英国文学选读一复习重点.docx

1、英国文学选读一复习重点1.George Meredith an English novelist and poet.One of the forerunners of the contemporary novels. His writing was characterized by a fascination with imagery and indirect referencesModern Love 现代爱情 one of the first psychological poems. Essay on Comedy喜剧的观念及其精神的效用 a keen understanding of c

2、omedy Diana of the Crossways 克劳斯威的黛安娜The Ordeal of Richard Feverel理查弗维莱尔的苦难The Egoist 利己主义者 tragicomical novel realist novel the novel presents an ironic subversion of texts（文本的颠覆） that had shaped the pattern of Victorian femininity(柔弱性）the difficulty Of being a woman in Victorian era the turning po

3、int in George Merediths careerThe Victorian era The Victorian era of the United Kingdom refers to Queen Victorias rule which began in June 1837 and concluded in January 1901. Under the rule of Queen Victoria, the British people enjoyed a long period of prosperity. Profits gained from the overseas Br

4、itish Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed a large, educated middle class to develop.SatireSatire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; In satire, human or individual vices, follies(罪恶）, abuses（陋习）, or shortcomings are gathered together by means of ridicu

5、le, derision(嘲弄）, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humor in itself so much as an attack on something of which the author strongly disapproves, using the weapon of wit. A c

6、ommon, almost defining feature of satire is its strong vein of irony （反语）or sarcasm（挖苦，讽刺）. Tragicomical novel Tragicomical novel is fictional work that blend aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeares time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy refers to a

7、 serious play with a happy ending). RealismRealism is an aesthetic mode which broke with the classical demands of art to show life as it should be in order to show life “as it is.” The work of realist art tends to avoid the elevated （崇高的）subject matter of tragedy in favour of the ordinary, the avera

8、ge, the commonplace, the middle classes and their daily struggles with the mean verities(一般的事实） of everyday existencethese are the typical subject matters of realism.（平常人的平常生活）。The realism novelThe realism novel first developed in the 19th century and is the form we associate with the work of writer

9、s such as Austen, Balzac, George Eliot and Tolstoy. According to Barthes, the narrative or plot of a realist novel is structured around an opening enigma难解之事 which throws the conventional cultural and practices into confusion. The realist novel drives toward the final re-establishment of harmony and

10、 thus re-assures the reader that the value system of signs and cultural practices which he or she shares with the author is not in danger. The political affiliation （政治关联明显）of the realist novel is thus evident; in trying to show us the world as it is（真实的世界）, it often reaffirms, in the last instance,

11、 the way things are（事物的本真）.现实主义文艺的基本创作方法之一，侧重如实地反映现实生活，客观性较强。它提倡客观地、冷静地观察现实生活，按照生活的本来样式精确细腻地加以描写，力求真实地再现典型环境中的典型人物。 2Thomas Hardyan English novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement /describe characters struggling against their passions and circumstancesUnder the Greenwood Tr

12、ee绿荫下Far from the Madding Crowd 远离尘嚣The Return of the Native 还乡The Mayor of Casterbridge 卡斯特桥市长Tess of the DUrbervilles 德伯家的苔丝Jude the Obscure 无名的裘德Wessex Poems 威塞克斯诗集Fate plays a big role as the thematic basis for many of his novels. Characters are constantly encountering crossroads, which are symb

13、olic of a point of opportunity and transitionHe paints a vivid picture of rural life in the nineteenth centuryHis heroes and heroines are often alienated from society and rarely become readmitted into it. He tends to emphasise the impersonal and, generally, negative powers of fate His mastery lies i

14、n the creation of natural surroundings Tess of the dUrbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented Major charactersTess Durbeyfield The protagonist, eldest daughter in a poor rural working family; a fresh, pretty country girlAngel Clare The son of a clergyman; Tesss husband and true love. He conside

15、rs himself a freethinker, but his notions of morality turn out to be fairly conventional: he rejects Tess on their wedding night when she confesses that she isnt a virgin, even though he, too, has engaged in premarital sex. He works at the Talbothays dairy to gain practical experience because he hop

16、es to buy a farm of his ownAlec Stoke-dUrberville The libertine son of Simon Stoke and Mrs. dUrberville. He either rapes or seduces Tess when she is no more than seventeen years old, and later pursues her relentlessly until she agrees to become his mistress again. Themesache of modernismHardy descri

