Selected Masterpieces of American Literature (Part 1)

Author: Qian Qing (Editor-in-Chief) / Wu Bing (Deputy Editor-in-Chief)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1994-06-01
Features: This book selects masterpieces from 25 American writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and literary critiques. The selected works are highly acclaimed and critically recognized. The book is organized by chapters, each featuring an introduction to the author, analysis of selected works, and excerpts with Chinese annotations. The two volumes include prefaces that introduce the historical context and development of various literary movements. This book can serve as a textbook for advanced English majors studying American literature and is also suitable for English learners who are interested in researching American literature.
[Preface]
The intended audience for this book is advanced English majors and literature enthusiasts with a solid English foundation. Its purpose is to introduce the essence of American literature, provide guidance and assistance in understanding and analyzing the selected authors and their works, and enhance readers' reading and appreciation skills. The book is divided into two volumes. The first volume includes works from 11 American writers of the 19th century, while the second volume features 14 writers of the 20th century. The selected works encompass excerpts from novels and long stories, short stories, poetry, essays, and literary critiques. In the history of American literature, we have selected works and excerpts from only 25 writers for in-depth analysis, aiming to provide readers with a key to entering the world of American literature. Due to time and space constraints, some important writers and works could not be included, which may result in certain biases. Many renowned American novelists have worldwide fame, and it would have been ideal to include excerpts from their works for analysis. However, doing so sometimes leads to disjointed narratives and difficulties in explanation. Therefore, where authors have outstanding short stories that significantly reflect their thoughts and writing styles, we generally avoid excerpting from their longer works. The length of each selected work or excerpt is approximately 30 pages, and all are unaltered original texts. Each chapter includes three main parts: an introduction to the author, analysis of selected works, and Chinese annotations. The author introductions focus on significant individuals and events that influenced the author's creative ideas and career. The work introductions highlight the themes and writing techniques of the selected texts, with certain comparisons of the authors across different works. Annotations are limited to historical background, cultural allusions, and rarely found terms that are not easily found in dictionaries. Both volumes include prefaces that introduce the historical context and the rise and development of various literary movements.
This book is the result of a collective research project based on many years of advanced American literature teaching at the English Department of Beijing Foreign Studies University. Due to the large number of contributors, although the text of each chapter has been collectively discussed and revised, achieving uniform writing styles and tones remains challenging. This presents both an advantage and a potential drawback of the book. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Professor Zhao Luorui, Professor Li Funing, Professor Tao Jie, Professor Chen Ruilan of Peking University's English Department; Professor Lin Yujin of Xiamen University; Professor Chang Yaoxin of Nankai University; Professor Dong Leshan of the American Studies Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and Research Fellow Zhao Yifan and Associate Editor Sheng Ning of the Institute of Foreign Languages at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for their valuable suggestions on the manuscript. We also express our thanks to Hou Yiling and Liu Haoming for their contributions to this book.