-
Anthology
of
Bri
and
Lit.:
Review
2010,6.18
Lec.
16
American Literature
I
．
Benjamin
Franklin (1706-1790):
Franklin is
credited as being foundational to
the
roots
of
American
values
and
character,
a
marriage
of
the
practical
and
democratic
Puritan
values
of
thrift,
hard
work,
education,
community
spirit,
self-governing
institutions,
and
opposition
to
authoritarianism
both
political
and
religious, with the scientific and
tolerant values of the Enlightenment.
Benjamin
Franklin’s
Literary
Achievements
1.
Poor
Richard's Almanac
Published
from 1732 to 1758 under the name of Richard
Saunders. It gives
advice
in
witticisms
and
maxims.
A
maxim
is
a
proverb
that
gives
practical
wisdom, which is
the hallmark of the book.
2.
Autobiography:
As an author, he had power of
expression, simplicity,
and subtle
humor. He was also sarcastic. His fullest
exposition of economic
individualism
and social mobility is found in his Autobiography
completed
in four stages between 1771
and 1790. The Autobiography is an inspiring
account
of
a
poor
boy's
rise
to
wealth
and
fame
and
fulfillment
of
the
American dream. It is a
book in the art of self-improvement. It is
significant
because, on the one hand,
it is a classic of its kind in American
literature,
and on the other hand, it
indicates the fact that Franklin was the spokesman
of
American
enlightenment.
Using
his
life
story
as
a
shining
example,
Franklin
eloquently
demonstrated
all
the
major
principles
of
the
enlightenment
in
America.
Franklin
embodied
the
transition
from
Puritan
piety,
idealism
and
provincialism
to
more
secular,
utilitarian,
and
cosmopolitan values of the American
enlightenment.
1
Anthology
of
Bri
and
Lit.:
Review
2010,6.18
Lec.
16
II Ralph
Waldo Emerson
(1803 1882) was an
American philosopher, essayist,
and
poet, best remembered for leading the
Transcendentalist movement of the
mid-19th century. He was seen as a
champion of individualism.
Emerson
gradually moved away from the religious and social
beliefs of his
contemporaries,
formulating and expressing the philosophy
of
Transcendentalism
in his 1836 essay,
Nature
. As a result of this
ground-breaking work he gave a
speech
entitled
The American
Scholar
in 1837, which was considered
to be
America's
Self-Reliance
is an essay
Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough
statement of one of Emerson's repeating
themes,
the need for each individual to
avoid conformity and false
consistency,
and
follow his
or her own instincts and
ideas
. It is the source of
one of Emerson's most famous quotes,
consistency is the hobgoblin of little
minds.
Transcendentalism
（超验主义）
was a group of new
ideas in literature,
religion, culture,
and philosophy that emerged in New England in the
early to
middle
19
th
century. It is
sometimes called
American
transcendentalism
to
distinguish it from other uses of the
word
transcendental
.
Transcendentalism began
as a protest
against the general state of culture and society,
and in particular, the
state of
intellectualism at Harvard and the doctrine of the
Unitarian church taught
at Harvard
Divinity School. Among transcendentalists' core
beliefs was
an ideal
spiritual state that 'transcends' the
physical and empirical
and
is realized only
through the
individual's intuition, rather than through the
doctrines of
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