美国文学资料.docVIP

American Literature Literature Preface When you enter the world of?literature, your life will be more colorful and meaningful! ?Definition -Literature is writing for the sake of art. --Art is the expression and creation of beauty. --Beauty: combination of qualities that give pleasure to the senses or to the moral sense or to the intellect. ----Aristotle: harmonious; symmetrical ----Kant: pure reasoning (subjective creativity) ----Confucian: generosity -A body of written works related by subject-matter (e.g. the literature of computing),by language or place of origin(e.g. Russian literature),or by prevailing cultural standards of merit. -Broader sense: a totality of written or printed works -Last sense: oral, dramatic, and broadcast compositions -19th century: imaginative, creative, or artistic value -More restrictive: poetry, drama, and fiction -20th century: non-fictional writing -Russian formalists: define literariness in terms of linguistic deviations References: Peter Widdowson, Literature, 1998 Origination Literature comes from art and art comes from work. primitive activities-physical--hunting????????????????????????????? --fishing?????????? ????????? -mental--witchcraft ---content: singing??????????????????????????????????????????????????? dancing??????????????????????????????????????????????????? poetry ---purpose: utility ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? pleasure??????????????????????????????????????? ---reason: physiological????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?psychologicalWitchcraft-religion ?????????? -art--literature: myth poem prose novel drama ?????????????? --fine art: drawing painting sculpture ballet dance music Classification ?Literature-fiction--novels?????????????????? ?--short stories??????????????????? --plays??????????????????? --poems?????????? -non-fiction---description??????????????????????