great fame in the literary world. Ralph Waldo Emerson is acclaimed as the chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism(the summit of American Romanticism). Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively , or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses. .Emerson is generally known as an essayist. Among his best are Nature and Essays. Nathananiel Hawthorne, a descendant of Puritan immigrants, was an outstanding American Romanticist. Hawthorne was a pioneer in psychological description. He wrote essentially as a moralist. His most famous novel is The Scarlet Letter, in which he probed into the guilty conscience of two lovers. Other than a praise of a sinning woman, it is a hymn on the moral growth of her who had been sinned against. Edgar Alan Poe was a lonely writer. He wrote poetry, short stories and many reviews of literary works, but literary historians find it hard to categorize him. However he was adored as precursor by the French poets of symbolism. Herman Melville‘s fame was established with Moby Dick. He presented a bleak view of the world in which the universe is Godless, and purposeless and human life meaningless and futile.
American poetry can be traced to two founs(源头), Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Whitman is remembered for his poem Leaves of Grass In free verse. Emily Dickinson cast her eyes inward to explore the inner feelings of the individual. In her poems, he constructed a wonderful world that is small but intense, fresh, individual and original.
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American Realism came in the Katter half of the 19 century as a reaction against Romanticism. Mark Twain , the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is regarded as a great literary giant in America and ―the true father of national literature‖. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was his masterpiece. He made colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in America literature. This style swept across the whole literary medium And 20th century writers such as Anderson, Ernest Hemingway and T.S Eliot acknowledge their indebtedness to Mark Twain. Henry James is a writer of ―the international theme‖, the meeting of America and Europe . According to him, the Europeans are more cultured, more concerned with art, and more aware of the subtleties of social situations while the Americans usually display a morality and innocence which the Europeans lack. The American, and Daisy Miller, the Portrait of a lady … are his major work. In 1890, French Naturalism appealed to the imagination of the younger generation like Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser and Norris. It views human being as animals in a natural word responding to environmental forces and internal stresses and drives. In Dreiser‘s mind, the American values were materialistic to the core. Living in such a society with such a value system, the human individual was obsessed with a never-ending, yet meaningless search for satisfaction of their desires. He embraced social Darwinism and advocated the idea of ―the survival of the fittest‖. His earliest novels Sister Carrie expressed his naturalistic pursuit of attacking the conventional moral standards, and expounding the purposelessness of life. His famous Trilogy includes Financier, The Titan and the Stoic. His masterpiece An American Tragedy exposes the evils of the society that corrupt men, especially the young. In the modern period, Hemingway and Fitzgerald were the spokesmen of the Lost Generation, referring to the young writers who caught up in the war and cut off from the old values yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilization had gone mad. Fitzgerald‘s masterpiece was his The Great Gatsby , the protagonist of which discovers the devastating cost of success in terms of personal fulfillment and love, he experienced the whole process of dream, disenchantment and finally a sense of failure and despair. Hemingway is a Nobel prize winner at his time. His major works are The Sun
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Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms , For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea. In his world, Man fights a solitary struggle against a force he does not even understand. Even so, Hemingway‘s hero still possesses a ―despairing courage‖. It is this courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert their dignity in the face of adversity. In his works he chose words concrete, specific, casual and conventional, and employs them in short, simple sentences, which are sometimes ungrammatical. Since 1930s, Some Black writers and Jewish writers also appeared in the Contemporary period. With the feminist movement during 1960s and 1970s, some women writers like Tony Morrison( the first African American Nobel Prize winner) and Alice Walker( a Pulitzer Prize winner) and Amy Tan, a Chinese-American writer. Modern Poetry is represented by Ezra Pound, one of the most Influential American poets of the twentieth century. He was a link between the United States and Britain, spearheading of the new school of poetry known as Imagism. He defines ―image‖ as something that ―presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time.‖ Eugene O‘Neill is undoubtedly America‘s greatest playwright and he won the 1936 Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize four times. He was the first American playwright to regard dram as serious literature and the first one to write tragedies constantly in America. Arthur Miller is definitely deserves the title of ―social dramatist‖. His masterpiece ― The Death of a Salesman‖ presents the miserable life and tragic death of hardworking salesman Willy.
Exercises:
Tell whether the following are true or false:
1) Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Frank are two sources of American literary spirit. (+) 2) Walt Whitman introduced great innovation to American literature, and he devised a poetic style, free verse. (+).
