American Literature A School of Realism

Revision What is the relationship between Local Colorism and Realism? What is Local Colorism? Please list some of Mark Twain’s Famous works. Please answer the following questions :

contributions His contributions of making colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country. Besides as a writer, Mark Twain also made great contributions as a social critic.

Lecture 10 American Naturalism

Background Industrialism: Industrialism produced financial giants as well as an industrial proletariat. Slums appeared in great numbers and the city poor lived a life of insecurity, suffering, and violence. Self-reliance disappeared in the fast development of economy. Charles Darwin’s theory: the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, and natural selection. Herbert Spencer’s social Darwinism --- the weak and stupid would fall victim in the natural course of events to economic forces. Emile Zola’s theory: The purpose of a novelist was to be a scientist, to place his characters in a situation and then to watch the influences of heredity and environment destroy them, or, if they were good enough, to watch them overcome the inimical force of heredity and environment.

American Naturalism Definition: Naturalism was a new and harsher realism. Naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death.

American Naturalism Significance Breaking through some forbidden area in literature (violence, death, sex etc.) Greatly influencing the 20th century writers such as Hemingway and Faulkner.

American Naturalism The subject matter: The subject matter deals with those raw and unpleasant experiences which reduce characters to “degrading” behavior [one of the most familiar themes in American Naturalism is the theme of human “ bestiality ” ( 兽性 ), especially as an explanation of sexual desire.]in their struggle to survive. These characters are mostly from the lower middle or lower classes- they are poor, uneducated, and unsophisticated.

American Naturalism The milieu (situation) is the commonplace and the unheroic; There is discussion of fate and “hubris” that affect a character; generally the controlling force is society and the surrounding environment. The Naturalists wrote something about war, about prostitution, about criminals, and so on which are not too pleasant to consider.

American Naturalism About naturalistic character: Characters are conditioned and controlled by environment, heredity, chance, or instinct; The Naturalists attempt to represent the intermingling in life of the controlling forces and individual worth. They do not dehumanize their characters.

Revision Try to talk about American Naturalism. What is the significance of American Naturalism?

Stephen Crane (1871—1900) 斯蒂芬 · 克莱恩 life born into a new Jersey Methodist clergyman’s family. education: a military prep school—Lafayette College—Syracuse University career; free-lance journalist

Stephen Crane (1871—1900) Works Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) 《街头 女郎梅姬》 (the first Naturalistic novel in America: Maggie’s resistance of her slum life and at last suicide) story: significance:

Stephen Crane (1871—1900) The Red Badge of Courage 《红色英勇勋 章》 Protagonist: Henry Fleming (changes of a young man’s psychological state in the Civil War)

Stephen Crane (1871—1900) The Red Badge of Courage Against the Romantic view of war as a symbol of courage and heroism; Telling the alarming truth and horrible sides of war as a mass slaughter; First realistic novel which took the war as the subject matter; Influenced Hemingway and so on.

Stephen Crane (1871—1900) The Black Riders (poem collection) 《黑骑手》 Concise, unrhymed, impressive images Crane and Emily Dickinson were regarded as two forerunners of Imagism.

Stephen Crane (1871—1900) Conclusion: (1) Basic motif: environment and heredity overwhelm men (2) Pioneer of Naturalism (3) deromanticized war and heroism..

Frank Norris ( ) 弗兰克 · 诺里斯 Life born in Chicago the family moved to San Francisco entered the University of California at Berkeley in 1890 and spent one year at Harvard.

Frank Norris ( ) 弗兰克 · 诺里斯 Works ： McTeague ； 《麦克提格》 Epic of the Wheat: The Octopus, 《章鱼》 The pit, 《粮食交易所》 The Wolf 《狼》 Literary Criticism: The Responsibilities of the Novelist 《小说家的责任》

Frank Norris ( ) Works: McTeague 《麦克提格》 1. interesting novel very much like a textbook for naturalistic fiction ； 2.“the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel” ； 3.“a consciously naturalistic manifesto.”

Frank Norris ( ) McTeague, 4. a classic case study of the inevitable effect of environment and heredity on human lives. 5.McTeague is a fine specimen of the “human beast”, with his primitive, atavistic behavior and wild desires

Frank Norris ( ) McTeague, 6.Under the pressure of an adverse environment, the element forces of his wild birthplace and the hereditary elements of his alcoholic father work havoc with his civilized life and combined to dehumanize his person.

Frank Norris ( ) 7.The “beast” in him got the upper hand and drove him to evil and violence. 8.McTeagu’s tragedy lies in the fact that he could not shake himself free of the brutalizing influence destined to destroy him as a man.

