英美文学史学毕业论文(4)

Herman Melville was Hawthorne's good friend, also an important novelist. Melville's greatest work, Moby Dick (1851) was based on Melville's adventures on the whaling ships. It is the deep "tragedies of human thought" that show his critical understanding of human nature. Today Melville is considered one of America's greatest writers today.

Romanism was extremely influenced in a rising America as America had always had a strong spiritual tradition and romanticism was very comfortable with American spiritual heritage and its ideals of democracy and equality. During this period, the American literature was so changeable that has never been before. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, these four great writers had given depth and strength to American literature at that time.

4. Local Color And Realism: A New Flavor to American Literature

After the Civil War, the American society was in a turbulent situation through several economical crises. The writings about critical realism and unveiling the dark side of the society were increased. They were mainly focus on bankrupt in countries, difficult life or struggle of low-position people and so on. Thus Romanism was on the wane with passing days, while Realism rose and became more and more popular.

(1) Local Color Fiction and Mark Twain

Local Color Fiction first appeared in the early 19th century, and it had further developing after the Civil War. This kind of literature mainly describes the local life. Its keynote was optimistic, and the language was narrative and humorous. For example, the work of Bret Harte (1836-1902) told us the life of American western miners. Mark Twain was the main writer of this period. He wrote for nearly 50 years, and he had actually written many different types of stories. Nevertheless, Twain is remembered most for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1884) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The characters he created were humorous and full of wittiness. Mark Twain's work was regarded the witness of America's pure local life. According to Calkins, “Few American writers have written the same after reading Twain, for he has helped change the entire country with his humor and skillful story telling.” (Carroll C.Calkins, 124).

(2) Rise of Realism

“Realism is the theory of writing in which familiar aspects of contemporary life and everyday scenes represented in a straightforward or matter of fact manner“ (Wu Dingo, 59). Romantic writers focused on the development of plot, make the story as interesting and attractive as possible, while realism writers emphasized the characterization of characters, focused on objectivity rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience.

William Dean Howells (1837-1920) insisted that Realism was the truthful treatment of material moral problems of society. And in O.Henry (1862-1910)'s fictions, all his characters were common people and always had an ironical and surprised ending.

There was another style of writing developed by Henry James (1843-1916), who was a writer focused on the description of psychology and behavior. He wrote some complex and profound novels such as The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassador, The Golden Bowl, and created psychological realism.

After the mid-19th century, the keynote of romantic literature changed form optimistic to doubtful. The sharp conflict of society force more writers' attention to the unveiling of dark social fact and self-questioning.

Thought the writers of this time unveiled the misfortune and sadness or even degenerate things in actual life, they didn't just took of the dark side of life as their material, most of them were the reformists with the hope of helping to create a better nation. Stephen Crane (1871-1900) showed more and more serious problems in big sites in his Maggie, A Girl of the Streets, and his most famous book about the American Civil War called The Red Badge of Courage. He thought his works liked a mirror reflecting all life, he emphasized the accidental physiological nature of the characters rather than their moral and rational qualities. Stephen Crane had formed a new style called Naturalism, which had influenced many following writers.

5. Modern American Literature

The First World War not only damaged the people's life, but also led to a turbulent situation of the American society. People of this time were named “The Lost Generation ”, and the writers and works had a pessimistic and disconsolate feeling.

(1) Modern poetry