美國文學---Week8－敏文的部落格

美國文學---Week8

*Allegory, fable and parable

-Any form of imaginative literature or spoken utterance constructed in such a way that readers or listeners are encouraged to look for meanings hidden beneath the literal surface of the fiction.Many forms of literature elicit this kind of searching interpretation, and the generic term for the cluster is allegory; under it may be grouped fables, parables, and other symbolic shapings.

1. Allegory

-As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor. Allegory has been used widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can readily illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.

ex: Hunger Game, The Fairy Queen

2. Fable

-is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized (given human qualities, such as verbal communication) and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a pithy maxim.

- short animal tales with the short lesson

-A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind.

3.Parable

-is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse , which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters.

* Nathaniel Hawthorne

-was an American novelist, Dark Romantic, and short story writer.

-Hawthorne's works belong to romanticism or, more specifically, dark romanticism,^[88] cautionary tales that suggest that guilt, sin, and evil are the most inherent natural qualities of humanity.Many of his works are inspired by Puritan New England, combining historical romance loaded with symbolism and deep psychological themes, bordering on surrealism.

* Young Goodman Brown

- is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that all of humanity exists in a state of depravity, except those who are born in a state of grace. Hawthorne frequently attempts to expose the hypocrisy of Puritan culture in his literature. In a symbolic fashion, the story follows Young Goodman Brown's journey into self-scrutiny, which results in his loss of virtue and belief.

*"Then God bless youe!" said Faith, with the pink ribbons; "and may you find all well whn you come back."

foreshadowing

*"What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!"

近在咫尺

*Hades

-Hades was the ancient Greek chthonic god of the underworld, which eventually took his name.

In Greek mythology , Hades was regarded as the oldest son of Cronus and Rhea , although the last son regurgitated by his father . ^{[n 1]} He and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titans , and claimed rulership over the cosmos . Hades received the underworld, Zeus the air, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth—long the province of Gaia —available to all three concurrently. Hades was often portrayed with his three-headed guard dog Cerberus and, in later mythological authors, associated with the Helm of Darkness and the bident .

*Orpheus- metaphorical speaking

-Orpheus was a legendary Thracian musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religionand myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.