美国文学第二讲：文学基本知识.pptVIP

The greatest English realist was Charles Dickens (狄更斯). With striking force and truthfulness, he creates pictures of bourgeois civilization, showing the misery and sufferings of the common people with profound sympathy. Another critical realist was William Makepeace Thackeray (萨克雷). His novels are mainly a satirical portrayal of the upper strata of society. Others are Bronte sisters (勃朗特姐妹), Elizabeth Gaskell (盖斯凯尔夫人), George Eliot (乔治·艾略特) , and Thomas Hardy (哈代). 11. Aestheticism (唯美派) It was a 19th century European art movement that emphasized aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design. “Art for art’s sake” expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only “true” art, is divorced from any moral or utilitarian function. The representative of this school include Oscar Wilde (奥斯卡·王尔德) and Edgar Allan Poe (美国作家 爱伦·坡). Wilde was involved in the aestheticism movement, which attempted to establish art as just pieces of beauty and nothing more. In The Picture of Dorian Gray 《道连· 格雷画像》, Wilde expressed his views on art in very different ways. 12. Theatre of the absurd (荒诞戏剧) It took the basis of existential philosophy and combined it with dramatic elements to create a style of theatre which presented a world which can not be logically explained. Life is in one word, ABSURD! It started in the 1920’s and 30’s. It highlighted the meaning of life and came about as a result of the Second World War. It was very anti-theatre, coming across as sur-real, senseless and plotless. Playwrights such as Edward Albee (Am.), Samuel Beckett (爱尔兰作家 贝克特), and Harold Pinter (品特) created Absurdist plays without traditional plots and with characters who engaged in circular, purposeless conversations. Becketts Waiting for Godot (《等待戈多》1953), is a classic of the genre. 13. Modernism It refers to the radical shift in aesthetic and cultural sensibilities evident in the art and li