for example, Yank's friendliness and excitement contrasts the ape's anger, indifference and impatience and also contrasts his own bitterness, self-mocking and despair. So the emotional content, the subjective reactions of characters are emphasized, which symbolically represent the despairing reality.
(2) externalization of human interior: O'Neill uses vision to reveal psychological reality. In this play, Yank was haunted by appearance of Mildred Douglas, which shows his pain and despair. Therefore, O'Neill does not record external events as realists do. He sought to portray the way in which hidden psychological processes impinge upon outward action. He brought psychological realism, philosophical depth, and poetic symbolism into American literature.
3.Language: In this play O'Neill intentionally wrote the lines of Yank in dialect to show his social and economic status as an uneducated coal stoker. Many other examples could be found in this selection, for instance, "dat" for that, "yuh" for you, etc.

IV.                F. Scott Fitzgerald (l896-l940)

　　一． 一般识记His life and writing:

　　Francis Scott Fitzgerald was a most representative figure of the 1920s, who was mirror of the exciting age in almost every way. An active participant of his age, he never failed to remain detached and foresee the failure and tragedy of the "Dollar Decade." Thus he is often acc1aimed literary spokesman of the Jazz Age.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24, l896. In his childhood, he admired his gentleman1y father who retained his upper-class manners but was always a little sensitive to the poor Irish beginnings on his mother's side. He had an expensive education in private schools at Princeton. But due to illness and neglect of academic study, he left the university in 1917 without graduation. He married Zelda Sayre, who exerted a strong influence on his literary career and his personal life. Zelda has been regarded as the prototype of a series of rich, beautiful women who figure so prominently in his fiction. The young couple frequently went abroad and lived extravagantly a luxurious life. To keep earning enough money, Fitzgerald wrote short stories and novels at a rapid speed. The l930s brought relentless decline for Fitzgerald with a series of misfortunes: his reputation declined, his wealth fell, his health failed, and what's more, Ze1da had suffered from some serious mental breakdowns which confined her in a sanitarium for the rest of her life. A1coholism, loneliness and despair combined to ruin Fitzgerald. He died in 1940 of a heart attack.

　　二． 识记His major works:
His novels and short stories chronicled changing social attitudes during the 1920s, a period dubbed "The Jazz Age". His first novel This Side of Paradise won for him wealth and fame. His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned increased his popularity, which also portrays the emotiona1 and spiritual collapse of a wealthy young man during an unstable marriage. The coup1e in the novel were undoubtedly modeled after Fitzgerald himself and Zelda. His masterpiece The Great Gatsby (1925) made him one of the greatest American novelists. Afterwards, Fitzgerald wrote one more important novel Tender is the Night (l934), in which he traces the decline of a young American psychiatrist whose marriage to a beautiful and wealthy patient drains his personal energies and corrodes his professional career. His last novel The Last Tycoon remains unfinished.
Fitzgerald also wrote short stories of great popularity. His short story collections include Flappers and Philosophers (l92l), Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), All the Sad Young Man (l926) and Taps at Reveille (1935). One of his best short stories is "Babylon Revisited," which depicts an American's return to Paris in the 1930s and his regretful rea1ization that the past is beyond his reach, since he can neither alter it nor make any amends.

