美国文学史及作品选读Unit 7.ppt

Unit 7 American Naturalism: Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser and others American Naturalism American Naturalism: a new and harsher realism Historical Background American Naturalism American Naturalism: a new and harsher realism Historical Background American Naturalism Historical Background American Naturalism American Naturalism: a new and harsher realism Historical Background Herbert Spencer: Social Darwinism Freud’s psychology: unconsciousness decides one’s fate, largely from the childhood experience Chang Yaoxin: “Living in a cold, indifferent, and essentially Godless world, man was no longer free in any sense of the word. He was completely thrown upon himself for survival.” American Naturalism American Naturalism: a new and harsher realism American Naturalism American Naturalism: a new and harsher realism Under the influence of European writers such as Emile Zola, Thomas Hardy and George Eliot, American literary naturalism emerged in the 1890s as an outgrowth of American realism. American Naturalism American Naturalism: a new and harsher realism Naturalism vs. Realism American Naturalism American Naturalism: a new and harsher realism Naturalism vs. Realism Naturalism vs. Realism Chang Yaoxin： To some young writers just emerging, Howellsian realism was now too restrained and genteel in tone to tell the truth of the harsher realities of American life. …In the 1890s, French naturalism, with its new technique and new way of writing, appealed to the imagination of the younger generation like Stephen Crane, Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser. American Naturalism Chang Yaoxin: They tore the mask of gentility to pieces and wrote about the helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world, and his lack of dignity in face of the crushing forces of environment and heredity. They reported truthfully and objectively, with a passion for scientific accuracy and an overwhelming accumulation of factual detail. They painted life as it was lived in