英国文学史（第一册）

FOREWORD
    This is an attempt to write a history of English literature admittedly with an innovative approach. The traditional as well as the more modern views in the West on literary movements， schools，traditions and influences in the field of English literature and on individual English authors and their major and minor works are here given due respect and serious consideration， but with the reservation sometimes to differ and occasionally to introduce new and totally contrary judgments from the viewpoint of historical materialism－i.e.，the writers and their writings are to be given their proper places in each case in accordance with the roles，healthful or otherwise，that they play in the progress of history，social and literary. Of course，whether or how far have I succeeded in these pages in living up to the theory advanced above awaits judgment from my readers.
    This history is written primarily for Chinese readers，in particular for Chinese college students majoring in English language and literature，with the aim to give them a historical survey of English literature from its earliest beginnings down to the 20th century. As many college students in China today are being introduced for the first time to English literature in any systematic way，biographical sketches of the major writers and rather detailed resumés of their major works are generally provided in this history，before I enter into any serious discussions on the authors and their writings.
    A companion-book providing students with selections from representative works of representative English authors，arranged chronologically and accompanied with introductory remarks and notes，is expected to appear at the same time as this history. It is hoped that the two books together，this history and “Selected Readings in English Literature”，will give the students a rudimentary knowledge of English literature in its historical development.
    In view of the vastly different levels of proficiency in the English language among English majors in Chinese colleges and universities today，a shorter history than this，written in simpler language，seems also necessary for the present. Such a book is now being prepared.
    I wish to express my gratitude here to all my friends and colleagues as well as my former students who have given me their valuable suggestions in the course of writing this book. My indebtedness is due particularly to the participants at a conference held prior to the completion of the book，and they include Professors Li Funing and Yang Zhouhan (both from Beijing University)，Wu Jingrong (Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages)，Dai Liuling (Zhongshan University)，Zhang Junchuan (Hangzhou University)，Zhang Jian(Shandong University)， Huang Hongxu (Hobei Normal University)，Associate and Assistant Professors Sun Zhu (Fudan University)，Liu Yulin(Shanghai Institute of Foreign Languages)，Long Wenpei (Fudan University)，Liu Bingshan (Honan Normal University)，Luo Yiyun (Sichuan University)，Xie Chulan (Nanjing University)，Yang Renjing (Nanjing University)，and last not least，Messrs. Zhu Yuan(editor，the Commercial Press)，Liu Zucai and Xu Baofa (both from the Ministry of Education)，as well as my two graduate students Liu Haiping and Wang Xisu. I am grateful to them all for their invaluable suggestions and comments. Finally I want to thank the working personnel at the Commercial Press who are directly responsible for the publication of this book.

Chen Jia

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chapter I

　　　　　　　　　　　ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE
　　　　　　　　　　　　　ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

　　1. The Historical Background
　　2. “Beowulf” the National Epic of the Anglo-Saxons
　　3. Minor Anglo-Saxon Poetry：Caedmon and Cynewulf
　　4. Anglo-Saxon Prose: Bede；Alfred; “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”; Aelfric

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chapter II

　　　　　　　　　　　  ENGLISH LITERATURE OF
　　　　　　　　　　　  THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

Section I　English Literature from the Mid-11th Century to the Mid-14th
　　1. The Background: Political and Social
　　2. Folk Literature and Religious Literature from the Mid-11th to the Mid-14th Century
　　3. Early Alliterative and Metrical Romances in the 12th，13th and Early 14th Centuries
Section II　English Literature of the Second Half of the 14th Century
　　1. The Background：Political and Social
　　2. John Wycliffe；John Gower；William Langland
　　3. Geoffrey Chaucer
Section III　English Literature of the Fifteenth Century
　　1. The Background：Political and Social
　　2. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: “Robin Hood Ballads”
　　3. Early English Drama: Folk Drama; The Mystery Plays;
         The Miracle Plays; The Morality Plays
　　4. The English Chaucerians; Early Scottish Poetry and the Scottish Chaucerians
　　5. English Prose of the 15th Century: Sir Thomas Malory and His “Le Morte d'Arthur”

