吳偉仁《美國文學史及選讀》（重排版）筆記和考研真題詳解

2023年9月18日 星期一 祝福早安 天氣晴朗 氣溫23℃ 1．The desire to escape from society and return to nature has become a permanent convention of American literature since the 19th century. Please discuss this literary motif in social and cultural contexts, and illustrate it with two or three examples from the 19th and 20th American literature. (廈門大學2011研) Key： Since the American Romanticism in 19th century, the desire to escape from society and return to nature has become a permanent convention of American literature. This convention is closely related to American social and cultural contexts. Socially, at the time of Romanticism, America was experiencing a great time of westward expansion. The confrontation with the Indians, the Wild West and the frontier’s life, all these give an impression of nature and serve as the materials for writing. In addition the great success of industrial transformation and nation independence urges the coming out of America’s own literature. Culturally, the influence of England Romantic movement in England and Europe and the cultural heritage of American Puritanism and the “newness” of a nation endow the American literature its own features. This desire is particularly evident in Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales, in Thoreau’s Walden and, later, in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In these works, the authors give nature some romantic and mysterious motif. 2．The American frontier and wilderness plays a significant symbolic role in American literary imagination. Please discuss the issue in an essay within about 400 words and relate your discussion to TWO to THREE individual works in the history of American Literature.（武漢大學2012研） Key： The importance of the frontier and the wilderness in American literature is for the first time well illustrated in Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales and was to remain a major concern for many later authors. Cooper’s claim to greatness in American literature lay in the fact that he created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. He wrote with increasing awareness of the importance to fiction of the Western frontier, where American society may be conceived as passing from one set of principle to another in two directions. Cooper’s power lay in his assurance that one direction was morally right and the other practically inevitable. Here lies Cooper’s conflict of allegiance. He was devoted to the principles of social order and responsible to the idea of nature and freedom in the wildness. His masterpiece The Leatherstocking Tales contains a five volume biography of the protagonist Natty Bumppo, who lives in a mysterious wild country and has a legendary career. The fact that he had never been to the frontier and among the Indians and yet could write five huge epic books about them is an eloquent proof of the richness of his imagination. His Indians are among the first appearing in American fiction and probably the first group of noble savages. He is a typical frontier man who is simple, honest, innocent, generous, intelligent, brave, and full of love for people and life. Later on, Emerson advocated that American literature should pay attention to the Wilderness. To some extent, it reflects the spirit of American frontier and wilderness in literature. He held that the universe is composed of Nature and Soul. He regarded nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature. In the modern period, Mark Twain’s masterpiece, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a work that reflects the conflicts between society and wilderness, civilization and savage. The Mississippi River is the symbol of wilderness which is opposite to the society symbolized by family and social environment in the novel. Huck is tired of his living condition and escapes from his father to the river and drifts along the river with Jim, a black man, who escapes from his master as well. For them, the Mississippi River is a pleasant wilderness which satisfies their longing for freedom and liberation. Thus, we can see that American literature of frontier and wilderness shows Americans’ pioneering and freedom-pursuing spirit. 1．This excerpt is from The Scarlet Letter. 2．The author is Nathaniel Hawthorne. Much of Hawthorne’s writing centers around New England, many works featuring moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His fiction works are considered part of the Romantic movement and, more specifically, dark romanticism. His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. 3．When Pearl asked Mr. Dimmesdale to stand with her and her mother on the platform the next day, the minister refused. He only promised to stand together with them before the judgment-seat at the great judgment day, and thus “the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting”. In fact, he did not want to make known publicly his relationship with Hester and Pearl. So, Pearl’s words “Thou wast not bold!－thou wast not true!” are ironic. Ⅳ. Short answer questions 1．