四．应用Selected Readings： 1. (44l ) This is my letter to the World
This poem expresses Dickinson 's anxiety about her communication with the outside world and her vision of the poet’s task and function.
2. (465) I heard a Fly buzz -- when l died --
This poem is a description of the moment of death. Dickinson’s attitude toward death is that of peaceful acceptance. She looked at death from the point of view of both the living and the dying. She even imagined her own death, the loss of her own body, and the journey of her soul to the unknown. This poem, universally considered one of her masterpieces, is perhaps her greatest rendering of the moment of death.
3. (585) I like to see it lap the Miles -
This poem is an interesting study of how Dickinson makes the train part of nature by animalizing it.
4. (7l2) Because I could not stop for Death-
This is one of Dickinson’s most celebrated poems describing death. It possesses many features typical of her poetry. She holds ambivalent attitudes towards death. On the one hand, death is a stage of life, where man bids farewell to the human world of transience and goes to the Heaven of immortality; death is a release from a lifetime of work and suffering to a lasting peace in heaven. Therefore, she depicts the dark subject of death in a light tone. In this poem Dickinson personifies death and immortality so as to make her message strongly felt and vivify the abstract ideas. On the other hand, she feels uncertain about immortality of death. Many rhetorical devices are used in this poem, such as personification (Death and immortality are personified as “He”.), image or symbols especially in the third stanza. Other symbols include “Carriage”(hearse), “House”(Ground) etc. She also uses punctuation for musicality and capitalization for emphasis.
Ⅳ.Theodore Dreiser (l87l-1945 )
Theodore Dreiser is generally acknowledged as one of America's literary naturalists. He possessed none of the usual aids to a writer’s career: no money, no friend in power, no formal education worthy of mention, no family tradition in letters. With every disadvantage piled upon him, Dreiser, by his strong will and his dogged persistence, eventually burst out and became one of the important American writers.
一、一般识记Dreiser’s life and writing:
Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Hante, Indiana, into a poor and intensely re1igious family. He had a very unhappy chi1dhood. Dreiser had some education at a Catholic school in Terre Hante, and later went to a public school of Warsaw, Indiana, and then spent a year at Indiana University. Dreiser read voraciously by himself. He immersed himself in Dickens and Thackeray, read widely Shakespeare, and tasted Bunyan, Fielding, Pope, Thoreau, Emerson, and Twain, but his true literary influences were from Balzac, Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. From the age of fifteen, Dreiser began to work on his own, earning a meager support by doing some odd jobs. He had longed to become a writer, so he went up to Chicago afterwards and made a beginning by placing himself with one of Chicago's newspapers, where he learned by experience. Later on, he slowly groped his way to authorship. During the last two decades of his 1ife Dreiser turned away from fiction and involved himself in political activities and debating writing. He joined the Communist Party shortly before his death in 1945.
二．识记 His major works:
Dreiser is a prolific writer. Among his works, Sister Carrie (1900) is the best-known, tracing the material rise of Carrie Meeber and the tragic decline of G. W. Hurstwood. In his ear1y period some of his best short fictions were written, among which are Nigger Jeff and Old Rogaum and His Theresa. In l9l1, Jennie Gerhardt came out, followed by two volumes of his “Trilogy of Desire,” The Financier (1912) and The Titan (1914), the third, The Stoic, being published posthumously in 1947. The Genius (19l5), a c1assic story of a “misunderstood artist,” was once condemned for “obscenity and blasphemy,”remained unpublished unti1 1923. In 1925 Dreiser's greatest work The American Tragedy appeared. But it was banned in Boston in 1927. In 1927 he accepted an invitation to visit Russia and wrote Dreiser Looks at Russia the following year.
三．领会1.Dreiser’s literary naturalism (or American naturalism):
With the publication of Sister Carrie, Dreiser became one of the most significant American writers of literary naturalism. As a genre, naturalism emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministic forces shaping individualized characters who were presented in special and detailed circumstances. At bottom, life was shown to be ironic, even tragic. Dreiser described earthly existence as “a welter of inscrutable forces,” in which was trapped each individua1 human being. In his words, Man is a “victim of forces over which he has no control.” To him, life is "so sad, so strange, so mysterious and so inexplicable." No wonder the characters in his books are often subject to the control of the natural forces -- especially those of environment and heredity.
