10 Chapter Ten DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN ARTS

Chapter Ten DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN ARTS Music, dance, architecture, visual arts, and literature The development of the arts in America -- music, dance, architecture, the visual arts, and literature -- has been marked by a tension between two strong sources of inspiration: European sophistication eq \o\ac(○,2) and domestic originality eq \o\ac(○,3). Frequently, the best American artists have managed to harness both sources. This chapter touches upon a number of major American figures in the arts, some of whom have grappled with eq \o\ac(○,4) the Old World-New World conflict in their work. MUSIC Until the 20th century, "serious" music in America was shaped by European standards and idioms. A notable exception was the music of composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869), son of a British father and a Creole eq \o\ac(○,5) mother. Gottschalk enlivened eq \o\ac(○,6) his music with plantation melodies eq \o\ac(○,7) and Caribbean rhythms eq \o\ac(○,8) that he had heard in his native New Orleans eq \o\ac(○,9). He was the first American pianist to achieve international recognition, but his early death contributed to his relative obscurity eq \o\ac(○,10). More representative of early American music were the compositions of Edward MacDowell (1860-1908), who not only patterned his works after European models but stoutly resisted eq \o\ac(○,11) the label of "American composer." He was unable to see beyond the same notion that hampered eq \o\ac(○,12) many early American writers: To be wholly American, he thought, was to be provincial eq \o\ac(○,13). A distinctively American classical music came to fruition when such composers as George Gershwin (1898-1937) and Aaron Copland (1900-1990) incorporated homegrown melodies and rhythms into forms borrowed from Europe. Gershwin's "Rhapsody eq \o\ac(○,14) in Blue" and his opera Porgy and Bess eq \o\ac(○,15) were influenced by jazz and African-American folk songs. Some of his music is also self-consciously urban: The opening of his "An American in Paris," for example, mimics eq \o\ac(○,16) taxi horns eq \o\ac(○,17). As Harold C. Schonberg writes in The Lives of the Great Composers, Copland "helped break the stranglehold eq \o\ac(○,18) of the German domination on American music." He studied in Paris, where he was encouraged to depart from tradition and indulge eq \o\ac(○,19) his interest in jazz (for more on jazz, see chapter 11). Besides writing symphonies eq \o\ac(○,20), concertos eq \o\ac(○,21), and an opera, he composed the scores eq \o\ac(○,22) for several films. He is best known, however, for his ballet scores, which draw on American folk songs; among them are "Billy the Kid," "Rodeo," eq \o\ac(○,23) and "Appalachian Spring." Another American original eq \o\ac(○,24) was Charles Ives (1874-1954), who combined elements of popular classical music with harsh dissonance eq \o\ac(○,2). "I found I could not go on using the familiar chords eq \o\ac(○,3) early," he explained. "I heard something else." His idiosyncratic eq \o\ac(○,4) music was seldom eq \o\ac(○,5) performed while he was alive, but Ives is now recognized as an innovator who anticipated eq \o\ac(○,6) later musical developments of the 20th century. Composers who followed Ives experimented with 12-tone scales eq \o\ac(○,7), minimalism eq \o\ac(○,8), and other innovations that some concertgoers eq \o\ac(○,9) found alienating eq \o\ac(○,10). In the last decades of the 20th century, there has been a trend back toward music that pleases both composer and listener, a development that may be related to the uneasy status of the symphony orchestra eq \o\ac(○,11) in America. Unlike Europe, where it is common for governments to underwrite eq \o\ac(○,12) their orchestras and opera companies, the arts in America get relatively little public support. To survive, symphony orchestras depend largely on philanthropy eq \o\ac(○,13) and paid admissions eq \o\ac(○,14). Some orchestra directors have found a way to keep mainstream audiences happy while introducing new music to the public: Rather than segregate eq \o\ac(○,15) the new pieces, these directors program them side-by-side with traditional fare. Meanwhile, opera, old and new, has been flourishing. Because it is so expensive to stage, however, opera depends heavily on the generosity of corporate and private donors eq \o\ac(○,16). DANCE Closely related to the development of American music in the early 20th century was the emergence of a new, and distinctively American, art form -- modern dance. Among the early innovators was Isadora Duncan eq \o\ac(○,17) (1878-1927), who stressed pure, unstructured eq \o\ac(○,18) movement in lieu of eq \o\ac(○,19) the positions of classical ballet. The main line of development, however, runs from the dance company of Ruth St. Denis (1878-1968) and her husband-partner, Ted Shawn (1891-1972). Her pupil Doris Humphrey (1895-1958) looked outward for inspiration, to society and human conflict. Another pupil of St. Denis, Martha Graham (1893-1991), whose New York-based company became perhaps the best known in modern dance, sought to express an inward-based passion eq \o\ac(○,20). Many of Graham's most popular works were produced in collaboration with leading American composers -- "Appalachian Spring" with Aaron Copland, for example. Later choreographers eq \o\ac(○,21) searched for new methods of expression. Merce Cunningham (1919- ) introduced improvisation eq \o\ac(○,22) and random eq \o\ac(○,23) movement into performances. Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) incorporated African dance elements and black music into his works. Recently such choreographers as Mark Morris (1956- ) and Liz Lerman (1947-) have defied the convention that dancers must be thin and young. Their belief, put into action in their hiring practices and performances, is that graceful, exciting movement is not restricted by age or body type. In the early 20th century U.S. audiences also were introduced to classical ballet by touring companies of European dancers. The first American ballet troupes were founded in the 1930s, when dancers and choreographers teamed up with visionary lovers of ballet such as Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996). Kirstein invited Russian choreographer George Balanchine (1904-1983) to the United States in 1933, and the two established the School of American Ballet, which became the New York City Ballet in 1948. Ballet manager and publicity agent eq \o\ac(○,2) Richard Pleasant (1909-1961) founded America's second leading ballet organization, American Ballet Theatre, with dancer and patron Lucia Chase (1907-1986) in 1940. Paradoxically eq \o\ac(○,3), native-born directors like Pleasant included Russian classics in their repertoires eq \o\ac(○,4), while Balanchine announced that his new American company was predicated on distinguished music and new works in the classical idiom, not the standard repertory eq \o\ac(○,5) of the past. Since then, the American ballet scene has been a mix of classic revivals and original works, choreographed by such talented former dancers as Jerome Robbins (1918- ), Robert Joffrey (1930-1988), Eliot Feld (1942- ), Arthur Mitchell (1934- ), and Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948- ). ARCHITECTURE America's unmistakable contribution to architecture has been the skyscraper, whose bold, thrusting eq \o\ac(○,6) lines have made it the symbol of capitalist energy. Made possible by new construction techniques and the invention of the elevator, the first skyscraper went up in Chicago in 1884. Many of the most graceful early towers were designed by Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), America's first great modern architect. His most talented student was Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959), who spent much of his career designing private residences with matching furniture and generous use of open space eq \o\ac(○,7). One of his best-known buildings, however, is a public one: the Guggenheim eq \o\ac(○,8) Museum in New York City. European architects who emigrated to the United States before World War II launched what became a dominant movement in architecture, the International Style. Perhaps the most influential of these immigrants were Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) and Walter Gropius (1883-1969), both former directors of Germany's famous design school, the Bauhaus eq \o\ac(○,9). Based on geometric form, buildings in their style have been both praised as monuments to American corporate life and dismissed as eq \o\ac(○,10) "glass boxes." In reaction, younger American architects such as Michael Graves (1945- ) have rejected the austere eq \o\ac(○,11), boxy look in favor of "postmodern" buildings with striking contours eq \o\ac(○,12) and bold decoration that alludes eq \o\ac(○,13) to historical styles of architecture. THE VISUAL ARTS America's first well-known school of painting -- the Hudson River school -- appeared in 1820. As with music and literature, this development was delayed until artists perceived that the New World offered subjects unique to itself; in this case the westward expansion of settlement brought the transcendent beauty of frontier landscapes to painters' attention. The Hudson River painters' directness eq \o\ac(○,2) and simplicity of vision eq \o\ac(○,3) influenced such later artists as Winslow Homer (1836-1910), who depicted rural America -- the sea, the mountains, and the people who lived near them. Middle-class city life found its painter in Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), an uncompromising eq \o\ac(○,4) realist whose unflinching eq \o\ac(○,5) honesty undercut eq \o\ac(○,6) the genteel eq \o\ac(○,7) preference for romantic sentimentalism eq \o\ac(○,8). Controversy eq \o\ac(○,9) soon became a way of life for American artists. In fact, much of American painting and sculpture since 1900 has been a series of revolts against tradition. "To hell with eq \o\ac(○,10) the artistic values," announced Robert Henri (1865-1929). He was the leader of what critics called the "ash-can eq \o\ac(○,11)" school of painting, after the group's portrayals eq \o\ac(○,12) of the squalid eq \o\ac(○,13) aspects of city life. Soon the ash-can artists gave way to modernists arriving from Europe -- the