《英美文学史》名词解释

1. English Critical Realism

English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. The realists first and foremost criticized the capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint and delineated (portrayed) the crying (extremely shocking) contradictions of bourgeois reality. The greatness of the English realists lies not only in their satirical portrayal of bourgeoisie and in the exposure of the greed and hypocrisy of the ruling classes, but also in their sympathy for the laboring people. Humor and satire are used to expose and criticize the seamy (dark) side of reality. The major contribution of the critical realists lies in their perfection of the novel. Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray are the most important representative of English critical realism. 2. The \"Stream of Consciousness\"

The \"stream of consciousness\" is a psychological term indicating \"the flux of conscious and subconscious thoughts and impressions moving in the mind at any given time independently of the person's will.\" In late 19th century, the literary device of \"interior monologue\" was originated in France as an application of modern psychological knowledge to literary creations. In the 20th century, under the influence of Freud 's theory of psychological analysis, a number of writers adopted the \"stream of consciousness\" method of novel writing. The striking feature

of these novelists is their giving precedence to the depiction of the characters' mental and emotional reactions to external events, rather than the events themselves. In doing so, the novelists abandoned the conventional usages of realistic plot structure, characterization and description, and their works became successions of \"fleeting images of the external world mingled with thoughts and half-thoughts and shadows of thought attached to the immediate present or moving back and forth in memory.\" James Joyce and Virginia Woolf are the two best known novelists of the \"stream of consciousness\". 3. Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in the history of American literature in the 19th century. Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as \"the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively\". Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Over-soul, the individual and Nature. The most important representatives are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. 4. Renaissance

Renaissance in European history refers to the period from 14th century to 17th century. \"Renaissance\" means \"revivalhe revival of interest in Ancient Greek and Roman culture and getting rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introducing new ideas that express

the interests of the rising bourgeoisie. It started in Italy and ended in England and Spain. Renaissance has two striking features. One is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature; the other is the keen interest in the activities of humanity. Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance. Thomas More and William Shakespeare are the best representatives of the English humanists. 5. Passive Romanticism

English romanticism began when Lyrical Ballad was published in 1798 and ended in 1832. It in effect is a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason. The romanticists who saw both the corruption of the feudal societies and the inhumanity of capitalism and felt that the society denied people their essential human needs. They were discontented with, and opposed to the development of capitalism. Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by the bourgeoisie, and by way of protest against capitalism development turned to the feudal past, i.e., the \"merry old English\as their ideal, or, \"frightened by the coming of industrialism and the nightmare towns of industry, they were turning to nature to nature for protection.\" These were the elder and sometimes called passive or escapist romantics, represented by Wordsworth and Coleridge. 6. Imagism

Imagism is a Movement in U.S. and English poetry characterized by

the use of concrete language and figures of speech, modern subject matter, metrical freedom, and avoidance of romantic or mystical themes, aiming at clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images. It grew out of the Symbolist Movement in 1912 and was initially led by Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and others. The Imagist manifesto that came out in 1912 showed three Imagist poetic principles: direct treatment of the “thing” (no fuss, frill or ornament), exclusion of superfluous words (precision and economy of expression), the rhyme of the musical phrase rather than the sequence of a metronome (free verse form and music). 7. The Local Color Movement

The local color movement came into particular prominence in America after the Civil War, perhaps as an attempt to recapture the glamour of a past era, or to portray the sections of the reunited country. Local color as a literary school emphasizes its setting, being concerned with the character of a district or of an era, as marked by its customs, dialects costumes, landscape or other peculiarities that have escaped standardizing cultural influences. In local color literature, one finds the dual influence of romanticism and realism since the author frequently looks away from ordinary life to distant lands, strange customs, or exotic scenes, but retains through minute detail a sense of fidelity and accuracy of description. Mark Twain is a representative of the American Local Colorism.

8. The Lost Generation

The Lost Generation is applied to the American writers who fought in the First World War, voluntarily exiled to Paris, and associated with the informal literary saloon of Gertrude Stein’s Paris home for a certain period of time. They were all disillusioned with the American Tradition of writing as well as the post-war American society. The most eloquent spokesman of the group is Earnest Hemingway. Other writers are Ezra Pound, Fitzgerald, etc..