HermanMellville()解读.pptVIP

Herman Melville Teaching Objectives Melville’s Life and Main Works Melville’s masterpiece Moby Dick The Main Plot, Major characters, theme, Symbols Social significance of Moby Dick Life Experience born on August 1, 1819 in New York City into an established merchant family, the third of 8 children. His father became bankrupt and insane, dying when Melville was 12. His sea experiences and adventures furnished him with abundant materials, and resulted in five novels that brought him wide fame as a writer of sea stories. In 1850, he met Hawthorne and they became good friends. He read Hawthorne’s books and was deeply impressed by Hawthorne’s black vision. His fame was recognized after his death. Melville’s Major Works 1) Typee ?泰皮? 2) Omoo ?欧穆? 3) Mardi ?玛地? 4) Bedburn ?雷得本? 5) White Jacket ?白外衣? Melville’s Major Works 6) Pierre ?皮埃尔? 7) Billy Budd 《比利?巴德》(a sign that he had resolved his quarrel with God) Clarel 《克拉莱尔》( a poem) Melville’s Major Works Moby-Dick ?白鲸?，?莫比?狄克? His Tragic Influence from Literary Tradition At the time of writing, Melville was reading Greek tragedy, especially the Orestia (奥瑞斯提亚） of Aeschylus Immersed in the tragedies of Shakespeare – King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth Epic poetry, Homer Moby Dick (1) This book is dedicated to Hawthorne, for Hawthorne encourged Melville to change this novel from a story full of details about whaling, into an allegorical novel. Moby Dick (2) Epic in scope. It consists of 135 chapters. - the long and arduous journey - the great battle Defined as an epic, which contains a tragic drama, a tragedy of pride, and pursuit and revenge, which is also a tragedy of thought 与白鲸有关的背景 对爱斯基摩人来说，白鲸也是非常重要的，不仅因为其肉好吃，而且它们的油用来点灯不仅明亮，还能释放出大量热量，使简陋的冰屋保持温暖。除此之外，白鲸的皮也很有用，还有一种香味，可以制成各种装饰品。 然而，不幸的是，自从17世纪以来，由于捕鲸的高额利润，捕鲸者对白鲸进行了疯狂的捕杀，致使白鲸数量锐减。更加可悲的是白鲸的生态环境遭到毁灭性的破坏，一批批白鲸相继死亡 Discussion Questions What do you think of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” ? Will you be revengeful when you are hurt by the evil p