Lesson 10 The Sad Young Men.ppt

Lesson Ten The Sad Young MenRod W.Horton and Herbert W Edwards,Background information,1.About the authors Rod and Edwards are joint authors of the book,Backgrounds of American Literary Thoughts(1967),from which this piece of text is taken.,2.The Sad Young Men and the Lost Generation The two terms refer to the same group of people.The first name was created by F.Scott Fitzgerald in his book All the Sad Young Men and second by Gertrude Stein.These names were applied to the disillusioned intellectuals and aesthetes of the years following the World War.When the World War broke out,some of them took part in“the war to end wars”only to find that modern warfare was not as glorious or heroic as they thought it to be.,Disillusioned and disgusted by the frivolous,greedy,and heedless way of life in America they began to write about their own experience in the war.They were basically expatriates who left America and formed community of writers and artists in Paris,involved with other European novelists and poets in their experimentation on new modes of thought and expression.These writers were named by Gertrude Stein,also an expatriate,“The Lost Generation”.(Hemingway:the representative),The Lost Generation,3.海明威与“迷惘的一代”Hemingway and the“Lost Generation”作为“迷惘的一代”的代言人,海明威在他的两部早期成名作太阳照常升起和永别了,武器中描写了当时青年一代的幻灭感以及对传统道德观念的反叛精神和强烈的反战情绪。“迷惘”是他创作个性的显著特点,他一生都在迷惘中追求.海明威与“迷惘的一代”结下了不解之缘,他创作的整个思想基础都是在“迷惘的一代”时期奠定的。,Ernest Miller Hemingway(July 21,1899 July 2,1961)was an American writer and journalist.He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris,and one of the veterans of World War I later known as the Lost Generation.He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea,and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.Hemingways distinctive writing style is characterized by economy and understatement,and had a significant influence on the development of twentieth-century fiction writing.His protagonists are typically stoical men who exhibit an ideal described as grace under pressure.Many of his works are now considered classics of American literature.,Hemingway in Milan 1918 At home,4.The Beat Generation It refers to a group of American poets and writers and novelists of the 1950s and 1960s on romantic rebellion against the culture and value systems of America.They used literary works of loose structure and slang diction to express their revolt.They opposed the prevailing“establishment”values with an anti-intellectual freedom,often associated with religious ecstasy,visionary states,or the effect of drugs.The groups ideology includes some measure of primitivism,Orientalism,experimentation and eccentricity.,垮掉的一代(the Beat Generation)第二次世界大战后在美国出现的一个文学流派。有人根据英文“Beats”和“Beatniks”(“垮掉青年”的俗称)译成“避世青年”或“疲塌派”，也有人取其诗歌的部分特征，称为“节拍运动”或“敲打诗派”。“垮掉青年”对战后美国社会现实不满，又迫于麦卡锡主义的反动政治高压，便以“脱俗”方式来表示抗议。他们奇装异服，蔑视传统观念，厌弃学业和工作，长期浪迹于底层社会，形成了独特的社会圈子和处世哲学。50年代初，他们的反叛情绪表现为一股“地下文学”潮流，向保守文化的统治发动冲击。多数垮掉派文人来自东部。著名的有杰克凯鲁亚克、艾伦金斯堡、威廉 巴罗斯、格雷戈里。柯尔索、约翰克莱伦霍尔姆斯、塞缪尔克雷姆和加里斯奈德等。1950年，凯鲁亚克与巴罗斯合写侦探故事未成，却各自完成了一部垮,掉派小说小镇与城市(1951)和吸毒者(1953)。霍尔姆斯从中受到启发，在小说走吧(1952)中更明确地反映纽约“垮掉青年”的生活感受，又在纽约时报上鼓吹垮掉派文学，但这种尝试受到东部学院派势力的压抑，他们就往西部寻求同道和发展基地。当时洛杉矶近郊的西威尼斯有个以劳伦斯李普顿为首的垮掉派组织，他于1955年发表小说神圣的野蛮人。在旧金山，以劳伦斯弗林盖梯的“城市之光”书店为中心，聚合了一群立志从事“文艺复兴”的反学院派诗人，他们的首领即是后来成为“垮掉的一代”理论家的肯尼斯雷克思罗斯。