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【摘要】文学是时代的镜子,它植根于一定的社会现实和社会思潮,文学的发展也受制于它所处的时代。通过对美国殖民地时期到一战后文学的简要分析,本文展示和印证了文学与社会之间的这种关系。
【关键词】美国文学 时代 社会现实 社会思潮
【Abstract】Literature is always the mirror of its times and is always rooted in certain social reality and social thoughts. Literature develops with its times. To illustrate and certify this point, this paper analyzes the American literature from Colonial period to the Post-World War I period with a focus on the relationship between literature and social reality and social thoughts.
【Key words】American literature, times, social reality, social thoughts
1 Introduction
Literature is always the mirror of its times and is always rooted in certain social realty and social thoughts. This is also true with American literature and social reality and social thoughts play a most important part in the development of each literary form and stage of American literature. In order to have a better understanding of American literature, it is very important to examine the social reality and social thoughts in which American literature is rooted.
2 How American Literature Develops with Its Times
To start with, American Puritanism takes the dominant position in the colonial ideology. The principal reason is that the first settlers are mostly serious and religious people advocating highly religious and moralistic values and principles. Thus, influenced by these social thoughts, the literature in this period takes the form of religious and moralistic Puritanism, which mainly deals with the themes of hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.
Later, in the 18th century, the colonial people are trying to break away from the British rule. On such a political background, the literature takes the form of Rationalism, which advocates reason, independence and revolutionary ideas. The writers at that time are mostly political and patriotic, reflecting the people’s strong political desires. One of the representative works in that period is Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis, which consists of a series of pamphlets and gives much impetus to North American colonies’ independence movement.
Then, after America gains independence, America’s industry and economy begin to grow rapidly and America becomes a strong nation. With the independence and its various legal documents, American people are filled with the sense of democracy and equality. Moreover, the westward expansion also contributes to the formation of the American people’s character. All these factors together produce a strong sense of optimism and hope among the American people. Thus, the literary expression of this romantic feeling—Romanism, comes into being.The new literary form seeks moral enthusiasm and faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception. In this kind of writings, writers admire wild beauty (not man-made) and feelings (not thought). This is exactly the reflection of the contemporary reality. The romantic stage comes to an end when the Civil War breaks out. The Civil War brings the Romantic Period to an end. Both social and political life teaches men that life is not so good. People begin to think more about the realistic world. Increasing industrialization and mechanization produce extremes of wealth and poverty. In the meantime, life for the millions is fast becoming a veritable struggle for survival. Thus, the realism comes into being in the latter half of the 19thcetury as a reflection against “the lies of Romanism”. It describes the life as it really is, whatever good or bad, and expresses the concern for the world of the commonplace. For example, Mark Twain’s works are mostly the reflections of the social life of that period, such as The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, which explores notions of race and identity and is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River in the 19th century.
With the development of industry and modern science, naturalistic stage emerges. The social determiner is the fact that the development of industry and modern science makes intelligent minds begin to see that man is no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent and essentially godless world. They see that life is governed by the two forces of heredity and environment, forces absolutely beyond man’s control. Therefore, naturalist writers write about this topic. Of the naturalistic writings in that period, Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) is a representative work.,which centers on Maggie, a young girl who is driven to unfortunate circumstances by poverty and solitude.
In addition, the writings about “the Lost Generation” are also perfect illustration of the social thoughts after the World War I. Right after World War I, American youths are quickly disillusioned for they feel they have fought a senseless war. They lose their traditional moral orientation and fail to establish a new one. In gloom and despair, people find themselves living in spiritual wasteland. They become unsatisfied with the society. Many writers in this period write critical works about postwar life, such as Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to the Arms, Faulkerner’s The Sound and Fury, and Eliot’s The Waste Land. Yet in this period, American literature achieves a new diversity and reaches its greatest heights ever.
3 Conclusion
So far, this paper has briefly analyzed the American literature from Colonial period to the Post-World War I period with a focus on the relationship between literature and social reality and social thoughts. From the above analyses, it can be clearly seen how each stage of American literature develops with the social reality and social thought of its times and how the social factors influence the literature of each period. So, it is of great significance to look into the social factors in literature studies.
References：
[1]Wu, Weiren. History and Anthology of American Literature[M].Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,1990.
[2]Chang, Yaoxin. A Survey of American Literature[M].Tianjin: Nankai University Press,2008.
