III. Questions and answers:
1. What are the characters of Modernism? Answer:
1) Modernism rose out of scepticism and disillusionment of capitalism;2) The French symbolism heralded modernism; 3) Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base; 4) The major theme of Modernism are the distorted, alienated and ill relationship between man and society, man and nature, man and man, man and himself; 5) The Modernists concern about the private, subjective, inner individual and the tone is disillusioned. (P312—313)

2. D. H. Lawrence is regarded as revolutionary, how do you know his works?Answer:
1) Lawrence’s interest lay in the psychological development of his character;
2) He criticized the dehumanizing effect of the capitalism industrialization on human which turned man into inhuman machines and unhealthy animal;
3) He believes the life impulse -the sexual impulse was man’s most important instinct, any conscious repression would cause distortion of the man’s personality;
4) He explored the relationship of man and woman in psychology;
5) He believed the alienation and the perversion were caused by the desire for power and money. (P317)
 

3. What philosophical ideas influenced Modernism?
Answer:1) Karl Marx’s scientific socialism;2) Darwin’s theory evolution -the social Darwinism "survival of the fittest";3) Einstein’s theory of relativity;4) Freud’s analytical psychology;5) The irrational philosophy. (P311—P312)

4. Common sense about "The Waste Land"
Answer: "The Waste Land" is T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece: 1) The poem presents a panorama of physical disorder and spiritual desolation; 2) It reflects the mood of disillusionment, frustration, and despair of the whole post-war generation; 3) It concerns with the spirit breakup that man has lost his meaning, significance, and purpose of life; 4) The poem derogated/criticized the civilized world for its horror, menace, anguish and futility. (P359—362)

 

 5. Analyze the background of the Modernism.
Answer:1) Natural and social sciences advanced greatly, capitalism came into its monopoly stage, the gap between the poor and the rich was deepened;2) The First World War and The Second World War happened, which influenced people greatly; 3) All kinds of philosophical ideas were produced. (P311—312)

6. Say something about Freudian and Jungian’ psycho-analysis.
Answer:1) Multiple/many levels of consciousness exist in the human mind at the same time; 2) Man’s present are the sum of his past, present and future; 3) Truth exists in the unique, isolated, and private world of each individual. 4) The theory creates "steam-of-consciousness". (P316)

7. Why Modernism is different from Realism?
Answer:
In many aspects, Modernism acts against Realism; 1) Modernism rejects rationalism, while Realism stresses it; 2) Modernism includes internal, subjective, psychological world, while Realism stresses external, objective, and material world; 3) Modernism advocates new forms and new techniques, and it casts away all the traditional elements such as: story, character, etc. while Realism stresses it. 4) Modernism works are called anti-novel, anti-poetry, anti-drama etc. (P313)

8. List the representative authors of the "Stream of Consciousness" and explain the theory.
Answer:
1) Stream of Consciousness is a narrative method to describing the unspoken thoughts and feelings of the characters, but not using objective description or conventional dialogue.Authors represent the thought, emotions without logical sequence or syntax and make the characters tell the inner movement of consciousness and the thoughts.
2) The representative authors are: James Joyce "Ulysses"Virginia Woolf "Mrs. Dalloway"Richardson "Pilgrimage"T. S. Eliot Henry JamesGeorge Eliot (P389)

 

