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7.
The Hemingway code heroes are best remembered for their___.A. indestructible spirit B. pessimistic view of lifeC. war experience D. masculinity
Which of the following statements concerning Ernest Hemingway is NOT true
A.War, hunting, human dignity and triumph have been recurring
motifs in Hemingway’s works.
B.His work is preoccupied with the cultural and psychological
meanings of femininity.C.Hemingway identified the rapid change in women’s status after WWI and the general blurring of sex roles that
accompanied the new sexual freedom.D.As Hemingway aged, his interest in exclusively masculine
forms of self-assertion and self-definition became more pronounced.
Who has made the statement that all modern American literature
comes from a single book called The Adventure of Huckleberry FinnA. Ernest Hemingway B. William FaulknerC. F. S. Fitzgerald D. . Eliot
Who was the first American author that won the Nobel Prize in 1930
A. Toni Morrison B. Ernest HemingwayC. Sinclair Lewis D. John SteinbeckWhich of the following statements concerning Sherwood Anderson is NOT true
A.His longer fiction is well known for its complex unity.B.He embraced simplicity and directness of style.
C.He made attractive the use of the point of view of outsider
characters as a way of criticizing conventional society.
He presents in his short stories a slice of life or a significant moment as apposed to panorama and summary.Which of the following statements concerning Winesburg, Ohio is NOT true
A.The book consists of many individual tales with a loose but
coherent structure.
B.The lives of a number of people living in the town are observed
by the native adolescent George Willard.
C.The book ends with the death of George’s mother and his
D.D.
8.
9.
10.
11.
departure from Winesburg.
Through first person point of view, the book enables the
reader to see how the lives of the characters
have been
12.
profoundly distorted by the frustration and suppression of so many of their desires.“There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer
nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stares…”. This quotation is taken from…..
A. Moby Dick by Herman Melville B. Daisy Miller by Henry James
C.Sister Carrieby Theodore Dreiser D. The Great Gatsbyby . Fitzgerald
Which of the following statements is NOT true in describing American naturalists
A.They used some serious and more sympathetic tone in writing
than realists.
B.They were deeply influenced by Darwinism.C.They were identified with French novelist and theorist Emile
Zola.
D.They chose their subjects from lower ranks of society.Among the following writers, who is often acclaimed literary
spokesman of the Jazz AgeA. William Faulkner B. . Fitzgerald C. Henry James D. Eugen O’Neill
“Nick Adams” is a character who frequently appears in___’s stories.
A. William Faulkner B. Theodore Dreiser C. Mark Twain D. Ernest Hemingway
Nick’s night trip to the Indian village and his experience inside the hut can be taken as ___.A. an initiation to pain and suffering B. a confrontation with evil and sinC. an essential lesson about Indian tribes D. a learning process of human connections
It was The Viking Portable Faulkner edited by ___ in 1946 that first brought Faulkner to critical attention.A. Malcolm Cowley B. Phil Stone C. Sherwood Anderson D. Gertrude Stein
The fictional place that bears marked similarities to the town
where___ had been raised was called by himself his “little postage stamp of native soil
A. William Styron B. Mark Twain John Barth
”.
C. William Faulkner
D.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
IV.
1.
2.
3.
4.
V.
1.
Questions and answers
What is the type of heroes in Hemingway’s novelsSome of his heroes live a disorderly and immoral life, wild with alcohol. Some of them are mentally wounded and hold a nihilistic or cynical view toward life. Deep at the bottom of their hearts, they are never lost. Nor they ever cease to search for the meaning and ultimate truth of life. They may be physically destroyed by fate, but they can never be spiritually defeated. The Hemingway code hero is brave and unyielding. Though suffering from physical pains and psychological alienations from their surroundings, they can always possess the quality of “grace under pressure”.
Why was Fitzgerald regarded as spokesman of the “Jazz Age”Fitzgerald was a representative figure of the 1920s. He never
failed to remain detached and foresee the tragedy of the “Dollar Decade”. His works mirror the exciting age in almost every way. Through the glittering world of his fiction run the themes of
moral waste and decay and necessity of personal responsibility. The Great Gatsby, a book about the Jazz Age, is a case study in
people’s pursuit of an elusive American Dream. It is also a powerful criticism of American society. Thus he is often acclaimed literary spokesman of the Jazz Age.
