The Realistic Period : 1865-1914

Realistic period — "the Gilded(镀金的) Age", the poor poorer and the rich richer, people's attention was now directed to the interesting features of everyday existence

Local colorism, social Darwinism, bestiality, beyond man's control

3 dominant figures of the period are William Dean Howells(美国现实文学先驱), Mark Twain and Henry James.

Henry James —"inner world" of man

Howells —focused on rising middle class

Mark Twain — his own region and people, particular "local colorism"

Local colorists — Sarah Orne Jewett, Joseph Kirkland and Hamlin Garland.

Mark Twain

— the true father of American literature

Local colorist, vernacular（方言）, simple sentence, wide-ranging humor, both realistically and symbolically, "the damned human race", The Gilded Age,Life on the Mississippi and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 亚瑟王朝廷上的康涅狄格州美国人

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer汤姆·索亚历险记 (for boys),Adventures of Huckleberry Finn哈克贝里·费恩历险记(for adults) prove themselves to be the milestone in American literature

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn his masterpiece, -"all modern American literature comes".

"Huck", a typical American Boy with "a sound heart and a deformed(畸形的) conscience", and remarkable for the raft's journey down the Mississippi river, through the eyes of Huck, we see the pre-Civil War American society.

READING: excerpt from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck's inner conflict about whether or not he should write a letter to tell Miss Watson where Jim is.

Henry James

—the first American writer to conceive his career in international theme

—the forerunner of the 20th-century "stream of consciousness" （意识流）novel and the founder of psychological realism, interior monologue, free association, his language is not so easy to understand.

早期：The American一个美国人 Daisy Miller黛西·米勒 bring him international fame for the first time.

The Europeans, The Portrait of A Lady贵妇人的画像 are his masterpieces.

中期：The Bostonians波士顿人, short fiction:"The Turn of the Screw"螺丝在拧紧"The Beast in the Jungle"丛林猛兽

晚期：The Wings of the Dove鸽巢，The Ambassadors专使，The Golden Bowl金碗

READING: excerpt from Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller the narrator is an American expatriate(侨民), named Winterbourne. Daisy is the most innocent girl. Her defiance(违抗) of social taboos(禁忌) in the Old World brings her to a disaster in the clash(冲击) between two different cultures.

Emily Dickinson
Based on her own experiences, her sorrows and joys, "letter to the world", about religious and immortality（永生）, love, nature

1) her poems have no title

2) dashes are used as a musical device to create cadence（节奏）and capital letters as a means of emphasis.

READING:"This is my letter to the World" express Dickinson's anxiety about her communication with the outside world.

"I heard a Fly buzz - when I died"— description of a moment of death

"I like to see it lap the Miles"—Dickinson makes the train part of nature by animalizing it, like a horse.

"Because I could not stop for Death "— personify death and immortality so as to make her message strongly felt. 因为我不能停步等候死神

Theodore Dreiser

— America's literary naturalists

Case history including everything Determinism（决定论）(heredity遗传biological & environment), Darwinist idea（达尔文主义）of "survival of the fittest', "the jungle law"（弱肉强食原则）

Jennie Gerhardt 珍妮姑娘，An American Tragedy美国的悲剧

Trilogy of Desire欲望三部曲： The Financier金融家, The Titan巨头, The Stoic斯多葛

READING: excerpt from Sister Carrie嘉丽妹妹 "who shall cast the first stone?"

After Carrie deserts Hurstwood, he is in great despair. He turns the gas on in a cheap lodging-house and ends his life, while at the same time Carrie is rocking comfortably in her luxuriant hotel room.