17、bes modern farm machinery （农业机械）with infernal（可恨的） imageryAngels middle-class fastidiousness（严格） makes him reject Tess, a woman whom Hardy often portrays as a sort of Wessex Eve, in harmony with the natural world and so lovely and desirable that Hardy himself seems to be in love with her. the sexual

18、 double standard to which Tess falls victimdespite being, in Hardys view, a truly good woman, she is despised（鄙视） by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Hardy plays the role of Tesss only true friend and advocate, pointedly subtitling the book “a pure woman faithfully presented” . Na

19、turalismNaturalism is a movement in theatre, film, and literature that seeks to repeat/copy a believable everyday reality, as opposed to such movements as Romanticism in which subjects may receive highly symbolic, idealistic, or even supernatural treatment. Naturalistic writers were influenced by th

20、e evolution theory of Charles Darwin. They believed that ones heredity and social environment decide ones character. Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, sex, prejudice, disease, prostitution（堕落）, filth（污秽）, etc. They were often very pessimistic and frequ

21、ently criticized for being too blunt. Naturalism also attempts to determine “scientifically” the underlying forces (i.e. the environment or heredity) influencing these subjects actions. They are both opposed to romanticism, in which subjects may receive highly symbolic, idealistic, or even supernatu

22、ral treatment. Naturalistic works often include uncouth(粗野的） subject matter3 Oscar Wilde An Irish playwright, novelist, poet Lady Windermetres fan 温莎夫人的扇子A woman od no importance 无足轻重的女人 The importance of earnest 认真的重要性 The picture of Dorian Gray 道林格雷的画像 An Ideal Husbandcomedic stage play An ideal h

23、usband”a model spouse in both private and public life that she can worship: he must remain unimpeachable in all his decisions. Art for arts sakeIt is the usual English version of a French slogan, from the early 19th century, and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value（真实价值） of art, and the o

24、nly ”true“ art, is divorced from any didactic（学究式的）, moral or utilitarian function. Such works are sometimes described as ”autotelic“(自己本身具有目的的，艺术创作有其自身的目的）, “complete in itself”, a concept that has been expanded to embrace ”inner-directed（不随俗的，有主见的） or self-motivated human beings. Art should be ind

25、ependent of all claptrap（讨好的言语或行为） should stand alone . and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding（混淆） this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism and the like. the Aesthetic movement The Aesthetic Movement is a loosely defined movement in

26、literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior（内部装饰） design in later nineteenth-century Britain. It took place in the late Victorian period from around 1868 to 1901, and is generally considered to have ended with the trial of Oscar Wilde. One of its tenets（信条） being to make an art of life.

27、4 George Bernard Shawan Irish playwrightdrama designed to heighten awareness of some important social issueFabian Society. It is a British intellectual socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of Social democracy via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary means. No

28、bel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938). The Black Girl in Search of God and Some Lesser TalesPlays Unpleasant were intended, to raise awareness of social problems and to censure（责难） exploitation of the laboring class by the unproductive rich. Widowers Houses (1892) 鳏夫的房产The Philanderer

29、(1898) 花花公子Mrs Warrens Profession 华伦夫人的职业The Devils Disciple (1897) 魔鬼的门徒Caesar and Cleopatra (1898) 凯撒和克娄巴特拉Captain Brassbounds Conversion (1899) 卡希尔拜伦的职业Saint Joan 圣女贞德Quintessence（精粹） of Ibsenism Widowers Housesdeals with problems of economic exploitation and middle-class hypocrisy5 Joseph Conrad

30、one of the greatest novelists in the English language recognized as a master prose stylist(散文体大师）. an important forerunner of modernist literature The Nigger of the Narcissus水仙号上的黑家伙Heart of Darkness 黑暗的心YouthAmy FosterAn Outpost of Progress 进步的前哨CharactersKayerts and Carlier: incompetent, unprepare

31、d , dependent on civilization ; identify with imperialist ideology ; unable to think for themselves. Makola: insists on his real name to be Henry Price, even if he comes from Sierra Leone(塞拉利昂） ; speaks English and French ; takes over values of colonizers, but does not go past their ethical values（道

32、德观） and morals; Civilized savage ; careful of his appearance ; has traditional belief Analysissymbolic level: It focuses on the colonial situation in Africa towards the end of the nineteenth century and challenges readers to examine the ethical questions(伦理问题的思考） raised by the policy of colonialism. ironic : the title Outpost of Progress is ironic, for the two white men are lazy and incomp