彭-Colonial America-1.pptVIP

Lecture 1 The Literature of the Colonial America and of Reason and Revolution Teaching Objectives and Requirements 1 Make the students know clear about American Puritanism and its influence on American Literature. 2 Help the students to know about the main literary form, content and theme in Colonial America and the representative writers of this period. 3 Help the students know about the American history of Independence War and the representatives in the period of Reason and Revolution, especially their influence on American Literature. 4 Make the students have a good understanding of Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin. 5 Make sure the students understand clearly about Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography and its influence on the latter Americans. 1. Literature of the Colonial America (1607-1765) 1.1 Historical Background 1.2 Puritan Thought 1.3 Colonial Literature In 1492, Christopher Columbus found the new continent called America. There were many immigrants: Spanish (they built the first town on the new continent); Dutch (they built New York city at the beginning stage); French (today still lots of people’s mother tongue is French in North America); English (they first settled in Jamestown and Virginia in 1607) In1620, the famous “May Flower” shipped 102 Puritans to Plymouth. (Q: transportation is not convenient, why some many immigrants left their hometown and came to such a remote place as America?) (A: Economic reasons: to seek fortune; Religious reasons: reformation and religious conflicts in Europe, persecution of Protestants, to seek a paradise of their own) Map of Colonies Puritans=Calvinists Puritans believed most doctrines preached by?John Calvin, a theologian, so they were also called Calvinists. Puritans wanted to “purify the church” to its original state, because they thought the church was corrupted and had too many rituals. To be a Puritan: taking religion as the most important thing; living for glorifying God; believing predestination