2024年5月4日发(作者：lol官网首页活动中心)

The Literature of Reason and Revolution

----理性文学和革命文学[独立革命时期(1776-1783)的文学]

It refers to the literary period roughly from 1776-1823 in American

literature

I. Background

With the settlement enlarged, colonial industry and trade developed quickly in

spite of the restrictions of the English government. Most important, the economic

prosperity led to inevitable social changes with the increase of newspapers,

education, theater, music, poetry and all the fine arts. The economic and social

changes caused diversity of opinion in religious matters and the decline of religion

as well.

In Europe, thinkers of the Enlightenment emancipated or enlightened

people’s mind from the bondage of feudalistic chains of the Middle Ages, while

in America the humanistic ideas of the movement gave a heavy blow to Puritanism

in advocating science, knowledge and the power and ability of man.

The English government wanted the colonies to remain politically and

economically dependent on the mother country. A natural outcome was increasing

tension with England. In the end, the conflict led to the Revolutionary War which

resulted in American independence and produced such Revolutionary figures as

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine.

II. Literature

The last decades of the 18

th

century witnessed a gradual decline of Puritanism.

While theology dominated the writings of the colonial times, politics

permeated the writings of the Revolution period. The 18

th

century rationalists

advocated a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political and

economic issues. The enlightenment, a literary moment originated from Europe

had influenced the best writers of this period. One of the most famous is Benjamin

Franklin whose works displayed a departure from the stock puritan belief. The

period also produced Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine who wrote political

pamphlets appropriate to an age of Revolution. The enlightenment had also

influenced the literature of that period in forming a style of clarity and precision.

Literature in this period consists of prose, which was political, dealing with

Revolutionary issues, poetry, drama and the novel.

After the United States achieved its independence, American intellectuals set

out on the journey to a literary independence. However, American literature

throughout the century was largely patterned on the writings of 18

th

century

English writers, notably Franklin by Addison and Steele. Joseph Addison and

Richard Steele are publishers of a moralistic journal

The Spectator

.