lecture 9 商务班.pptVIP

British and American Literature Foreign Language School Mojiao 2010-2011 Lecture 9 Benjamin Franklin Teaching procedures: Colonial America American Puritanism Life of Benjamin Franklin Selected Reading of The Autobiography Lecture 9 Benjamin Franklin Definition of American Literature: --mainly refers to literature produced in American English by the people living in the US (American citizens) Requirements: --Major authors and their masterworks; --Major literary trends; --Current of thoughts E:\理工大学课件\任教课程\英美文学\商务班\美国文学简史.doc Great events in early American history: 1492? 1607? 1620? 1776? 1778? 1789? 1791? A survey of early American history --1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent. --1607, The first colony was established in Jamestown, Virginia. --1620, Mayflower dropped anchor at Plymouth harbor. --1776, The Declaration of Independence was signed, together with three other documents, the treaty of alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris and the Constitution, which legally marked the United States as an independent nation. --1776-1781, Revolutionary War --1789, George Washington was elected the first president. --1791, Washington D.C was established as the nation’s capital. Questions 1. So, who were those early settlers in America? 2. What was their literature like? The early settlers and their literature The early settlers on the American continent were --people hungry for the good and extensive land in America --people who wanted to get away from the religious persecution back home; --people who held a wrong political opinion; --”undesirables” (paupers, convicts, criminals) --merchants The first American literature The first American literature was neither American nor really literature. It was not American because it was the work mainly of immigrants from England. It was not literature as we know it — in the form of poetry, essays, or fiction — but rather an interesting mixture of travel ac