美国文学期末复习.ppt

American Literature 美国文学史及选读 Herman Melville --everlasting nay Life experience Literary Career Theme and Style Appreciation of Moby Dick His Life 1.Born in New York City, Herman Melville was the son of a prosperous merchant who died when Herman Melville was only twelve. (happy childhood to 11; little education) 2. worked early: bank clerk; salesman; farm-hand; school teacher; 3.The boy was forced to leave school.Unable to find a profession, he became a sailor. He went to sea at about 20 as a whaler; Life experience (2) 4.Three things deserve mention about his life: a.going out to sea b. marriage c. friendship with Hawthorne His sailing tears gave him the background Of ships and islands that served him well in his early successes,Typee(1846).His masterpiece Moby Dick, a whaling story took almost a century before the novel was recognized by readers. Herman Melville soon became known as the “man who lived among cannibals.”His commercial failure of the works made his death unnoticed by the public in 1891. Life experience (3) 5 voracious reader;prolific for 8 years after his return from the sea; 6 later in his life wrote other books and some long stories; 7 worked in the Custom House in New York for the last 20 years of his life; 8 died at 72 in oblivion. Literary Career Novels about the sea are extremely popular in the early 1840s. By writing these novels, Melville established his reputation as an adventure writer. Melvilles writings can be divided into two groups: 1) Early works 2) Later Works 3) Comment on his works Early works Novels: Typee (1846) 《泰比》 (made him famous) Omoo (1847) 《奥穆》 Mardi (1849) 《玛第》 --adventures among the people of South Pacific Redburn (1849) 《莱德伯恩》 --a voyage to England White Jacket (1850) 《白衣》 --life on a United States man-of-war Moby Dick (1851) 《莫比.迪克》 The White Whale(masterpiec) 　Pie