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Mark Twain  马克•吐温

Jack London  杰克•伦敦

Ezra Pound  埃兹拉•庞德

Our next movement is Realism, a movement which started in France in the mid 19th century before spreading to other areas, including the United States in the 1870s. This movement was, in many ways, a reaction to Romanticism in that it rejected strange and, indeed, romantic tales and aimed to show society and humanity as it was in real life. Realists focused on events that were ordinary, usual and typical rather than extraordinary or exotic. Many writers of this movement were also involved with social change, and writing about real conditions of real people was seen as one way to educate the general public for the need for change. One of this movement's most easily recognizable names is Mark Twain, whose most famous stories were about everyday life in the American south, that is, the southeastern states of the US, and who worked throughout his life on a variety of social issues including ending slavery and giving workers more rights. Naturalism is an offshoot of Realism, and also had its roots in France. Both movements focused on the reality of everyday ordinary life, but Naturalism focused on how the outside world, that is, a person's environment, influences and, perhaps, determines that person's behavior. Naturalism generally believes that a person has a destiny or fate, and that person can do little to change that destiny or fate. Many writers in this movement focused on problems in society, like poverty. One of the movement's most famous writers, Jack London, wrote books which compared animal behavior to human behavior, showing that human behavior is not all that different from animal behavior in extreme circumstances. The next movement we are going to look at is Modernism, which, of course, stretches beyond literature into music and art. The movement itself started in Europe in the late 19th century, as with many of the other movements, spread to America shortly after. The tumultuous period ending in World War I and World War II were seen by many as proof that the modern world was horrific and chaotic, and the end of World War II was seen as the start of a new era of humanity, either for good or for bad. Modernism reflects these thoughts, and writers in the Modernist era were looking, generally, to look beyond the old, the traditional, and were trying to find meaning in a new world. If we have to choose one word to describe this movement, we would probably choose the word "progress". Modernists were concerned with finding out what doesn't work in the world and replacing it with what does. One major figure of the American branch of Modernism was Ezra Pound, who, among other things, revolutionized poetry.
下一阶段是现实主义，现实主义起源于19世纪中期的法国，随后传到其他地区，包括19世纪70年代传到美国。从多种角度上说，这场运动，是对浪漫主义的反应，它反对奇怪、浪漫的小说，目的是展示现实生活的社会和人性。现实主义者注重平凡的、寻常的和典型的事件，而非离奇的、异域情调的事。这一时期的许多作家也参与到社会改变中，描写真人的现实生活，用以教育普通大众改变的必要性。这一时期最著名的人物是马克•吐温，他最著名的小说是关于美国南部的生活，准确的说，是美国东南部。他一生都致力于许多社会事件，包括废除黑人奴隶制、赋予工人提供更多权利。 自然主义是现实主义的分支，它也起源于法国。两个阶段都关注人们的现实生活，但自然主义注重的是外在世界，也就是说，个人的环境、影响，也许决定着人们的性格。自然主义普遍相信人各有命，个人无法改变自己的命运。这一时期的许多作家关注社会问题，比如贫困。这一时期最著名的作家之一，就是杰克•伦敦。他在书中将人类行为与动物相比，告诉我们在极端情况下，人类行为与动物行为并没有什么两样。 接下来的阶段是现代主义，当然，这个阶段超越了文学，上升到了音乐和艺术。这个阶段本身起源于19世纪晚期的欧洲，和其他的阶段一样，很快传到了美国。一战和二战结束后，社会动荡不安，现实世界混乱、恐怖。二战结束后人们进入了人性发展新阶段，无论好坏。现代主义反映了这些思想，这一时期的作家普遍以超越世俗的眼光看待旧事物、传统，试图在新世界里发现其中意义。如果我们必须选择一个词来描述这个时期，可能“进步”这个词较为合适。现代主义者希望发现在世界中不适用的东西，并以新事物取而代之。现代主义美国分支一个最主要的人物是埃兹拉•庞德，在许多他改变的事物中，最著名的的是改革了诗歌。