Lesson 3
Chapter Three American Romanticism
Historical Background:
A rising America fast burgeoning into a political, economic and cultural independence;
Democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation;
Economic boom and a tremendous sense of optimism and hope among the people;
Economic boom: the spread of industrialism, the sudden influx of immigration, the pioneers pushing the frontier further west.
The literary milieu proved fertile and conducive to the imagination as well;
Foreign influences added incentive to the growth of the romanticism in America;
Romanticism: it originated in England and came to America early in the 19the century. It shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception and a presumption that nature was a source of goodness and man's societies a source of corruption.
Romantic Period: it stretches from the end of the C18 through the outbreak of the Civil War(1861-1865);
Unique features of American Romanticism: as a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticism was both imitative and independent.
Imitative: American romantic writing was some of them modeled on English and European works.
Independent: American moral values were essentially Puritan. Puritan influence over American romanticism was conspicuously noticeable. American romantic authors tended more to moralize than their English and European brothers.
American Romanticism connected with the “newness” of the Americans as a nation. Their ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that America was to be a new Garden of Eden for men.
Washington Irving (1783-1859)-the father of America Literature, 1st one in American literature who won the international fame
Life: born into a wealthy New York merchant family. From a very early age, he read widely.
Works: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Grayon, Gent 《见闻札记》，his 1st collection of essays, sketches, and the tales of which the most famous are “Rip Van Winkle”(Rip Van Winkle went to sleep after having drunk some strange people’s wine before the independence war, and woke up 20 years later, only to find that everything has changed.), and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” ( a humorous story of a school teacher, Ichabod Crane, left the town for seeing headless horseman. The purpose of the story is for fun and pleasure with a light satirical notion on pedantry as represented by the hero .
Tales of a Traveler《旅客谈》, Life of Goldsmith, Life of Washington, The Alhambra《阿尔罕伯拉》, Bracebridge Hall《布雷斯布里奇田庄》，A History of New York
The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American Romanticism;
Washington Irving was called “the American Goldsmith (one of the greatest English essayists), for Irving modeled himself on Goldsmith.
His Style: interested in the effect of his writing rather than the thematic concern, which makes his theme quite diversified. His stories carry a strong romantic sensibility, with a special style in remoteness, the gothic and supernatural elements. His style is humorous, familiar and graceful, making him an early prose stylist in American literature.
James Fenimore Cooper
Life: Born in New Jersey, he started his literary career by accident. Tradition has it that, reading an English novel one day, Cooper was so disgusted with it that he threw it down and said he could do better. His wife challenged him and he became serious about it. And succeed he did.
Works: The Spy, The Pilot,
Leatherstocking Tales: a series of 5 novels (The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer) about the frontier life of American settlers. The hero is Natty Bumppo, he has various names( Leatherstocking, deerslayer, Pathfinder, Hawk-eye). He is a frontier hero, a prototype for the Western cowboy. Natty Bumppo was portrayed as a frontier hero with a daring character and a strong passion for the wilderness and its inhabitants, his Indian friends.
