美国文学简史常耀信版讲义3课件.pptVIP

The Age of Realism Background: From Romanticism to Realism 1. the three conflicts that reached breaking point in this period (1) industrialism vs. agrarian [?ɡrε?ri?n] (2) culturely-measured east vs. newly-developed west (3) plantation gentility vs. commercial gentility 2. 1880’s urbanization: from free competition to monopoly capitalism 3. the closing of American frontier Characteristics 1. truthful description of life 2. typical character under typical circumstance 3. objective rather than idealized, close observation and investigation of life ---“Realistic writers are like scientists.” 4. open-ending: ---Life is complex and cannot be fully understood. It leaves much room for readers to think by themselves. 5. concerned with social and psychological problems, revealing the frustrations of characters in an environment of sordidness and depravity Three giants in American Realism: William Dean Howells Henry James Mark Twain William Dean Howells William Dean Howells—the Dean of American Realism. He himself belonged to the middle class and so he almost depicted the pictures of life of middle class in contemporary America . Prolific writer with works including plays, novels, poems, and critical essays. Howell’s view points:  1. Realism is “fidelity to experience and probability of motive”. 2. The aim is “talk of some ordinary traits of American life”. 3. Characters should have solidity of specification and be real. 4. Realism is by no means mere photographic pictures of externals but includes a central concern with “motives” and psychological conflicts. Interpreting sympathetically the “common feelings of commonplace people” was best suited as a technique to express the spirit of America. 5. He condemns novels of sentimentality and morbid self-sacrifice, and avoids such themes as illicit love. 6.. Truth is the highest beauty, but it includes the view that morality penetrates all things. 7. With regard to literary critic