Karen2008.8--12

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Can you define literature?

What makes a literary writing?

孤灯，青卷，寂夜，香烟……我的每一天几乎都是这样地开始，然后，又这样地结束。

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1.What is literature? Writings that are valued as works of art, esp.

fiction, drama and poetry.

2.Forms (genres) of literature?Poetry, novel (fiction), drama, prose, essay, epic, elegy, short story, journalism, sermon, (auto) biography, travel accounts, novelette, etc.

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Why Learn Literature?• Is it just a course to get scores?• To make us more civilized, qualified and

knowledgeable• To amuse ourselves and others• For further study 1.Postgraduate of English and American literature in

FL institute 2. Postgraduate of literature of foreign countries in

Chinese department• research• more

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•常识不具，难语专攻，集拢常识，加以条贯，便容易达到深湛。

------毛泽东

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What and How to Learn?• Not merely satisfied with the textbook• Learning literature is much more than

reading famous works or knowing some schools of literature: history, philosophy and theories of literature and art at least

• Be an active reader: read, think and write sth on an author or work you are interested inmost.

• History, philosophy, psychology, aesthetics and other disciplines to help learn literature

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Our Aims

• Knowledge To form a brief outline of the history of the

British literature up to the end of the 19th century.

To acquire a better understanding of the nation through the cultural and literary study

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• Fluency

To further develop the ability to recognize and express emotional and moral attitudes on a higher level than about daily occurrences so as to facilitate our communication with educated native speakers;

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• Appreciation

To introduce the learners to imaginative and creative use of English and to help them towards an appreciation of literary language and literature;

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• Preparation and growth To prepare us for the study of literature in

English at a higher level and to help us to develop interest in and, hopefully, the habit of ， reading extensively.

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﹡one-semester compulsory course ﹡for the 3rd year English majors ﹡to offer a survey of the development of Amer-ican literature ﹡to gain an insight into the development of Am-erican literature as an important part of the country’s culture

Course Description:

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Course book:

A Survey of American Literature, the

2nd Edition

(good and authoritative one; a little

bit difficult and lack in order; so

prepare a notebook and copy the

outline I provide)

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• Suggestions:

• 左金梅《美国文学》青岛海洋出版社（条理较好）；

• 李公昭《 20 世纪美国文学导论》（可以帮助理解 20 世纪美国文学）；

• 吴伟仁《美国文学史及选读》（很多学校考研的指定书目，但过于简单）

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Assessment:

Class attendance, participation and

presentation, 20%

homework, 20%

Final examination, 60%

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Requirements

• Reading before classNote-taking, participation and presentation in class

• Active thinking and Double-entry journal

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Requirements for presentations:

• 1. 3-5 minutes

• 2. Relevancy to research questions

• 3. website reference

• 4. PPT

• 5. Relevancy to literary texts

• 6. Q/A (5)

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Brief Outline of American literature

1. Colonial period (1607-1775)Anne BradstreetEdward Taylor

2. Revolutionary period (1775-1783)Thomas paine

Benjamin Franklin Philip Freneau Edward Crevecoeur

3. Romanticism (1820-1861)Washington IrvingEdgar Allan PoeCooper

Howthorne Melville Whitman & Dickinson* Transcendentalism * (New England Renaissance)Ralph Waldo EmersonFillip Thoreau

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5. Realism (1861-1914) willam Dean Howells

Mark TwainHenry James

6. Naturalism:Stephen CraneTheodore Dreiser

Jack London O.Henry7. The 1920s

T.S. EliotErnest Hemingway (Lost Generation)

Imagism: Ezra PoundRobert FrostWallace StevesF.Scott FitzgeraldAndersonLewis8. The Southern RenaissanceWilliam Faulkner9.The 1930sSteinbeck

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Syllabus:

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Early Am. Lit. (17th—18th centuries) Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (excerpts) Images or Shadows of Divine Things (excerpts) Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography (excerpts)

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Week 3: American Romanticism and Transcen-dentalism (1800—1850s)

Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature (excerpts) “Self-Reliance” (excerpts) Week 4: Edgar Allan Poe “The Raven”

Week 5: Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Minister’s Black Veil”

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Week 6: Walt Whitman “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” “Calvary Crossing the Ford” “Come up from the Fields, Father” “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”

Week 7: Emily Dickinson “Because I could not stop for Death—” “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—” “A narrow Fellow in the Grass” “I died for Beauty—but was scarce” “A Bird came down the Walk—” “Essential Oils—are Wrung—”

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Week 8: American Realism and American Naturalism (1860s—1890s) Mark Twain “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”

Week 9: Jack London “The Law of Life”

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Week 10: American Modernism (1900—1940s) Ezra Pound “In a Station of the Metro”

Week 11: May Day Holiday

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Week 12: Robert Frost “Mending Wall” “The Road Not Taken” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” “Fire and Ice” “Nothing Gold Can Stay”

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Week 13: Ernest Hemingway “A Clean, Well-lighted Place”

Week 14: William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”

Week 15: Eugene O’Neill Desire Under the Elms

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Week 16: Post-war American literature (1940s— )

J. D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye

Review

Alice Walker “Everyday Use”

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• 佳人自在阑珊处

• To read ,to explore, to learn…

• What’s your expectation of the course?

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Homework

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For next class:1.Presentation topics: A Brief Outline About American History Great events in early American history:

? 1492? 1607? 1620? 1776? 1778? 1789? 1791

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Preview:

1.What are the religious doctrines of the Puritans?

2.Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)