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chapter III

　　　　　　　　　　　　ENGLISH LITERATURE OF
　　　　　　　　　　　　　THE RENAISSANCE

Section I　The Historical Background：Economic，Political and Cultural
　　1. The Renaissance in Europe
　　2. Stages and Trends of English Literature of the Renaissance
Section II　English Literature of the Early 16th Century
　　1 The Oxford Reformers;Thomas More
　　2. Court Poetry: Skelton; Wyatt and Surrey
　　3. Morality Plays and Interludes of the 16th Century：
         David Lyndsay; John Heywood
Section III　English Literature of the Second Half of the 16th Century.
　　1. Court Poetry：Philip Sidney; Edmund Spenser
　　2. Prose Fiction: Lyly，Lodge，Greene，Sidney，Nashe，Deloney
　　3. Pre-Shakespearean  Drama: English Drama under Classical Influence；University Wits：Lyly， Peele，Lodge，Nashe，Greene，Kyd and Marlowe
Section IV　Shakespeare
　　1. Shakespeare's Life and Literary Career
　　2. Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets
　　3. Early Period of Shakespeare's Plays：History Plays
(“Richard III”，“Henry IV”，Parts 1 and 2，“Henry  V”)；Early Tragedies (“Romeo and Juliet”，“Julius  Caesar”)；Comedies (“The Merchant of Venice”，“Much Ado about Nothing”，“As You Like It”，“Twelfth Night”)
　　4. Mature Period of Shakespeare's Plays. Tragedies(“Hamlet”，“Othello”，“King Lear”，“Macbeth”，“Antony and Cleopatra”，“Coriolanus”，“Timon of  Athens”)，Tragi-Comedies (“Measure for Measure”，“All's Well that Ends Well”， “Troilus and Cressida”)
　　5. Last Period of Shakespeare's Dramatic Career：“Pericles”，“Cymbeline”，“The Winter's Tale”，“The Tempest”，“Pericle”，“Henry VIII”
　　6. General Comments on Shakespeare：Shakespeare's Progressive Significance and Limitations；His Indebtedness to the English Dramatic Tradition；His Character-Creations；His Plot Construction；His Mastery of Language；His Literary Influence
Section V　　English Literature of the First Quarter of the 17th Century
　　1. Drama of Shakespeare's Contemporaries: Ben Jonson，Chapman，Dekker，Thomas Heywood，Beaumont and Fletcher
　　2. The Decline of Drama in Early 17th-Century England up to the Closing of the Theatres in London in 1642：Marston，Tourneur，Webster，Ford，Middleton，Massinger，Shirley
　　3. Francis Bacon
　　4. The King James Bible and Other Prose in Early 17th Century
　　5. English Non-Dramatic Poetry in the First Thirty Years of the 17th Century: John Donne， Ben Jonson，the Spenserians

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chapter IV

　　　　　　ENGLISH LITERATURE DURING THE ENGLISH
　　　　　　BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION AND THE RESTORATION

Section I　The Historical Background: Political and Ideological
　　1. The Political Background from the Eve of the English Bourgeois Revolution to the Downfall of Stuart Absolutism (1625-1688)
　　2. The Ideological Background of English Literature in the 17th Century
Section II　Minor Currents of English Literature from 1625 to 1660
　　1. Minor English Poets and Prose Writers of the Period
　　2. The  Pamphlet Literature of the Levellers and the Diggers: John Lilburne and Gerrard Winstanley
Section III　John Milton
　　1. Milton's Life and Literary Career
　　2. Milton's Early Works
　　3. The Middle Period of Milton's Literary Career: His Prose and His Sonnets
　　4. “Paradise Lost”，“Paradise Regained” and “Samson Agonistes”
Section IV　English Literature of the Restoration
　　1. John Bunyan
　　2. John Dryden
　　3. The English Drama of the Restoration
　　4. Minor English Poetry and Prose of the Restoration：Samuel Butler's “Hudibras” and the Diaries of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn