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background：the Civil War affected both the social and the value system
(1)transformed from an agricultural one to an industrialized and commercialized one
(2)stimulated technological development
(3)stepped up urbanization
(4)people became dubious about the human nature and the charity of God The Gilded Age
2.American Realistic Period and English Realistic Period(Victorian Period)
common ground
(1)a great interest in the realities of life， aim at the interpretation of the actualities of any aspect of life
(2)what was brutal or filthy， the open portrayal of class struggle
(3)common people mostly depicted
differences(America)
(1)native trends in the realistic portrayal of the landscape and social surfaces
(2)perfect the dialect style
(3)concern about “local colorism”， a unique variation of American literary realism
3.American Naturalism： influenced by Darwin‘s evolutionary theory
(1)accept the more negative implications of it and use it to explain the behavior of those characters in litrary works
(2)inherited qualities， and habits confined by social forces are depicted
(3)theme： human “bestiality”， especially the sexual desire
(4)unpolished language
(5)philosophically， the truth is always partially hidden from the eyes of the individual， or beyond his control
(6)material source from the lower ranks of society portray misery and poverty
(7)naturalism is evolved from realism.author‘s tone in writing is less serious and sympathetic，more ironic and pessimistic
Mark Twain
1.works： Life on the Mississippi; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (trilogy of Mississippi); The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County; Innocents Abroad; The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg
2.features：
(1)paid more attention to the “life” of the Americans
(2)preferred to have his own region and people in his stories， i.e. “local colorism”
(3)concerned with the life of a small， well-defined region and the lower-class people
(4)nostalgic in a vanishing way of life and recorders of a present that faded before their eyes
(5)skillfully used the colloquialism， the language is simple， direct， faithful. protagonists spoke in vernacular， both realistically and symbolically
(6)his humor is remarkable， his humor is not only funny elements making people laugh， but a kind of artistic style to criticize the social injustice and satirize the decayed romanticism
3.Advantures of Huckleberry Finn： The climax is Huck‘s inner struggle on the Mississippi， between his affection for Jim and the laws， finally he follows his own good-hearted morality rather than the conventional village one
Huckleberry Finn： a typical American boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience”， innocent and rebel
Henry James
1.evaluation：fluenced by Freud， pioneer of “stream-of-consciousness”， founder of psychological realism
2.works：The Portrait of A Lady(masterpiece)：international themes
3.Daisy Miller
narrator： Frederick Winterbourne
Daisy Miller： Freedom an individuality， innocent， a pretty American Flirt
Emily Dickinson
1.worksfeatures：
(1)she uses a particular rhyme pattern， uses dashes and captical letters as a means of emphasis
(2)simplicity and plainness
(3)focus on a single image or symbol
(4)poems are personal and meditative
(5)personification 2.idea：skeptical about the relationship between man and nature， concerns religion， death， immortality， love， nature
3.works：This is my letter to the World; I heard a Fly buzz-when I died; Because I could not stop for Death
Theodore Dreiser1.works：Sister Carrie greatest work： An American Tragedy
2.trilogy of desire： The Financier; The Titan; The Stoic
3.idea：naturalist
(1)heredity and environment are the forces determining man‘s destiny， under what life was ironic， even tragic
(2)human beings‘ life was trapped into ’a welter of inscrutable forces‘
(3)Darwin‘s idea of “ survial of the fittest” is embodied as “kill or to be killed” in Dreiser’s works
(4)explain the insignificance of life and attack the conventional moral standards
(5)materialism is the core. man has a meaningless， endless search for satisfaction of his desires， desires for money
(6)sex is another human desire. sexual beauty symbolizes the social status