cubists eq \o\ac(○,14) and abstract painters promoted by the photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) at his Gallery 291 in New York City. In the years after World War II, a group of young New York artists formed the first native American movement to exert eq \o\ac(○,15) major influence on foreign artists: abstract expressionism. Among the movement's leaders were Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), and Mark Rothko (1903-1970). The abstract expressionists abandoned formal composition and representation of real objects to concentrate on instinctual arrangements of space and color and to demonstrate the effects of the physical action of painting eq \o\ac(○,16) on the canvas eq \o\ac(○,17). Members of the next artistic generation favored a different form of abstraction: works of mixed media. Among them were Robert Rauschenberg (1925- ) and Jasper Johns (1930- ), who used photos, newsprint eq \o\ac(○,18), and discarded objects in their compositions. Pop artists, such as Andy Warhol (1930-1987), Larry Rivers (1923- ), and Roy Lichtenstein (1923- ), reproduced, with satiric care eq \o\ac(○,19), everyday objects and images of American popular culture -- Coca-Cola bottles, soup cans, comic strips. eq \o\ac(○,20) Today artists in America tend not to restrict themselves to schools, styles, or a single medium. A work of art might be a performance on stage or a hand-written manifesto eq \o\ac(○,21); it might be a massive design cut into eq \o\ac(○,22) a Western desert or a severe arrangement of marble panels inscribed with the names of American soldiers who died in Vietnam. Perhaps the most influential 20th-century American contribution to world art has been a mocking playfulness eq \o\ac(○,23), a sense that a central purpose of a new work is to join the ongoing debate over the definition of art itself. LITERATURE Much early American writing is derivative : European forms and styles transferred eq \o\ac(○,2) to new locales. For example, Wieland and other novels by Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) are energetic imitations of the Gothic novels then being written in England. Even the well-wrought tales eq \o\ac(○,3) of Washington Irving (1783-1859), notably "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow eq \o\ac(○,4)," seem comfortably European despite their New World settings. Perhaps the first American writer to produce boldly new fiction and poetry was Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). In 1835, Poe began writing short stories -- including "The Masque eq \o\ac(○,5) of the Red Death," "The Pit eq \o\ac(○,6) and the Pendulum eq \o\ac(○,7)," "The Fall of the House of Usher eq \o\ac(○,8)," and "The Murders in the Rue eq \o\ac(○,9) Morgue eq \o\ac(○,10)" -- that explore previously hidden levels of human psychology and push the boundaries of fiction toward mystery and fantasy eq \o\ac(○,11). Meanwhile, in 1837, the young Nathaniel Hawthorne eq \o\ac(○,12) (1804-1864) collected some of his stories as Twice-Told Tales eq \o\ac(○,13), a volume rich in symbolism eq \o\ac(○,14) and occult eq \o\ac(○,15) incidents. Hawthorne went on to write full-length eq \o\ac(○,16) "romances," quasi-allegorical eq \o\ac(○,17) novels that explore such themes as guilt, pride, and emotional repression in his native New England. His masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter eq \o\ac(○,18), is the stark eq \o\ac(○,19) drama of a woman cast out of her community eq \o\ac(○,20) for committing adultery eq \o\ac(○,21). Hawthorne's fiction had a profound impact on his friend Herman Melville (1819-1891), who first made a name for himself by turning material from his seafaring eq \o\ac(○,22) days into exotic eq \o\ac(○,23) novels. Inspired by Hawthorne's example, Melville went on to write novels rich in philosophical speculation eq \o\ac(○,24). In Moby-Dick eq \o\ac(○,25), an adventurous whaling voyage becomes the vehicle for examining such themes as obsession eq \o\ac(○,26), the nature of evil, and human struggle against the elements. In another fine work, the short novel Billy Budd, Melville dramatizes the conflicting claims of duty and compassion on board a ship in time of war. His more profound books sold poorly, and he had been long forgotten by the time of his death. He was rediscovered in the early decades of the 20th century. In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), an ex-minister, published a startling nonfiction work called Nature, in which he claimed it was possible to dispense with eq \o\ac(○,27) organized religion and reach a lofty eq \o\ac(○,28) spiritual state by studying and responding to the natural world. His work influenced not only the writers who gathered around him, forming a movement known as Transcendentalism eq \o\ac(○,29), but also the public, who heard him lecture. Emerson's most gifted fellow-thinker was Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), a resolute nonconformist eq \o\ac(○,2). After living mostly by himself for two years in a cabin eq \o\ac(○,3) by a wooded pond eq \o\ac(○,4), Thoreau wrote Walden, a book-length memoir eq \o\ac(○,5) that urges resistance to the meddlesome eq \o\ac(○,6) dictates of organized society. His radical writings express a deep-rooted tendency toward individualism eq \o\ac(○,7) in the American character. Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens, 1835-1910) was the first major American writer to be born away from the East Coast -- in the border state of Missouri. His regional masterpieces, the memoir Life on the Mississippi eq \o\ac(○,8) and the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn eq \o\ac(○,9), were noted in chapter 2. Twain's style -- influenced by journalism, wedded to the vernacular eq \o\ac(○,10), direct and unadorned eq \o\ac(○,11) but also highly evocative eq \o\ac(○,12) and irreverently eq \o\ac(○,13) funny -- changed the way Americans write their language. His characters speak like real people and sound distinctively American, using local dialects, newly invented words, and regional accents. Henry James (1843-1916) confronted the Old World-New World dilemma eq \o\ac(○,14) by writing directly about it. Although born in New York City, he spent most of his adult years in England. Many of his novels center on Americans who live in or travel to Europe. With its intricate eq \o\ac(○,15), highly qualified sentences and dissection eq \o\ac(○,16) of emotional nuance eq \o\ac(○,17), James's fiction can be daunting eq \o\ac(○,18). Among his more accessible works are the novellas eq \o\ac(○,19) "Daisy Miller," about an enchanting eq \o\ac(○,20) American girl in Europe, and "The Turn of the Screw," an enigmatic eq \o\ac(○,21) ghost story. America's two greatest 19th-century poets could hardly have been more different eq \o\ac(○,22) in temperament eq \o\ac(○,23) and style. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was a working man, a traveler, a self-appointed nurse during the American Civil War (1861-1865), and a poetic innovator. His magnum opus eq \o\ac(○,24) was Leaves of Grass, in which he uses a free-flowing verse and lines of irregular length to depict the all-inclusiveness of American democracy. Taking that motif eq \o\ac(○,25) one step further, the poet equates the vast range of American experience with himself -- and manages not to sound like a crass eq \o\ac(○,26) egotist eq \o\ac(○,27). For example, in "Song of Myself," the long, central poem in Leaves of Grass, Whitman writes: "These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me...." Whitman was also a poet of the body -- "the body electric," as he called it. In Studies in Classic American Literature, the English novelist D.H. Lawrence wrote that Whitman "was the first to smash the old moral conception that the soul of man is something `superior' and `above' the flesh." Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), on the other hand, lived the sheltered life of a genteel unmarried woman in small-town Massachusetts.Within its formal structure, her poetry is ingenious eq \o\ac(○,28), witty eq \o\ac(○,29), exquisitely eq \o\ac(○,30)wrought, eq \o\ac(○,31) and psychologically penetrating . Her work was unconventional eq \o\ac(○,2) for its day, and little of it was published during her lifetime. Many of her poems dwell on eq \o\ac(○,3)death, often with a mischievous eq \o\ac(○,4) twist. "Because I could not stop for Death," one begins, "He kindly stopped for me." The opening of another Dickinson poem toys eq \o\ac(○,5) with her position as a woman in a male-dominated society and an unrecognized poet: "I'm nobody! Who are you? / Are you nobody too?" At the beginning of the 20th century, American novelists were expanding fiction's social spectrum to encompass eq \o\ac(○,6) both high and low life. In her stories and novels, Edith Wharton (1862-1937) scrutinized eq \o\ac(○,7) the upper-class, Eastern-seaboard society in which she had grown up. One of her finest books, The Age of Innocence eq \o\ac(○,8), centers on a man who chooses to marry a conventional, socially acceptable woman rather than a fascinating outsider. At about the same time, Stephen Crane (1871-1900), best known for his Civil War novel The Red Badge eq \o\ac(○,9) of Courage, depicted the life of New York City prostitutes eq \o\ac(○,10) in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets eq \o\ac(○,11). And in Sister Carrie eq \o\ac(○,12), Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) portrayed a country girl who moves to Chicago and becomes a kept woman eq \o\ac(○,13). Experimentation eq \o\ac(○,14) in style and form soon joined the new freedom in subject matter. In 1909, Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), by then an expatriate eq \o\ac(○,15) in Paris, published Three Lives eq \o\ac(○,16), an innovative work of fiction influenced by her familiarity with cubism, jazz, and other movements in contemporary art and music. The poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972) was born in Idaho but spent much of his adult life in Europe. His work is complex, sometimes obscure, with multiple references to other art forms and to a vast range of literature, both Western and Eastern. He influenced many other poets, notably T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), another expatriate. Eliot wrote spare eq \o\ac(○,17), cerebral eq \o\ac(○,18) poetry, carried