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American criticVan Wyck Brooks attempted a general survey of eighteen-century America andAmerican characters. He stated that Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklinshared the eighteenth century between them. The American Puritanism is atwo-faceted tradition of religious idealism and levelheaded common sense.Jonathan Edwards represents the former aspect, and Franklin the latter. The onewas as a good Puritan as the other.
美国评论家范·威克·布鲁克斯在评述到18世纪美国及美国人性格时指出：乔纳森·爱德华兹和本杰明·富兰克林一起代表了18世纪。决定美国人性格的清教主义传统具有宗教虔诚和冷静务实两个特点；乔纳森·爱德华兹代表前者，富兰克林代表后者。两人都是虔诚的清教徒。
I. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)（乔纳森·爱德华兹）
1．Life（生平）
Edwards was borninto a very religious family. He entered Yale at 13 and took his M. A. in 1723.Later He became the minister of the church of Northampton, Massachusetts. Hissermons taught the power of God and the depravity of man and man’s need tocommunicate with Holy Spirit to receive God’s grace. He was instrumental inbringing about the “Great Awakening.” He became famous not only in his owncountry, but won a measure of international recognition as well.
爱德华兹出生于一个宗教气息极其浓郁的家庭里。13岁，他进入耶鲁大学学院学习，于1723年获得硕士学位。后来他成为马萨诸塞州北安普顿郊区的牧师。他在布道时着重描述上帝的威力、人的堕落、以及人与圣灵的交流、接受上帝恩惠的必要性等。他是促进北美“大觉醒”运动发生和发展的关键人物之一。他不仅扬名北美，而且饮誉欧洲。
2．Ideas（思想）
(1) He was the first modern American and thecountry's last medieval man.
他是美国第一位具有现代思想的哲学家，美国最后一位思想依旧停留在中世纪的神学家。
His works revealthe modern consciousness of the man. He was influenced to no small extent byNewton's mechanical view of the universe and the Lockean thesis. He tried toreconcile Puritan ideas with the new rationalism of Lock and Newton.
The same worksreveals the medieval mind of the man. He liked to walk in the woods, to besolitary, far from all mankind, so as to sweetly converse with Christ, to bewrapped and swallowed up in God. This is meant by the inward communication of soulwith god, by “conversation” through the heart rather than through reason.
他的作品显示出他思想的强烈现代意识。他深受牛顿机械宇宙观和洛克哲学思想的影响。他竭力调和清教思想和洛克、牛顿的理性主义。
他的作品也显示出他作为一个中世纪人的心态。他喜欢在林中独自漫步，和基督愉快的交谈，身心都深置于上帝的包围中。这就是所谓“灵魂与上帝的交流”， 这种交流由发自内心“皈依”而来而不是出于理性的考虑。
(2) He was a good dealof a transcendentalist.
他在很大程度上是一位超验主义者。
He holds thatGod is immanent. God manifests himself in nature and man, and that man, being apart of God, is divine.
His work Imagesor Shadow of Divine Things anticipated the nature symbolism ofnineteenth-century Transcendentalism. The mystical implication of his Puritanidealism was to be developed and given full, explicit realization by RalphWaldo Emerson in the next century.
他认为上帝无处不在。上帝通过自然界和人体现自己，人既是上帝的一部分，因此也是神圣的。
其作品《神圣事物的形影》堪称为19世纪超验主义自然象征论的先导。而他的清教神秘主义在19世纪爱默生的著作中得到了全面而明确的陈述。
3．Major works（主要作品）
The Freedom of the Will《自由的意志》
The Great Doctrine of Original SinDefended《伟大的基督教教义的原罪说辩》
The Nature of True Virtue《真正美德的本质》
“Sinners in the hands of An Angry God”《发怒的上帝手中的罪人》
“Personal Narrative”《自述》
Images or Shadow of Divine Thing《神圣事物的形影》
II. Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790)（本杰明·富兰克林）
Franklin was arare genius in human history. He became everything: a printer, postmaster, almanacmaker, essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, politicaleconomist, ambassador—“Jack of all trades.”
富兰克林是人类历史上少有的天才。他是出版家、邮政总长、历书作者、散文家、科学家、演说家、政治家、哲学家、政治经济学家、大使、业务员等等。
1．Life（生平）
He was born intoa poor candle-maker’s family. He was a voracious reader. At 16 he publishedessays under the pseudonym Silence Dogood. At 17 he ran away to Philadelphia tomake his own fortune. He became a printer. He helped found the PennsylvaniaHospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and theAmerican Philosophical Society. He was a preeminent scientist of his day. Hesigned the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, theTreaty of Peace with England, and the Constitution. He was one of the makers ofthe new nation. Franklin’s claim to a place in literature rests chiefly on his PoorRichard’s Almanac and The Autobiography.