Frank Norris ( ) Conclusion: Norris is a social determinist ， His vibrant and fresh imagery, his ability to catch situations indelibly on the reader’s mind, his poetic mode of fiction, as in the choice of words for their precise and exact effect and even his mysticism, were all part of the literary legacy.

Frank Norris ( ) His weakness lies in that he sometimes fail to control his materials, but their richness and exuberance do make Norris appealing ； Representing a sharp break with the genteel tradition in American literature, Norris exercised a general influence on the writers of the 1920s and 1930s, such as William Faulkner.

Theodore Dreiser 西奥多 · 德莱塞 ( ) Theodore Dreiser 西奥多·德莱塞 ( )

Theodore Dreiser ( )

Theodore Dreiser (1871 – 1945) Life (1) Indiana, German- speaking family (2) Extremely poor childhood

Theodore Dreiser (1871 – 1945) (3) Worked as a reporter and his first book Sister Carrie was rejected many times (4) In his later life, he turned to Communism.

Works Sister Carrie « 嘉莉妹妹 » 1900 Jennie Gerhardt « 珍妮姑娘 » 1911 An American Tragedy 1925 The Financier 1912 The Titan 1914 The Stoic(posthumously) The Genius1915 Dreiser Looks at Russia1928 autobiographically Trilogy of Desire

Theodore Dreiser (1871 – 1945) Sister Carrie 《嘉丽妹 妹》 Carrie Meeber, Druet, Hurstwood) (no control of her own life; driving blindly to catch all opportunities to make life better)

General Plot of Sister Carrie: Carrie Meeber, penniless and full of the illusion of ignorance and youth, leaves her rural home to seek work in Chicago. On the train, she becomes acquainted with Charles Druet, a salesman. In Chicago, she lives with her sister and work for a time in a shoe factory. Meager income and terrible working condition oppress her imaginative spirit. After a period of unemployment and loneliness, she accepts Druet and becomes his mistress.

During his absence, she falls in love with Druet’s friend Hurstwood, a middle aged, married, comparatively intelligent culture saloon manager. They finally elope. They live together for three years more. Carrie becomes mature in intellect and emotion, while Hurstwood steadily declines. At last, she thinks him too great a burden and leaves him. Hurstwood sinks lower and lower. After becoming a beggar, he commits suicide, while Carrie becomes a star of musical comedy. In spite of her success, she is lonely and dissatisfied.

Themes in Sister Carrie Materialism American Dream

Theodore Dreiser (1871 – 1945) Analysis (1) Social Darwinism (man only drive by desire; only fittest can live in the society) (2) Style: his narrative method is natural and free from artifice, but some critics regard his style as formless, dull, crude; (3) Powerful depiction of American social life and moving characters

Other Authors of the Period: Q: What are the other authors of this period? A: Edwin Arlington Robinson, Jack London, O. Henry and Upton Sinclair.

Edwin Arlington Robinson ( ) 埃德温 阿林顿 罗宾逊 Q1 ： Please describe this author. Q2: What are his ideas about the man and the world? Q3: Name some of his poems?

Jack London (1876 – 1916) 杰克 伦敦 Life (1) born in San Francisco (2) lived in the lowest part of society in his youth

Jack London (1876 – 1916) (3) decided to change his life by intellectual effort (4) his works were rejected many times (5) at last succeeded and became a millionaire (6) fame and upper class life made him feel boring; committed suicide

Jack London (1876 – 1916) Works The Call of the Wild 《野性的呼唤》 (story of a dog) White Fang 《白方》 (story of a wolf) The Sea Wolf 《海狼》 Martin Eden 《马丁 · 伊登》 (autobiographical) (disillusionment and broken American Dream)

Jack London (1876 – 1916) Analysis (1) Social Darwinism, Neitzchean superman, socialist doctrines of Marx (2) Naturalism mingled with Romanticism (3) Limitations: formless, clumsy yet vigorous style; stiff and stereotyped characters and dialogues

O. Henry( ) 欧 亨利 Original name: William Sidney Porter He was good at writing clever short stories and employing New York City as the background. He always created the special ends described as “tears with smile” for his stories.

O. Henry His famous stories include “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Cop and the Anthem”. His short stories are somewhat like French writer Maupassant’s. （莫泊桑） O’ Henry was regarded as a great master of the art of fiction.

After this lecture, you should know: What is American Naturalism? What are the representatives of American Naturalism ？ Who is the author of The Red Badge of Courage? Who are the major characters in Dreiser’s Sister Carrie?