　　三． 领会　1. Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age:
(1) The Jazz Age: It refers to the 1920s, a time marked by frivolity, carelessness, hedonism and excitement in the life of the flaming youth. Fitzgerald is largely responsible for the term and many of his literary works portray it. The Jazz Age is brought vividly to life in The Great Gatsby.
(2) Most critics have agreed that Fitzgerald is both an insider and an outsider of the Jazz Age with a double vision of fascination and aloofness. He lived in his great moments and joined the big party in the l920s, partaking of the wealth, frivolity, temptations of the time, whi1e reproducing the drama of the age by standing aloof and keeping a cold eye on the performance of his contemporaries. He drank and did crazy things after he got drunk, whereas staying sober enough to see the corruptive nature of the society and the vanity fair that everyone, including himself, was infatuated with. This doubleness or irony is one of the distinguishing marks as a writer and helps Fitzgerald to present a panorama of the Jazz Age with a deep insight.
(3) Fitzgerald's fictional world is the best embodiment of the spirit of the Jazz Age, in which he shows a particular interest in the upper--class society, especially the upper-class young people. Young men and women in the 1920s had a sense of reckless confidence not only about money but about 1ife in genera1. Since they grew up with the notion that the world would improve without their help, they felt excused from seeking the common good. Plunging into their persona1 adventures, engaging themselves in casual sex and heavy drinking, they took risks that did not impress them as being risks, and they spent money extravagant1y and enjoyed themselves to their hearts' content. But beneath their masks of relaxation and joviality there was only sterility, meaninglessness and futi1ity, and amid the grandeur and extravagance a spiritual waste1and and a hint of decadence and moral decay. This undeniable juxtaposition of appearance with reality, of the pretense of gaiety with the tension underneath, is easily recognizable in Fitzgerald's novels and stories.
2. Fitzgerald and the American Dream:
(1) Fitzgerald's fictions often deal with the bankruptcy of the American Dream, which is high1ighted by the disillusionment of the protagonists' personal dreams due to the clashes between their romantic vision of life and the sordid reality. American Dream is a popular belief that people can achieve success, whether it is wealth, fame or love through honest hard working in a new world of liberty, equality, chances and promises. Yet in the 1920s, the American Dream was bankrupt in the sense that the wealthy people were spiritually disorientated and morally corrupted. The fact that the rich people turned to be more indifferent and careless brought forth the disillusionment of American Dream.
A great number of his stories started with the basic situation in which a rising young man of the middle class is in love with the daughter of a very rich family. The young man is not attracted by the fortune in itself; he is not seeking money so much as what money can bring to him; and he loves the girl not so much as he loves what the gir1 symbolizes. Money is only a convenient and inadequate symbol for what he dreams of earning, and love merely a vehicle that can transport him to a magic world of eternal happiness. The man's real dream, as Malcolm Cow1ey suggested, is that of achieving a new status and a new essence, of rising to a loftier place in the mysterious hierarchy of human worth.
(2) Fitzgerald's own life was a mirror of the 1920s. He was the victim of his "American Dream." He was fascinated with material wealth on one hand by writing hard to accumulate wealth to live an extravagant life, yet was bewildered with the wealth on the other, fully aware of the underlying spiritual disorientation and moral decay. Finally in his life, alcoholism, loneliness and despair combined to ruin him. So his dream backfires him.
3. Fitzgerald's style:
He is a great stylist in American literature. His style, closely re1ated to his themes, is explicit and chilly. His accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism, styles, models and attitudes provide the reader with a vivid sense of reality. He fol1ows the Jamesian tradition in using the scenic method in his chapters, each one of which consists of one or more dramatic scenes, sometimes with intervening passages of narration, leaving the tedious process of transition to the readers' imagination. He also skillfully employs the device of having events observed by a "central consciousness" to his great advantage. The accurate details, the completely original diction and metaphors, the bold impressionistic and colorful quality have all proved his consummate artistry.