by a dense structure of symbols. In "The Waste Land" he embodied eq \o\ac(○,19) a jaundiced eq \o\ac(○,20) vision of post-World War I society in fragmented, haunted eq \o\ac(○,21) images. Like Pound's, Eliot's poetry could be highly allusive eq \o\ac(○,22), and some editions of "The Waste Land" come with footnotes supplied by the poet. Eliot won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948. American writers also expressed the disillusionment eq \o\ac(○,23) following upon the war. The stories and novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) capture the restless, pleasure-hungry, defiant eq \o\ac(○,24) mood of the 1920s. Fitzgerald's characteristic theme, expressed poignantly eq \o\ac(○,25) in The Great Gatsby eq \o\ac(○,26), is the tendency of youth's golden dreams to dissolve in failure and disappointment. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) saw violence and death first-hand eq \o\ac(○,2) as an ambulance driver in World War I, and the senseless eq \o\ac(○,3) carnage eq \o\ac(○,4) persuaded him that abstract language was mostly empty and misleading. He cut out unnecessary words from his writing, simplified the sentence structure, and concentrated on concrete eq \o\ac(○,5) objects and actions. He adhered to a moral code that emphasized courage under pressure, and his protagonists were strong, silent men who often dealt awkwardly eq \o\ac(○,6) with women. The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms eq \o\ac(○,7) are generally considered his best novels; he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. In addition to fiction, the 1920s were a rich period for drama. There had not been an important American dramatist until Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) began to write his plays. Winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936, O'Neill drew upon classical mythology, the Bible, and the new science of psychology to explore inner life. He wrote frankly about sex and family quarrels, but his preoccupation eq \o\ac(○,8) was with the individual's search for identity. One of his greatest works is Long Day's Journey Into Night, a harrowing eq \o\ac(○,9) drama, small in scale but large in theme, based largely on his own family. Another strikingly original American playwright was Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), who expressed his southern heritage in poetic yet eq \o\ac(○,10) sensational eq \o\ac(○,11) plays, usually about a sensitive woman trapped in a brutish environment. Several of his plays have been made into films, including A Streetcar Named Desire eq \o\ac(○,12) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof eq \o\ac(○,13). Five years before Hemingway, another American novelist had won the Nobel Prize: William Faulkner (1897-1962). Faulkner managed to encompass an enormous range of humanity in Yoknapatawpha, a Mississippi county of his own invention. He recorded his characters' seemingly eq \o\ac(○,14) unedited ramblings eq \o\ac(○,15) in order to represent their inner states -- a technique called "stream of consciousness." (In fact, these passages are carefully crafted eq \o\ac(○,16), and their seeming randomness eq \o\ac(○,17) is an illusion.) He also jumbled eq \o\ac(○,18) time sequences to show how the past -- especially the slave-holding era eq \o\ac(○,19)of the South -- endures eq \o\ac(○,20) in the present. Among his great works are The Sound and the Fury eq \o\ac(○,21); Absalom, Absalom eq \o\ac(○,22)! Go Down, Moses eq \o\ac(○,23), and The Unvanquished eq \o\ac(○,24). Faulkner was part of a southern literary renaissance that also included such figures as Truman Capote (1924-1984) and Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964). Although Capote wrote short stories and novels, fiction and nonfiction, his masterpiece was In Cold Blood, a factual account of a multiple murder and its aftermath eq \o\ac(○,25), which fused eq \o\ac(○,26) dogged eq \o\ac(○,27) reporting with a novelist's penetrating psychology and crystalline prose. Other practitioners of the "nonfiction novel" have included Norman Mailer (1923- ), who wrote about an antiwar march on eq \o\ac(○,28) the Pentagon in Armies of the Night, and Tom Wolfe (1931- ), who wrote about American astronauts in The Right Stuff. eq \o\ac(○,2) Flannery O'Connor was a Catholic -- and thus an outsider in the heavily Protestant South in which she grew up. Her characters are Protestant fundamentalists obsessed with both God and Satan. She is best known for her tragicomic eq \o\ac(○,3) short stories. The 1920s had seen the rise of an artistic black community in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. The period called the Harlem Renaissance produced such gifted poets as Langston Hughes (1902-1967), Countee Cullen (1903-1946), and Claude McKay (1889-1948). The novelist Zora Neale Hurston (1903-1960) combined a gift for storytelling with the study of anthropology to write vivid stories from the African-American oral tradition. Through such books as the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God -- about the life and marriages of a light-skinned eq \o\ac(○,4) African-American woman -- Hurston influenced a later