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单击此处编辑母版标题样式,XQH-AHU-2011,*,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,American Literature,School of Foreign Studies,Anhui University,Xu Qinghong,2011 Summer,XQH-AHU-2011,Henry James (1843-1916),Study Question,Point of view in the works of Mark Twain, Henry James and William Faulkner,Major Issues,I. A brief assessment,II. Life and Writing,III. Thematic concerns,IV. Style,V. Close reading,XQH-AHU-2011,I. Henry James - a brief assessment,his importance & wide influence as a novelist and critic,- the first American writer to conceive his career in international terms,- revival in mid 20th century:,the founder of psychological realism; helped shape the modern novel - the forerunner of stream-of-consciousness novels,II. His life and writing,father & elder brother (,Wil1iam James,): wealthy, well-known intellectual; the theory of the stream-of-consciousness technique.,Harvard Law School,read intensively: Balzac, Merimee , George Sand, George Eliot and Hawthorne.,toured Europe and met Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola and Turgenev,settled down in London in 1876, and in 1915 a naturalized British citizen,His friendship with Edith Wharton (,The Age of Innocence,),Primary works,bulky and voluminous,:,stories, novels, literary criticism,1. The first period (1865-1882):,“,international theme,”:,The American,(l877),Daisy Miller,(l878),The Europeans,(l878), and,The Portrait of A Lady,(188l ),2.,The middle period,: experimentation with different themes and forms: The Turn of the Screw,3.,The last and major period from 1895 to 1900,: international theme”:,The Wings of the Dove,(l902),The Ambassadors,(1903) and,The Golden Bowl,(1904).,James,s literary criticism:,“,The Art of Fiction,”,(1884),III. James international theme,Confrontation between European and American Cultures:,- American innocence VS European sophistication;,- American vulgarity VS European refinement,IV. Jamess style of writing,1. Jamess psychological realism,1) Inner Life instead of Plot,2) Absence of the Hero: A reflection of contemporary ideology God is dead, let alone heroes,3) Intellectualized and Highly Sensitive Female Protagonists,2. James language,refined style,- a large vocabulary, accurate in word selection (,Baroque,: highly ornate style, fashionable in arts ),-,the most expert stylist of his time,3. Jamess narrative point of view:,(*) Point of View,（叙事视角）：,who is the narrator?,1. The first-person narrator,(e.g. Mark Twain),2. Third person narrator omniscient,(e.g.,The Scarlet Letter,);,3. Third -person narrator limited,(Jamess center of consciousness -,avoid the authorial omniscience; the perception of his character, e.g.,The Ambassador, told from Strethers consciousness;,Daisy Miller, from Winterborns consciousness,),4. Multiple points of view (,streams of consciousness technique, e.g. William Faulkner),James,s literary criticism:,“,The Art of Fiction,”,(1884),Both concerned with form and devoted to human values,The theme of “The Art of Fiction”:,“ the aim of the novel is to present life, so it is not surprising to find in his writings human experiences explored in every possible form: illusion, despair, reward, torment, inspiration, delight, etc.” (402-403);,“,the freedom of the artist to write about anything that concerns him, even the disagreeable, the ugly and the commonplace. The artist should be able to feel the life, to understand human nature, and then to record them in his own art form. (404-406),“A novel is, in its broadest definition, a personal, a direct impression of life. That, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression. But there will be no intensity at all, and therefore, no value, unless there is freedom to feel and say.”,（,406,）,“,the province of art is all life, all feeling, all observation, all vision . it is all experience. That is a sufficient answer to those who maintain that it must not touch the sad things of life .”,（,408-410,）,- He emphasized the importance of the stream of consciousness method in fictional writing. (418-419),
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