题目(英文) Influence of cultural differences on English and
American literature review
题目(中文) 文化差异对英美文学及评论的影响
Abstract
The cultural differences among the ethnic groups have created the world cultural diversity, making the world culture more colorful. As far as the British and American literary criticism is concerned, its content and development are influenced by cultural differences at different levels. Meanwhile, the development of literary criticism also plays an important role in the English and American literature. Therefore, the study of British and American literature, the study of British and American literature criticism, will be placed in the cultural background of the analysis, exploration, so that it can be deep and profound. American literature has been influenced by the British literature to a great extent. But there’s obvious difference between British and American literature. Through the comparison of British and American literature, it can be found that the differences between British and American literature are cultural differences, which are reflected in the differences between gentry’s culture and cowboy culture.
Keywords
Cultural difference,English and American literature, criticism, influence.
Contents
AbstractI
ContentsI
Introduction……………………………………………… ……………..2
1. A brief introduction of British and American Literature2
2. A brief introduction of British and American literary criticism………2
3. Aesthetic characteristics of English and American Literature………...2
3.1 Rich Bristish style in British literature ………………………… 3
3.2 Openness, idealism, freedom and independence in American Literature…………………………………………………………….3
3.3 Cultural differences reflected by English and American Literature.4
4. The influence of cultural differences on American literature and criticism ………………………………………………………………….5
4.1 Influence of different national languages on English and American literature and criticism …………………………………...5
4.2 The influence of cultural connotation on American literature eva luation…………………………………………………………... 6
4.3 The influence of differences in cultural development on American literature criticism….…………………………………….7
4.4 Differences in culture and history on American literature criticism..….………………………………………………………...8
5 Conclusion ……………………………………………….…………….9
References…...10
Introduction
1. A brief introduction of British and American Literature
In English and American literature, English has become a tool for expressing feelings and thoughts of the British and American people, and its style is characterized by diversity. American literature includes the following contents: fiction, drama, poetry, etc. British literature has gone through different stages of development, but at different stages, it has different artistic characteristics. Due to the influence of the First World War and the Second World War, British literature began to develop in a pluralistic way. Compared with the United Kingdom, American literature started late, and for a long time, American literature has always imitated British literature. At the beginning of the twentieth Century, American literature developed at a relatively fast speed, and occupied an equally important position in the world literature with British literature. At this time, American literature began to have distinctive features.
2. A brief introduction of British and American literary criticism
The so-called literary criticism refers to the analysis of the development of literature by means of the phenomenon of literary theory, so as to promote the development of literary activities. The literary criticisms of the contents are as follows: comment on the novel poetry, drama and other comments; comment. In literary criticism, literary criticism is an important part of. British and American literary criticism is the analysis of English and American literature with the help of literary theory. It not only discovers the laws of English and American literature, but also guides the creation of British and American literature. English literature is the object of literary criticism, the purpose is to analyze the literary works contained the thoughts and feelings, to explore the literature creation style, let more people love on American Literature.
3. Aesthetic characteristics of English and American Literature
American literature is one of the forms of Anglo American culture, is the world's people understand English culture, English culture in the development process to bring the world to enjoy the spirit is great, so far, some classic masterpiece still influenced world literature, influence people's life, give people unlimited imagination and association. British and American literature or as the brook, clear and quiet; or run like the vast grasslands of wild horses, wild and unrestrained; or as the orchid fragrance and boundless, give people endless imagination...... Whether it is elegant or vulgar, soothing or lively, British and American literature to bring people aesthetic experience as words, here, specific analysis of the artistic features of American literature, American literature dig great cultural connotation.
3.1. Rich British style in British literature
English literature has a long history in the development process, its continuous evolution and deepening, has undergone great changes. But in general, English literature in different extent influenced by religion, history, society and culture is great, English literature can reflect the different levels of English culture, study on the history of British literature can spy on British social and cultural history, you can feel the thick rich style of England, can better grasp the people of the British Empire the spiritual pursuit and aesthetic characteristics. Influence of culture on literature is extremely far-reaching. Throughout the history of English literature, from the Anglo Saxon period to the Renaissance, it was a great turning point, and completed a great change from God to man. Although English literature has changed constantly in form and expression, British literature remains unchanged in displaying the life culture and displaying the invariable human nature. Each stage of American literature has a unique artistic charm, especially after the Second World War, British literature has undergone great changes, in the diversification of the social and cultural background, the value orientation of the diversification of English literature, toward the direction of diversification, is to enrich the content, more diverse art display of human life and cultural diversity development outlook
3.2. Openness, idealism, freedom and independence in American Literature
American literature has been influenced by the British literature to a great extent. Because the United States is a former British colony, the United States is influenced by British culture extensively and profoundly, even though the United States comes from the British rule and become an independent and powerful emerging countries, American literature is no longer simply to imitate the routines and ideas, but to a certain extent, American literature is still a British literary imprint. American literature has gone through different stages from imitation to replacement of old and new to creation, and now it has entered a period of diversified development. Compared to English literature, American literature conveys more freedom, more peace, the pursuit of people's sense of independence and dignity, more civilians and masculinity, and it can give people endless upward force, American literature can make us feel the power of freedom, the pursuit of happiness. For it is full of strength the United States, American literature can bring people endless joy.
