2014年10月13日 星期一

American Literature Week Three-1820 to 1865 Overview and "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving

A. Before formal class
a. Separation of powers-- Executive, Legislation, and Judiciary.
b. The most important thing which we definitely need to learn in university is the strategy of how to develop, manage, and access to the literature.
c. Define what "American Renaissance" and "American Transcendentalism" are.
   (a) American Renaissance-- American Renaissance was the period during 1876–1917 characterized by renewed national self-confidence. The American preoccupation with national identity in this period was expressed by modernism and technology as well as academic classicism. It expressed its self-confidence in new technologies, such as the wire cables of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
   (b) American Transcendentalism-- Transcendentalism is a religious and philosophical movement that was developed during the late 1820s and 1830s in the Eastern region of the United States as a protest against the general state of spirituality. Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature.

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B. Correction of Quiz 1&2
a. Immigrants of America mostly refers to Spanish, Dutch, and enslaved Africans, not British.
b. Great Awakening is a religious revival that maintain the truth of revealed religion while emphasizing the importance of human emotions and feelings such as the author, Jonathan Edwards. 
c. British Romanticism is almost the same as American Romanticism. Both of them are put focuses on individualistic, humanistic, and emotional.
d. Every period is the reaction or respond to the previous period such as Renaissance called "Late Classicism" and Romanticism call "Late Renaissance".
* Take the periods of British literature for example--
1+. Classicism  2-. Dark age (Medieval)  3+. Renaissance  4-. Neoclassicism 
5+. Romanticism  6-. Victorian Literature  7+. Modernism
e. Manifest destiny was the widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent. Historians have for the most part agreed that there are three basic themes to Manifest Destiny. That is the reason why American always spread their Values of Ideas to everybody else over the world.
f. Transcendentalism never really a formalized movement, but instead a shared belief among a group of writers in the creative powers of the individual mind and the need to question established institutions and traditions. 

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C. The file of American Literature made Simple
a. Enlightenment Period-- There is a belief in this period that human mind could comprehend. For example, Benjamin Franklin wrote Poor Richard's Almanack. (Page 166)
                                           

b. Colonial literature mostly are navigation logbook, political brief, or propaganda. In 1960s, due to the rising of feminism, Anne Bradstreet was put into discussion in American literature.
c. Revolutionary literature-- The Declaration of Independence is the most representative work of this period and this declaration effects the independence of France and Canada. Also, the Federalist is a well-known book as well. Its authors are James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.
*Quotation: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." (Page 166)

d."The best government is that which governs least." This sentence is from Common Sense by Thomas Paine. But in fact, Thoreau is the first person who said this sentence in his Civil Disobedience. (Page 167)
  Thoreau  v.s. Thomas


e. Famous quotation by Benjamin Franklin from an Advertisement video--
   (a) Sleeping fox catches no ham.
   (b) A money saved is a money earned.
   (c) Time is money.                                                                           (Page 166)

f. Romantic literature-- "Inferiority complex" is a lack of self-worth, a doubt and uncertainty, and feelings of not measuring up to standards. It is often subconscious, and is thought to drive afflicted individuals to overcompensate, resulting either in spectacular achievement or extreme asocial behavior. The term was coined to indicate a lack of covert self-esteem. (Page 167)
* the representative author of this age: Washington Irving. He was an American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820).
Washington Irving

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D. Vocabulary
a. immigrants-- "Migran" stands for move.
b. ratify-- is to make an agreement official which mean it need to be approved by congress or legislative institution.
c. concession-- something that is allowed or given up, often in order to end a disagreement, or the act of allowing or giving this
d. electoral college--  a group of people whose job is to choose a political or religious leader
e. manifest-- "Mani" stands for manipulating.

2014年10月6日 星期一

American Literature Week Two-To 1820 and Poetry by Anne Bradstreet

A. Correction of Quiz and Overview
a. Puritans took May Flower to Northern America cuz King Henry the eighth wanted to marry Anne Boleyn and make her to be the queen. However, getting divorced is not allowed for a Catholic at the moment, so he decided to divide from the Pope. After that, he created an English religion called Church of England (Pilgrims). When this new religion came to the US, they called it Episcopal Church. Nowadays, Queen and the royal family is the head of  Church of England and Episcopal Church.


Henry VIII Boleyn

b. From 1770 to 1820, there can be separate into two different periods. Literature in these periods are something like propaganda or political belief.
*  Propaganda is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented.
c. The first city in American is St. Augustine in Florida which is established by Spanish.
 St. Augustine City

d. The first democracy country is the Great Britain because of their successful parliamentary politics. 
* The reason that Scottish would dare to fight for independence is because they got lots of oil fields in their region and they're rich. (Programme on BBC)
e. Prohibition is the legal act of prohibiting the manufacture, storage, transportation and sale of alcohol including alcoholic beverages. The main reason is that Puritans considered that alcohol drinks was bad for human body and drinking them was an unrespectable behaviour to their God in 1920s.

f. The concept of "predestined"-- Who would be redeemed or who would become election(the chosen people) is destined.