Give some different explanations of the symbolic meaning of “A” in The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne. (人大2006研；南京大學2008研) Key： The letter “A” begins as a symbol of adultery, which is worn on Hester’s bosom. This is the puritan way of treating her as a criminal, for the crime of adultery. It then becomes a symbol of alone and alienation. Hester’s social life is virtually eliminated as a result of her shameful history. And little Pearl is the only companion of her lonely life. Finally it becomes a symbol of able, angel and admirable. The townspeople who condemn her now believe the scarlet letter stands for her ability to her beautiful needlework and for her unselfish assistance to the poor and sick. Hester is a strong admirable woman who goes through more emotional torture than most people go through in a lifetime. “A” may also represent Adamic, or prehistoric, an archetypal vice suggestive of “original sin”. 2．What are the artistic characteristics of The Scarlet Letter? Key： The Scarlet Letter is a simple but moving story, in which all elements of his thinking and aesthetics seem to find an adequate expression. It reveals both Hawthorne’s superb craftsmanship and the powerful psychological insight with which he probed guilt and anxiety in the human soul. Hawthorne’s remarkable sense of the Puritan past, his understanding of the colonial history in England, his apparent preoccupation with the moral issue of sin and guilt, and his keen psychological analysis of people are brought to full display in this novel. With modern psychological insight, Hawthorne probed the secret motivations in human behavior and the guilt and anxiety that he believed resulted from all sins against humanity, especially those of pride. Hawthorne is a master of symbolism. The structure and the form of the novel are carefully worked out to cater for the thematic concern. By using Pearl as a thematic symbol, Hawthorne emphasizes the consequence the sin of adultery has brought to the community and people living in that community. As a key to the whole novel, the letter “A” takes on different layers of symbolic meanings as the plot develops. This ambiguity is one of the salient features of the work. V. Essay questions 1．Due to his family background and his understanding of human nature, Nathaniel Hawthorne seems to be haunted by a sense of sin and evil in life. Explain his “black” vision in The Scarlet Letter. (天津外國語學院2007研) Key： All his life, Hawthorne seems to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life. Reading his tales and romances, one cannot but be overwhelmed by the “black” vision which these works reveal. The blackness of vision which comes as a natural corollary has become his trade mark. It illustrates to some extent the influence that the Calvinist doctrine of “original sin” and total depravity had upon his mind. One source of evil in Hawthorne is overweening intellect. Hawthorn’s intellectual characters are usually villains,dreadful because devoid of fellow feeling. In The Scarlet Letter, the experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve because, in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge—specifically, in knowledge of what it means to be human. The real villain in The Scarlet Letter is Roger Chillingworth, the scholar, the embodiment of pure intellect, who commits “the Unpardonable Sin”—the violation of the human heart. He keeps preying on Dimmesdale’s conscience until the poor wretch is tormented to death. The end of Chillingworth, when it comes, is also tragic enough. Dimmesdale declares God’s judgment on him before he breathes his last: “Thou, too, hast deeply sinned!” And Chillingworth simply shrivels. The last time we see him, he is kneeling down beside Dimmesdale “with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed.” Chillingworth’s misshapen body reflects (or symbolizes) the evil in his soul, which builds as the novel progresses, similar to the way Dimmesdale’s illness reveals his inner turmoil. 2．Nathaniel Hawthorne is often blamed for depicting the Puritans as self-righteous and authoritarian, bent on making everyone conform to a rigid set of rules and ostracizing everyone who disagreed with them. Is the blame justified? Support your argument with detailed analysis of one of his novels or stories. (天津外國語2011研) Key： Born into a rigid puritan family, Nathaniel Hawthorne is greatly influenced by Puritanism. In his novel, Puritans as a community are usually depicted as self-righteous and authoritarian，bent on making everyone conform to a rigid set of rules and ostracizing everyone who disagreed with them. It is true, in fact, in his writing. For example, in The Scarlet Letter, the heroine Hester Prynne is ostracized by society because of her commitment of adultery. She is forced to wear a scarlet “A” as her punishment because in puritan society, Puritanism is the authority and everyone is supposed to abide by. However, that does not mean that Hawthorne is totally against Puritanism or blame Puritanism. On the contrary, it is because of the deep influence of Puritanism that he sees the defects of it as well as cherishes it unconsciously in his writing. Sin and evil is the most important theme in The Scarlet Letter. Though having great sympathy to Hester, both Hester Prynne and her lover Dimmesdale are on their way to some kind of salvation.

主要知識點都涵蓋了，但是錯別字情況有點多、有的譯文也不太準確，讀的時候要注意分辨一下。

特別棒，喜歡微信讀書的翻譯，實在不要太方便呀。😍😍😍