Consult the outline of British and American literature history

Khan, this is the content of a semester. . .

Outline of American literary history

First, the colonial era and early America.

The earliest European immigrants from this new continent were mainly Puritans who settled in New England and Roman Catholics in Massachusetts. Although they have many differences in doctrine, they all believe in Calvinism: they live only to suffer, and their only hope is to be God's "voters", go to heaven after death, and believe in "original sin". The literary works at this time mainly reflected these ideas, which came down in one continuous line with European literature.

Representative writers: Coton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, Anne braz Tritt, edward tylor.

Second, after the victory of the18th century war of independence, the American economy and society entered a period of stable development.

This period is the period of enlightenment literature movement, and the main literary guiding ideology is deism, which emphasizes rationality and holds that "the movement of the universe begins with God". Everything in nature is "the incarnation of God". Life in this world is no longer a difficult rebirth in the afterlife, but an elimination of inequality in race, gender and belief, and the establishment of its own "paradise on earth".

The main features are: most writers are active advocates and participants in the American War of Independence; In addition to deism, the guiding ideology of literature also includes rationalism and neoclassicism, and the early romanticism began to sprout at the end of 18. Literature mainly includes history, diaries and political comments, as well as poems, satirical sketches and stories to persuade people to be good. /kloc-at the end of 0/8, the drama also appeared.

A large number of excellent prose works appeared during the Enlightenment, most of which were written by the founding fathers, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson.

Three. /kloc-during the civil war in the 0/9th century

Literature in this period developed romanticism, realism and naturalism successively.

Romanticism: The period from 65438+70s in 2008 to 65438+30s in 2009 was the initial stage of romanticism, which reached its peak in the first 30 years of the civil war (1830- 1860). After the civil war, it gradually declined and turned to realism. Romanticism pays attention to imagination, passion and personality liberation, and believes that human nature is good, and the means to eradicate evil and save mankind is to abandon all traditional shackles, destroy all stereotypes and return to the original state of nature. Transcendentalism is one of the branches, which emphasizes "the unity of man and nature" and holds that God, human beings and nature are all components of "oversoul".

Representative writers and works: Nature by Emerson, Walden by Thoreau, The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, Moby Dick by Melville and Leaves of Grass by Whitman.

Realism: It is the inevitable product of American political and economic development, and it is promoted by the western development movement, industrialization and scientific and technological progress. Realistic writers generally believe in pragmatism and democracy. They pursue and reflect the relative truth with obvious effect and confirmed by experience. Their subjects are ordinary things of ordinary people, which is the highest expression of middle-class art.

Howells is the founder of realism. He discovered Mark Twain, encouraged and helped Henry James, and influenced naturalist writers Fran Knowles and Stephen Crane.

Naturalism: it is the development and continuation of realism, and the product of the combination of realism and "analysis method" and "law of cause and effect" emphasized by19th century science. It is sometimes called "pessimistic realism", which holds that man is a weak animal, put into a mechanized world and become a victim of several forces (including environment, nature, heredity, etc.). ) it's hard to control in this world.

Its milestones are: the publication of Zola's novels in 1970s and 1980s in 19, Klein's Red Medal of Courage in 1990s, Sister Carrie by Dreiser in 1900, The Financier in 19 12, and American's.

Fourth, American literature in the 20th century experienced two world wars and spanned three eras.

A) Gentle Age (1880- 19 14, Gentle Age): This is a cross-century era of American economic prosperity. There is an ambiguous relationship between American literature and European literature at this time, which is essentially Europe, America, Europe and New England. At this time, nationalism represented by theodore roosevelt has a strong reflection in literature, and people are still obsessed with the cultural ties and differences between the United States and Europe.

B) Jazz Age (19 18- 1929, Jazz Age): After World War I, a generation of unrestrained, disillusioned and cynical young people emerged, which Gertrude Stein called "the lost generation".

C) Economic depression era (1929- 194 1, depression era): The cynical attitude in the 1920s turned into indignant pessimism at this time, and in the 1930s, American literature turned to "social protest literature", "psychological research" and the pursuit of human spiritual world.