　　四．应用Selected Reading: An Excerpt from Chapter IlI of The Great Gatsby
(1) The theme of the novel: The Great Gatsby, by summarizing the experiences and attitudes of the glamorous and wild 1920s, deals with the bankruptcy of the American Dream, which is high1ighted by the disillusionment of the protagonist's personal dream due to the clashes between his romantic vision of life and the relentless reality. American Dream is a popular belief that people can achieve success, whether it is wealth, fame or love through honest hard working in a new world of liberty, equality, chances and promises. Yet in the 1920s, the American Dream was bankrupt in the sense that the wealthy people were spiritually disorientated and morally corrupted. The fact that the rich people turned to be more indifferent and careless brought forth the disillusionment of American Dream.
The story of The Great Gatsby is a good illustration. At the beginning of the story, Gatsby, a poor young man from the Midwest, is in love with but rejected by an upper-class woman, Daisy. He later attains the wealth by bootlegging and other criminal activities. Yet his fascination with and pursuit of money is but the means of recapturing the past and regaining his lost love. And for him, Daisy is the representation of a kind of idealized happiness. So Gatsby's real dream is that of achieving a new status and a new essence, of rising to a loftier place in the mysterious hierarchy of human worth. That is why Daisy Buchanan seems so charming to Gatsby and that is why Gatsby has directed his who1e life to winning back her love. Yet his dream ended up with Daisy's indifference and carelessness. Under this thematic design, the novel displays some modern motifs like the Waste-land theme as symbolized by the Valley of Ashes and boredom as reflected in Daisy and Tom.

　　(2) Chapter Ⅲ of the novel, a vivid description of one of Gatsby's fabulous parties, presents a vivid atmosphere of paradox. Gatsby's party, characteristic of the roaring twenties in the U.S. evokes both the romance and the sadness of the Jazz Age. On the surface, the party is crowded, yet empty of warmth or friendship, with people coming to the party eagerly but appearing indifferent and contemptuous of their host. Gatsby himself as the host is a paradox -- exceedingly courteous but keeps himself detached from the noisy and confusing crowd, because he, though fascinated with the wealth, was fully aware of the corruptive nature of the society and the vanity fair. The charm and sweetness of the youth is spoiled by triviality and tawdriness; The splendid house and garden is purchased not for enjoyment but for impression. There is every sign of merriment, with guests eating, drinking, laughing, moving about and dancing, but people get dead drunk, break down in tears or quarrel over trivialities. So beneath the wealthy people's masks of relaxation and joviality there was only sterility, meaninglessness and futi1ity, and amid the grandeur and extravagance a spiritual waste1and and a hint of decadence and moral decay. This undeniable juxtaposition of appearance with reality, of the pretense of gaiety with the tension underneath, is easily recognizable in Fitzgerald's novels and stories.
V. Ernest Hemingway (l899-1961)

一．一般识记　His life and writing:

Hemingway was a myth in his own time and his life was colorful. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Hemingway loved sports and often went hunting and fishing with his father, which provided him with writing materials. After high school, he worked as a reporter. During World War I he served as an honorable junior officer in the American Red Cross Ambulance Corps and in 1918 was severely wounded in both legs. After the war, he went to Paris as a foreign reporter. Influenced and guided by Sherwood Anderson, Stephen Crane and Gertrude Stein he became a writer and began to attract attention. Later he actively participated in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In 1954, he was awarded the Nobe1 Prize for literature. In 196l, in ill hea1th, anxiety and deep depression, Hemingway shot himself with a hunting gun.　二．识记