,The Beat Generation,5.F.Scott Fitzgerald He(September 24,1896 December 21,1940)was an American writer of novels and short stories,whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age,a term he coined himself.He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth centurys greatest writers.Fitzgerald is considered a member of the Lost Generation of the Twenties.He finished four novels,including The Great Gatsby,with another published posthumously,and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.,He is a most representative figure of the 1920s and a literary spokesman of the Jazz Age.His fictions best embody the spirit of the Jazz Age,in which he shows a particular interest in the upper-class society,especially the upper-class people.Young men and women in the 1920s had a sense of reckless confidence not only about money but about life in general.Plunging into their personal adventures,engaging themselves in casual sex and heavy drinking,they took risks and spent money extravagantly and enjoyed themselves to their hearts content.But beneath their masks of relaxation and joviality there was only sterility,meaninglessness and futility and s spiritual wasteland.,F.Scott Fitzgerald and his wife,The Great Gatsby,盖茨比是美国中西部的一个穷孩子，他爱上了一位“大家闺秀”黛西。战争爆发了，盖茨比去海外参战。当他戴着军功勋章回来时，戴西已经嫁给了芝加哥的富家子弟汤姆。盖茨比悟到：因为他没有钱，所以他失去了黛西；如果他有钱，有比汤姆更多的钱，他就能夺回黛西。于是他怀着对黛西的痴情，怀着献身爱情的理想，开始了顽强的奋斗。他想方设法甚至不择手段赚钱，终于成为一个有钱人。他在黛西住所的海湾对面买下了一幢豪华的别墅，举行盛大的宴会，想以次来吸引黛西。他通过黛西表哥卡罗威的帮忙，终于在跟心爱的姑娘分手五年后再次同她见面，并向她表白了他不变的爱情。黛西虽然为他的忠诚和执着感动，对他现有的财富不免动心，也对粗野不忠的tom深感失望，但她最终没有勇气离开她的丈夫离开她的家。在一次摊牌和争吵之后，心情不宁的黛西在驾车回家途中恰好撞死了tom的情人威尔逊太太。盖茨比决定为黛西承担责任，但嫉妒的tom嫁祸于人，指使威尔逊太太的丈夫枪杀了盖茨比。当他冰凉的尸体浸泡在游泳池水中时，tom和黛西重归于好，出门旅行去了。,6.Gertrude Stein(1874-1946)She is an American writer,majoring in psychology and medicine.Settled in Paris,she was absorbed into the world of experimental literary creation.As a critic,she was held in high esteem in Paris.Her home was something of a cultural saloon for artists and the expatriate writers between the two world wars.,Gertrude Stein,As an American writer,she spent most of her life in France,and became a catalyst in the development of modern art and literature.Her life was marked by two primary relationships,the first with her brother Leo Stein,from 1874-1914(Gertrude and Leo),and the second with Alice B.Toklas,from 1907 until Steins death in 1946(Gertrude and Alice).Stein shared her salon at 27 rue de Fleurus,Paris,first with Leo and then with Alice.Throughout her lifetime,Stein cultivated significant tertiary relationships with well-known members of the avant garde artistic and literary world.,7.John Dos PassosJohn Dos Passos(January 14,1896 September 28,1970),the illegitimate son of a prominent American attorney,was born in Chicago in 1896.Brought up by his mother in Virginia,and for a time lived in France.Dos Passos returned to the United States to attend Harvard University.Dos Passos left university to join the Allied war effort in Europe.He served as an ambulance driver in France and Italy during the First World War and afterwards drew upon these experiences in his novels,One Mans Initiation(1920)and Three Soldiers(1921).In 1922 Dos Passos published a collection of essays,Rosinante to the Road Again,and a volume of poems,A Pushcart at the Curb.However,his literary reputation was established with his well-received novel Manhattan Transfer(1925).,As well as writing plays such as The Garbage Man(1926),Airways(1928)and Fortune Heights(1934),Dos Passos contributed articles for left-wing journals such as the New Masses.In 1927 he joined with other artists such as Upton Sinclair,Dorothy Parker,Edna St.Vincent Millay,Ben Shahn,Floyd Dell in the campaign against the proposed execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.This included the writing of Facing the Chair:Sacco and Vanzetti(1927).The 1930s saw the publication of his USA trilogy:The 42nd Parallel(1930),1919(1932)and The Big Money(1936).Dos Passos developed the experimental literary,device where the narratives intersect and continue from one novel to the next.The USA trilogy also included what became known as newsreels(impressionistic collections of slogans,popular song lyrics,newspaper headlines and extracts from political