American literature has experienced modernism and postmodernism;

Modernism: From the First World War to the 1950s, it was a literary movement that consciously opposed the tradition, showing the unconscious absurd mentality, such as the novels of Stein and Joyce, using the method of stream of consciousness, such as Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying; In organizational structure, he prefers to use myths, such as Eliot's The Waste Land, Pound's poems and Joyce's Ulysses. The style is mainly "image", and the language advocates simplicity and accuracy; Themes mainly reflect the life, thoughts, feelings and future destiny of the participants in World War I, such as Three Soldiers by Dos Persos, The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, and describe a generation with mental breakdown and disillusionment.

Evil is one of the themes of literature, which is reflected in the works of Eliot, Frost, O 'Neill, Cummings and Ellison.

Postmodernism: After World War II, the Nazi totalitarian massacre, the atomic bomb, the destruction of the natural environment, the world overpopulation and famine caused the spiritual destruction and crisis of westerners, and writers kept conducting modernist anti-traditional literary experiments in an attempt to break with the standardized modernist literary form at that time. Postmodernism advocates denying social order and expressing a fragmented world, and holds that literary criticism is a phenomenological theory. At this time, African-American literature, Jewish literature, southern literature, anti-war literature and feminist literature are competing for development.

Novelist Thomas Pynchon, poet Sylvia Price and dramatist Aimu amiri baraka are typical postmodern writers.

Saul Bellow, allen ginsberg, Ralph Ellison, tennessee williams, arthur miller and Edward Albert are famous writers in the transitional period from modernism to postmodernism.

Two characteristics of American literature in the 20th century;

1. Modernist writers generally oppose traditional ideas and advocate "individualism", or they break the conventions of American society, morality and literature.

Modern writers are committed to exploring a writing skill and language style that truly belongs to the American people. They try to create in a purely American way.

English is my notes.

Notes on English literature history

Notes on English literature history

1. Childe Harold's Peacock

This poem tells the story of Childe Harold (a young man of noble birth) traveling in Europe. Harold is a young aristocrat. His "world-weariness" shows his aversion to the British upper class. He left his motherland to escape from the society he heard. He hated loneliness and melancholy, and he sought the company of mountains and seas. But this kind of depression (mental depression) is a sad, serious and painful young man, who has passionate feelings, keen understanding and strong love for freedom. Except Harold's impression of the country he visited. This poem is lyrical in its interlude, which represents Byron's own philosophy and political views. At first, these views were expressed through the poet's mouth, but gradually, the creator and the created one became one, and the poet walked from the background to the stage and spoke to the audience in person.

2. The critical study of his life and his adventures in many countries is described in the background of dental caries society, and he is considered to have participated in different historical events in the ababcc of contemporary life.

3. Don Juan the Swordsman

Don Juan is Byron's masterpiece in the heyday of his creation. His purpose is to eliminate the customs of the upper class and the obstacles to cover up their secret signs to the maximum extent, and to show the world their true colors. He called the poem an epic satire. Almost all don Juan is real life. Whether it's mine or someone I know. In Don Juan, Byron shows his genius as both a romantic and a realist.

4. Ozymandias

The author shows his strong love behavior and his constant hatred of tyranny. In this poem, he also expressed his desire for the once tyrannical king.

5. ode to the west wind

The west wind is regarded as the "destroyer" because it drives away the last sign of life from the trees, and it is also regarded as the "protector" because it dispels the ocean when spring comes.

6. For a lark

The author describes the gentle flight of larks, the west wind and larks symbolize the spiritual vitality of freedom, and the poet desperately criticizes the harsh society. In both his poems, the poet embodies optimism about the future of mankind.

7. john keats

About Poetry: For Keats, poetry exists for itself. If it is occupied by philosophy or politics or any course, it will lose its identity or quality.

Objective: Keats is not only the last but also the most perfect romantic. The only artistic purpose of this poem is to create a beautiful world imagination, as opposed to Sufi realism of his time.

Writing principle: "Beauty is truth, truth is beauty" is the keynote of his poems, and he linked this novel with the suffering society he lived and experienced.

8. Chapman's Homer Epic

Rhythm and Rhythm: ABBA, ABBA, CDCD, CD (Italy)

9. Ode to the Nightingale

In this poem, the author expresses his desire to free himself from human worries and anxieties and moan with birds in a beautiful world.

10.1What is the genre of English literature in the 9th century?

As far as the literary form of genre is concerned, the main contribution of critical realist writers in the19th century lies in their perfection of novels. Like the realists in the18th century, the critical realists in the19th century used a vast novel canvas to comprehensively and detailedly express social and political events, as well as the fate of individuals and the whole social stratum. However, the realistic novels of19th century went further than those of18th century. In fact, they not only depict the conflicts between independent individuals representing specific social classes (circles), but also show a wide range of social conflicts beyond the fate of individuals.

11.1the power of realists in the 9th century.

/kloc-British realists in the 0/9th century not only gave a door to satirize the bourgeoisie and all classes, but also showed deep sympathy for the civilian class. In their best works, the greed and hypocrisy of the upper class are in sharp contrast with the sincerity and kindness of the sympathizers of the lower class. So humor and satire are used; Humor is lyrical and emphasizes the human quality of positive characters. However, critical realism exposes the dark side of rural society with bitter satire, and reveals the corrosion of comfortable rule on human nature through various negative characters created by capitalist system. This lies in criticizing the democratic and humanitarian characteristics of realism, and … in the19th century.

12.1the weakness of realists in the 9th century

/kloc-The critical realists in the 0/9th century did not, and because of their worldview, it was impossible to find a way to eradicate social evils. They don't realize the great changes in bourgeois society, and they can't find a good way to solve social contradictions. The main tendency in their works is not revolution, but reformism: they often start by exposing the ugliness of bourgeois society strongly, just to end an accidental happy ending or a powerless compromise (so we can see it right away ...).

13. Characteristics of critical realism

Generally speaking, the critical realists described it with very vivid and superb artistic skills. The main characteristics of British society and its criticism of capitalist system. From the perspective of democracy:

1 Critical realism is an objective, concrete and simple reflection of reality.

This is a strong exposure and criticism of the greed and hypocrisy of the ruling class.

The representative figures depicted in the blocked environment are unfair to the summit.

14. Analysis of Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist tells the story of an orphan, whose adventures describe the lower classes in London.

In the preface of the novel, Dickens declared himself a realist:

He made readers aware of the inhumanity of urban life under capitalism. The previous chapter 1 1 provides a most painful and thorough exposure to the terrible conditions in the British workshop and the cruel treatment of a poor orphan by various philanthropists.

The famous scene in the second chapter, Oliver was beaten and punished just because he risked asking for an extra gruel to alleviate his unbearable hunger, which is just one of many details to show the extreme cruelty and corruption of the oppressor and his agents.

It is in this scene that we see the great critical realists express the helpless pain of the poor and the oppressed.

Dickens succeeded in arousing readers' sympathy for the lower classes;

In his vivid description of the den of thieves and the underground world in London, Dickens successfully aroused readers' sympathy for the downtrodden people in the lower class, who were corrupted and degenerated by the social environment at that time, climbed up and became parasites of parasites, or even criminals of society. Oliver is the only one in the lower class who finally gets happiness and success.

Dickens' novels usually end with such a happy ending, because he is optimistic that justice will triumph over evil.

The defects of this novel:

1. Incredibility of the plot:

At the end of the novel, the plot becomes very complicated, and the reader is simply confused. When the mystery is finally revealed to him, he is faced with an impossible coincidence, which leads to a happy ending.

At the critical moment, Oliver was saved again and again by "kind" good people who happened to be relatives of his parents. Relatives.

2. Some characters are not credible.

Oliver himself is a pale figure and seems to be a helpless victim of fate. Fagin and Bill Sikes are too inhuman to be true, while the rich Mr. Brownlow and Miss Merry are vaguely portrayed as kind people.

Here we can see—

Dickens sympathized with the people's suffering, but he didn't know what or who should be responsible for it. He even had some illusions about the rich and idle people like Mr. Brownlow and Miss Merry. Dickens believes that as long as every employer takes a "good gentleman" like Brownlow as an example, the whole social problem will be solved.

