美国文学简史笔记（常耀信）.doc

A Concise History of American Literature
What is literature?
Literature is language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey
meaningful messages.
Chapter 1 Colonial Period
I. Background: Puritanism
1. features of Puritanism
(1) Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.
(2) Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be
passed down from generation to generation. (3) Total depravity
(4) Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved.
2. Influence
(1) A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature.
(2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden.
(3) Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly
American.
(4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct
influence of the Bible.
II. Overview of the literature
1. types of writing
diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons
2. writers of colonial period
(1) Anne Bradstreet
(2) Edward Taylor (3) Roger Williams (4) John Woolman (5) Thomas Paine (6) Philip Freneau
III. Jonathan Edwards
1. life
2. works
(1) The Freedom of the Will
(2) The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended
(3) The Nature of True Virtue
3. ideas – pioneer of transcendentalism
(1) The spirit of revivalism
(2) Regeneration of man
(3) God’s presence
(4) Puritan idealism
IV. Benjamin Franklin
1. life
2. works
(1) Poor Richard’s Almanac
(2) Autobiography
3. contribution
(1) He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical
Society.
(2) He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case)
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