填空题 A = Nathaniel Hawthorne B = Galph Waldo Emerson
C = Henry David Thoreau D = Herman Melville
Who...
※ kept a journal throughout his life. (71)
※ had Nathaniel Hawthorne as his neighbor. (72)
※ met Wordsworth when on a tour of Europe. (73)
※ wrote as a moralist. (74)
※ was born where many of the literary figures (75)
of the 19th century lived.
※ completed a novelette just before his death. (76)
※ was concerned with the abolition of slavery. (77)
※ worked as a customs inspector in New York. (78)
※ his "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" is a study of (79)
right and wrong in human Conduct.
※ thought a minimum of material kept men (80)
closer to nature.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hawthorne was imbued with an inquiring imagination, an intensely meditative mind, and an unceasing interest in the ambiguity of man's being. He was an anatomist of "the interior of the heart," conscious of the loneliness of man in the universe, of the darkness that enshrouds all joy,and of the need of man to look into his own soul.
In both his novels and his short stories, Hawthorne wrote essentially as a moralist. He was interested in what happened in the minds and hearts of men and women when they knew they had done wrong. He focused his examination on the moral and psychological consequences that manifested themselves in human beings as a result of their vanity, their hatred, their egotism, their ambition, and their pride. He was intrigued by the way they felt and the way they acted when they knew they had done wrong.
In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," Hawthorne illustrates several sides of his writing: his disenchanted view of human nature, his use of symbolism, and his interest in the supernatural. In addition, the story treats one of the new nineteenth century ideas that concerned Hawthorne: scientific experiment. The story itself is a stimulating and rewarding study of right and wrong in human conduct.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson was born in Boston, where his father was a Unitarian clergyman, as six generations of Emersons had been before him. While a student at Harvard he began keeping journals—records of his thoughts — a practice he continued throughout his life. He later drew on the journals for material for his essays and poetry. After graduating, he ran a school for young ladies for a time, but eventually he returned to Harvard to study for the ministry. Following his second graduation he served as pastor of a church for a few years, but finally resigned his position because he had doubts about the beliefs of the church.
In 1832 Emerson toured Europe, meeting such major English poets as Wordsworth, Carlyle, and Coleridge. Through his acquaintance with these men he became closely involved with German idealism and Transcendentalism. Returning to Boston, he devoted most of his time to lecturing. An address that he delivered at the Harvard Divinity School in 1838 in which he attacked formal religion and defended intuitive spiritual experience aroused such an adverse reaction that he was not invited back to Harvard for 30 years.
Emerson was concerned with many reform movements, among them the abolition of slavery. In 1840 he joined with other Transcendentalists in an attempt to spread ideas through publication of a small magazine named The Dial.
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau(1817—1862) was born in Concord, a village near Boston where many of the literary figures of the 19th century, including Emerson, lived. After graduating from Harvard and teaching school for a few years, Thoreau went to live with Emerson both to study with him and to work as a handyman. Later in his life he traveled a little, but in general Thoreau stayed near his home. He had a strong attachment to his family, and he preferred to travel vicariously through books. The trips he did take were often camping trips, for he enjoyed the outdoors and was skillful woodsman.
Through his writing Thoreau wanted to illustrate that the pursuit of material things had no value. He desired a life of contemplation, of being in harmony with nature, and of acting on his own principles. His study of Eastern religions contributed to his desire for a simple life, while his reaction against such Yankee pragmatists as Benjamin Franklin is also apparent. Both Franklin and Thoreau advocated thrift and hard work, but while Franklin expected the frugal to get richer and richer, Thoreau thought physical labor and a minimum of material goods made men more sensitive and kept them closer to nature.
Herman Melville
In 1841 Melville went to the South Seas on a whaling ship, where he gained the information about whaling that he later used in Moby-Dick. After jumping ship in teh Marquesa Islands, he and a friend were captured by some of the islanders. They lived with these people for a month, then escaped on an Australian ship, deserting the latter in Tahiti, where they worked for a time as field laborers. Melville finally returned to the United States as a seaman on an American ship. These experiences provided material for his first and most popular books, which are primarily adventure stories.
In 1850 Melville moved to a farm in Massachusetts where Nathaniel Hawthorne was his neighbor. The latter soon became a confidant with whom Melville often discussed his work. As he changed from writing adventure stories to philosophical and symbolic works, Melville's popularity began to wane. From the writing of complex novels such as Mob? Dick, Pierre and The Confidence Man, Melville turned to writing poetry. But unable to support himself by his writing, he secured a political appointment as a customs inspector ill New York. When he retired from that job, after 20 years, he wrote the novelette, Billy Budd, completing it just before his death, it was not until the i920s that his work again came to the attention of literary scholars anti the public. His reputation now rests not only on his rich, poetic prose, but also on his philosophy and his effective use of symbolism.