15. 19 century female novelists

In the second half of the18th century, female novelists began to appear in Britain, but some talented women made such great contributions to English novels in the19th century that they naturally won a place among the outstanding realistic writers headed by Dickens and Thackeray. These outstanding female novelists are Jane Austen, George Eliot and the Bronte sisters.

I. Jane Austen

The founder of a novel about unimportant middle-class figures.

Her works:

Northanger abbey, reason and emotion, pride and prejudice, mansfield manor, persuasion.

Two. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Novel:

Adam Bede (first) Adam Bede

The Mill on the Floss

Silas Manan, Manan the Weaver

Adam Bede is a novel with moral conflict, which shows the contest of personal desire, passion, temperament, human weakness and moral responsibility. In the novel, Arthur and Heidi, and Adam and Dana, two lovers, are vividly described. The former always considers their own interests without considering others, while the latter is endowed with lofty moral principles to guide them to seek benefits for others and themselves.

Eliot believes that human moral standards are closely related to "religion of the soul". This shows the influence of bourgeois positivism philosophy, which tries to reconcile science and religion and proves the possibility of social harmony and consistency in capitalist society.

George Eliot and the analysis of his works: George Eliot's novels mark that British critical realism has entered a new development stage after Dickens and Thackeray. Her characters are not grotesque types, but real, ordinary men and women, but in other ways, her works mark a retrogression. She shifted the focus of the novel from social issues to religious and moral issues. Although she was aware of the evils of bourgeois society, she did not attack the social system. She believes in the sentimental "religion of human nature" and holds the illusion that human nature and love can drive away evil.

Capitalism.

Bronte sister

I. charlotte bronte

A. lowood school is the embodiment of bourgeois educational principles, and its purpose is to train obedient slaves for the rich.

B. Another problem raised by the novel is the status of women in society. Jane Eyre advocates that women should enjoy equal rights with men.

C Charlotte Brontexq attacked the greed, tyranny and ignorance of the bourgeoisie and sympathized with the sufferings of the poor. Her realism was influenced by the charity of ordinary citizens. Like Dickens, she believes that education is the key to solving all social problems. By improving the school system and teaching, most of the evils of capitalism can be eliminated.

A Brief Comment on the Historical Background of16.20th Century

During the transitional period from 19 to the 20th century, the British Empire under Queen Victoria fell from the peak of its world hegemony.

At the same time, capitalist Europe was divided into hostile camps because of the colonial division of the world.

The October Revolution broke out in Russia and a socialist country was born.

1929 An economic crisis in the capitalist world caused an unprecedented economic depression in Britain.

17. Definition of stream of consciousness

Stream of consciousness is a narrative technique, as if they come directly from the character's mind. Due to the lack of time sequence, the events in the stream of consciousness narrative are presented from the perspective of the role, mixed with the ongoing feelings and memories of the role.

Stream of consciousness writing, developed by writers such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, is used to reveal the complex psychology of characters and present it in realistic details. Novelists show an understanding of the inner workings of the brain. A person's present is considered as the sum of his past. Time is no longer a series of chronological moments presented by novelists in sequence, but a continuous flow in personal consciousness.

18. Thomas Hardy

1). Represents a work.

Tess of the D 'Urbervilles, far away from the hubbub, under the green forest, the return of the locals, the mayor of Casterbridge, and the unknown Jude.

2) Hardy's position in English literature.

Finally, one of the greatest Victorian novelists.

3). Theme.

Tess of the D 'Urbervilles tells the tragic life of a beautiful country girl. This is a fierce attack on Britain's hypocritical social morality and political status quo. Tess's misfortune and tragedy triggered protests and condemnation of society.

Hardy is more and more convinced that human beings are ruled by some hostile mysterious fate, which brings misfortune to human life. Therefore, there is a strong naturalistic tendency in the novel.

"Justice was done, and the immortal status ended his game with Tess."

I. Consolidation and practice

Compare two main characters: Tess and Angel.

Tess: Pure and simple.

Angel: hypocritical and selfish

An angel is not an angel at all, but an ordinary person. Tess forgave him, but he couldn't forgive Tess.

Two. abstract

The dominant position of novels began in the Victorian era and continued to grow and develop in the 1960s.