generation of black women novelists. After World War II, a new receptivity eq \o\ac(○,5) to diverse voices brought black writers into the mainstream of American literature. James Baldwin (1924-1987) expressed his disdain eq \o\ac(○,6) for racism and his celebration of sexuality in Giovanni's Room. In Invisible Man eq \o\ac(○,7), Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) linked the plight eq \o\ac(○,8) of African Americans, whose race can render eq \o\ac(○,9) them all but invisible to the majority white culture, with the larger theme of the human search for identity in the modern world. In the 1950s the West Coast spawned eq \o\ac(○,10) a literary movement, the poetry and fiction of the "Beat Generation, eq \o\ac(○,11)" a name that referred simultaneously to the rhythm of jazz music, to a sense that post-war society was worn out, and to an interest in new forms of experience through drugs, alcohol, and Eastern mysticism. Poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) set the tone of social protest and visionary eq \o\ac(○,12) ecstasy eq \o\ac(○,13) in "Howl eq \o\ac(○,14)," a Whitmanesque eq \o\ac(○,15) work that begins with this powerful line: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness...." Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) celebrated the Beats' carefree eq \o\ac(○,16), hedonistic eq \o\ac(○,17) life-style in his episodic eq \o\ac(○,18) novel On the Road. From Irving and Hawthorne to the present day, the short story has been a favorite American form. One of its 20th-century masters was John Cheever (1912-1982), who brought yet another facet of American life into the realm of literature: the affluent eq \o\ac(○,19) suburbs that have grown up around most major cities. Cheever was long associated with The New Yorker, a magazine noted for its wit eq \o\ac(○,20) and sophistication. Although trend-spotting eq \o\ac(○,21) in literature that is still being written can be dangerous, the recent emergence of fiction by members of minority groups has been striking. Here are only a few examples. Native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko (1948- ) uses colloquial language and traditional stories to fashion haunting eq \o\ac(○,2), lyrical eq \o\ac(○,3) poems such as "In Cold Storm Light." Amy Tan (1952- ), of Chinese descent, has described her parents' early struggles in California in The Joy Luck Club eq \o\ac(○,4). Oscar Hijuelos (1951- ), a writer with roots in Cuba, won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love eq \o\ac(○,5). In a series of novels beginning with A Boy's Own Story, Edmund White (1940- ) has captured the anguish eq \o\ac(○,6) and comedy of growing up homosexual in America. Finally, African-American women have produced some of the most powerful fiction of recent decades. One of them, Toni Morrison (1931- ), author of Beloved eq \o\ac(○,7) and other works, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, only the second American woman to be so honored. � tension n.张力 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� sophistication n.参杂揉合/诡辩 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� originality n.创意,新奇 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� grapple with搏斗 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� Creole:克里奥尔人，西印度群岛或西属美洲的欧洲人后裔 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� enliven vt.使活泼生动 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� melody n.悦耳的曲调 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� Caribbean rhythms加勒比的韵律 � eq \o\ac(○,9)�New Orleans新奥尔良,路易斯安那州东南部大城市,奥尔良则是法国中部城市。 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� contributed to his relative obscurity导致他鲜为人知 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� stoutly resisted顽强抵制 � eq \o\ac(○,12)� hamper v.妨碍,牵制 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� provincial adj.外省的/粗俗偏狭的 � eq \o\ac(○,14)�rhapsody n.狂想曲 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� Porgy and Bess《波吉与贝丝》 � eq \o\ac(○,16)� mimic vt.模仿 � eq \o\ac(○,17)� horn n.喇叭,牛羊角 � eq \o\ac(○,18)� stranglehold n.束缚 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� indulge v.沉迷 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� symphony 交响乐 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� concerto 协奏曲 � eq \o\ac(○,22)� compose the score for为…配曲 � eq \o\ac(○,23)� rodeo牧场牛马竞骑表演 � eq \o\ac(○,24)� original独具创意的人 � Harsh adj.粗糙刺耳的 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� dissonance n.不和谐音 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� chord n.和弦音 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� idiosyncratic adj.特殊气质的 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� seldom adv.很少,不常 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� anticipate vt.预期;预料 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� tone scales音节 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� minimalism [艺术]极简极少主义/保守行动 � eq \o\ac(○,9)� concertgoer n.常参加音乐会者 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� alienate v.疏远 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� orchestra n.管弦乐队 � eq \o\ac(○,12)� underwrite vt.签名承诺支付 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� philanthropy n.