3) Emily Dickinson‘s poems are usually long, exploring the inner life of the individual. (+)
4) Ezra Pound led the School of Imagism, which advocates a clear, highly visual presentation. (+) 5) As a Jewish writer, Saul Bellow focused on Jewish characters and social problems. (+).
6) Arthur Miller was concerned with the conflicts of the individual within society, and the Death of a Salesman is his masterpiece. (+) Choose the best answer:
1) ____ is regarded as ―the father of American literature‖.
A. James Fennimore Cooper B. Ralph Waldo Emerson C. Thomas Jefferson D. Washington Irving (+)
2) Of the following, ___ is not Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s work.
A. The Scarlet Letter B. The House of the Severn Gables C. The Marble Faun D, Nature (+)
3) Of the following, _____ is considered Herman Melville‘s masterpiece. A. The Last of the Mohcans B. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow C. Moby Dock (+) D. Daisy Miller
4) Of the following, ____ is Not characteristic of Mark twin‘s works.
A. colloquial speech B. a sense of humor C. a realistic view D an idealistic view (+) 5)Of the following writers, ____ is Not a Nobel Prize winner.
A. Alice Walker (+) B. Ernest Hemingway C. William Faulkner D. Eugene O‘Neill 6) _______ is the first African-American winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.
A. Ralph Ellison B. Tony Morrison C. Richard Wright (+) D. James Baldwin
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Lecture Ten Canada Question: 1) What is the Quebec Issue of Canada? 2) How many sectors is Canada divided?
1. Geographic and Climate feature of Canada P226
The name of the country was derived from the Huron-Iroquois ―Kanata‖, meaning a village or settlement. The first inhabitants are believed to have come to Canada from Asian about 12,000 years ago. across the land bridge that joined Siberia and Alaska. By the time the Europeans arrived, these original people had developed different cultures across North America. The country‘s territory makes it the second largest country in the world after Russia, occupies nearly all north America. It has an area of 9,984670 kms. Canada is composed of ten provinces and three territories. divided into five regions. We can find huge mountains , big lakes , long rivers and gigantic islands in Canada. Much of its area is under water or is rocky, marshy, mountainous. There may be as many as two million lakes in Canada, 7.6% of Canada‘s land is covered by lakes. The four river systems are the Arctic , the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Hudson Bay. Canada‘s two longest rivers are the St. Lawrence, which belongs to Atlantic system. and the Mackenzie, which belongs to the Arctic system. The St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes are linked together by Canals Canada and Canada is also famous for its widespread glaciers. Canada is abundant in forest resources. It has a typical continental climate, characterized by cold winters, hot summers and sparse rainfall.
2 . The formation of Canada.
After the American revolution, American colonists who remained loyal to the British were forced out of their land. Many of these Loyalists fled north to Quebec and Nova Scotia. . With the explosion of population overnight, Quebec was divided into two colonies. The Lower Canada and the Up Canada. The boundary between the two was the Ottawa River, which today separates the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. In 1838, Mackenzie led a brief rebellion , demanding an American form of government and separation from Great Britain, which was put down by militia and British soldiers. In 1841, the suggestion of setting up province of Canada came into effect. in 1884, Lafontaine became Premier of Canada. Federalism is to be implemented in Canada. The British king is also the king of Canada with Governor General as his representative. Canadian Parliament has two houses: the Senate whose members are nominated by the British King and the House of Representatives whose members are elected according to the population of each province. On July 1, 1867, the Domination of Canada, with four provinces—Quebec (east) and Ontario(west), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia came into being, with Ottawa their national capital. Different from the United States that emphasis is put on the powers of states, Canadian federal government is granted powers in a wider area, with British control of the their foreign affairs.
The fast growing of economy of Canada and the strengthening of Canada‘s economic power and the rise of its international reputation changed its relation with the United Kingdom. In 1926, The United Kingdom declared that the United Kingdom as well as its dominations had become ―autonomous Communication within the British Empire, equal in status, and in no way subordinate one to another. The Foreign Ministry of Canada was established in 1909 and the first ambassador was appointed as late as 1927. WWII also changed Canada‘s focus and orientation in
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foreign affairs and Canada became closer to the United States in the fields of politics, economy, dependence and culture. The war strengthened Canada‘s economy. Canada is a young country, with a recorded history of no more than 500 years. 3. Major cities :
Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. It is a municipality within the province of Ontario.（安大略） Toronto, a provincial capital of Ontario and financial center of Canada, is the largest city in Canada. It is also one of the most multi-culture cities in the world.
