Jennifer Wu's learning notes

American Literature Note 7

Must-read pages

1. 471-482

Rip Van Winkle

"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819 as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

# In the text…

1. posthumous (adj.) [post- :after]

happening, done, or published after someone's death

e.g. A posthumous Writing of Diedrich Knickerbocker

2. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day,

produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky, but, sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.

=> 日幕餘光呼應了英國的消逝，全都過往於煙。

3. His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody.

=> 沒有人管的小孩。

4. Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tart temper never mellows with age a sharp tongue is only edge…

=> 指深不見底的黑暗。

5. “God knows,” exclaimed he, at his wit’s end; “I’m not myself-I’m somebody else-

that’s me yonder-no-that’s somebody else, got into my shoes-I was myself last

night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they’ve changed my gun, and every

thing’s changed, and I’m changed, and I can’t tell what’s my name, or who I am!”

=> CLIMAX!!! 新興國家的恐慌。

2. Nathaniel Hawthorne

(a) Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, to a family that had been prominent in the area since colonial times.

# Salem Witch Museum

(b)Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.

(c)Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to Sophia Peabody the next year.

(d) He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels.

(e)A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

(f) Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature

moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the

Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his

friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.

3. House of seven gables

The House of the Seven Gables is a Gothic novel written beginning in mid-1850 by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their ancestral home. In the book, Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and atonement and colors the tale with suggestions of the supernatural and witchcraft.

#The Salem Witch Trails tercentenary memorial

#French Market 必吃甜甜圈

#Bourbon Street-New Orleans

#Old North Church

 #Fort Sumter       

#St. Augustine, Florida

 #Boone Hall Plantation

4. Thomas Wolfe

He is a major American novelist of the early 20th century. Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. His books, written and published from the 1920s to the 1940s, vividly reflect on American culture and mores of the period, albeit filtered through Wolfe's sensitive, sophisticated and hyper-analytical perspective. He became very famous during his own lifetime.