美國文學總復習americanliteraturereference名詞解釋-資料下載頁

　　

【正文】 as one of the last rational people in an insane war. In the novel, the absurdities of military life are represented by the regulation “Catch22”. The regulation, which prevents airmen from escaping service in bombing missions by pleading insanity, states that any airman rational enough to want to be grounded cannot possibly be insane and therefore is fit to fly. The term has now bee part of English vocabulary, referring to a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.What is Robert Frost’s nature poem?Robert Frost, American poet, known for his verse concerning New England life. He learned the familiar conventions of nature poetry from his predecessors, and made the colloquial New England speech into a poetic expression. A poem so conceived thus bees a symbol or metaphor, a careful, loving exploration of reality. Images or symbols in his poems are drawn from the simple country life. However, profound ideas are delivered under the disguise of the plain language and the simple form, for what Frost did is to take symbols from the limited human world and the pastoral landscape to refer to the great world beyond the rustic scene. These thematic concerns include the terror and tragedy in nature, as well as its beauty, and the loneliness and poverty of the isolated human being. In short, the nature poems demonstrate Frost’s love of life and his belief in a serenity that es from the mon experience.27what are the characteristics of modern American literature?In general terms, much serious literature written from 20th century onwards attempted to convey a vision of social breakdown and moral decay and the writers’ task was to develop technique that could represent a break with the past. Thus the defining formal characteristics of the modernistic works are discontinuity and fragmentation. An awareness of the irrational and the workings of the unconscious mind are pervasive in much modernist writing. Technically, modernism was marked by a persistent experimentalism. It rejected the traditional framework of narrative, description, and rational exposition in poetry and prose, in favor of a streamof –consciousness presentation of personality, a dependence on the poetic image as the essential vehicle of aesthetic munication, and upon myth as a characteristic structural principle. Compared with earlier writings, modern American writings are notable for what they omit: the explanations, interpretations, connections, and summaries. There are shifts in perspective, voice, and tone, but the biggest shift is from the external to the internal, from the public to the private, from the chronological to the psychic, from the objective description to the subjective projection.29 What is the Harlem Renaissance?The Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement of the late 1920s and early 1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. It marked the first time that African American literature attracted significant attention. No style or ideology defined the Harlem Renaissance, but the poets, novelists, political essayists, and dramatists who participated in the endeavor shared a mitment to giving artistic expression to the African American experience. They also shared a strong sense of racial pride and a desire to better the social and economic situation of blacks. Major prose writers in the movement were historian and sociologist .DuBois, and writer Langston Hughes.Hills Like White Elephants