本教程旨在通过系统完整地梳理美国文学史的复杂成分和发展演变，引导英语学习者系统地了解和研究美国文学的发展历程，探究美国社会思潮以至整个文化发展的脉络，从而更加深人地寻绎美国文化更加深层次的精神和理念。同时引导学习者全面地学习和理解各个时期的作家及其作品，提高文学修养，增添文学兴趣，提高学习者的英语语言能力、理解能力和欣赏水平。

《美国文学教程》旨在引导教师和学生全面系统地了解和研究美国文学的发展历程，探究美国社会思潮以及文化脉络，学习和理解各个时期的作家及其作品，提高文学修养，增添文学兴趣，提高英语语言能力、理解能力和欣赏水平。

本教程将美国文学按历史发展的阶段分成四个部分：殖民地和建国时期文学；浪漫主义时期文学；现实主义时期文学；现代主义文学。本教程共八个章节，集中介绍了43位美国著名的文学家和他们的优秀作品。全书以英文为主。每个章节均有历史背景介绍、作家生平简介、代表作品选读、选篇注释和赏析思考题。并附录有：美国文学编年表、文学术语阐述、思考题参考答案和四套综合练习题集。

本教程最大的特色是：现代主义时期的文学所占篇幅较大，涉及的作家和作品较多；附录材料较丰富，尤其是编写的综合练习题集，便于教师和学生检测学习效果；赏析思考题有针对性；教材适应面宽，可以作为高等学校英语专业本科生的教材及参考书，研究生辅助读本，亦可作为非英语专业的大学生的文学课外读物以及广大文学爱好者的赏析读本。为了便于教师课堂教学和学生自主学习，我们还将该教程电子课件制作成了光盘。

A Course Description of American Literature

A Brief Introduction of American Literature

Part One Colonial Period and Early American Literature(1620-1800)

Chapter 1 The Planters and the Puritans

 Background Information

1.1 Captain John Smith

From The Generall Historie

Captain Smith Among the Indians

1.2 William Bradford

From The Pilgrims Meet the Indians

1.3 Edward Taylor

The Jov of Church Fellowship Righdy Attended

Chapter2 The Founders ofthe Nation

 Background Information

2.1 Benjamin Franklin

From The Whisfle

A Receipt to Make a New England Funeral Elegy

From The Way to Wealth

2.2 Thomas Paine

From Common Sense

2.3 Thomas Jefferson

The Declaration of Independence

Part Two The Romantic Period(1780-1860)

Chapter 3 The New National Literature

Background Information

3.1 Washington Irving

The Devil and Tom Walker

3.2 James Fenimore Cooper

An Overview of The Deerslayer

From The Deerslayer

3.3 William Cullen Bryant

Thanatopsis

To a Waterfowl

3.4 Edgar Allan Poe

The Masque of the Red Death

Annabel Lee

To Helen

Chapter 4 The Transcendentalism

 Background Information

 Transcendentalism

4.1 Ralph Waldo Emerson

From Self-Reliance

The Rhodora

4.2 Henry David Thoreau

An Overview ofWalden

From Walden

Where I Lived，and What I Lived for

4.3 Henry Wadsworth Long fellow

The Arsenal at Springfield

The Tide Rises，the Tide Falls

Nature

The Sound ofthe Sea

4.4 Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Maypole of Merry Mount

An Overview of The Scarlet Letter

The Summary of Chapter 12

From The Scarlet Letter Chapter 12

The Minister's Vigil

Part Three The Aae of Realism(1860-1910)

Chapter 5 The Codflict between North and South

 Background Information

5.1 Walt Whitman

Young Grimes

From Song of Myself

Cavalry Crossing a Ford

5.2 Abraham Lincoln

Second Inaugural Address，March 4，1865

5.3 Emily Dickinson

I Like to See It Lap the Miles

I'll Tell You How the Sun Rose

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

5.4 Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe

An Overview of Uncle Tom's Cabin

The Summary of Chapter 12

From Uncle Tom's Cabin Chapter 12

Select Incident of Lawful Trade

Chapter 6 New American Outlooks

 Background Information

6.1 Mark Twain

From life on the Mississippi

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

An Overview of Ihe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Summary of Chapter 31

From The Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn Chapter 31

6.2 Henry James

An Overview ofThe Portrait of a Lady

The Sunanary of Chapter 7

From The Portrait of a Lady Chapter7

6.3 Stephen Crane

A Mystery of Heroism

6.4 Theodore Dreiser

An Overview of Sister Carrie

A Summary of Chapter 47

From Sister Carrie Chapter 47.

The Way of the Beaten—A Harp in the Wind

Part Four Modern American Literature(1910- )

Chapter 7 American Literature after WW Ⅰ

 Background Information

7.1 Ezra Pound

In a Station of the Metro

The River-Merchant's Wife：A Letter

A Pact

7.2 Sherwood Anderson

From Winesburg，Ohio

Sophistication

From Winesburg，Ohio

Mother

7.3 Robert Frost

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Fire and Ice

To a Young Wretch

Mending Wall

7.4 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

An Overview ofThe Great Gatsbv

From The Great Gatsby Chapter 3

7.5 Ernest Hemingway

In Another Country

An Overview.ofA Farewell to Arms

From A Farewell to Arms Chapter 36

7.6 Eugene O’Neill

An Overview ofThe Hairy Ape

From The Hairy Ape SCENE Ⅰ

From The Hairy Ape SCENE Ⅱ

From The Hairy Ape SCENE Ⅲ

7.7 John Ernst Steinbeck

The Leader of the People

An Overview ofThe Grapes of Wrath

From The Grapes of Wra山Chapter 9

7.8 William.Faulkner

The Bear

Chapter 8 American Literature after WW Ⅱ

 Background Information

The War Novelists

The Southern Writers

The Jewish Writers

The Beat Generation and the Beat Writers

The Black Humor/Black Humorist

The Black Writers

The Feminist Writers

8.1 Saul BeHow

An Overview ofThe Adventures of Augie March

From The Adventures of Augie March Chapter 21

8.2 Norman Mailer

From“The White Negro”2

From“The White Negro”4

An Overview ofThe Armies of the Night

From The Armies of the Night

Part 6—A Transfer of Power

8.3 J.D.Salinger

An Overview ofThe Catcher in the Rye

From The Catcher in The Rye Chapter 22

From The Catcher in the Rye Chapter 24

8.4 Joseph Heller

An Overview of Catch-22

From Catch-22 Chapter 40

From Catch-22 Chapter 42

8.5 The Black WIiters

Background Information

Langston Hughes

Negro Speaks of Rivers

Richard Wright

From Black Boy

James Baldmn

An Overview of Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone

From TeU Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

8.6 The Southera Writers

Background Information

Robert Penn Warren

Infant Boy at Midcentury

Truman Capote

From In Cold Blood

Flannery O'Connor

An Overview of A Good Man is Hard to Find

From A Good Man Is Hard to Find

8.7 The Jewish Writers

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Gimpel the Fool

The Son from America

8.8 The Feminist Writers

Sylvia Plath

Words

Daddv

Alice Walker

Everyday Use

For Your Grandmama

Appendix Ⅰ A Chronology of American Literature and Life

Appendix Ⅱ Literary Terms

Appendix Ⅲ Suggested Answers to the Questions

Appendix Ⅳ Tests

Appendix Ⅴ 试卷参考答案

Appendix Ⅳ Bibliography