Warm-up
In a COHERENT paragraph,
describe how and/why
AMERICAN LITERATURE reflects
the events, values, fears, and
heroes of a particular era in
AMERICA HISTORY.
REGIONALISM
and REALISM
1890-1920 Prose
WHAT SHAPES
AMERICAN SOCIETY
FROM 1860-1915?
IMMIGRATION
WESTWARD EXPANSION
ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN
GROWING MIDDLE CLASS
INDUSTRIALIZATION
GROWTH OF THE CITIES
SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY
INCREASING LITERACY
TECHNOLOGY
PRE-WORLD WAR I
SINKING OF TITANIC
INVENTION OF AIRPLANE
MANIFEST DESTINY
CIVIL WAR
RECONSTRUCTION
POVERTY
DROUGHT
GOLD RUSH
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
RAILROAD
AUTOMOBILE
SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
SINKING OF THE LUISITANIA
MONROE DOCTRINE
WOW! THAT JUST NAMES A FEW….
IMPORTANT ISSUES
IN LITERATURE
THE AMERICAN DREAM vs THE REALITY
 LOSS AND REDEMPTION
 SEARCHING FOR HEROES
 A LOST GENERATION
 PRESERVING THE PAST
 THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
 CREATING OUR FUTURE
 FINDING THE INNER VOICE
 DEFINING AMERICAN

THANKS GO TO POE,
TWAIN, COOPER,
AND THE REST….
 POE—THE
SHORTER SHORT STORY
 TWAIN—REGIONALISM, HUMOR,
SATIRE
 COOPER (that’s JAMES FENIMORE to
you!!)—AMERICAN HERO,
REGIONALISM, ADVENTURE
REGIONALISM
WHAT IS REGIONALISM?
REGIONALISM REFERS TO ART—
SPECIFICALLY LITERATURE—THAT
REFLECTS THE CULTURE, GEOGRAPHIC,
AND CLIMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE AREA IN WHICH THE LITERATURE
IS CREATED.
IN OTHER WORDS. . .
IF A STORY IS SET IN THE SOUTH, THE
READER WILL KNOW THE TALE TAKES
PLACE IN THE SOUTH BECAUSE. . . .
1. THE PLACES HAVE SOUTHERN
NAMES
2. THE PEOPLE TALK LIKE SOUTHERNERS
3. THE ISSUES ARE SOUTHERN
ISSUES
IN OTHER WORDS….
 IF
A STORY IS SET IN NEW YORK
CITY, THE READER WILL KNOW THE
TALE TAKES PLACE IN THE NORTH
BECAUSE. . . .
1. THE PLACES HAVE NORTHERN NAMES
2. THE PEOPLE TALK LIKE YANKEESNEW YORKERS
3. THE ISSUES ARE CITY OR NEW YORK
ISSUES
LOCAL COLOR
Term applied to fiction or verse
which emphasizes its setting,
being concerned with the
character of a district or of an era,
as marked by its customs, dialect,
costumes, landscape, or other
peculiarities that have escaped
standardizing cultural influences.
REGIONALISM
A trend became dominant 1860s and early
1870s. Regional literature has demonstrates
such quality of texture and background that it
could not have been written in any other place
or by anyone else than a native. Local colorists
concerned them with presenting and
interpreting the local character of their regions.
Their ultimate aim is to create the illusion of an
indigenous little world with qualities that tell it
apart from the world outside.
Are there regional
differences in the
U.S.?
 Southern
Literature
 New Jersey Accent
 Midwestern Art
 California “sun”
 Chicago Pizza
 Country Music
 City Living
KEY REGIONALISTS
 Mark
Twain
 Mark Twain
 William Dean Howells
 Henry James
 Edgar Lee Masters
Local Color
Mark Twain is known as a local colorist, who
preferred to present social life through
portraits of the local characters of his regions,
including people living in that area, the
landscape, and other peculiarities like the
customs, dialects, costumes and so on. So
the rich material of his boyhood experience on
the Mississippi valley and the west became
his major theme. His use of local color and
historical setting to illuminate contemporary
society has served a creative inspiration for
generations of writers to come.
Other Early Regionalists
1 Bret Harte
(1836—1902) 布雷特.哈特
2 Hamlin Garland
(1860—1940) 哈姆兰.加林
3 Edward Eggleston
4 Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1811—1896) 哈丽特.比彻.斯托夫人
5 Sarah Orne Jewett
(1849—1909) 萨拉.奥妮.朱厄特
6 Joel Chandler Harris
7 Kate Chopin
(1848—1908) 乔尔.查德勒.哈里斯
(1851—1904) 凯特.肖邦
WILLIAM FAULKNER
William Faulkner(1897-1962)was born in New
Albany,Mississippi. He attended the
University of Mississippi in Oxford before and
after his service in the Royal Canadian Air
Force in World I. His literary career began in
New Orleans where he met Sherwood
Anderson, who helped him get his first novel
Soldier’s Pay published in 1926. The work
which won Faulkner a Nobel Prize in 1950 is
often a depiction of life in his fictional
Yoknapatawpha County, an imaginative
reconstruction of the area adjacent to Oxford.
Major Works
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His major novels :
The Sound and the Fury(1929)
As I Lay Dying(1930)
Sanctuary(1931)
Light in August(1932)
Absalom , Absalom !(1936)
The Hamlet(1940)
His books of short stories:
These Thirteen (1931)
Go down, Moses(1942)
The Collected Stories of William Fanlkner(1950)
A ROSE FOR EMILY
“A Rose for Emily” is one of Faulkner’s most widely
read in the American classroom. Many students may
find Faulkner’s story difficult to understand and
appreciate because the story is not told in
chronological order. Some readers may think it is a
bizarre story about an old eccentric lady in an
American Southern town. It is true that the setting of
the story is the American South. Yet, the theme of the
story is universal, transcending the boundaries of time
and space. Like many other works of great literature,
this short story tells about love, death, honor, pride,
change, and loss.
A ROSE FOR EMILY
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The story is set in the southern town of Jefferson in
Yoknapatawpha County (Mississippi)
Emily Grierson is the protagonist. Dominated by her
aristocratic father, she has been prevented from
marrying and after his death she is left alone and
penniless.
One of the themes of this story is the relation of the
individual and his/her actions to the past, present and
future.
In addition, Faulkner uses stream of consciousness.
Meaning of the Title
The meaning of the title is ambiguous, capable
of various interpretations.
1.
2.
3.
A rose is a cliché, symbolizing love and a
pledge of faithfulness. From the story we can
see Miss Emily was denied love. So, in this
sense, the title has an ironic meaning.
A rose for somebody can also mean a kind
of memorial, an offering, in memory of
somebody.
Also, make note of the name and depiction
of Miss Emily. Does Faulkner’s Miss Emily
remind you of another famous EMILY?
Emily Dickinson
 Faulkner
picked the name Emily on
purpose….
Literary Devices
Flashback and foreshadowing are two often
used literary devices that utilize time in order
to produce a desired effect. Flashbacks are
used to present action that occurs before the
beginning of a story; foreshadowing creates
expectation for action that has not yet
happened. Faulkner uses both devices in ‘‘A
Rose for Emily.’’
 Irony
 Symbolism
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Meaning of Tale
The plot of the story evolves around many conflicts:
1. the conflicts between Mr. Grierson and his daughter,
2. the conflict between Miss Emily and Homer Barron,
3. the conflict between Miss Emily and the community,
4. the conflict between the South and the North,
5. the conflict between Miss Emily and the established
codes of conduct,
6. and the conflict between the past and the present.
Let’s read!!