Montreal(蒙特利尔) is in the province of Quebec, the second largest city in Canada and the largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris. Montreal held the 21th Olympic Games in 1976.
Quebec City , capital of Quebec, located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. Over 90% of the population in the province is Roman Catholic, along with a sizable Jewish and Protestant population, it is the second largest city in Quebec and the second oldest existing European settlement in Canada.
Vancouver（温哥华） is in the province of British Columbia. and the third largest city in the country. Large number of Chinese, Japanese and South Asia settled in the city. Chinese are by far the largest ethnic minority group in the city with the second largest Chinatown in North America. The majority of its population does not practice religion seriously. It has the largest urban parks in North American. Exercises:
Tell whether the following are true or not:
1) Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of territory.(+)
2) Canada‘s expansive area can be divided into five geographic regions, each with a distinct
landscape and climate. (+).
3) Canada has typical oceanic climate influenced by both Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. 4) Quebec separated from Canada and established a French-speaking nation in 1960s. (+) 5) In the 1970s, Canada was obsessed with economic recession. (+) 6) The Constitutional Act recognized Quebec as a ―distinct society‖. (-)
Choose the best answer to the following :
1) After the American War of Independence, thousands of American refugees who claimed to
remain loyal to ____ came to Canada. A. Spain B. Canada C. Britain(+) D France 2) Canada became the world‘s fourth largest industrial nation ____.
A in the 1920s B. after WWI C. after WWII D. after the Great Depression
3) ______ won the Nobel Prize in 1956 for organizing a peacekeeping force to defuse the Suez Crisis. A. Pierre Trudeau B. Lester Pearson(+) C. Jean Chretien D. Brain Mulroney 4) ___ was Canada‘s first woman Prime Minister.
A. Kim Campbell (+) B. Pierre Trudeau C. Brian Mulroney D Jean Chretien
Lecture Eleven Government and Society of Canada Questions: What are Canadian Governor General‘s responsibilities?
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What does‖ Culture mosaic‖ mean in Canada?
1. The Executive
Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a federal system of parliamentary government and strong democratic tradition. Its political system is known as the Westminster system , which can be described as both a federation like the U.S and a constitutional monarchy like Britain. The Canadian government is divided into the federal government, provincial government and the territorial government( 5 geographic regions) Governor general, the source of executive power, is only the symbolic executive who can only act on the advice of the Canadian Prime Ministry and the Cabinet.
2. The Judiciary The courts in Canada are organized in a four-level structure. The Supreme Court , as the highest court, serves as the final court of appeals . It hears both civil and criminal appeals from decisions of the courts of appeals in all the provinces and territories. It is also an advisor to the federal government on questions concerning the Constitution .
The next level down from the Federal Court , the Tax court of Canada and the provincial and territorial superior courts of general jurisdiction .
At the bottom of the hierarchy are the courts called provincial courts, with divisions defined by the subject matter of their respective jurisdiction. The three main political parties in Canada are the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party and the New Democratic Party. Liberal Party, is Canada‘s largest political party and has been in office for most of the Canadian history. Conservative Party is a right-wing political party and forms the current government of Canada since February, 2006. The new Democratic Party, a social democratic party was founded in 1961. incorporates two other Canadian parties: the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labor Congress. Election was held every 5years according to constitution.
3. Society
As the second largest country , it ranks the 36th in the world population , about 3 person per square. Three quarters of the population is densely concentrated along the southern border with the United States.
3.1 Multi-lingualism
For historical reasons, the Canadian population is mainly characterized by its linguistic duality., with English and French being the two predominant languages. However, Canada is becoming a Multi-lingual society. One out of every six people reported having a mother tongue other than English and French. The most common mother tongues include Chinese, Italian, German, Punjabi （旁遮普语）and aboriginal languages, of which Chinese is the third most common mother tongue.
3.2 Multi-culturalism
Canada is also recognized as a multi-cultural nation in the wake of its diversified ethnic groups. Many of these 34 groups keep their own distinctive cultural characteristics. Organized ethnic communities demanded that their heritage also be acknowledged and they argued that the old policy of assimilation was both unjust and a failure. The recommended that the government acknowledge the value of cultural pluralism and the reflection of this pluralism in their policies and programs. In 1988, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act was passed. A new policy, the ―point system‖ is adopted to eliminate prejudice. Applicants get points according to their educational level, age, country quota, work experience, language ability, relatives living in Canada and
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