2.The effect of Darwinist idea of "survival of the fittest" was shattering. It is not surprising to find in Dreiser's fiction a world of jungle, where “kill or to be killed” was the law.
3.Dreiser’s naturalism in his works:
Dreiser’s naturalism found expression in almost every book he wrote. In Sister Carrie Dreiser expressed his naturalistic pursuit by expounding the purposelessness of 1ife and attacking the conventional moral standards. After a series of incidents and coincidents, Carrie obtains fame and comfort while Hurstwood loses his wealth, social position, pride and eventually his life. In his "Trilogy of Desire," Dreiser's focus shifted from the pathos of the helpless protagonists at the bottom of the society to the power of the American financial tycoons in the late 19th century. An American Tragedy proves to be his greatest work and by entit1ing this book with such a name, Dreiser intended to tell us that it is the social pressure that makes Clyde's downfal1 inevitable. Clyde's tragedy is a tragedy that depends upon the American social system which encouraged people to pursue the "dream of success" at all costs.
4.Dreiser’s exploration of human desire and revelation of the dark side of human nature:
From the first novel Sister Carrie on, Dreiser set himself to project the American values for what he had found them to be --materialistic to the core. Living in such a society with such a value system, the human individual is obsessed with a never-ending, yet meaningless search for satisfaction of his desires. One of the desires is for money which was a motivating purpose of life in the United States in the late l9th century. For example, in Sister Carrie, there is not one character whose status is not determined economically. Sex is another human desire that Dreiser explored to considerab1e lengths in his novels to reveal the dark side of human nature. In Sister Carrie, Carrie climbs up the social ladder by means of her sexual appeal. Also in the “Trilogy of Desire,” the possession of sexual beauty symbolizes the acquisition of some social status of great magnitude. However, Dreiser never forgot to imply that these human desires in 1ife could hardly be defined. They are there like a powerful "magnetism" governing human existence and reducing human beings to nothing. So like all naturalists he was restrained from finding a solution to the social problems that appeared in his novels and accordingly almost all his works have tragic endings.
5.Dreiser's style
Dreiser's style has been a controversial aspect of his work from the beginning. For lack of concision, his writings appear more inclusive and less selective, and the readers are sometimes burdened with massive detailed descriptions of characters and events. Though the time sequence is clear and the plot straigt forward, he has been always accused of being awkward in sentence structure, inept and occasionally flat1y wrong in word selection and meaning, and mixed and disorganized in voice and tone. For him 1anguage is a means of communication rather than an art form. However, Dreiser's contribution to the American literary history cannot be ignored. He broke away from the genteel tradition of literature and dramatized the life in a very realistic way. There is no comment, no judgment but facts of life in the stories. His style is not polished but very serious and well calculated to achieve the thematic ends he sought.
四．应用An analysis of Sister Carrie: 1. The story of Sister Carrie
Carrie Meeber is the protagonist of the story. Penniless and “full of the illusions of ignorance and youth,” she leaves her rural home to seek work in Chicago. On the train, she becomes acquainted with Charles Drouet, a salesman. In Chicago, she lives with her sister and sister-in-law, and works for a time in a shoe factory. Meager income and terrible work condition oppress her imaginative spirit. After a period of unemployment and loneliness, she accepts Drouet and becomes his mistress. During his absence, she falls in love with Drouet’s friend George Hurstwood, a middle-aged, married, comparatively intelligent and cultured saloon manager. They finally elope, first to Montreal and then to New York. They live together for more than three years. Carrie becomes mature in intellect and emotion, while Hurstwood, away from the atmosphere of success on which his life has been based, steadily declines. So their relations become strained. At last, she thinks him too great a burden and leaves him. Hurstwood sinks lower and lower. After becoming a beggar, he commits suicide, while Carrie becomes a star of musical comedies. But in spite of her success, she is lonely and dissatisfied.
2. The theme of the book:
Sister Carrie best embodies Dreiser’s naturalistic belief that men are controlled and conditioned by heredity, environment and chance, but a few extraordinary and unsophisticated human beings refuse to accept their fate wordlessly and instead strive, unsuccessfully, to find meaning and purpose for their existence. Carrie, as one of such, senses that she is merely a cipher in an uncaring world yet seeks to grasp the mysteries of life and thereby satisfies her desires for social status and material comfort. In Sister Carrie, Dreiser expressed his naturalistic pursuit by expounding the purposelessness of life and impotence of men.