慈善事业 � eq \o\ac(○,14)� paid admissions入场券 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� segregate v.隔离 � eq \o\ac(○,16)� donor n.捐赠人 � eq \o\ac(○,17)� Duncan 邓肯(女舞蹈家) � eq \o\ac(○,18)� unstructured adj.无组织/松散的 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� in lieu of代替 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� passion n.激情 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� choreographer n.v.芭蕾舞编导 � eq \o\ac(○,22)� improvisation n.即席创作 � eq \o\ac(○,23)� random n.随意,任意 � visionary lovers of发烧友/票友 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� publicity agent宣传/广告代理人 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� Paradoxically悖论/似非而是地 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� repertoire n.保留剧目, (计算机的)指令表 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� repertory n.仓库/常备剧目 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� thrusting adj.强力推进力的 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� open space户外空间 � eq \o\ac(○,8)�古根海姆,慈善家族，1959年在纽约捐建了现代艺术博物馆 � eq \o\ac(○,9)� Bauhaus n. (德国)鲍豪斯建筑学派 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� been both praised as …and dismissed as既被誉为…也被贬为 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� austere adj.严峻/简朴的 � eq \o\ac(○,12)� contour n.轮廓 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� allude vi.暗指,影射 � transcendent adj.卓越/超感觉的 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� directness n.直率,直接 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� vision n.视力,视觉 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� uncompromising adj.不妥协/强硬的 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� unflinching adj.坚定的 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� undercut n.v.有力打击/底切, 下削球/上钩拳 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� genteel adj.上流社会的 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� sentimentalism 感情主义,情感 � eq \o\ac(○,9)�controversy n.辩论,论战 � eq \o\ac(○,10)�To hell with让…见鬼去吧 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� ash-can垃圾箱/城市生活阴暗面 � eq \o\ac(○,12)� portrayal n.描写 � eq \o\ac(○,13)�squalid adj.肮脏的 � eq \o\ac(○,14)� cubist n.立体派艺术家/的 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� exert vt.尽力发挥 � eq \o\ac(○,16)� painting n.v.上油漆,着色/描绘 � eq \o\ac(○,17)�canvas n.帆布 � eq \o\ac(○,18)� newsprint报纸 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� satiric care讽刺的笔调/语气 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� comic strips连环[漫]画 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� manifesto n.宣言,声明 � eq \o\ac(○,22)� cut into插入/镶嵌 � eq \o\ac(○,23)� mocking playfulness嘲讽的表达/表演 � derivative adj.派生的 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� transfer n. vt.转移,改变 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� well-wrought 精巧的 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� hollow n.山洞/窟窿 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� masquen.假面表演/剧本 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� pit 坑/洞/陷阱 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� pendulum n.钟摆 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� usher n.引导/招待员The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍古厦的倒塌》 � eq \o\ac(○,9)� rue n.悲伤,懊悔 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� morgue太平间,停尸房 The murders in the Rue Morgue《莫格街凶杀案》 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� fantasy n.幻想,白日梦 � eq \o\ac(○,12)�Hawthorne霍桑 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� Twice-Told Tales《故事新编》 � eq \o\ac(○,14)� symbolism n.象征主义,符号论 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� occult adj.神秘玄妙/不可思议的 � eq \o\ac(○,16)� full-length adj.全长的,未经删节的,大部头的 � eq \o\ac(○,17)� allegorical adj.寓言的,讽喻的 � eq \o\ac(○,18)� The Scarlet Letter《红字》 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� stark adj.十足,赤裸的 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� cast out of her community 赶出社区 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� adultery n.通奸 � eq \o\ac(○,22)� seafaring adj.航海/水手工作的 � eq \o\ac(○,23)� exotic adj.异国情调的, 奇异的 � eq \o\ac(○,24)� speculation n.思索,思辨 � eq \o\ac(○,25)� Dick 迪克[姓名] Moby-Dick《白鲸》 � eq \o\ac(○,26)� obsession n.感情困扰/萦绕 � eq \o\ac(○,27)� dispense with摒弃/废除 � eq \o\ac(○,28)� lofty adj.崇高的 � eq \o\ac(○,29)� transcendentalism先验说,超验主义, 宣称理想的精神实体超越于经验和科学, 通过直觉可以把握。 � resolute adj.坚决的 � eq \o\ac(○,2)�不奉英国国教者 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� cabin n.小屋 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� pond n.池塘 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� memoir n.自传 � eq \o\ac(○,6)�meddlesome adj.爱管闲事 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� individualism 个人主义 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� Life on the Mississippi《密西西比河上》 � eq \o\ac(○,9)� Adventures of Huckleberry Finn《哈克贝利 费恩历险记》 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� wedded to the vernacular结合了本地方言 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� unadorned adj.朴实的 � eq \o\ac(○,12)� evocative adj.感染人的 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� irreverently adv.不逊 � eq \o\ac(○,14)� dilemma n.