美国文学 超验主义.ppt

New England Transcendentalism,Important terms (1),Transcendentalism : Transcendentalism is philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to1860. It originated among a small group of intellectuals who were reacting against the orthodoxy(正统的)of Calvinism and the rationalism of the Unitarian Church(唯一神论教派), developing instead their own faith centering on the divinity of humanity and the natural world.,Important terms (1),Transcendentalism derived some of its basic idealistic concepts from romantic German philosophy, and from such English authors as Coleridge, and Wordsworth. Its mystical aspects were partly influenced by Indian and Chinese religious teachings.,Important terms (1),Although transcendentalism was never a rigorously systematic philosophy, it had some basic tenets that were generally shared by its adherents. The beliefs that God is immanent in each person and in nature(每人都有内在的神性) and that individual intuition is the highest source of knowledge led to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of traditional authority.,Important terms (1),The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature (1836), and Self- Reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden.,Important terms (2),Individualism: Individualism is a moral, political, and social philosophy, which emphasizes individual liberty, the primary importance of the individual, and the “virtues of self-reliance”. It assumes that a person can be socially and culturally free of upbringing.,Important terms (2),Individualism claims the ability to oppose “authority”, and to all manner of controls over the individual (反对一切压抑个人的支配行为), especially when exercised by the political state or “society”. It is thus directly opposed to collectivism (集体主义), social psychology and sociology, which consider the individuals rapport to the society or community.,Important terms (3),American Renaissance : The name is given to a flourishing of distinctively American literature in the period before the Civil War. This renaissance is represented by the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, H. D. Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman. Its major works are Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter ( 红字，1850 ) , Melville s Moby-Dick (白鲸，1851 ) ,and Whitmans Leaves of Grass (草叶集，1855). The American Renaissance may be regarded as a delayed manifestation of Romanticism(浪漫主义的延续), especially in Emerson s philosophy of Transcendentalism.,Important features of New England Transcendentalism (1),Firstly, the Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit 精神, or the Oversoul 超灵, as the most important thing in the universe. The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness (超灵是善良的体现), omnipresent and omnipotent (无处不在，无所不能), from which all things came and of which all were a part. It existed in nature and man alike and constituted the chief element of the universe. (是宇宙构成的主要元素),Important features of New England Transcendentalism (2),Secondly, the Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. To them the individual was the most important element of society. As the regeneration of society (社会的再生)could only come about through the regeneration of the individual, his perfection (自我完善), his self-culture (自我休养)and self-improvement, and not the frenzied effort to get rich, should become the first concern of his life.,Important features of New England Transcendentalism (2),The ideal type of man was the self-reliant individual whom Emerson never stopped talking about all his life. The Transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau were telling people to depend upon themselves for spiritual perfection if they cared to make the effort because, in their opinion, the individual soul communed with the Oversoul and was therefore divine. Now this new notion of the individual and his importance represented, obviously, a new way of looking at man.,Important features of New England Transcendentalism (2),It was also a reaction against the process of dehumanization (磨灭人性)that came in the wake of developing capitalism. The industrialization of New England was turning men into nonhumans. People were losing their individuality and were becoming uniform. The Transcendentalists saw the process in progress and, by trying to reassert the importance of the individual, emphasized the significance of men regaining their lost personality.,Important features of New England Transcendentalism (3),Thirdly, the Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God (自然是超灵或上帝的体现). Nature was, to them, not purely matter. It was alive, filled with Gods overwhelming presence. It was the garment of the Oversoul (自然是超灵的外衣). Therefore it could exercise a healthy and restorative influence on the human mind (自然能够影响人类心灵的健康和恢复). What the Transcendentalists seemed to be saying was, “Go back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence, and youll become spiritually whole again.”,Ralph Waldo Emerson,As the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) has had great influence for centuries