For example, the famous American writer Jack London's works are full of masculine beauty. Reading his works, all readers are convinced by the content of the works and its energy momentum is pressing. Jack London, although only 40 years old, showed a strange and wide world in 19 novels and more than 150 short stories for the reader, a variety of fresh works presented by the protagonist, the plot showing the cruel man and nature of the contest, and the complex interpersonal relationship and so on. They embody American people’s yearning for courage, perseverance, and noble love and the spirit of quality. It can be said that the creation of literary works to the reader's mind is a great shock. Again, Hemingway is the world famous American writers, whose literary masterpiece the Old Man and The Sea, with "the creation of the protagonist Santiago readers never tail to see the tough guy, the elderly man facing irreversible fate of reality, can still be firm and inflexible, indomitable, although the final result is a failure, he can still keep the dignity with courage, still does not change the manner of a victor," man is not defeated, you can destroy him, but you just can't beat him, "this is the famous Hemingway, who describes mankind's undefeated spirit. Mark Twain is known as the master of humor, his humorous satire as to show social evils to the world, hoping the community more perfect and ideal expression for freedom of and equal society. From these representative works, it is easy to see that the cultural characteristic of the Americans.
3.3 Cultural differences reflected by English and American Literature
From the English literature and American literature, it can be seen clearly that there are obvious differences between British and American literature. For example, from the protagonist Hamlett in Shakespeare's classic work Hamlett, we can see the typical personality and cultural connotation of the British people reflected by the works. The States enjoy the Old Man and the sea, which featured by a typical American hero Santiago yueranzhishang. It can be said that it is based on the cowboy culture, such as tough image culture is a typical representative of American literature. In short, through the comparison of British and American literature, we can find that the differences between British and American literature are cultural differences, which are mainly reflected in the differences between gentry’s culture and cowboy culture.
4. The influence of cultural differences on American literature and criticism
Influence of cultural differences on literary criticism, mainly reflected in the national language differences, cultural connotation, cultural development and cultural carrier from historical aspects.
4.1 Influence of different national languages on English and American literature and criticism
From the British and American literature, we will find such a rule, almost all British literature is presented with a very Standard English, in both words and grammar. English language in literature is quite proper, in line with the standard of English. Although, in the American literary works, English is also used, it is not as pure as in English literature, precisely speaking, it uses American English, so it’s easy to break through to make new elements, making the language unique and free, which is a kind of transcendence to pure British English. This is mainly caused by the differences between British and American language culture.
In a nation, there is a universal language and culture, which is an important symbol of a nation distinguished from another nation. This language culture represents the optimality of this nation's culture, and it is also an important manifestation of whether a nation's culture is independent. Through the appreciation of literary works, we find that the language used by writers is processed by art and has a distinctive national character. Through the comparison of the literary works of different countries, we can clearly find the differences between different cultures, can find different ethnic style, therefore, differences in language and culture play an important role in the development of English and American Literature.
4.2 The influence of cultural connotation on American literature eva luation
Literary criticism has been hovering between the inheritance of traditional culture and traditional culture. As everyone knows, "Hamlett" is the British writer Shakespeare's works, however, in the tragedy "Hamlett" in the protagonist Hamlett is wandering in the "revenge" and "life and death" between the two, the protagonist's character is irresolute and hesitant as incisively and vividly demonstrated. At the time, the features of the British literary criticism, of Shakespeare, and the protagonist's are the same. From seventeenth Century to eighteenth Century, the British literary criticism was religious, and the British literary criticism in this period also hesitates on whether inherit the traditional culture or breaking away from traditional culture. With the passage of time, British literary criticism began to develop towards post colonialism, post modernism and feminism. In the process of literary criticism, we should not only examine the theory horizontally, but also think about the theory from the vertical dimension, and then determine the literary theory in line with the current social development. The ordinary cultural connotation will deeply influence literary criticism. Literature and literary criticism are complementary to each other. To study American literary criticism, first of all, we should study American literature. Although European continental literature profoundly influenced American literature, American literature also had its unique characteristics in the process of exploration. Similarly, critics of American literature are also the same. In the exploration process has undergone many difficulties of American Literature and ultimately achieves a qualitative leap. Review of American literature is a literature review of an innovative, inclusive one. It draws on other countries' excellent literary criticism ideas, and then creates a diverse American culture on this basis.
