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American Literature
American Romanticism (1810s-1860s)
I. Background
i. Territorial Expansion/Westward Expansion and rise of the West ii. Industrialization and urbanization
Industrialism was felt and quickly devoured the whole country, especially with the fast-developing railway network. iii. Development of democracy
Voting restrictions were ceased. All white men were literally equal, and most were capable of political leadership. iv. Social reforms
Utopian communal societies flourished;
The Society for the Prevention of Pauperism and the American Anti-Slavery Society were established respectively in 1817 and 1883;
Cruel punishment for criminals and imprisonment for debt were abolished; The feminist movement blazed forth with a host of notable women battling for their rights and for social reform. v. Development of education and culture
By 1850s State legislatures had started to enact compulsory school attendance laws.
More Americans started to read books, magazines and newspapers. vi. Literature
(i). Foreign influences accelerated the growth of Romanticism (ii). Distinct features of its own
? Indigenous American literature and newness
They held the ideals of individualism and political equality; their dream was that America was to be a new Garden of Eden. ? American Puritanism as a literary tradition
? Themes: home, family, children, nature, idealized love. ? Techniques: traditional meters and stanza forms. ? The language: British English.
The Romantic Period covers the first half of the 19th century. A rising America with its ideals of democracy and equality, its industrialization, its western expansion, and a variety of foreign influences such as Sir Walter Scott were among the important factors which made literary expansion and expression not only possible but also inevitable in the period immediately following the nation’s political independence. Yet,
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romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man’s societies a source of corruption. Romantic values were prominent in American politics, art, and philosophy until the Civil War. The romantic exaltation of the individual suited the nation’s revolutionary heritage and its frontier egalitarianism.
ii. Representatives
Washington Irving (1783-1859华盛顿·欧文)
One of the first American writers to earn an international reputation, an early Romantic writer, and father of the American short stories, “the American Goldsmith”.
His first novel A History of New York (《纽约外史》) won him wide popularity The Sketch Book (《见闻札记》) won him international fame, which contains German folk tales “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.
James Fennimore Cooper (1789-1851詹姆士·库伯) “American Scott”
He writes the west, the wilderness and the Indians there: Leather-stocking Tales (《皮袜子的故事》The Pioneer (1832), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), The Pathfinder (1840), The Deerslayer (1841)). He takes several first: the 1st frontier novelist, the 1st historical romance writer, the 1st writer of sea adventures.
Edgar Allen Poe(1809-49埃德加·艾伦·坡)
He is a poet of the first rank; a great writer of fiction; a critic of acumen & insight.
During a short life of poverty, anxiety, and tragedy, Poe established a new symbolic poetry, formulated the new short story in the detective and science fiction line, developed an important artistic theory, and laid foundation for analytical criticism.
Tales of ratiocination (推理小说): Ms. Found in a Bottle (《瓶中信》), The Murders in the Rue Morgue (《莫格街谋杀案》), The Purloined Letter (《被窃的信》)
Gothic stories (哥特小说): The Fall of the House of Usher (《厄舍古屋的倒塌》), Ligeia (《丽姬娅》), The Masque of the Red Death (《红色死亡假面舞会》)
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Critical essays (文学评论): The Philosophy of Composition (《创作原理》) , The Poetic Principle (《诗的原则》), Review of Hawthorne’s Twice-told Tales (《评霍桑〈重
述的故事〉》1842)
New England Transcendentalism（超验主义）“American Renaissance” Transcendentalism is a philosophic and literary movement that flourished in New England, as a reaction against rationalism and Calvinism. It stressed intuitive understanding of god without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind. It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature. It helped to create the first American Renaissance—one of the most prolific periods in American literature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson-(1803-1882拉尔夫·爱默生) the spokesman of this movement
Nature (《论自然》) is regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism, “the manifesto of American Transcendentalism”, Emerson’s first little book, which discusses the love of nature, the uses of nature.
He placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the Universe. He stressed the importance of the individual.
He offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to him, alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence.
The American Scholar (《论美国学者》) has been highly regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862亨利·大卫·梭罗)
Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw nature as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being. Thoreau built and went to live in a small cottage on Walden Pond for a little over 2 years, and then came back to write about his experience there in his famous book Walden (《瓦尔登湖》).
He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently outspoken on the point.
He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system. He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.
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