extending beyond the literary community to the American people at large 其思想已成为美国传统文化意识的一部分.,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Emerson was born in Boston, the son of a Unitarian minister 唯一神教牧师who died when Emerson was eight years old. He attended Harvard, studied theology, and became a Unitarian minister himself in 1829. In that year he was also married, but his beloved wife, Ellen, died only sixteen months later. In 1832, Emerson felt obliged to resign his ministry,After a trip to Europe ,where he met the English writers Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Carlyle, he settled in the village of Concord, Massachusetts. He remarried and began his lifelong career as lecturer and writer. At Concord he became a member of the Transcendental Club,Ralph Waldo Emerson,At Concord he was surrounded by a remarkable group of men and women, including Henry David Thoreau. It was at Concord that Emerson composed his first book, Nature (1836).,Emersons address 演讲called The American Scholar ( 1837 ) has been an inspiration to generations of young Americans, but Emerson did not achieve national fame until his Essays: Essays, First Series ( 随笔：第一卷，1841 ) , Second Series (随笔：第二卷，1844 ) , Representative Men ( 代表人物， 1849 ) , The Conduct of Life （生活的准则）and so on.,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Emersons Nature, regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism, is a lyrical expression of the harmony Emerson felt between himself and nature. Emerson defines nature as an all-encompassing divine entity inherently known to us in our unfettered innocence(人与自然有一种天然的和谐对应关系), rather than as merely a component of a world ruled by a divine, separate being，learned by us through passed-on teachings in our experience(自然并不只是作为世界的一部分，与我们所知的经验相分离。通过个人直觉从自然中获取知识） Self-Reliance is also at the core of Emersons ideas ，that the potential powers of the self-reliant individual are significant （自立的个人潜能巨大）,Quotation form Nature,Our age is retrospective （向后看的，怀旧）. It builds the sepulchers of the fathers （建筑在祖先的坟墓之上即以旧的事物为基础）. It writes biographies, histories, and criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face（先人们可以同上帝与自然面对面），we, through their eyes(我们却需利用先人做媒介感悟上帝与自然). Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight(内省）and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation （心灵启示）to us, and not the history of theirs?,Quotation form Nature, why should we grope among the dry bones of the past（我们为何要在毫无生气的历史废墟中摸索）, or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe （让当代人穿上褪色过时的旧服装出丑）? The sun shines today also. There is more wool and flax in the fields. There are new lands, new men, new thoughts. Let us demand our own works and laws and worship.,Henry David Thoreau,Thoreau (1817-1862) was born in Concord, Massachusetts and he attended Harvard but he refused all the careers. So he made his home with his father, he assisted him in his trade of pencil maker. Then he met Emerson and lived with Emerson for two years, doing chores and keeping the house. There he wrote the great essay Civil Disobedience ( 论公民之不服从，1849 ).,Henry David Thoreau,Thoreaus most memorable gesture was his move to Walden Pond . He lived for two years and two months in a cabin he built with his own hands on a piece of land owned by Emerson. That experience gave him the material for one of the greatest of American classics, Walden ( 1854 ). Thoreau died at forty-four, having published relatively little of what he had written.,Henry David Thoreau,Walden details 详尽描述Thoreaus life for two years and two months in the forest around the shores of Walden Pond. He recounts his daily life in the woods and celebrates nature and the individual s ability to live independently of society. Walden is neither a novel nor a true autobiography, but a social critique of the Western World ,with each chapter heralding some aspect of humanity that needed to be either renounced or praised （每个章节都对人类社会的某方面进行批评或颂扬. ）,Henry David Thoreau,Along with his critique of the civilized world, Thoreau examines other issues afflicting man in society, ranging from economy (the first chapter of the book) and reading to solitude and higher laws（探讨有关阅读、独处、法律等问题）,Thoreau also takes time to talk about the experience at Walden Pond itself, commenting on the animals and the way people treated him for living there, using those experiences to bring out his philosophical positions.,Henry David Thoreau,This extended commentary on nature has often been interpreted as a strong statement to the natural religion that transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson were preaching . （Thoreau对自然的描写被认为是以Emerson、Thoreau 为代表的超验主义者的自然宗教观。),Quotation form Walden,I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.,Quotation form Walden,I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear ; nor did I wish to practice resignation（隐逸地生活）, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like 像斯巴达人般简约as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close划出一块刈割之地，仔细刈割或修剪, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms把生活需求压缩至最低。,