聊城大学外国语学院美国文学史与选读课件 Lecture2.ppt

INDIAN SONGS Words of songs accompanied by music Originating from supernatural being or gods (designed for tribal heroes) Social belief and ancient instruction Religious element: ghost dance Tribal customs; tribal life; tribal symbols Straightforwardness and honesty in expression of love and hate, happiness and sorrow, pride and pity Refrain and progress INDIAN LEGEND Major form of Indian literature Stories about man, especially about heroes, sometimes about trickster Knowledge of inner- outer-world Passage of tribal history and culture Strict observance of narrating time, esp. those about supernatural being or deity (winter or night) Legend as private property Legend as truth Dramatic plot and spontaneity Structural compactness Episodic and lack of logic between sections Repetition and refrain Denial of major and minor plots Single dimensional characters lacking in psychological and emotional description INDIAN MYTH Stories about deity or supernatural being deeds of deity Relationship between deity and man Origin of the space, the world an tribe Man’s view about the space and the world: awe towards deity, supernatural being and the unknown INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH Extinction of Indian oral literature in colonial America Indian’s acceptance of English in the 18th century and beginning to create in English Civil rights movement in 1960s and appearance of Indian literature Strong tribal sense and Indian literature since 1980s INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH Impersonalized deity and His relationship with nature Indian’s love of land Worship of holy circle and other tradition Colonial extinction and marginalization of Indian culture and tradition Return to Indian culture and tradition Mixture of both Indian and White elements REPRESENTATIVES IN INDIAN LITERATURE Early Writers (cultural assimilation) Charles Alexander Eastman Indian Boyhood The Indian Today: The Past and the Future of the First American The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation by Dr. C. A.