考研用英美文学选读精华.doc

美国文学史及作品选读 刘红岭Lecture 1 American Literature of Early Period Part One The Literature of Colonial America Ⅰ.Historical Introduction At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the vast continental area that was to become the United States had been explored only slightly by English and the European explorers. Colonial America 1480 Columbus Reaches the America 1500 “America” first used 1520 Magelian Circles The Globe 1540 Cabrillo Explores California Coast 1560 Spain Founds Colony in Florida 1580 English Navy Defeats Armada The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them Puritans. American Puritanism. A dominant factor in American life, American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature. The word Puritanism is originally used to refer the theology advocated by a party within the Church of England. The term Puritanism is also used in a broader sense to refer to attitudes and values considered characteristic of the Puritans. It has been employed to denote a rigid moralism, or the condemnation of innocent pleasure, or religious narrowness adhered by the early New England Puritans. The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values. And this Puritan influence over American Romanticism was noticeable. In addition sin and the mystery of evil marked the works by such famous writers as Hawthorn ands Melville. The first writings that we call American literature were narratives : A narrative is a story, whether told in prose or verse, involving events, characters, and what the characters say and do. journals : A usually daily record of events; diary.) Ⅱ. The First American Writer The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1617. Captain John Smith, an English soldier of fortune. His reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been described a