3.The last chapter of the novel:
After Carrie deserts Hurstwood, he is in great despair. Feeble and penniless, Hurstwood wanders in a cold winter night with nobody trying to help. Extremely hopeless and totally devastated, he turns the gas on in a cheap lodging-house and ends his life, while at the same time Carrie is rocking comfortably in her luxuriant hotel room before she boards a ship for London.
Chapter 3 The Modern Period
Ⅰ.本章学习目的和要求 ： 通过本章的学习，了解20世纪初期至中叶美国现代文学产生 的历史、文化背景，认识该时期文学创作的基本特征、基本主张，及其对当代美国文学发展的影响；了解该时期主要作家的文学生涯、创作意图、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画和语言风格等；同时结合注释，读懂所选作品，了解其思想内容和写作特色，培养理解和欣赏文学作品的能力。
Ⅱ本章重点及难点 1． 美国现代文学的特征
2． 主要作家的创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画和语言风格
3． 名词解释："迷惘的一代"，意象派诗歌，象征主义，表现主义，意识流
4． 选读作品的主题结构、艺术特色、人物刻画和语言风格
Ⅲ 考核知识点和考核要求
（一）现代时期美国文学概述
1． 识记： A．两次世界大战期间美国文学产生的历史及文化背景
（1）两次世界大战（2）移居国外的美国人（3）马克思主义理论和弗洛伊德学说（4）欧洲现代派艺术
B．战后美国文学产生的历史及文化背景
2． 领会： A． 两次世界大战期间的美国文学（1）诗歌：意象派诗人；象征主义 （2）小说；"迷恫的一代" （3）戏剧：表现主义B．战后美国文学（1）诗歌："垮掉的一代"等 （2）小说：黑人小说、犹太人小说、实验小说（荒诞派 小说）等 （3）美国现代文学多元化的现象
C．美国现代文学写作手法的创新
3．应用A．名词解释："迷惘的一代"，意象派诗歌，象征主义，表现主义，意识流
B．"荒原"意识在美国20世纪文学中的反映C分析选读作品的主题结构、艺术特色、人物刻画和语言风格
（二）美国现代时期的主要作家
A．埃兹拉。庞德
1．一般识记：庞德的生平和创作生涯
2．识记：庞德的诗歌（1）短诗：《地铁站一瞥》（2）长诗：《诗章》
3． 领会：（1）庞德与意象主义 （2）庞德与中国文化 （3）庞德的诗歌理论及艺术特色
4．应用：《地铁站一瞥》《盟约》〈〈河商的妻子》：主题、意象、语言
B．罗伯特·弗洛斯特
1．一般识记：弗洛斯特的生平及创作生涯2．识记：弗洛斯特的诗歌：田园诗；自然诗
3．领会：（1）弗洛斯特诗歌的艺术特色（2）弗洛斯特的诗论
4．应用： (1) 弗洛斯特的自然诗(2)〈〈摘苹果后〉〈未选择的路〉〈雪夜停马在林边》：主题、 象征与比喻、语言
C．尤金·奥尼尔
1．一般识记：奥尼尔的生平及创作生涯 2．识记：奥尼尔的戏剧
（1）早期作品：独幕剧；多幕剧《天外边》
（2）中期作品：《琼斯皇帝》〈〈伟大之神布朗〉〉〈〈毛猿》 -表现主义和象征主义的力作
（3）后期作品：《直到夜晚的漫长一天》 一 自传体戏剧 剧
3．领会：（1）奥尼尔戏剧的悲观主义和神秘主义色彩（2）奥尼尔戏剧的艺术特色
4．应用：选读《毛猿》第八场：主题结构、表现主义和象征主义手法、语言特色
D．司各特·菲兹杰拉德
1．一般识记：菲兹杰拉德的生平及创作生涯
2．识记：（1）菲兹杰拉德与"爵士时代" （2）主要作品：短篇小说集：《爵士时代的故事》
中、长篇小说：《人间天堂》《了不起的盖茨比》《夜色温柔》〈〈最后一个巨头》
3．领会：（1）《了不起的盖茨比》与"美国梦 （2）菲兹杰拉德的小说艺术
4．应用：《了不起的盖茨比》第三章：主题结构、人物刻画、语言风格
E．欧内斯特·海明威
1．一般识记：海明威的生平及创作生涯2．识记：海明威的主要作品（1）短篇小说集：《在我们的时代里》一涅克的故事（2）长篇小说：《太阳照样升起》〈〈永别了，武器》《丧钟为谁而鸣》《老人与海》
3．领会：海明威与"迷惘的一代"
4．应用：（1）海明威小说的艺术特色："硬汉"形象、"重压下的风 度"、"冰山"原则等
（2）《在我们的时代里》选篇：主题结构、人物刻画、语言 风格
F．威廉·福克纳
1．一般识记: 福克纳的生平及创作生涯
2．识记：（l）福克纳的主要作品：中、短篇小说：《给艾米莉小姐的玫瑰》《老人》《熊》等；
长篇小说： 《喧嚣与骚动》 《八月之光》《我弥留之际》《押沙龙，押沙龙！》
（2）福克纳的"约克纳帕塔法'神话王国
3．领会：（1）福克纳小说的艺术特色："意识流"、"内心独白"、"时序颠倒"、"对位式结构"、
"象征隐喻"等（2）福克纳的文体 （3）福克纳与美国南方文学
4．应用：《给艾米莉小姐的玫瑰》：主题结构、人物刻画、语言风格
一．识记：1.The historical and socio-cultural background of the American literature between the two World Wars:
(1) The two World Wars: The twentieth century began with a strong sense of social breakdown. The two Wor1d Wars, especially the First World War (l914--l918), became the emblem of all wars in the twentieth century, which means violence, devastation, blood and death, and made a big impact on the life of the American people and their literary writings.