The British literary criticism, struggling in the contradiction between the traditional culture inheritance and innovation, such as the representative work Shakespeare Hamlett, the protagonist is tortured by revenge, from the "survival and death" struggle, you can get a glimpse of the irresolute and hesitant character, this period of literary criticism seems to have irresolute and hesitant character. This can be seen from seventeenth to eighteenth Century, during this period, British literary criticism has obvious religious overtones, and the emergence of the absurdity of the creation, which is between the inheritance of the tradition and breaking away from the traditional. In general, British literary criticism towards postmodernism, postcolonialism, feminism literary criticism in the direction of development, gradually get rid of the shackles of tradition, and began thinking the new location prior to the literary theory, and finally has formed the new literary theory, which is more consistent in the development. As for literary criticism in the United States, consistent with the literature, its literary criticism history is not long. The United States began as a colony, its literature inevitably is influenced by European literature, especially the influence of English literature. Although influenced by many factors, American literature and literary criticism still have their own characteristics, in the form of an independent existence. Generally speaking, the cultural connotations of Britain and the United States have some differences. Under the influence of this difference, literary criticism is not the same, and lattices have different characteristics. Therefore, in order to understand the connotation of English and American literature better, readers or critics should understand the different cultural connotations of Britain and the United states. Take Pride and Prejudice the film as an example, in the process of shooting, relevant personnel must perform some of the comments on the work, in order to determine the shooting direction, due to the cultural differences between Britain and the United States. The movies of the two countries have a lot of difference, take the story setting, the British version takes the manor, as background which is a great relationship with the British manor culture; American edition is opening in the bustling commercial city, which is closely linked with the fast pace of life and the commercial civilization.
4.3 The influence of differences in cultural development on American literature criticism
In the process of cultural development, language plays a bridge role. Meanwhile, language has become an important symbol to ethnic differences. To some extent, the difference in language influence English literature criticism. Essentially speaking, American English and British English have no difference, but the United States is a new country, whether from the cultural perspective, or from the political perspective, American English is new. So when the literary critics comments on the works of American literature, they often used bold language, which leads to comment on American literature with innovation and individual freedom.
4.4 Differences in culture and history on American literature criticism
Because the British bourgeois revolution was incomplete, this led many literary critics to be more conservative when commenting on British literature. We know that Shakespeare's works are humanistic. But in the social development at the same time, many literary critics began to deny the humanism thought, resulting in British literary criticism being too conservative.
However, the cultural history of this new country is far different from that of Britain, so the United States pays more attention to humanism. Under the influence of humanism, many literary critics have made innovations while commenting on American literary works. Why there will be different characteristics? The reason is that the United States is an independent, democratic state, and create independent and democratic cultural atmosphere, which makes American literary criticism free of considering external factors in the process of development. Therefore, American literary criticism is an innovation based on humanism, which leads to the radical and independence of American literary criticism. For example, the American literary critics' comments on Mark Twain's the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can be seen in the humanistic view contained in American literary criticism.
5. Conclusion
To sum up, the influence of cultural differences on literary criticism is very important. Compared with the United States, Britain has a long history, rich cultural element, profound literary connotation. In the literary review, the British tend to be conservative. American history is not long, and the people of the United States are influenced by multiple racial integration, open society, under the free environment. The writers created a great personality and vitality of literary works, and literature review development tends to be more innovative and diversified. In order to appreciate the literary works more profoundly, we should start from the cultural differences between the two countries, fully understand the impact of cultural differences between the two countries on the literature review, starting from the perspective of culture development, with different forms and ideas of literary works in the interpretation and appreciation, and then continuously improve the level of appreciation of the English and American literature works.
References
[1] Minmin, Kong. Study on Anglo American cultural influence on literary criticism[J], Jintian, 2015, 3rd Vol.
[2] Yage, Li. Appreciation of the language art of literary works in the cross-cultural perspective[J], Youth Literature, 2014.
[3] Xuan, Liu. Constraints and metaphor of cultural differences in English[J], a Chinese Journal, 2013.
[4] Jing,Zhao.Cultural differences in English and American literary criticism[J], young writer, 2013.
[5] Ruichang, Lv. An English Chinese translation course[M]. Shanxi people's publishing house, 1983.
[6] Shakespeare. Hamlett[M], Liang Shiqiu's translation, China Radio and television press, 2001.
[7] Vatican. The root of comparative literature theory[M], translated by Dai Wangshu, the Commercial Press, 1937.
[8] Austen Jane. Pride and Prejudice [M], translated by Lei Hua, Beijing Yanshan press, 2003.
[9] Yangqing,Gui.Xiang lin,WU. Selected Readings in English and American Literature[M], Chinese Translation Publishing Company, 2005.
[10] Mingway Hai, The old man and the sea[M], Wu Lao translation, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 2001.