美國文学选读复习资料.docVIP

浪漫主义 American Romanticism The Romantic Period stretches from?the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It is a period of the great flowering of American literature. The social and cultural background of Romanticism The young Republic was?flourishing?into a politically, economically and culturally independent country. The Romantic writings revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands. The?desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values. 爱默生 Emerson =?The chief spokesman of New England?Transcendentalism?超验主义 He was a descendent of a long line of New England?clergymen牧师【pastor】. American Transcendentalism ????? As a philosophical and literary movement, American Transcendentalism (also known as “?American Renaissance”) flourshed in New England?from the 1830s to the Civil War. It is the high tide of American romanticism and its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in?Emerson and Thoreau.?Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society. Transcendentalism?超验主义(+ H. D. Thoreau; Nathaniel Hawthorne; ) The major features of Transcendentalism: ① The Transcendentalists placed?emphasis on spirit,?or the?Oversoul,?as the most important thing in the?universe. 思想 超灵 宇宙 The Transcendentalists stressed the?importance of the individual.?To them, the?individual is the most important element of Society. 个体+社会 The Transcendentalists offered a fresh?perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was not purely matter. It was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. 自然+上帝 ? Emerson’s代表作：Nature；Self-Reliance；The American Scholar；The Over-soul； H. D. Thoreau?梭罗and his work Walden?瓦尔登湖not only fully demonstrates Emersonian ideas of self-reliance but also develops and