1、Modern American LiteraturePost-modernisml-since1945Modernism A general term applied retrospectively to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century,including Symbolism,Futurism,Expressionism,Imagism,Vorticism,Dadaism,and Surrealism,along with the inno
2、vations of the unaffiliated writers.(Re.“The Libido for the Ugly”)vorticism:旋涡主义 lModernist literature is characterized chiefly by a rejection of 19th century traditions and of their consensus between author and reader:the conventions of realism,for instance,were abandoned by Franz Kafka and other n
3、ovelists,and by expressionist drama,while several poets rejected traditional meters in favor of free verse.l*consensus:generalagreement:unanimitylModernist writers tended to see themselves as an avant-garde disengaged from bourgeois values,and disturbed their readers by adopting complex and difficul
4、t new forms and styles.l*disengage:to release from something that engages or involves.lIn fiction,the accepted continuity of chronological development was upset by Joseph Conrad,Marcel Prouest,and William Faulkner,while James Joyce and Virginia Woolf attempted new ways of tracing the flow of charact
5、ers thoughts in their stream-of-consciousness styles.lIn poetry,Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot replaced the logical exposition of thoughts with collages of fragmentary images and complex allusions.l*collage:an artistic composition made of various materials(as paper,cloth,or wood)glued on a surface(拼贴)lMod
6、ernist writing is predominantly cosmopolitan,and often expresses a sense of urban cultural dislocation,along with an awareness of new anthropological and psychological theories.Its favored techniques of juxtaposition and multiple points of view challenge the reader to reestablish a coherence of mean
7、ing from fragmentary forms.*juxtaposition:the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side.Artistic Features of ModernismlModernist works are more concerned about alienation from society,loss of self-identity,loneliness of man,inability to feel or express love,meaninglessness of lif
8、e,absurdity of the world,dehumanization of the modern society,subjectivity and spontaneity.Stream-of-consciousnesslThe technique of stream-of-consciousness was not invented by modernist writers,but it had been fully developed and become matured in the hands of James Joyce,Virginia Woolf,and William
9、Faulkner.lModernists like them are preoccupied with human consciousness and therefore prefer an“inward turn”,that is,to look into the psyche of men instead of the outside world.lWith stream-ofconsciousness they can explore the human psyche more thoroughly and see more clearly how men are thrown into
10、 existence.fragmentationlNot only is the world fragmented,falling apart,but also life.To depict a fragmented life modernists use fragmentation in their writings.The framework in its traditional sense is gone,usual connective patterns are missing,and coming in their place are unrelated pieces or diss
11、ociated fragments.Consequently,a sense of discontinuity or chaos is projected.On the part of the reader,he or she has to create meaning out of the chaos.non-linear,discontinuous narrativeslTraditional or realist fiction usually follows the order of time and cause-and-effect in telling a story,but in
12、 modernist fiction we see less of this.l Most modernists adopt a psychological view of time in which time is treated as“duration”.lThey came to see that time is not an object,something that can be described,reported and referred to in a constative utterance.lOne part of this“something other than its
13、elf”is stream-of-consciousness.lConstant flashbacks into the past are a second,land story beginning where it ends is a third.l*constative:being or relating to an utterance(as an assertion,question,or command)that is capable of being judged true or false allusive languagel lModernist writers seem to
14、talk a Dadaist language.It is full of allusions to myths,the Bible,foreign languages,often in form of collages that are random-seeming,making a poem read like a riddle,a story work like a labyrinth.It is highly allusive,which one signifier gliding to several signifiers.Reading this kind of language,
15、the reader is forced to search for meaning on his own.l*labyrinth:aplaceconstructedoforfullofintricatepassagewaysandblindalleys(迷宫）Unusual typographyA poem reads like a riddle not only because ofits allusive language but also because of its unusualform.You come across not only words like“Manunkind”b
16、ut also departures from conventional typographythe elimination of capitals at the beginning of the verseline,the omission of punctuation,very short lines ofpoetry,new rules for indentation,irregular spacing,andthe use of devices seldom found in the poetry of thepast,such as mathematical signs,the sl
17、ash,abbreviations and so on.*typography:the style,arrangement,or appearance of typeset matter World War I a turning pointlA new way of life,new point of view,new valuesl For many people in the United States,the first half of the twentieth century was a period of tremendous change in almost every fac