进退两难 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� intricate adj.复杂 � eq \o\ac(○,16)� dissection 解剖 � eq \o\ac(○,17)� nuance n.细微差别 � eq \o\ac(○,18)� daunt v.沮丧 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� novella n.中短篇小说 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� enchanting adj.迷人的 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� enigmatic adj.高深莫测的 � eq \o\ac(○,22)� hardly have been more different 具有相当大的差异 � eq \o\ac(○,23)� temperament n.气质 � eq \o\ac(○,24)� magnum opus杰作/巨著 � eq \o\ac(○,25)� motif n.主题 � eq \o\ac(○,26)� crass adj.粗鲁 � eq \o\ac(○,27)� egotist自私者 � eq \o\ac(○,28)� ingenious机灵的 � eq \o\ac(○,29)� witty诙谐的 � eq \o\ac(○,30)�exquisitely adv.精巧地 � eq \o\ac(○,31)� wrought work的过去式/分词 做成 � penetrate vt.穿透,渗透 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� unconventional adj.破例;异乎寻常的 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� dwell on= center on着重阐述 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� mischievous adj.恶作剧,淘气的 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� toy n.玩耍/嘲弄 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� encompass v.包含 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� scrutinize v.细察 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� innocence n.清白/天真无邪 � eq \o\ac(○,9)� badge徽章/勋章 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� prostitute n.妓女 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� Maggie: A Girl of the Streets《街头女郎梅季》 � eq \o\ac(○,12)� Sister Carrie《嘉丽妹妹》 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� kept woman外妾, 姘妇 � eq \o\ac(○,14)� experimentation n.试验 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� expatriate n.流亡国外者 � eq \o\ac(○,16)� Three Live《三个女人的一生》 � eq \o\ac(○,17)� spare adj.多余,悠闲的 � eq \o\ac(○,18)� cerebral adj.大脑的/理智的 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� embody vt.具体表达,收录 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� jaundiced adj.敌视的,有偏见的 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� haunted adj.鬼魂出没的,受到折磨的 � eq \o\ac(○,22)� allusive adj.暗指,影射 � eq \o\ac(○,23)� disillusionment n.幻灭,觉醒 � eq \o\ac(○,24)� defiant adj.挑衅,目中无人的 � eq \o\ac(○,25)� poignantly adv.辛辣的,强烈的 � eq \o\ac(○,26)� The Great Gatsby《了不起的盖茨比》 � Hemingway 海明威 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� saw… first-hand亲眼看见了 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� senseless adj.麻木不仁/无感觉的 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� carnage n.战场上的大屠杀 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� concrete adj.具体的, n.混凝土 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� awkwardly adv.笨拙地 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� The Sun Also Rises《太阳照样上升了》A Farewell to Arms《永别了武器》 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� preoccupation n.当务之急/偏爱 � eq \o\ac(○,9)� harrowing adj.痛心,悲惨的 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� yet adv.更,甚至是 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� sensational adj.感觉/耸人听闻的 � eq \o\ac(○,12)�A Streetcar Named Desire《欲望街车》 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� Cat on a Hot Tin Roof《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》 � eq \o\ac(○,14)� seemingly adv.表面上地 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� rambling adj. 散漫随意的[思想] � eq \o\ac(○,16)� craft vt.手工精心制作 � eq \o\ac(○,17)� randomness n.随意性 � eq \o\ac(○,18)� jumble v.搞乱 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� slave- holding era蓄奴时代 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� endure v.持续,忍耐 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� Fury[希腊]复仇女神The Sound and the Fury《声音与疯狂》 � eq \o\ac(○,22)�Absalom押沙龙,圣经人物, 大卫王第三子,因叛父被杀 � eq \o\ac(○,23)� Go Down, Moses《去吧,摩西》 � eq \o\ac(○,24)� The Unvanquished《不可征服者》 � eq \o\ac(○,25)� aftermath n.后果 � eq \o\ac(○,26)� fuse熔丝v.熔合 � eq \o\ac(○,27)� dog n.狗vt.顽强跟踪 � eq \o\ac(○,28)� march on向...前进 � Pentagon [国防部]五角大楼 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� The Right Stuff《品质精良》 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� tragicomic adj.悲喜剧的 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� light-skinned浅肤色的 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� receptivity n.感受性,接受能力 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� disdain n.轻蔑vt.鄙弃 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� In Invisible Man《隐身人》 � eq \o\ac(○,8)� plight困境 � eq \o\ac(○,9)� render vt.展示/交纳,粉刷 � eq \o\ac(○,10)� spawn v.产卵 � eq \o\ac(○,11)� beat n.精疲力竭 v打败Beat Generation垮掉的一代 � eq \o\ac(○,12)� visionary adj.幻想的 � eq \o\ac(○,13)� ecstasy n.疯狂/摇头丸 � eq \o\ac(○,14)� howl v. n.嚎叫,嚎哭 � eq \o\ac(○,15)� Whitmanesque惠特曼式的 � eq \o\ac(○,16)� carefree adj.无忧无虑,轻松的 � eq \o\ac(○,17)� hedonistic adj.享乐主义的 � eq \o\ac(○,18)� episodic adj.系列的/插曲式的 � eq \o\ac(○,19)� affluent adj.富裕的 � eq \o\ac(○,20)� wit n.智慧 � eq \o\ac(○,21)� spotting 测定点位trend-spotting趋势预测 � fashion vt.使…形成时尚 � eq \o\ac(○,2)� haunt v.被不愉快回忆经常困扰，如鬼魂经常出没 haunting adj.悲秋伤春的 � eq \o\ac(○,3)� lyrical adj.抒情诗调的 � eq \o\ac(○,4)� The Joy Luck Club《好运俱乐部》 � eq \o\ac(○,5)� mambo n.曼波, 古巴黑人音乐The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love《曼波王奏情歌》 � eq \o\ac(○,6)� anguish n.痛苦 � eq \o\ac(○,7)� Beloved《心爱的人》 PAGE 62