《美国文学史总结.docVIP

Ⅰ Colonial America(17th century) 殖民主义时期文学 In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America and he mistook the native people on the new continent for Indians. Character of colonial literature: content: religious, political form: diary, journal, letters, travel books, sermons, history (personal literature) Style: simple. direct, concise out of humble origins Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history. The earliest settlers in America included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿) Captain Town Smith, the first American writer Puritan Thoughts: hard work, thrift(节俭), piety(虔诚), sobriety(节制), 这些也成了早期美国作品主导思想. 典型的清教徒： John Cotton Roger William, John Cotton was called “the Patriarch of New England(新英格兰教父)” 清教徒采用的文学体裁：narratives(日记) and journals(游记) 清教徒在美国的写作内容： Their voyage to the new land Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops About dealing with Indians Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit Private literature: theological, moral, historical, political The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry. Anne Bradstreet is one of the most interesting of the early poets, 英国最早移民到美国的诗人. The best of the Puritan poets was Edward Taylor. Ⅱ Reason and Revolution(18th century) 理性和革命时期文学 The War for Independence (1776-1783) ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic - the United States of America. Bourgeois Enlightenment Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac(穷人理查德的年鉴), an annual collection of proverbs. The Autobiography, 18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传 The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The Puritans, as a type, were very much given