Chapter 1
History and Anthology of American Literature
For English Majors Grade 2007
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Purpose of the course
Practical
spiritual
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Course Assessment
formative assessment (30%-50%)
summative assessment (50%-70%)
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Textbook and reference books
吴伟仁编， 《美国文学史及选读》 History and Anthology of American Literature（Volume 1, Volume 2) ，外语教学与研究出版社.
1、常耀信，《 美国文学简史》 （第二版），南开大学出版社，2003
2、胡荫桐，《美国文学新编》，外语教学与研究出版社,2001
3、童明，《 美国文学史》（A History of American Literature), 外语教学与研究出版社，2008
4、吴伟仁, 张强，《美国文学史及选读学习指南》 （一、二册), 民族大学出版社，2006
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The history of American literature
A short history (compared with …)
An impactful effect
Five stages:
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Chapter one
The Literature of Colonial America
Focal Points:
1. Characteristics of the Colonial literature
2. The first American writer: Captain John Smith
3. American Puritanism: a dominant factor in American thought and American literature
4. Anne Bradstreet and her poem
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Background information
The colonization of America
the new world
In October 1492, Christopher Columbus --- the American continent
In 1497, John Cabot --- North America
Jamestown in Virginia--- profit motive
Plymouth in Massachusetts ---religious motive
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1. Characteristics of the Colonial literature
The first American literature was neither American nor really literature.
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In content: the perils and frustrations that challenged the courage of America’s first settlers
In form: diaries, travel books, letters, journals, sermons, histories and prose
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William Bradford & John Winthrop
The History Of Plymouth Plantation
by William Bradford, first governor of Plymouth
pilgrims
The History Of New England
by John Winthrop, first governor of Boston
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Excerpt from the History Of Plymouth Plantation
Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation…, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies, no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succour…. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men? And what multitude there might be of them they knew not….
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The simplicity and earnestness of the book, with its direct reporting, make it readable and moving.
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Poem by William Bradford
From my years young in days of youth,
God did make known to me His Truth,
And call’d me from my native place
For to enjoy the Means of Grace,
In wilderness He did me guide
And in strange lands for me provide.
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2. The first American writer: Captain John Smith
Captain John Smith
An English soldier of fortune
Famous explorer and colonist
Establisher of Jamestown, Virginia (the first permanent English settlement in North America)
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Jamestown in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607 under the leadership of John Smith
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The first book of Captain John Smith
A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)
Proclaiming the merits of the new land Jamestown Colony
Dissatisfactions and complains
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Eight books
The Second Book:
A Map Of Virginia: with a Description of the Country (1612)
Another book
General History of Virginia(1624)
Pocahontas
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Pocahontas, the daughter of Native American Chief Powhatan, helped maintain peace between the Native Americans and English colonists in early America.
Pocahontas (motion picture):
animated musical loosely based on the life of Pocahontas. Released in 1995, this Walt Disney animation won an Academy Award for Best Original Music and Best Song. This film features the Indian princess singing the Broadway styled tune, “Colors of the Wind.”
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3. American Puritanism
Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.
The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church. The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them.
The American Puritans, like their English brothers, are idealists. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace form God. But due to the grim struggle for living in the new continent , they became more and more practical.
American Puritanism is so much a part of the national atmosphere rather than a set of tenets.
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The sovereignty of God, the supreme authority of the Bible, and the irresistibility of God’s will for man in every act of his life from cradle to grave.
One factor that affected and circumscribed Puritan writing was the conviction that all events, however small, are contrived by God, or else the Devil
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By nature trees do rot when they are grown
And plums and apples thoroughly ripe do fall,
And corn and grass are in their season mown,
And time brings down what is both strong and tall.
But plants new set to be eradicate,
And buds new blown, to have so short a date,
Is by his hand alone that guides nature and fate
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Common puritan traits
Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were the Puritan values that dominated much of the early American writing.
Their lives were disciplined and hard, they insisted on living a simple life, working hard, doing things earnestly, having self-discipline, strongly against the bodily or sensual pleasures, always fighting for perfection
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Looking upon themselves as a chosen people
When the Pilgrim Fathers landed, they fell upon their knees --- and upon the aborigines.
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Questions to ponder
1. What is Puritanism?
2. Please appreciate Anne Bradstreet’s “To my Dear and Loving Husband”
3. How do you understand the historical background of the colonial period of America from the movie Pocahontas?
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