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B. The file of American Literature made Simple (Colonial Period)
a. Johnathon Edwards and his best work- the Freedom of the Will.
Quotation- "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over a fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked."(Page 166)
* It was first published in 1754 and examines the nature and the status of humanity's will. The book takes the classic Calvinist viewpoint on total depravity of the will and the need of humanity for God's grace in salvation.
b. "Jamestown" this name is originated from the King James the first edited the first English version of Bible (King James Version). (Page 165)

c. When British came to American, no matter they were Puritans or Pilgrims, all regarded them as British.
d. Virginia, a city located in the middle of the northern US and southern US. Many presidents of United States were born here. (Page 165)
Virginia State

e. Anne Bradstreet is the Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up. She represented the women's subjective angles (subjectivity) at the time. (Page 165-166)
* The Muses are the goddesses of the inspiration of literature, science andthe arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths.
     Anne Bradstreet
                                            Muses

f. Edward Taylor wrote a lot of meditations (冥思文). (Page 166)
g. Sinner and original sin-- Because human are the sons of Adam and Eva, God sent Jesus to relieve our sin. (Page 166)

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C. The file of American Literature made Simple (Revolution Period)
a. Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence-- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (Page 166)
                                                             Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence

b. Benjamin Franklin-- Who knows almost everything and is a optimistic religious scholar. Famous works-- Poor Richard's Almanack and Autobiography. (Page 166)
                            

c. Common Sense (Thomas Paine)-- The least government is the best government. (Page 167)
d. James Madison  and The Federalist  -- Legislative, Executive, and Justiciary (The Separation of Powers)
e. In 1603, John Smith is the first colony government and he is also the first American author. He cultivated tobacco to earn money and bought a land named Virginia. Cuz both Pilgrims and Puritans are regarded them as a part of the Great Britain.
f. In American literature, "fathers" are not mentioned.

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a. pilgrim--someone who travels a long way to a holy place for a religious reason 
   Pilgrims-- the religious of Church of England
b. propaganda-- "pro" stands for "on favor of"
c. subversive-- trying to destroy or damage something, especially an established political system
d. steeple-- a pointed structure on the top of a church tower
e. emigrate-- "emi" stands for moving.
f. abolish-- "ab" contains negative meanings. eg. abbore you 怨恨你
g. ratification and congress-- legislative
* ratify-- to make an agreement official
h. domain-- "dom" stnads for house.
i. acquitted-- accept quitting
j. referendum-- refer to your approval/agreement
k. offspring-- a person's children
l. didst = did (old german word)



2014年9月29日 星期一

American Literature Week One-Orientation

A. Before formal course (syllabus)
a. About period and genre -- There is a feature genre in every period.
b. Although The US got independent in 1776, American literature need to trace back to 1492 when Columbus founded the Americas.
c. Christopher Columbus got sponsor from Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle. They wanted to find India; however, they arrived the Americas.
Christopher Columbus


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B. Crucial Issue about Literature
a. What is that? What is that for? Why should we care? 
b. The objective of this course is to make us know how to read, understand, and appreciate American Literature. 
*American literature is the literature written or produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies.
c. We should take notes in class and do the research after class.
d. The major literary genre in American literature is short story.

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C. The Intro Video (I)
a. What is literature? Why do people read literature? --> Our own definition is really important. We need to find out what's in our mind. Others' definition can just be regarded as some sort of reference.
b. The most important difference between literature and some other forms (such as news, a dissertation, etc...) is Imagination. Literature is full of imagination.
c.  Robert Frost's (the author of "The Road Not Taken") definition of literature- performance in words.
d. Modern definition of literature defined by five adjectives to describe which are beautiful, intellectual, emotional, imaginative, and artistic.
e. Analytical approach-- about the plot (What happened in the story?), character (Who's the bad guy?), setting (How to tell the story?), and point of view (Who tells the story? Is the POV omniscient or first-person ?) 
f. Thematic approach included what's about and the time appears as well. eg. Oedipus is a man who must learn form suffering.
Oedipus

g. Three qualities of American literature-- Independent, Individualistic, Innovative (3I) and Critical.


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D. The Intro Video (II)
a. In 1603, John Smith is the first colony government and he is also the first American author. He cultivated tobacco to earn money and bought a land named Virginia. Cuz both Pilgrims and Puritans are regarded them as a part of the Great Britain.
  John Smith Virginia

b. The Mayflower-- The Mayflower was the Pilgrim ship that in 1620 made the historic voyage from England to the New World. The ship carried 102 passengers in two core groups – religious Separatists coming from Holland and a largely non-religious settler group from London.

c. The first American man of letter is Washington Irving who wrote "Rip Van Winkle" which contained American landscapes and it's the first literature piece.
*"Rip Van Winkle" is originated from a Dutch story. It is about a hen pecker but Washington Irving added some historical facts.
Washington Irving

d. British is not the first one who opened up the Northern America. French and Spanish are much earlier. Frenches were looking for fur and they proclaimed the Edict of Nantes. 
* Louisiana (a state which is New Orleans located ) used to belong to France; however, the Louis XIV(14th) sold it.   
LouisianaLouis 14

e. Some Irish came to the Northern America later because of the Great Famine.
f. Quotation from "Common Sense" (Thomas Paine)-- The least government is the best government.
g. Post-Independence -- The politics are much more than authors.

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E. Vocabulary
a. man of letter 文人 -- literacy 識字的人
b. Innovative-- renovative is originate form November
c. diversity-- di means "to cut or rend into two" eg. divide, divorce, and different