美国文学Unit_6_American_Realism-William_Dean_Howells,_Henry_James_and_Mark_Twain教材教学课件.ppt

美国文学史及作品选读;Historical Background Two phases: the phase of an expanding continental nation from 1865 till 1890s; and the so-called “progressive period” from 1890s till 1914.;The Civil War: destroyed the innocence prevalent earlier in the 19th century; (Chang, 158: led many to question the assumptions shared by the Transcendentalists --- natural goodness, the optimistic view of nature and man, benevolent God.) ;The US changed from a nation of distinct regions into a nation dominated by Northern industrialization, business and finance. Industrialism, mechanization, movement away from farm, metropolitan, lust for wealth and power “The Gilded Age” the age of wealth and poverty, of progress and decline, and the age of gaudy excesses. ;The closing frontier: the development of railroads: mobile, Western settlement, settlement in the Great Plains and mountainous regions, awareness of regional characteristics; disillusionment and frustration, suffering and unhappiness ;From the 1890s on, there was a great deal of enthusiasm for various social and economic reforms, hence the term “the progressive era.” Most of the writers who wrote with seriousness and conviction were social critics.;By the 1870s New England Renaissance had waned. (Hawthorne and Thoreau dead; Emerson, Longfellow and other New England celebrities old and feeble; Melville ceased to publish. Dickinson not brought to light yet. Only Whitman remained active.) The Age of Romanticism and Transcendentalism was by and large over. ;for several decades, the “dean” of his country’s literature. In a way the father of American Realism; born in a small town in Ohio; mostly schooled himself from his father’s book-shelves; the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic Monthly , used the journal to spread realism; The writer should reveal the good in life as more real than the evil (emphasizes morality; “this smiling continent,” “smiling aspects); realism is a form of democracy and is peculiarly suitable as an American method. ;A Mod