American LiteratureAmerican LiteratureAmerican LiteratureAmerican LiteratureShandong UniversityShandong UniversityLectured by Li BaojieLectured by Li Baojie

lbj@sdu.edu.cnlbj@sdu.edu.cn

Facts from the movie?• The white and the Natives?• Virtues cherished by the European set

tlers?

American Puritanism• Basic Puritan Beliefs• 1. Total Depravity - through Adam and E

ve's fall, every person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.

• 2. Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination.

• 3. Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.

• 4. Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.

• 5. Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.

Puritan Writing • 1. Protestant - against ornateness; rever

ence for the Bible. • 2. Purposeful - there was a purpose to P

uritan writing. • 3. Religiously grounded- Puritan writing

reflected the character and scope of the reading public, which was literate and religious.

Doctrines of Puritanism

• 1. The churches should be restored to the “purity” of the first-century Church as established by Jesus Christ himself.

• 2. Puritans believed in predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement, and therefore religion was a matter of primary importance so that man lived and acted in the way which tended to the glory of God.

• 3. They believed in tolerance with hardship, as the severity of the frontier conditions taught them to be tougher to get prepared for any misfortune and tragic failures.

The First American Writers

1. Captain John Smith• The significance of his writings (pp.3-4)2. New England writers: William Bradford a

nd John Winthrop (pp.6-7)3. Puritan writers: John Cotton, Roger Willi

ams, and Poets Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor.

Questions

• 1. What do you know about American literature? Which writer(s) or which work(s) have you ever heard about or been familiar with?

Stories of Growth （ Buildungsroman ）

Faith and Love

“For you, a thousand times over”

Amir gaining redemption and rebirth

Traces of literature • Presently, the influence of American literature ca

n be perceived through mass media.• E.g. The Color Purple (1985) starred by Whoopi Gol

dberg, Margaret Avery (nominated for the best supporting Actress for an Academy Award ), Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey, and directed by Steven Spielberg.

• The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan and Directed by Wayne Wang

My Family, Mi Familia (1995)Directed by Gregory Nava

Question • 2. Does it ever occur to you that the A

merican literature you have known is in fact a fraction of American literature?

Statistics from US Bureau of the Census• the resident population of the United States is 301,

237,703• White alone or in combination with one or more oth

er races: 229,600,160• Black or African American: 39,477,170• Latino (Hispanic): 45,432,158• American Indians: 2,419,895• Asian: total 13,164,169, Chinese except Taiwanese2,

964,034, Asian Indian at 2,503,921, with Pilipino, Korean and Vietnamese to follow

12345

• 1. Black• 2. Latino• 3. Indian• 4. Asian• 5. White

Multicultural literature

Statistics of 2007 census: The new data reveal the diversity a

mong the 38.1 million foreign-born living in the United States in 2007, not only by where they were born, but also by where they live now.

•Mexico tops the country of birth list with more than 11.7 million people. The next highest countries by birth include China (1.9 million), the Philippines (1.7 million), India (1.5 million), El Salvador and Vietnam (both at 1.1 million), and Korea (1 million). Cuba, Canada and the Dominican Republic round out the top 10 countries of birth.

The American literature is characterized by multi-cultures.European Americans, Hispanic Americans （ Latinos), Afro-Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans constitute the bulk of American population.