With all these wars the whole wor1d had undergone a dramatic social change, a transformation from order to disorder. America in this period was characterized by economic boom and material prosperity but social chaos, spiritual waste and and moral decay. Economically, with America's participation in Wor1d War I and the technological revolution, the United States had its booming industry and material prosperity. Socially, the world was disorderly and turbulent. There was a sense of unease and restlessness underneath. Spiritually and morally, there was a decline in moral standard and the first few decades of the twentieth century was best described as a spiritual wasteland. The censor of a great civilization being destroyed or destroying itself, social breakdown, and individual powerlessness and hopelessness became part of the American experience as a result of the First World War, with resulting feelings of fear, loss, disorientation and disillusionment.
(2) The impact of Marxism, Freudianism and European modern art on American modern literature: Between the mid-l9th century and the first decade of the 20th century, there had been a big flush of new theories and new ideas in both social and natural sciences, as well as in the field of art in Europe, which played an indispensable ro1e in bringing about modernism and the modernistic writings in the United States.
a. Marxism and Freudianism
Apart from Darwinism, which was still a big influence over the writers of this period, the two thinkers whose ideas had the greatest impact on the period were the German Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund Freud. Marx was a sociologist who believed that the root cause of all behavior was economic, and that the leading feature of the economic life was the division of society into antagonistic classes based on a relation to the means of production. Freud propounded an idea of human beings themselves as grounded in the "unconscious" that controlled a great deal of overt behavior, and made the practice of the psychoanalysis which emphasizes the importance of the unconscious or the irrationa1 in the human psyche. William James, an American psychologist famous for his theory of "stream of consciousness," and Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, noted for his "collective unconscious" and "archetypal symbol" as part of modern mythology. Their theories, plus Freud's interpretation of dreams, have infused modern American literature and made it possible for most of the writers in the modern period to probe into the inner world of human reality.
b. European modern art:
The implications of modern European arts to modern American writings can also be strong1y felt in the American literature between the wars, even thereafter. In painting, both the French Impressionist and the German Expressionist artists avoided the representation of external reality and depicted the human rea1ity in a rather subjective point of view. This highly personal vision of the world is self-evident in the works by writers such as William Faulkner, Eugene O'Neill, etc. Cubism, another school of modern painting popular in the early 20th century with its emphasis on the formal structure of a work of art, especially its emphasis on the multiple-perspective viewpoints, had provided the writers with more than one way to explain the reality and engaged the readers in creating order out of fragmentation as we1l. Composers like Igor Stravinsky similar1y produced music in a "modern" mode, featuring dissonance and discontinuity rather than neat formal structure and appealing total harmonies.
