Introduction
How to define American Literature
1. American literature is the literature produced in American English by American citizens.
2. “The first American literature was neither American nor really literature. It was not American because it was the work mainly of immigrants from England. It was not literature as we know it---- in the form of poetry, essay, or fiction---- but rather an interesting mixture of travel accounts and religious writings.”
Basic qualities of American Writers:
  Independent  individualistic
  Critical  innovative    humorous
Chapter One 
Colonial Period (1607-1775)
I. Historical Introduction
1. people:
Indians were native inhabitants.
Now Americans are mainly immigrants mostly from Europe, esp. from England.
2. early history:
1) America was first discovered by Columbus at the end of the 15th century.
2) In 1607, Captain John Smith led some Englishmen across the ocean. (Jamestown, Virginia)
3) In 1620, 102 passengers sailed on the ship Mayflower across the sea and settled on the new continent “New England.” (Plymouth, Massachusetts)
3. Why did Puritans come to America?
-
to reform the Church of England
- to have an entirely new church
- to escape religious persecution

* God’s chosen people
* To seek a new Garden of Eden
* To build “City of God on earth”
4. What is the Puritan?
      Puritan is English protestant, one division of Protestant (one division of Christianity, appeared in the 16th c, against the ruling Roman Catholic. In England, there were many divisions in protestant, for instance, Quakers, Baptism). They regarded the reformation of the Church under Elizabeth as incomplete, and called for its further “purification” from what they considered to be unscriptural and corrupt forms and ceremonies retained from the unreformed church.
        The 17th century American Puritans included two parts: one part of them were the creators of the Plymouth colony, called “Separatists”. They were so suppressed by the church of England that they sought escape. Those Separatists first went into exile to Holland, then were aboard “Mayflower” in 1620 and settled down in Plymouth. America, therefore, as an infant was born. They considered that the Church of England had become hopeless and advocated to separate from it since general reform would be useless. The other part was the Englishmen in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Though they came later than those of Plymouth colony, they were richer and better-educated.
5. What is the Puritanism?
        Puritanism is a religious and political movement that developed in England about the middle of the 16th century and later spread influence into the New England in America. Puritanism was a logical aftermath of the Renaissance, the Reformation, the establishment of the Church of England, and the growth of Presbyterianism. Through these movements, one sees emerging the right of the individual to political and religious independence.
    American Puritanism
    Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church, who came into existence in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them Puritans.
Across the pages of American literature Puritanism is written large. It may almost be considered the ethical mode of American thought. As an extreme form of the Protestant sensibility, Puritanism exaggerated those protestant traits---especially industry, frugality, hardships. They favored a disciplined, hard, somber, ascetic, harsh life. All these, according to Max Weber and other analysts of social history contributed to the rise of capitalism.
      As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind. American Puritanism also had an enduring influence on American literature. It had become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, so much a part of the national cultural at
mosphere, rather than a set of tenets. 
6. Puritanism in America       
1) Doctrines:
- Predestination
- Original sin and total depravity (human beings are basically evil.)
- Limited atonement (or the Salvation of a selected few)
monarchy 2) Puritan values (creeds):
Hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety, simple tastes.
Puritans are more practical, tougher, and to be ever ready for any misfortune and tragic failure.
They are optimistic.
7. Influence
American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought
and American literature.
American literature is based on a myth, i.e. the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden.
-  Puritanism can be compared with Chinese Confucianism.
II. Early American Writers and Poets
1. South, Jamestown, Virginia:
Captain John Smith---first American writer;  8 works
      Contributions: his description of America were filled with themes, myths, images, scenes, characters and events that were a foundation for the nation’s literature. He lured the Pilgrims into fleeing here and creating a New land.

版权声明：本站内容均来自互联网，仅供演示用，请勿用于商业和其他非法用途。如果侵犯了您的权益请与我们联系QQ:729038198，我们将在24小时内删除。