美国精神_与美国文学课件.pptVIP

美国精神 American Spirit 美国文学Literature the pursuit for the independent self and freedom What Is an American? St. Jean De Crevecceur (1735-1813) Here is man free as he ought to be; nor is this pleasing equality so transitory as many others are…He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds…..Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions. (1782) Outline of American History 1607, Jamestown 1620, the Mayflower, the Puritans 1636, Harvard College 1771, Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography 1776, The Declaration of Independence 1861-1865: Civil War 1920s: the Jazz Age 1929: the Great Depression 1946: the Cold War 1960: John F. Kennedy 1972: Nixon’s visit to China 1980: Ronald Reagan 1989: the Fall of the Berlin Wall 2001: the Fall of the Twin Towers American Literature Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862): That government is best which governs least….That government is best which governs not at all……I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward…I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. (Civil Disobedience, 1849) Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864): Hester Prynne: from adultery to Able to Angel, “what we did had a consecration of its own.” (The Scarlet Letter, 1850) Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), The Old Man and the Sea (1952) A man is not made for defeat. He can be destroyed but not defeated J. D. Salinger: The Catcher In the Rye (1951) , Holden Caulfield is against the phony world John Updike: Rabbit, Run (1960), Harry Angstrom escapes from the confusing world Langston Hughes (1902-1967) Harlem What happens to dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or