nullnull周桂丹易桂香徐小丽余丹程竹甘程帆American
Literature这是个永恒的话题... ....Our TopicsOur TopicsThe Great Depression
Realism
Escapism
Postwar voices
The Beat Generation*The Great DepressionThe Great Depression Brief Introduction
Causes
Process
EffectsBrief IntroductionBrief Introduction Time: 1929~1930s or early 1940s
Start: the falling in the stock market
Stock market crash
Hallmark Event(标志性事件): the
Black TuesdayBlack TuesdayBlack TuesdayCausesCauses Great Economic Recession (经济大衰退)
Breakdown of international trade
Debt deflation(债务紧缩)
Productivity shock
ProcessProcess The Black Tuesday
Mellon pulled the whistle, Hoover rang the bell, Wall Street gave the signal and the country went to hell.
“ 梅隆拉响汽笛,胡佛敲起钟。华尔街发出信号,美国往地狱里冲!”
The New DealThe New DealThe New Deal is a series of economic programs
"3 Rs": relief, recovery, and reform.
Relief for the unemployed and poor;
Recovery of the economy to normal levels;
Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.
World War II and RecoveryWorld War II and RecoveryGreat Depression ended with the advent of World War II.
America's entry into the war in 1941 finally eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the unemployment rate down below 10%.
EffectsEffects Keynesian(凯恩斯主义)
Economic nationalism(名族主义)
Totalitarianism(极端主义)-Nazi Party
Adolf Hitler &Benito Mussolini(贝尼托·墨索里尼,indirectly lead to the World War II
Unemployment increasing
Great hardships of the common people
Literature
LiteratureLiteratureRealism
Escapism
Representative magazines: Reader’s Digest(读者文摘)
Esquire (时尚先生)
Representative writers: Ernest Hemingway(海明威)
Thomas Wolfe(托马斯·沃尔夫)
nullInfluenced by the Civil War (1861-1865)
Rejection to the romanticism
The American spirit
Prelude: Abolition novel(废奴小说
Naturalism
The Features of Realism:
The Features of Realism:
Authenticity in details
Typicality in image
objectivity in describing waysnullThe Representative Figures:
1、Mark Twain
2 、William Dean Howells
3 、Henry James Mark Twain(1835-1910):
The True Father of American Literature.
The representative figure of local literature .
His main works:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Life on the Mississippi
Innocents AbroadnullWilliam Dean Howells(1837-1920):
-The founder of American literature.
-Mild realism
The main works:
The Rise of Silas Lapham
A Modern Instance
A Hazard of New Fortunes
nullHenry James(1843-1916):
-The founder of psychological realism
Main works:
The American and Portrait of a Lady
Daisy Miller
The American
The AmbassadorsThe masterpieces reflecting realism in the Depression:The masterpieces reflecting realism in the Depression:The Grapes of Wrath
Gone with the wind
EscapismEscapismUnwilling to face the realityWhat does escapism mean?Indulge in the past Two main features:Gone with the wind Gone with the wind answerHow does this novel reflect the escapism???Question?Maybe it reflects mainly on Ashley . let’s have a look! nullThe life in the south of America before the civil warWe must know the background first!!!complete code of ethics
gentlemen ,elegant ladies, courtesy,luxurious parties
Peaceful ,leisurely, quiet
nullhoweverDestroy everything here : their satisfying life, their traditional system of value
Capitalism started to overwhelm the south sate of AmericaTwo choices Negative attitude: don’t change and indulge in the past
Positive attitude : face the reality, adapt to the new society and make a choice which benefits oneself most nullI have to chose the first one.Why?A typical representative of traditional South America;
Puts more value on reputation even than his life;Even he recognized the fate
of the South America,
that is failure, he still
participated in the war
to keep his honour. nullAs the intellectual crisis strengthened day by day ,and the sense of tragedy overwhelmed everybody’s heart, many people tended to indulge into the memory of the past ,recalling the illusional honor and reputation that had been lost.The society after the warHe could only heave a sigh. “My home has been destroyed , my fortune has gone and the world I used to live in has disappeared; my life turn to be useless and senseless.The hardship of the postwar life kept him from recalling the good memory in the past ,and the stabbing pain of the true reality that he couldn’t stand made him at a loose end. nullHe said, “I suffered starvation ever and knew the feeling of being hungry, but I’m not afraid of this experience. Actually, what I’m really afraid of is that I’m entering another world, a world where there is no quite and leisurely pace that I used to enjoy.Yeah, what Ashley really worried about is not the poverty in material but the disappointment in spirit.nullIf you cry when you miss sun,
then you will miss stars.
You should learn how to forget
the past after having experienced
so many vicissitudes of life .
because tomorrow is another day.null
Influence of World War II on American Culture
Influence of World War II on American Culture
Antipathy to the war
Disappointment to the world
Suspicion to the traditional morality
Sarcasm to the social situation
Reflection in literature
By writersRepresentative figures and worksRepresentative figures and worksThe black writers
The Jewish writers
playwrights
null
Richard Wright — Native Son
Ralph Ellison —Invisible man
James Baldwin
— Go Tell It on the Mountain(向 苍 天呼吁)
— The Fire Next Timenull
Saul Bellow
— The Adventure of Augie March
Isaac Bashevis Singer
—Yentl null
Tennessee Williams
— The glass menagerie
— Street car named desire
Arthur Miller
— Death of a salesmanNative SonNative SonMain character:Bigger Thomas
Book Description :
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail.
It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape.
Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic .nullBackground:
Set in Chicago in the 1930s.
an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness of the blacks in America.
Significance
Richard Wright's masterpiece
important in Afro-American literature.
broke a path for American protest novel
successfully portrayed the character, Bigger Thomas, and mercilessly exposed the racial discrimination existing in American society.The Beat GenerationThe Beat GenerationBackground
In the1950s
The great depression and WWII
Shortage of material
Devotion to material things
Corruption ,selfishness, hypocrisy(虚伪)commercialization
The Beat GenerationThe Beat GenerationIt is a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence(引起重视)in the 1950s,as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired ,they were inspired by eastern philosophy and religion and known especially for their use of nontraditional forms and their rejection of conventional social values.
Elements of “Beat” cultureElements of “Beat” cultureExperimentation with drugs
Addiction to alcohol
Alternative forms of sexuality
An interest in eastern religion
A rejection of materialism(唯物主义)
Representative figures and worksRepresentative figures and worksAlan Ginsburge(1926-1997)
Howl
Jack Kerouac(1922-1969)
On the Road
Jerome David Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye
William Burroughs(1914-1997)
Naked Lunch
On the RoadOn the RoadFreedom
Identity(同一性)
Self-realizationThemes of BeatThemes of BeatSpontaneous creativity
Rejection of “square” or conservative society
Non-conformity(不墨守陈规)in general
Open,unsencored(无拘束的)emotion
Influences on the western cultureInfluences on the western cultureSpiritual liberation: gay liberation, black liberation
Liberation of the world from censorhip
Decriminalization(合法化)of cannabis and other drugs
The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form
The spread of ecological consciousness SummarySummaryThe Great DepressionRealismEscapismPostwar voicesThe Beat GenerationWorld War IInull