富兰克林出生于一个贫穷的蜡烛制造匠家庭。他非常勤奋好学。16岁时开始以笔名“静行善”发表评论文章。17岁时只身逃往费城谋生。后成为出版商。他帮助建立了宾夕法尼亚大学的前身——宾夕法尼亚医学院和北美哲学学会。他也是当时著名的科学家。他签署过《独立宣言》、《美法同盟条约》、《英美和平条约》和《美国宪法》。他是美国的缔造者之一。富兰克林在文学上的地位主要由他的两项文学成就确定，即《穷查理历书》和《富兰克林自传》。
2．Analysis of majorworks（主要作品分析）
◆Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷查理历书》
Franklin issuedPoor Richard’s Almanac in 1732 and kept publishing it for almost a quarterof a century. Apart from poems and essays, he managed to put in a good manyadages and commonsense witticisms which became, very quickly, household wordsand, for many, mottos of the most practical kind. He borrowed from maxims fromothers. But he made good use of his own wit and wisdom to simplify and enrichtheir axioms which made Poor Richard’s Almanac to teach as well asamuse.
富兰克林于1732年首次发行《穷查理历书》并且这本历书持续发行长达25年之久。历书中有诗歌，散文，以及许多成语箴言，这些成语箴言很快便家喻户晓，其中许多成为为人处世的座右铭。他的许多格言来源于别的作家。但是他充分运用自己的幽默智慧简化丰富了这些格言，这使得《穷查理历书》寓教于乐。
◆The Autobiography《自传》
(1) TheAutobiography was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is thesimple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame froma state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful accountof the colorful career of American’s first self-made man. The book consists offour parts, written at different times.
(2) TheAutobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is a record ofself-examination and self-improvement. The book is also a convincingillustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, onehas to be industrial, frugal and prudent.
(3) TheAutobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin wasa spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that herepresented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free bynature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and thepursuit of happiness. Through telling a success story of self-reliance, thebook celebrates the fulfillment of the American dream.
(4) The style ofThe Autobiography reveals that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity,directness and concision.
(1) 《自传》是自传体文学中的上乘佳作。它简明而极其引人入胜地叙述了富兰克林由穷苦卑微而跃至富有、闻名的故事。它忠实地记录了美国第一位自力更生者光辉灿烂的职业生涯。全书由四部分组成，分别写于不同时期。
(2) 《自传》首先是一本清教文献。它记录了清教徒的自我反省和自我完善。它也是清教道德原则的最好说明，为了取得成功，人必须勤劳、简朴、谨慎。
(3) 《自传》充分说明了富兰克林是18世纪美国启蒙运动的代言人。他代表着，在美国，人本质是善良自由的，拥有上帝赋予的不可剥夺的自由及追求幸福的权力。该书通过讲述自力更生而获取成功的故事，歌颂了美国梦的实现。
(4) 《自传》的文体体现出清教徒朴素、直爽、简洁的风格。
III. Hector St. John deCrevecoeur (1735-1813)（克里夫古尔）
Crevecoeur was aFrench settler. His famous work is Letters from an American Farmer.
克里夫古尔是法国移民。其著名作品是《来自一个美国农夫的信》。
◆Analysis of Letters from an American Farmer（《来自一个美国农夫的信》作品分析）
Crevecoeur wroteletters back to Europe to explain the meaning of America to the outside world.Letters from an American Farmer is made up of 12 letters. The first 8letters reveal the pride of a man being an American. Starting from his ninthletter, he began to speak with a different voice, the voice of a definitelydisillusioned man. He became aware of the existence of evil which he thoughtthe American had left behind in the old world. The note of pessimism began tovibrate in Letters from an American Farmer.
克里夫古尔写信到欧洲介绍美国这个新国家的性质和意义，以帮助世界了解美国。《来自一个美国农夫的信》包括12封信。前8封信流露出作为美国人自豪的心情。然而，从第9封信开始，作者的语调开始变得低沉。他意识到美国也存在着被认为只有欧洲旧世界才有的各种罪恶。《来自一个美国农夫的信》中萦绕着悲观主义的基调。