18、et of life.lBreakthroughs in science-including Albert Einsteins theory of relativity,as well as the increasing influence of Charles Darwins theories of evolution-challenged conventional views of both the world we live in and our place within it.lFor writers in the South,such questions often involved
19、 a desire to protect tradition and myth from being destroyed by the influx of new ways of thinking and living.lIn the social sciences,the increasingly popular ideas of Sigmund Freud became conceptual tools used by many to question the sexual and social restraints of a tradition-bound culture they sa
20、w as highly repressed.Meanwhile,technological advances began to create the vast array of consumer goods we take for granted today,including movies,automobiles,airplanes,radios,and myriad other items-all produced on a massive scale previously unknown in human history.lThe industry needed to produce a
21、ll these goods helped accelerate yet another great shift in American life as people migrated in ever greater numbers from their traditional,rural homes-where agriculture was the main focus of life-to the ever-expanding urban,industrial centers,such as Charlotte,North Carolina,and Atlanta,Georgia.lHo
22、wever,much of this migration was from the South to the booming cities of the North-notably Chicago and New York-a trend that began around the time of the Civil War and continued into the mid-twentieth century.lThe period marked the first time in American history that fewer people lived in rural than
23、 urban areas,and as the focus of American life moved to the cities,the consumption of mass-produced goods became every bit as important as their production.lHistorians sometimes refer to the massive social and cultural transformations of the early twentieth century as distinctively modern.For many-a
24、nd especially for many writers during the period-such great change and social upheaval raised the question:What kind of life is the best to live?Is the modern world headed in the right direction,or are we going the wrong way?lWorld War I-“the war to end wars”led to bitter disillusionment,shocked Ame
25、rican intellectuals out of their naivete and optimism.lThe Lost Generation:This term has been used time and again to refer to the people of the postwar years.llWhen World War I broke out,many young men volunteered to take part in“the war to end wars”only to find that modern warfare was not as glorio
26、us and heroic as they thought it to be.Disillusioned and disgusted by the frivolous,greedy,and heedless way of life in America,they began to write from their own experience in the war.lAmong these writers were the most prominent figures in American modern literature.They were basically expatriates i
27、n Paris,involved with other European writers in their experimentation on new modes of thought and expression.Ernest Hemingway was the spokesman of the Lost Generation,besides,there were also Ezra Pound,e.e.cummings,Dos Passos,and F.Scott Fitzgerald.lIt was given by Gertrude Stein,a woman writer,in P
28、aris.She told Hemingway,“you are all a lost generation.”Shocked,Hemingway used it as the Preface of The Sun Also Rises.l Rebelled against former ideals and values,but replaced only by despair or a cynical hedonism.lThe Jazz Age l It refers to the 1920s in America characterized by frivolity and carel
29、essness.It was brought vividly to life in The Great Gatsby.To many,World War I was a tragic failure of old values,of old politics,of old ideas.The social mood was one of confusion and despair.lYet,on the surface the mood in America did not seem desperate.lIt entered a decade of prosperity and exhibi
30、tionism.Fashions were extravagant;more and more automobiles crowded the roads;advertising flourished;l*exhibitionism:the act or practice of behaving so as to attract attention to oneself lThis was the Jazz Age,when New Orleans musicians moved“up the river”to Chicago,and the theatre of New Yorks Harl
31、em pulsed with the music that had become a symbol of the times.lThese were the roaring twenties.lIt served to mask a quiet pain,the sense of loss.lF.Scott.Fitzgerald:Tales of the Jazz Age,The Lost Generation was also pioneers of the Jazz Age.lFlappers and Philosophers(1920)lThe Beautiful and the Dam
32、ned(1922)The October,1927 release of The Jazz Singer,was the first movie to feature sound,and it signaled an end to the silent film era.lDuring the 1920s,vacuum cleaners,refrigerators,and washing machines promised consumers more time for leisure activities.lAdvertising came of age during this era to
33、 sell the goods that bustling factories were producing.lWhen a rural woman was asked why she owned a car but had no indoor bathroom,she answered,Well,you cant get to town in a bathtub.l“Costing only$15.00,what mother could resist the happiness this appliance could bring her and her family?”-ad for e
34、lectric oven.l1920s-A time of carefree prosperity,isolation from the worlds problems,bewildering social changes and a feverish pursuit for pleasure.lThe Dollar DecadelIn the 1920s,a new woman was born.She smoked,drank,danced,and voted.She cut her hair,wore make-up,and went to petting parties.She was
