英美我文学第一周课件.pptVIP

The Histories of English and American Literature Teacher: Jin Yanshuang Textbooks: A New Concise History Of English Literature ----by Zhang Dingquan and Wu Gang An Outline of American Literature ----by Wu Dingbo (The Publishing House of Shanghai English Education) Discussions: 1. What is Literature? 2. Why do people read literature? A Brief Introduction of Literature: The Developing Notion of “Literature” Whence comes literature? The Definition of Literature The Characteristics of Literature The Genres of Literature The Developing Notion of “Literature” Polite learning through reading (the 14th century) The practice and profession of writing (from the mid-18th century to the 19th century) The high skills of writing in the special context of high imagination (From the 19th century till now) Whence comes literature? human desire to express and share experiences human interest in telling a story, in arranging words in artistic forms, in describing in words some aspects of our human experiences The Definition of Literature Literature refers to language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages. The Characteristics of Literature Beauty of expression and form Universality of intellectual and emotional appeal Genres of Literature Fiction: myths, parables, romances, novels, novelette, short stories, etc. Poetry: lyric and narrative. Drama: comedies, tragedies and tragicomedies. Non-fictional prose: news reports, essays, editorials, historical or biographical works, letters to the editor found in newspaper, diaries, journal, travel literature, etc. On Some Literary Terms: Fiction: a type of literature describing imaginary events and people. Novel: a book-length fictional prose narrative, having many characters and often a complex plot. Short Story: A brief prose fiction which generally contains the six major