为了满足外国语学院英语系“美国文学选读”课小班上课的课程改革要求,满足其他英语院校和社会英语文学爱好者对美国文学选读教材的需求,我们编著了这部教材。之所以叫《美国文学选读新编》,是为了体现它与传统文学选读教材的区别。其创新之处表现在以下几个方面:**,力求所选作家及作品具有代表性和经典性,突出美国文学各个历史阶段的文化特征和文学特性。第二,一改传统文学选读教材“文学史+文学作品”的惯常模式,强调作品的细读,删除了传统文学选读教材中对史料的重复编写。第三,凸显学生和读者的自主性,增强教材的启发性。每单元都以引人人胜的提问介入,替代了对文学史知识乏味的回顾。鼓励学生在阅读文本前通过寻找问题的答案,完成对相关背景知识的认知。这样的编排不仅突出知识的**,还鼓励学生和读者积极思考,自主寻求问题的答案,彰显教材的启发意义。每单元用一个短语或句子概述了认识和解读该作家的**(central issue of concern),并在作品前设计一些与所选文本相关的问题(background questions and preview questions),用以回顾必要的背景知识,便于学生的自主阅读。在

lecture 1 washington irving(1783-1859)
1. background questions
2. selected reading
text: an excerpt from rip van winkle
3. assigned reading
lecture 2 edgar allan poe(1809-1849)
1. background questions
2. selected reading
text: the raven
3. assigned reading
lecture 3 nathanial hawthorne(1804-1864)
1. background questions
2. selected reading
text: young goodman brown
3. assigned reading
lecture 4 walt whitman(1819-1892)
1. background questions
2. selected readings
text a: i hear america singing
text b: there was a child went forth
text c: excerpts from "song of myself"
3. assigned readings
lecture 5 emily dickinson( 1830-1886)
1. background questions
2. selected readings
text a. wild nights--wild nights
text b: this is my letter to the world
text c: i died for beauty--but was scarce
text d: i heard a fly buzz--when i died
text e: because i could not stop for death
text f: a narrow fellow in the grass
3. assigned readings
lecture 6 mark twain(1835-1910)
1. background questions
2. selected reading
text, the notorious jumping frog of calaveras county
3. assigned reading
lecture 7 o. henry(1862-1910)
1. background questions
2. selected reading
text. the gift of the magi
3. assigned reading
lecture 8 sherwood anderson(1876-1941)
1. background questions
2. selected reading
text: "the egg" from the triumph of the egg
3. assigned reading
lecture 9 stephen crane(1871-1900)
1. background questions
2. selected reading
text, the open boat
3. assigned reading
lecture 10 theodore dreiser(1871-1945)
lecture 11 francis scott fitzgerald(1896-1940)
lecture 12 ernest hemingway(1899-1961)
lecture 13 william faulkner(1897-1962)
lecture 14 t.s.eliot(1888-1965)
lecture 15 robert frost(1874-1963)
lecture 16 eugene o'neill(1888-1953)