【基金项目】陕西省教育厅科研计划项目资助(项目编号14JK1849)。
【关键词】美国文学 时代 社会现实 社会思潮
【Abstract】Literature is always the mirror of its times and is always rooted in certain social reality and social thoughts. Literature develops with its times. To illustrate and certify this point, this paper analyzes the American literature from Colonial period to the Post-World War I period with a focus on the relationship between literature and social reality and social thoughts.
【Key words】American literature, times, social reality, social thoughts
1 Introduction
Literature is always the mirror of its times and is always rooted in certain social realty and social thoughts. This is also true with American literature and social reality and social thoughts play a most important part in the development of each literary form and stage of American literature. In order to have a better understanding of American literature, it is very important to examine the social reality and social thoughts in which American literature is rooted.
2 How American Literature Develops with Its Times
To start with, American Puritanism takes the dominant position in the colonial ideology. The principal reason is that the first settlers are mostly serious and religious people advocating highly religious and moralistic values and principles. Thus, influenced by these social thoughts, the literature in this period takes the form of religious and moralistic Puritanism, which mainly deals with the themes of hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.
Later, in the 18th century, the colonial people are trying to break away from the British rule. On such a political background, the literature takes the form of Rationalism, which advocates reason, independence and revolutionary ideas. The writers at that time are mostly political and patriotic, reflecting the people’s strong political desires. One of the representative works in that period is Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis, which consists of a series of pamphlets and gives much impetus to North American colonies’ independence movement.
Then, after America gains independence, America’s industry and economy begin to grow rapidly and America becomes a strong nation. With the independence and its various legal documents, American people are filled with the sense of democracy and equality. Moreover, the westward expansion also contributes to the formation of the American people’s character. All these factors together produce a strong sense of optimism and hope among the American people. Thus, the literary expression of this romantic feeling—Romanism, comes into being.The new literary form seeks moral enthusiasm and faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception. In this kind of writings, writers admire wild beauty (not man-made) and feelings (not thought). This is exactly the reflection of the contemporary reality. The romantic stage comes to an end when the Civil War breaks out. The Civil War brings the Romantic Period to an end. Both social and political life teaches men that life is not so good. People begin to think more about the realistic world. Increasing industrialization and mechanization produce extremes of wealth and poverty. In the meantime, life for the millions is fast becoming a veritable struggle for survival. Thus, the realism comes into being in the latter half of the 19thcetury as a reflection against “the lies of Romanism”. It describes the life as it really is, whatever good or bad, and expresses the concern for the world of the commonplace. For example, Mark Twain’s works are mostly the reflections of the social life of that period, such as The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, which explores notions of race and identity and is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River in the 19th century.
With the development of industry and modern science, naturalistic stage emerges. The social determiner is the fact that the development of industry and modern science makes intelligent minds begin to see that man is no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent and essentially godless world. They see that life is governed by the two forces of heredity and environment, forces absolutely beyond man’s control. Therefore, naturalist writers write about this topic. Of the naturalistic writings in that period, Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) is a representative work.,which centers on Maggie, a young girl who is driven to unfortunate circumstances by poverty and solitude.
In addition, the writings about “the Lost Generation” are also perfect illustration of the social thoughts after the World War I. Right after World War I, American youths are quickly disillusioned for they feel they have fought a senseless war. They lose their traditional moral orientation and fail to establish a new one. In gloom and despair, people find themselves living in spiritual wasteland. They become unsatisfied with the society. Many writers in this period write critical works about postwar life, such as Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to the Arms, Faulkerner’s The Sound and Fury, and Eliot’s The Waste Land. Yet in this period, American literature achieves a new diversity and reaches its greatest heights ever.
3 Conclusion
So far, this paper has briefly analyzed the American literature from Colonial period to the Post-World War I period with a focus on the relationship between literature and social reality and social thoughts. From the above analyses, it can be clearly seen how each stage of American literature develops with the social reality and social thought of its times and how the social factors influence the literature of each period. So, it is of great significance to look into the social factors in literature studies.
References：
[1]Wu, Weiren. History and Anthology of American Literature[M].Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,1990.
[2]Chang, Yaoxin. A Survey of American Literature[M].Tianjin: Nankai University Press,2008.
【基金项目】陕西省教育厅科研计划项目资助(项目编号14JK1849)。