History of British and American Literature2.pptVIP

Part IV The Literature of Realism ____The Gilded Age in American History Review Question I: What are Puritan thoughts? Question 2: What is Transcendentalism? Question 3: Read and recite 2 pomes; Question 4: Presentations for Romantic writers;  II. The Literature of Realism 2.1. Historical Background 2.2. Definition of Realism 2.3. Comparison with Naturalism 2.4. American Realistic Writers 2.1 Historical Background 2.1.1 The over-triumph of mechanization 2.1.2 The waning of over-optimistic Transcendentalism by the 1870s 2.1.3 Influence from European realistic writers 2.1.1 The over-triumph of  mechanization -----Northern industrialism triumphed over Southern agrarianism; -----discredit man’s value; ----widen the gap between the rich the poor; ----give rise to a show-off (The Gilded Age);P2,1st paragraph; ----accelerate the mobility ; ----big-city bossism, New York replaced Boston; ----increase federal government’s power; Historical Background -----Balzac -----Zola -----Flaubert -----Tolstoy ------Honore de Balzac  (1799-1850) ...Well, Balzac was politically a legitimist; his great work is a constant elegy on the irreparable decay of good society; his sympathies are with the class that is doomed to extinction .... (Friedrich Engels in 1888) --------Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) best-known for MADAME BOVARY (1857), a story of adultery and unhappy love affair of the provincial wife Emma Bovary. As a writer Flaubert was a perfectionist, who did not make a distinction between a beautiful or ugly subject: all was in the style. -------Emile Zola (1840-1902) I am little concerned wit