Part Two American Literature
Chapter 1 The Romantic Period
I. Choose the right answer:
1. Of all the following issues, _____is definitely NOT the focus of the Romantic writers in the American literary history.
A. Puritan morality B. Human bestiality C. Noble savages D. Divinity of man
Answer: B (P401)
2. Henry David Thoreau’s work, ________, has always been regarded as a masterpiece of the New England Transcendental Movement.
A. Walden B. The Pioneers C. Nature D. "Song of Myself"
Answer: A (P402)
3. "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" is a famous quote from______’s writings.
A. Walt Whitman B. Henry David ThoreauC. Herman Melville D. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Answer: D (P402)
4. ’Leaves of Grass’ commands great attention because of its uniquely poetic embodiment of________, which are written in the founding documents of both the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War.
A. the democratic ideals B. the romantic ideals C. the self-reliance spirits D. the religious ideals
Answer: A (P447)
5. According to Whitman, the genuine participation of a poet in a common cultural effort was to behave as a supreme_________.
A. democrat B. individualist C. romanticist D. leader
Answer: B (P448)
6. The period before the American Civil War is generally referred to as ___________.
A. The Naturalist Period B. The Modern Period C. The Romantic Period D. The Realistic Period
Answer: C (P399)
7. In the following works, which sign the beginning of the American literature?
A. The Sketch Book B. Leaves of Grass C. Leather Stocking Tales D. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
B (P399)
8. _____is the author of the work ’The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’.
A. Washington Irving B. James Joyce C. Walt Whitman  D. William Butler Yeats
Answer: A (P404)
9. Washington Irving’s ’Rip Van Winkle’ is famous for_________.
A. Rip’s escape into a mysterious B. The story’s German legendary source material
C. Rip’s seeking for happiness D. Rip’s 20-years sleep
Answer: D (P406)
10. Which of the following statement is not true about Washington Irving?
A. Washington Irving is regarded as Father of the American short stories.
B. Irving’s relationship with the Old World in terms of his literary imagination can hardly be ignored considering his success both abroad and at home.
C. Irving’s taste was essentially progressive or radical.
D. Washington Irving has always been regarded as a writer who "perfected the best classic style that American literature ever produced."
Answer: C (P403---406)
11. The Publication of ______established Emerson as the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism.
A. Nature B. Self-Reliance C. The American Scholar D. The Over-Soul
Answer: A (P420)
12. The phrase "a transparent eye-ball’ compares philosophical mentation of Emerson’s. It appears in_________.
A. The American Scholar B. Nature C. The over Soul D. Essays: Second Series
Answer: B (P423)
13. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled _______at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmeasas :Our Intellectual Declaration of Independence".
A. "Self-Reliance" B. "Divinity School Address" C. "The American Scholar" D. "Nature"
Answer: C (P423)
14. _____is the most ambivalent (有争议的) writers in the American literary history.
A. Nathaniel Hawthorne B. Walt Whitman C. Ralph Waldo Emerson D. Mark Twain
Answer: A (P429)
15. "There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity", which author of the following authors does the mention belong to________.
A. Washington Irving B. Ralph Waldo Emerson C. Nathaniel Hawthorne D. Walt Whitman
Answer: C (P431)
16. In Hawthorne’s novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as________.
A. saviors B. villains C. commentators D. observers
Answer: B (P432)
17. All of the following are works by Nathaniel Hawthorne except_______.
A. The House of the Seven Gables B. White Jacket C. The Marble Faun D. The Blithedale Romance
Answer: B (P431)
18. Walt Whitman is radically innovative in the form of his poetry. What he prefers for his new subject is__________.
A. free verse B. blank verse C. lyric poem D. heroic couplet
Answer: A (P450)
19. Which of the following features cannot characterize poems by Walt Whitman?
A. Lyrical and well-structured B. Free-flowing C. Simple and rather crude D. Conversational and casual
Answer: A (P450---451)

20. " The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud. These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day." The two lines are taken from____________.
A. "There Was a Child Went Forth" by Walt Whitman B. "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound
C. "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" by Walt Whitman D. "Ulysses" by Joyce
Answer: A (P454)
21. "Moby Dick" is regarded as the first American_________.
A. Prose epic B. Comic epic C. Dramatic fiction D. Poetic fiction
Answer: A (P460)
22. The giant Moby Dick may symbolize all EXCEPT________.
A. mystery of the universe B. sin of the whale C. power of the great Nature D. evil of the world
Answer: B (P461)
23. Which of the following comments on the writings by Herman Melville is not true?
A. "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is a short story. B. "Benito Cereno" is a novella.
C. The Confidence---Man has something to do with the sea and sailors. D. Moby-Dick is regarded as the first American prose epic.
Answer: C (P459---460)
24. The Transcendentalists believe that, first, nature is ennobling, and second, the individual is____, therefore, self-reliant.
A. insignificant B. vicious by nature C. divine D. forward-looking
Answer: C (P402)

II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "Time grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on: a tart temper mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use. For a long while he used to perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village.
Questions:
1) Please identify the author and the title of the work.2) What’s the meaning of this passage?
参考答案:
1) This is an excerpt from "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving. (P408)
2) With his wife’s dominance at home, the situation became harder and harder for Rip Van Winkle. His wife’s temper became worse and she scolded him for more often. He had to stay in the club with idle people. (P407)
附:Question: Please describe the changes Rip Van Winkle experienced.
Answer: 1) Rip Van Winkle was the hero in Irving’s works. He was a good-natured man, a henpecked (惧内的，妻管严的) husband.
2) Because his wife’s shrewish (泼妇一样的) treatment, Rip had to escape from his home to the little inn in the village. When it failed to give him some restful air, he had to go hunting in the high mountain, where Rip met a stranger, and the man asked Rip to carry keg for him. Then Rip reached the place in the valley, where many strangers were playing nine-pins. Later Rip got drunk after drinking the liquor, which made him sleep for 20 years.
3) Rip woke up as an old man, entering the village learned that his wife had died, he got the freedom of his own,; and the American had been dependent from the control of Britain, he had changed from a subject of the King (George III) into a citizen of the independent new U.S.....