　　His major works: Greatly and permanently affected by the war experiences, Hemingway formed his own writing style, together with his theme and hero. His first book In Our Time (1925) presents a Hemingway hero called Nick Adams. Exposed to and victimized by violence in various forms, Nick becomes the prototype of the wounded hero who, with all the dignity and courage he could muster, confronts situations which are not of his own choosing yet threaten his destruction. The Sun Also Rises(l926), Hemingway's first true novel, casts light on "The Lost Generation." The young expatriates in this novel are a group of wandering, amusing, but aimless peop1e, who are caught in the war and removed from the path of ordinary life. Hemingway's second big success is A Farewell to Arms (1929) wrote the epitaph to a decade and to the whole generation in the 1920s. It tells us about the tragic 1ove story about a wounded American soldier with a British nurse. Frederick Henry represents the experience of a whole nation, who is wounded in war and disi11usioned with the insanity and futility of the universe. In this novel, Hemingway not on1y emphasizes his belief that man is trapped both physically and mental1y, but goes to same lengths to refute the idea of nature as an expression of either God's design or his beneficence and to suggest that man is doomed to be entrapped.
For Whom the Bell Tolls concerns a volunteer American guerrilla Robert Jordan fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Although fully aware of the doomed failure of his struggle, he keeps on striving because it is a cause of freedom and democracy. In the end, the manner of his dying convinces people that life is worth living and there are causes worth dying for. The Old Man and the Sea, capping his career and leading to his receipt of the Nobel Prize, is about an old Cuban fisherman Santiago and his losing battle with a giant marlin. In a tragic sense, it is a representation of life as a struggle against unconquerable natural forces in which only a partial victory is possible. Nevertheless, there is a feeling of great respect for the struggle and mankind.
Hemingway's other important works include Men Without Women (1927), Death in the Afternoon (l932), The Green Hills of Africa (1935), The Snows Of Kilimanjaro (1936) and To Have and Have Not (1937).
三．领会　1. The themtic patterns of his works:
(1) The Lost Generation: It refers to, in general, the post-World WarⅠgeneration, but specifically a group of expatriate disillusioned intellectuals and artists, who experimented on new modes of thought and expression by rebelling against former ideals and values and replacing them only by despair or a cynical hedonism. The remark of Gertrude Stein, "You are all a lost generation, "addressed to Hemingway, was used as an epigraph to Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, which brilliantly describes those expatriates who had cut themselves off from their past in America in order to create new types of writing. The generation was "lost" in the sense that they were disillusioned with the war-wrecked world and spiritually alienated from a U.S. that seemed to be hopelessly provincial, materialistic, and emotional barren. The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, E.E.Cummings, and many other writers who made Paris the center of their literary activities in the 1920s.
(2) The Hemingway Code Her It refers to some protagonists in Hemingway's works. In the general situation of Hemingway's novels, life is full of tension and battles; the world is in chaos and man is always fighting desperately a losing battle. Those who survive and perhaps emerge victorious in the process of seeking to master the code with a set of principles such as honor, courage, endurance, wisdom, discipline and dignity are known as "the Hemingway code". To behave well in the lonely, losing battle with life is to show "grace under pressure" and constitutes in itself a kind of victory, a theme clearly established in The Old Man and The Sea. Though life is but a losing battle, it is a struggle man can dominate in such a way that loss becomes dignity; man can be physical1y destroyed but never defeated spiritually. Obviously, Hemingway's limited fictional world implies a much broader thematic pattern and serious philosophica1 concern. Hemingway Code Heroes plainly embody Hemingway's own values and view of life.
2. Hemingway's style:
His style is probably the most widely imitated of any in the 20th century. He is generally known for his "mastery of the art
of modern narration." Hemingway himself once said, "The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. Typical of this "iceberg" analogy is Hemingway's style. According to Hemingway, good literary writing should be ab1e to make readers feel the emotion of the characters directly and the best way to produce the effect is to set down exact1y every particular kind of feeling without any authoria1 comments, without conventionally emotive language, and with a bare minimum of adjectives and adverbs. Seemingly simple and natural, Hemingway's style is actually polished and tightly contro1led, but highly suggestive and connotative. While rendering vividly the outward physical events and sensations Hemingway expresses the meaning of the story and conveys the complex emotions of his characters with a considerable range and astonishing intensity of feeling. Besides, Hemingway develops the style of co1loquia1ism initiated by Mark Twain. The accents and mannerisms of human speech are so well presented that the characters are fu11 of flesh and blood and the use of short, simple and conventional words and sentences has an effect of clearness, terseness and great care. This ruthless economy in his writing stands as a striking app1ication of Mies van der Rohe's architectural maxim: "Less is more." No wonder Hemingway was highly praised by the Nobel Prize Committee for "his powerful style-forming mastery of the art" of creating modern fiction.