35、 giddy and took risks.She was a flapper.l*petting:part of socio-sexual behaviour l*giddy:lightheartedly silly:frivolousl*flapper:a young woman who showed freedom from conventions(as in conduct)l1930s-from the Crash,through the Great Depression,until the outbreak of the Second World War-a period of p
36、overty,bleakness,important social movements and a new social consciousnesslThe 20 years between the two world wars were a time of great literary creativity.l Seven writers won the Nobel Prize for literature:l1.Sinclair Lewis,(1885-1951)Received the 1930 Nobel Prize for Literature for his vigorous an
37、d graphic art of description and his ability to create,with wit and humor,new types of characters.lBabbitt has found its way into the English dictionary as a synonym for the vulgar and philistine businessman.lphilistine:a person who is guided by materialism and is usu.l disdainful of intellectual or
38、 artistic values l2.Eugene(Gladstone)ONeill(1888-1953)won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936,and Pulitzer Prizes for four of his plays:Beyond the Horizon(1920);Anna Christie(1922);Strange Interlude(1928);and Long Days Journey Into Night(1957).He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for the power,ho
39、nesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works,which embody an original concept of tragedy.l3.PEARL BUCK l l1938 Nobel Laureate in Literature for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces.The Good Earth A House Dividedl4.Thomas Stearns El
40、iot(1888-1965)British/American writer.Received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature for his outstanding,pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.lWaste Land Painters:F.Scott Fitzgerald,Ernest Hemingway,T.S.Eliot,William Faulkner.All painted the post-war western World as a waste land,lifeless,and hop
41、eless.lEliots The Waste Land,a picture of modern social crisis,modern civilized society turns into a waste land due to ethnical degradation and disillusionment with dreams.The Hollow Men is no less depressing.Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby is about the frustration and despair from the failure of the A
42、merican dream.lHemingways The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms portrayed the dilemma of modern man utterly thrown upon himself for survival in an indifferent world,revealing mans impotence and his despairing courage to assert himself against overwhelming odds.l5.William Faulkner(1897-1962)Recei
43、ved the 1949 Nobel in Literature for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.Faulkner made the history of the Deep South the subject of the bulk of his works,and created a symbolic picture of the remote past.lHis fictional Yoknapatawpha represents a microcosm o
44、f human experience.lFor writers in the South,the questions often involved a desire to protect tradition and myth from being destroyed by the influx of new ways of thinking and living.lSouthern Renaissance,explores some of the ways writers who either lived in,wrote about,or were otherwise associated
45、with the South between 1920 and 1950 responded to the many changes during the period.lAccording to literary critic Richard H.King,The writers and intellectuals of the South after the late 1920s were engaged in an attempt to come to terms not only with the inherited values of the southern tradition b
46、ut also with a certain way of perceiving and dealing with the past,what Nietzsche called monumental historical consciousness.lJohn Crowe Ransom,Zora Neale Hurston,William Faulkner,Thomas Wolfe,Robert Penn Warren,Richard Wright,Katherine Anne Porter,Eudora Welty,Tennessee Williams,and Flannery OConno
47、r.lThey are concerned with questions of historical time:How does the past shape the present and future?To what extent are our lives predetermined by our skin color,economic situation,or what our ancestors have or have not done?lIn Faulkners Absalom,Absalom!,for example,multiple narrators attempt to
48、discover,understand,and cope with the legacy of Thomas Sutpen,a Virginian of low birth who created a grand plantation out of the Mississippi wilderness of the 1830s and 1840s.l6.Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)Brevity was his specialty.Received the 1954 Nobel in Literature for his mastery of the art of n
49、arrative,most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea,and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style l7.John Steinbeck(1902-1968)American writer.Received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature for his realistic and imaginative writings,combining as they do sympathetic humor and
50、 keen social perception.lHarlem Renaissance(1919-1937)(Also known as the New Negro Movement):a burst of literary achievement in the 1920s by Negro playwrights,poets,and novelists who presented new insights into the American experience and prepared the way for the emergence of numerous Black writers
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