文档介绍：Name of the Course:
History and Selected Readings of
American Literature
Lecturer:
Sui Hongsheng
Term:
2002-2003
The following two books you should buy or borrow:
Farewell to Arms--- Ernest Hemingway
Great Gatsby---F. Scott Fitzgerald
Other important books you can enjoy when you have time.
letter
Adventure of Huckleberry Finn
3. The Red Badge of Courage
Carrie
5. An American Tragedy
Eden
Old Man and the Sea
8. The Catcher in the Rye
nPurposes of reading literature
nWhat Is Literature
nBasic Characteristics of American Writers
nGenres
What is literature?
es from human interest in telling a story, in arranging words in artistic forms, in describing in words some aspects of our human experiences. Therefore, we can define literature as language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages. It is characterized by beauty of expression and form and by universality of intellectual and emotional appeal.
nLiterature refers to well-structured language with artistic qualities, a reflection of life and human nature.
Purposes of reading literature.
n1. Escaping the problem and responsibility of our everyday lives and participating in imaginative world of experience that differs greatly from our own. The Wind in the Willows, A Journey to the West, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,etc
information or knowledge: Pride and Prejudice, The Red Chamber Dream (
or A Dream of the Red Mansion)
n3. Helps to shape and change our attitudes and expectations( to life) and e wiser and more sympathetic.
aesthetic pleasure. Through literature, we are inspired to perceive the beauty of the world which in turn will help us to transcend the troubles and sorrows of the present world.
n5. Reading for pleasure( entertainment) and relaxation.
n6. Reading for confronting experience.
n7. Reading for profound understanding about human nature, know