agentina美国文学的名词解释

2021年1月21日发(作者：自虐)
An Outline of American Literature
by Kathryn VanSpanckeren
glossary

Abolitionism

Active movement to end slavery in the U.S. North before the Civil War in
the 1860s.

Allusion

An implied or indirect reference in a literary text to another text.

Beatnik

Artistic
and
literary
rebellion
against
established
society
of
the
1950s
and
early
1960s,
associated
with
Jack
Kerouac,
Allen
Ginsberg,
and
others.

suggests
holiness
(
and
suffering
(
down

Boston Brahmins

Influential
and
respected
19th-century
New
England
writers
who
maintained
the

Calvinism

Strict
theological
doctrine
of
the
French
Protestant
church
reformer
John
Calvin
(1509-1564)
and
the
basis
of
Puritan
society.
Calvin
held
that
all
humans were born sinful and only God s grace (not the church) could save
a person from hell.

Captivity narrative

Account of capture by Native American tribes, such as those created by
writers Mary Rowlandson and John Williams in colonial times.

Character writing

Popular
17th-
and
18th-century
literary
sketch
of
a
character
who
represents a group or type.

Civil War

The war (1861-1865) between the northern U.S. states, which remained in
the
Union,
and
the
southern
states,
which
seceded
and
formed
the
Confederacy. The victory of the North ended slavery and preserved the
Union.


Conceit

Extended
metaphor.
Term
used
to
describe
Renaissance
metaphysical
poetry
in England and colonial poetry, such as that of Anne Bradstreet, in
colonial America.
Decadents

Late
19th-
and
early
20th- century

artists
and
writers,
chiefly British and French, involved with
endings, decay, and artificiality.

Deconstruction

Controversial
mode
of
textual
analysis
that
can
reveal
hidden
ideological
assumptions.
Questions
hierarchical
thinking
in
which
one
term
is
privileged over another (e.g. culture versus nature, man versus woman).
Draws on thought of French theorist Jacques Derrida, who elaborated on
linguist
Ferdinand
de
Saussure
s
vision
of
language
as
a
system
of
differences.

Deism

An
18th-century
Enlightenment
religion
emphasizing
reason,
not
miracles;
partly a reaction against Calvinism and religious superstition.

Election

A
Puritan
doctrine
in
which
God

or
chooses,
the
individuals
who
will enter heaven according to His divine will.

Ellipsis

Omission from a text of one or more words that are obviously understood
but that must be supplied to make a construction gramatically correct.

Enlightenment

An
18th-century
movement
that
focused
on
the
ideals
of
good
sense,
benevolence,
and
a
belief
in
liberty,
justice,
and
equality
as
the
natural
rights of man.

Existentialism

A
philosophical
movement
embracing
the
view
that
the
suffering
individual
must
create
meaning
in
an
unknowable,
chaotic,
and
seemingly
empty
universe.

Expressionism

Post-World War I artistic movement, of German origin, that distorted
appearances to communicate inner emotional states.

Faust

Literary character who sells his soul to the devil in order to become
all-knowing, or godlike; protagonist of plays by English Renaissance
dramatist Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) and German Romantic writer
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).
Feminism

The
view,
articulated
in
the
19th
century,
that
women
are
inherently
equal
to
men
and
deserve
equal
rights
and
opportunities.
More
recently,
a
social
and political movement that took hold in the United States in the late
1960s, soon spreading globally.


Genre

A category of literary forms (novel, lyric poem, epic, for example).


Hartford Wits

Patriotic
but
conservative
late
18th-century
literary
circle
centered
at
Yale College in Connecticut (also known as the Connecticut Wits).

Hudibras

A
mock-heroic
satire
by
English
writer
Samuel
Butler
(1612-1680).
Hudibras was imitated by early revolutionary- era satirists.

Image

Concrete representation of an object, or something seen.

Imagists

A group of mainly American poets, including Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell,
who used sharp visual images and colloquial speech; active from 1912 to
1914.

Irony

A
meaning
(often
contradictory)
concealed
behind
the
apparent
meaning
of
a word or phrase.


Knickerbocker School

New York City-based writers of the early 1800s who imitated English and
European
literary
fashions.

literature
-
Popular
literature
written for entertainment.


McCarthy era

The
period
of
the
Cold
War
(late
1940s
and
early
1950s)
during
which
U.S.
Senator
Joseph
McCarthy
pursued
American
citizens
whom
he
and
his
followers
suspected
of
being
members
or
former
members
of,
or
sympathizers
with,
the
Communist
party.
His
efforts
included
the
creation
of

in
various
professions
--
rosters
of
people
who
were
excluded
from working in those jobs. McCarthy ultimately was denounced by his
Senate colleagues.

Metaphysical poetry

Intricate
type
of
17th-century
English
poetry
employing
wit
and
unexpected images.

Middle Colonies

Present-day Atlantic or eastern U.S. states -- colonial New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and sometimes Delaware -- known for commercial
activities centering on New York City and Philadelphia.

Midwest

The central area of the United States, from the Ohio River to the Rocky
Mountains,
including
the
Prairie
and
Great
Plains
regions
(also
known
as
the Middle West).

Millennialism

Seventeenth-century Puritan belief that Jesus Christ would return to
Earth and inaugurate 1,000 years of peace and prosperity, as prophesied
in the New Testament.

Mock-epic

A parody using epic form (also known as mock-heroic).


Modernism

International
cultural
movement
after
World
War
I
expressing
disillusionment
with
tradition
and
interest
in
new
technologies
and
visions.

Motif

A recurring element, such as an image, theme, or type of incident.

Muckrakers

American
journalists
and
novelists
(1900-1912)
whose
spotlight
on
corruption in business and government led to social reform.

Multicultural

The creative interchange of numerous ethnic and racial subcultures.