2. " I celebrated myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"
Questions:
1) Please identify the author and the title of the poem that had used when published. 2) What is the theme of this poem?
参考答案:1) In the 1856, the title was "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American", then it became "Walt Whitman" in 1860, until 1881, it finally became "Song of Myself". The author is Walt Whitman. (P456--457)2) In this poem Whitman sets forth two principle beliefs:
A. The theory of universality (普遍性), which is illustrated by lengthy catalogues of people and things;
B. The belief in the singularity (个别性) and equality(平等性) of all beings in value. (P457)

3. "Standing on the bare ground, ----my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -----all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball. I am nothing. I see all."
Questions:
1) Please identify the author and the title of the work.2) Please briefly interpret this passage.3). What rhetorical device of "transparent eye-ball".4) Emerson said he want to become a transparent eye-ball, what king idea did he want to express?
参考答案:1) This selection is from "Nature" by Emerson. (P427)
2) In the essay Emerson clearly expresses the main principles of his Transcendentalist pursuit and his love for nature. Emerson develops his concept of "Over-Soul" Or "Universal Mind". Last but not the leas, it affirms the divinity of the human beings. (P423)
3) It used the device of metaphor. (P423) 4) He wanted to tell us: Nature can purify (净化) our quality and let us get comfort. (P243)

III. Questions and answers:
1. The Romantic Period was called "The American Renaissance". Discuss the background of the Romantic Period, and compare it with the Romanticism of Britain.
Answer:
1) The two Romanticism both stress the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature;
2) They all pay attention to psychic states of the characters and exalt the individual and common man;
3) American Romanticism revealed unique characteristics: (difference)
<1> American authors describe their native land,, especially the spirit of the pioneering into the west, the desire for an escape from society and a return to nature;
<2> American writers use local dialect in language;
<3> Puritanism has great influence over American Romantics;
<4> Calvinism of original sin is obvious in their works;
<5> Transcendentalism is very important theory in American Romanticism;
<6> The important setting in American Romanticism are: ① the early puritan settlement; ② the confrontation with the Indians; ③ the frontiersmen’s life; ④ the wild west; ⑤ imagination. (P399—402)

2. Analyze the themes and characteristic of Hawthorne.
Answer:
Hawthorne was a man with inquiring imagination, meditative mind and dark vision to life.
His themes in writing are:
1) Man was born with evil and sin, one source of them is over-reaching intellect, whose image was always villain; (Chllingworth e.g.)
2) Hawthorne was influenced greatly by Puritanism, while he criticized it bitterly;
3) He believed Calvinistic ideas, thinking man was depraved and corrupted; they should obey God for saving the spirits;
4) He concerned the moral life of man and human history;
5) He was keen on the description of man’s development of psychology. (P432—433)

3. Explain the theory of Transcendentalism, then list its important author and works.
Answer:
Transcendentalism is a very important theory in American Romanticism, its main ideas are:
1) Man has the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or the ability of getting knowledge transcending the senses;
2) Nature is ennobling and individual is divine, therefore, man should be self-reliant.
3) Man is divine/holy and perfectible and man can trust himself to decide what is right and act accordingly; (but to Hawthorne and Melville man is a sinner);
4) Universe is over-soul -a symbol of the spirit, God or the universe, there is an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal "over-soul" -unity of Nature.
5) The important authors are: Emerson (The American Scholar) and Thoreau.
6) "Nature", Emerson’s works, is called the unofficial manifesto for the club. (P421—P422)
 

4. Hawthorne was a master in using symbol and allegory; cite some example to analyze it.
Answer:
1) Allegorically, Young Goodman Brown becomes an Everyman called Brown, who will be aged in one night by an evil adventure, and the evilness makes everyone a fallen idol in the world.
2) In the angle of Symbol: "Brown look up to the Heaven and resist the wicked one" symbols Brown has the force to resist the evilness of the Nature and he still has the faith to God; but "he is alone in the forest" symbols the society is the place full of sins and evilness, Brown’s strength is not enough at all; then after returning, he lives a dismal and gloomy life symbols he has been crushed down by the social evilness and lost his belief in goodness and piety. (P434—435)

5. Washington Irving was called "Father of the American short stories" and "the American Goldsmith". What characteristics did he have?
Answer:
1) He was nostalgic author, and he always juxtaposing the Old and the New world;
2) He remained a conservative and always exalted a disappearing past, and he prefer the past to present, prefer a dream-like world to a real one;
3) His stories were always from legend, especially German legends, showing best classic style. (P405—406)

6. Sea adventures are Melville’s favorite subject; "Moby-Dick" is a great novel in the theme, which is also noted for its symbolism, please analyze it in detail.
Answer:
1) About the sea adventure: it symbols the voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe; a spirit exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology;
2) About the boat; it symbols the society, and the crew symbol all kinds of people with different social and ethnic ideas;
3) About the white whale: To the author, it symbols nature, it is a complex, unfathomable and beautiful; To the captain Ahab, it is evilness, is a wall. So he will lead all his crew to cut through the wall to dig out all the unknown, mysterious things behind it. To the narrator, Ishmael, it is a mystery. (P460—461)

7. Walt Whitman is a unique poet. Can you explain what make him unique?
Answer:
1) His themes are: Democracy; the Revolutionary War and the Civil War; freedom; openness; brotherhood; individualism; the growth of industry and the wealth of the cities; universality.