speeches).Dos Passos was active in the campaign against the growth of fascism in Europe.He joined other literary figures such as Dashiell Hammett,Clifford Odets,Lillian Hellman and Ernest Hemingway in supporting the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.,However Dos Passos gradually became disillusioned with left-wing politics and this is reflected in his novels,The Adventures of a Young Man(1939)and Number One(1943).Other books by Dos Passos include the novels,The Grand Design(1949),Chosen Country(1951)and Midcentury(1961),a biography,The Head and Heart of Thomas Jefferson(1954)and an autobiography,The Best of Times:An Informal Memoir(1966).John Dos Passos died in 1970.,小说家。生于芝加哥一个富裕的律师家庭。1916年毕业于哈佛大学，去西班牙学习建筑，不久参加第一次世界大战，先后在法国战地医疗队和美军医疗队服役。根据亲身经历写成的三个士兵(1921)是他第一部有影响的小说，也是最早反映美国青年一代厌战和迷惘情绪的作品。1925年发表的曼哈顿中转站以大战前后的纽约社会为背景，报写了记者、律师、演员、水手、工会干部等人物形象。他们都是资本主义社会的失意者，生活苦闷，精神空虚。多斯帕索斯虽然在作品中反映了战后一代的迷惘情绪，但他的思想并不消极。他当时对资本主义社会十分不满，自称“放弃了对它的希望”，“向往革命”。1926年参加新群众杂志编委。他作为美国共产党的支持者，采访罢工斗争，为共产党的刊物写稿。,1927年因参加营救萨柯和樊塞蒂的活动被捕入狱。1932年曾支持共产党的总统候选人，但没有加入过共产党。多斯帕索斯的代表作是美国三部曲，包括北纬四十二度(1930)、一九一九年(1932)和赚大钱(1936)。这部作品规模宏大，时间从本世纪初直至1929年经济危机爆发，描写了12个人物形象。他们的故事独立成章，情节上偶尔有所联系。30年代中期以后，多斯帕索斯在政治见解上开始与美国共产党和进步阵营发生分歧。西班牙内战爆发后，这种分歧加深。他后来的作品大多宣扬资产阶级的民主自由，对美共和苏共多所指责。,A brief overview of the text,1.The type of writing of the essay It is a piece of exposition.2.A general introduction to the text This essay describes a special group of people,the Sad Young Man in American literary history,who were shocked and uprooted for a time but never“lost”.The Revolt of the Younger Generation is the most interesting aspect in the 20th century.It was a logical outcome of conditions at that time the aftermath of the WWI and the rising of America.,It started with WWI,which whipped up the energies of the youth and created an enlistment craze.But when the young people had a good taste of the war and returned home only to find that they could adjust themselves no more to their hometown,they rebelled in the form of completely overthrowing the Victorian gentility,which in itself was obsolescent in a society highly industrialized.The young intellectuals flocked to live unconventionally in Greenwich Village,place well known for Bohemianism and eccentricity.Soon non-intellectuals began to imitate their manners,which was also a way for the youth to escape their social responsibilities.Their imitation and especially Americas materialism dissatisfied the young intellectuals greatly,so many went to live in Europe as,expatriates.But almost all of them returned with a few years out of homesickness.Tempered by their life of expatriation,they produced the liveliest,freshest and most stimulating works in Americas literary history.This is a piece of expository writing explaining a certain area and s special writers group in America literary history.Unlike most of this kind of writing,it does not state its thesis until it comes to the last sentence of the last paragraph.However,each paragraph or paragraph unit develops a new but closed related aspect of the thought stated in the thesis so that they form a coherent whole.,Detailed study of the text,Para.1:1.What of the Twenties has been most commented upon and romanticized?The Revolt of the Younger Generation.2.How is it so?The slightest mention of the decade brings nostalgic recollections to the middle-aged and curious questionings by the young.,3.What will be recalled by the middle-aged?The deliciously illicit thrill,the brave denunciation and the fashionable experimentation4.What questions will be asked by the young?Questions about the naughty,5.What are the specific questions asked by the present-day students?6.What are the necessary answers to the these inquiries?