3WashingtonIrving.pptx

American LiteraturePart ThreeThe Literature of RomanticismIEarly romanticism(1780-1860)3.1.Historical BackgroundoEnglish Romanticism:Publication of Lyrical Ballads in1798-Death of Walter Scott in 1832o Characteristics:Imagination Idealization of Nature Individualism Glorification of the commonplace The lure of the exotic(gothic romanticism)American RomanticismoThe Romantic period stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War.(1800-1860)oA nation bursting into new life cried for literary expression.rapid economic,political and cultural development,swift expansion,great immigration,burgeoning industrialization oEuropean influences of Romanticism counter-Enlightenment:emphasis on intuition,imagination,and feeling.Nature:a place free from societys judgement and restrictions.ostrive made by Americans-cultural independenceFeatures of American RomanticismoPuritan influence:tending to moralize,to edify rather than to entertainoA feeling of newness:unique subject of The New WorldoThe diversity of American romanticism:conventional yet popular poetry of The Fireside Poets (Longfellow 朗费罗，朗费罗，with the themes of“home,family and children,nature and idealized love”)comic fables of Washington Irving;gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe,the frontier adventures of James Fenimore Cooper;the psychological romances of Nathanial Hawthorne3.2 Washington Irving 欧文欧文(1783-1859)oFather of American literatureofirst professional American writerofirst American Romantic writero first American short story writerofirst native American author to win worldwide fame.Life oBorn into a wealthy New York merchant family o Read widely from very early age-studied law o Cared for his family business in Englando Went bankrupt wrote to support himself Literary WorksoA History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty 纽约外史纽约外史(1809)oThe Sketch Book/The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,Gent.见闻札记见闻札记(18191820)“Rip Wan Winkle”瑞普瑞普.凡凡.温克尔温克尔 “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”睡谷的传说睡谷的传说oThe History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus 哥仑布传哥仑布传(1828)oThe Life of George Washington 华盛顿传华盛顿传(18551859)oIrvings career can be roughly divided into two important phases,the English period which span from his first book up to 1832&the American period stretching over the remaining years of his life.“Rip Van Winkle”“Rip Van Winkle”o Setting:Hudson River Valley(New England)in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War.oRip Van Winkle:a simple,good-natured,and hen-pecked man.He does everything except take care of his own farm and family.He helps everyone except his wife and his own folks.So he is welcome everywhere except at home.o“He is one of those happy mortals,who take the world easy,eat white bread or brown,whichever can be got with least thought or trouble,and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound.”Plot Summary of“Rip Van Winkle”oRip Van Winkle,a villager of Dutch descent,lives in a nice village at the foot of New Yorks Catskill Mountains.An amiable man whose home and farm suffer from his lazy neglect,he is loved by all but his wife.oOne autumn day he escapes his nagging wife by wandering up the mountains.After encountering strangely dressed men who are playing nine-pin,and after drinking some of their liquor,he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep.oHe wakes up twenty years later and returns to his village.He finds out that his wife is dead and his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else.He immediately gets into trouble when he hails himself a loyal subject of King George III,not knowing that in the meantime the American Revolution has taken place.oAn old local recognizes him,however,and Rips now grown daughter eventually puts him up.As Rip resumes his habit of idleness in the village,and his tale is solemnly believed by the old Dutch settlers,certain hen-pecked husbands especially wish they shared Rips luck.What is the truth of this story?o Rips“the other American dream”-Rips confused state of mind upon waking from his 20-year slumber.How could everything have changed overnight?oa metaphor:The confusion is a true reflection of the psychological difficulty Americans at the time felt in understanding their recent national history.o an illustration of Irvings argument that change-and revolution-upset the natural order of things,and of the fact that Irving never seemed to accept a modern democratic AmericaWriting CharacteristicsoConservative oStyle:Beautiful though imitative Rich atmosphere,vivid&true character,finished,musical and humorous language vs.slim ploto aim of writing:to entertain,but not to moralize(he wrote for pleasure and to produce pleasure)The Legend of Sleepy Hollowo“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”narrates the memorable event of an apparently headless horseman throwing his head at his rival in love,and the memorable character of Ichabod.oThe story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town，New York，in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow.It tells the story of Ichabod Crane,a lean,lanky,and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut who competes with Abraham Brom Bones Van Brunt,the town rowdy,for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel,the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer.Plot Summary of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”oAs Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night,he is pursued by the Headless Horseman，who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during some nameless battle of the American Revolution War,and who rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head.Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town,leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones,who was to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related.A city slicker vs.a country bumpkino Constructed from German tales but set in America,it is a classic tale of the conflict between city and country,and between brains and brawn.oIchabod:A native of Connecticut,a precocious,effete New Englander,shrewd,commercial,a city slicker,who is rather an interloper,a somewhat destructive force,in village life,and who comes along to swindle the villagerso Brom Bones:a country bumpkin,rough,vigorous,boisterous but inwardly very good.3.3 James Cooper(1789-1859)oThe first American Frontier noveloThe first American Sea noveloThe first American Spy NoveloThe first American Historical NoveloHis Leatherstocking Tales as the American National Epic LifeoLocally famous family Yale University at 14 five years at sea comfortable life began to write accidentally failed in his first novel Precaution his second novel The Spy(Harvey Birch)firmly established with his The Leatherstocking Tales,a series of five novels about the frontier life Literary WorksoThe Pilot 领航者领航者(1832)othe Leather-Stocking Tales 皮袜子故事集皮袜子故事集 the main hero Natty Bumppo,known by European settlers as Leatherstocking,The Pathfinder,and the trapper and by the Native Americans as Deerslayer,La Longue Carabine and Hawkeye.1.The Deerslayer 打鹿将打鹿将(1841)-youth 2.The Last of the Mohicans-middle-aged maturity 最后一个莫希干人最后一个莫希干人(1826)3.The Pathfinder 探路者探路者(1840)-in the late 30s 4.The Pioneers 拓荒者拓荒者(1823)-old 5.The Prairie 大草原大草原(1827)-dyingNatty Pumppoofirst appears to be a real frontiersman,a man of flesh and blood in the virgin forests of North America.oGradually gathering more and more of a halo of a legendary and mythic nature around him,becoming a representation of a nation struggling to be born,progressing from old age to rebirth and youth.o Bumppos growth and progress embodies none other than the American quest for an ideal community;through this character Cooper tried to create a national myth of his own.Writing FeaturesoA.intriguing plot constructionoB.majestic landscape description,suggestive of sir Walter Scott,the legendary spirit of whose border tales might have been a source of inspiration for him.oC.A rich imagination:He had never been to the frontier and among the Indians and yet could write five huge epic books about them with his rich imagination.oD.Clumsy style:his style is dreadful;his characterization seems wooden and lacking in probability.Coopers Defects oMark Twain in the essay entitled“Fenimore Coopers Literary Offences”:a.improbabilities,b.Dialogue is often awkward,c.Characters lack depth.d.little sensuous immediacy;e.scene and characters are imagined rather than visualized.Coopers contributionointroducing the West and the frontier as a usable past into American literature,creating the first legendary frontier hero Natty Bumppo as the typical Pioneering figure.o contributing to American literature different subgenres of novels:spy novel,sea novel,frontier novel,and historical romance.