Where did William Faulkner usually locate his stories What does the place stand for
Faulkner usually located his stories in a fictional town called Jefferson in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. With his imagination, Faulkner turned the land, the people and the history of the place into a literary creation and a mythical
kingdom, which stands for the American South. The Yoknapatawpha County fiction has an overall pattern in which Faulkner
’s protagonists collide with the 20th
century society. Most of the major themes are directly related to this confrontation in
Faulkner’s fiction.
List at least three William Faulkner’s themes.The themes cover (a) the pre-civil war Southern values vs. the post civil war Southern values;(b) the decline of the old aristocratic families of the south; (c)the past vs. the present(social changes);(d) racial problems in the old south and
the good traits of the blacks.Essay questions
Discuss Hemingway’s “iceberg principle
” of writing.
2.
1.
2.
3.
4.
His aim and achievement as a novelist and short story wrier were to convey his concerns in a prose style built from what was left after eliminating all the words one “could not stand to bear”. He once said “I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows”. He believes that a good writer does not need to
reveal every detail of a character or action; the one-eighth that is present will suggest all other meaningful dimensions of the story. According to him, good literary writing should be able to make readers feel the emotion of the characters directly and
the best way to produce the effect is to set down exactly every particular kind of feeling without any authorial comments, with a bare minimum of adjectives and adverbs. His language is simple, symbolic and suggestive, improving more than what is actually said.
Compared with earlier writings, especially those of the 19th
century , what are the characteristics of modern American writings
The modern work seems to begin arbitrarily, to advance without
explanation, and to end without resolution. The book is no longer a record of sequence and coherence but a juxtaposition of the past and the present, of the history and the memory. 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 psychological, from the objective description to the subjective projection. The traditional educated literary voice, conveying truth and culture, has lost its authority to a more detached and ironic tone.
20th
Century American Drama
Of all the plays that O’Neill wrote, most of them are tragedies, dealing with the basic issues of human existence and predicament such as life and death.
A type of comedy which depends upon ridiculous situations, exaggerated character types, coarse humor, and horseplay for its comic effects is called farce.
The final outcome of the main complication in a play or story is called denouement.A kind of drama representing some action in which serious and comic scenes are blended is called tragicomedy.
I.
Fill in the blanks
II.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I.
1.
Multiple choice
Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape explores the problem of ___ in
the early 20th
century.
A. human disillusionment B. the corruption of humandesire
C. the loss of human identity D. human responsibilityO’Neill’s inventiveness seemingly knew no limits. He was constantly experimenting with new styles and forms for his plays, especially during the 20s when ___ was in full swing.A. symbolism B. expressionism C. romanticism D. realismWhich of the following statements concerning Eugene O’Neill is
NOT correct
A.He was influenced by the idea of Freud.
B.He is interested in the world of the mind, of intense inner
emotions, memories and fears.
C.He found inspiration and confirmation for his approach in
writing centering on family relationship in classical Greek drama.
D.The unity of his work lies in its controlling intellectual
idea.
Which of the following statements concerning O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night is NOT true
A.The author focuses on the person, rather than the family in
the play as the fundamental human unit.
B.The play is designed as a series of encounters. Each character
is placed with one, two or three of the others until every combination is worked through.
C.The Tyrone family is followed through one day. Thus it is a
literal day in the lives of the Tyrones.D.
It is also the Tyrones’ journey through life toward death that readers witness.Which of the following statements concerning Tennessee Williams is NOT correct
A.He has been influenced by Anton, . Lawrence and Hart Crane.B.His last Broadway play is named Clothes fore a Summer Hotel.C.His recurrent themes in many of his plays are loneliness and
desire.
D.He was awarded Nobel Prize for his brilliance as a dramatist.
Black American Literature
Literary terms
Harlem Renaissance:
A literary movement that began in the 1920s
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