“Yes”and“No”7.Why are both“yes”and“no”right?,8.Important points:nostalgic recollections and curious questionings:both adjectives are transferred epithet,really modify“the middle-age”and“the young”respectively.deliciously illicit thrill:an improper action but very enjoyable and exciting.A visit to a speakeasy was improper or prohibited because these places sold alcoholic drinks illegally.This explains the“illicit thrill”.fashionable experimentations in amour:Trying out new ways of lovemaking as everyone way doing at that time,moral and stylistic vagaries:odd and eccentric dress and conductsee in perspective:to view or judge things or events in a way that show their true relations to one another 9.The main idea of the para.:Introduction to the topic:one aspect of life in the TwentiesRevolt of the Younger Generation and peoples reaction to it.,Para.2:1.What was the nature of the revolt of the young people?It was the logical outcome of conditions in the age.2.What were the historical conditions of the age?First of all,the first world war led the rebellion that had affected in the entire Western world.Second,the political and cultural development helped America reach an international stature that broke the artificial walls of,3.Important points:the first serious war in a century:The writer,perhaps,is referring to the Napoleonic wars that ended in Napoleons defeat at Waterloo(1815)as the last serious war that took place almost a hundred years.to reach international stature:to develop and grow into a nation respected and esteemed by all other nations in the world.metaphor,comparing“provincial morality”to“artificial walls”,provincial morality and the geographical protection:In the past,morally,the Americans in action just follow the narrow and limited principles of right and wrong as accepted in their own country;geographically,they remain isolated and protected by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.In other words,both aspects indicate that the United States can no longer pursue a policy of isolationism.4.The main idea of the para.2:The revolt of the young people was a logical outcome of conditions in the age.,Para.3:1.The main idea:The rejection of Victorian gentility was,in any case,inevitable.2.The cause to the rejection of Victorian gentility:American industrialization.After World War I,America became a highly industrialized country.There were big successful factories operating everywhere.Business became huge corporations devoid of any human feelings and the ruthless desire to dominate was exercised on a large scale.In this new atmosphere,the principles of polite,courteous and considerate behavior and conduct that were formed in a quieter and less competitive age(before World War I)could no longer exist.,3.How was Victorian gentility treated in the bustling age even without war?It was difficult to accepted since it bore no relationship to the bustling business medium.4.What was the function of the war?It acted merely as catalytic agent in this breakdown of the Victorian social structure and it released the young peoples inhibited violent energies.5.After the war,what were their released energies turned to?They were turned to the destruction of the obsolescent nineteenth-century society.,6.Important points:Victorian gentility:the quality of being genteel,or specifically excessive or affected refinement and elegance that show the middle-class respectability,prudery,bigotry,etc.generally attributed to Victorian Englandto battle for success:metaphor:They had to fight as in a battle in order to become successful.Metaphor,the war being compared to a catalytic agent.The war only helped to speed up the breakdown of the Victorian social structure.,Para.4:1.The main idea:In a much changing world,the youth was faced with the challenge of br