AMERICAN LITERATURE
· American Literature is known for its diversity and uniqueness.
I. NATIVE AMERICAN PERIOD (pre- 1620)
· oral tradition of song and stories
· include creation of stories, myths
· focused on natural world as sacred and importance of land and place
II. COLONIAL PERIOD
· literature of the period dominated by the Puritans and their religious
influence
· emphasis is on faith in one’s daily life
· a person’s faith is determined by God and all are corrupt and in need of
savior
· nature is revelation of God’s providence and power
· believes in hard work and simple living
· writing is utilitarian and writers are amateurs
· writing is instructive- sermons, personal narratives and diaries
III. REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
· writers focused on explaining and justifying American revolution
· writers begin to ponder what it really means to be an American
· emphasis is on reason as opposed to faith alone
· there was a rise of empirical science, philosophy and theology
· shift to a more print- based culture
· literacy is seen as a sign of status
IV. ROMANTICISM
· is a philosophical reaction to the previous decades in which reason and
rational thought dominated
· there was an emphasis on universal human experience
· there was a valuing on feeling and the intuition over reason
· writers celebrated individualism, nature, imagination, creativity and
emotions
· there was an interest in fantasy
· writing can usually be interpreted in two ways- surface and in depth
· writing is didactic
· there was a strong focus on inner feelings
· imagination prized over reason; intuition over fact
· short stories, novels and poetry blossom
· transcendentalism came to America
Ø belief that man’s nature is inherently good
· dark romanticism (anti-transcendentalism)
Ø belief that man’s nature is inherently bad
Ø believe that whatever is wrong in society has to be fixed by fixing the
individual man first
· there was a strong use of symbolism
V. REALISM
· rejection of Romantic view of life as too idealistic
· writers turn to real life to articulate the tensions and complex events of the
time, rather than idealized people or places
· idealistic writers made it their mission to convey the reality of life, however
harsh
· characters reflect ordinary people in everyday life determined yet flawed,
struggling to overcome the difficulties of war, family and natural disasters and
human weakness
· while good will always triumph over evil, it may not happen in every case
in this lifetime
· nature is a powerful force beyond man’s control
· local color writers focused on a particular region of the country, seeking to
represent accurately the culture and beliefs of that area
· emphasized accurate portrayals of the physical landscape
VI. NATURALISM
· realism took a cynical turn to Naturalism when literary writers exposed to
the views of three authors whose scientific or political works appeared near the
end of the century
Ø Charles Darwin- biological determinism
Ø Sigmund Freud- psychological determinism
Ø Karl Marx- economic determinism
· naturalistic writers focused on grim reality
· viewed nature and the universe as indifferent
· the universe of the naturalists is godless, cold and indifferent
· life often seems meaningless
· fate = chance (no free will)
· the characters in these works are often helpless victims- trapped by
nature, the environment or their own heritage
VII. MODERNISM
· Modern writers were affected by:
Ø WWI, WWII, beginning of the cold war
Ø Fear of communism
Ø Increased population
Ø Lingering racial tensions after slavery
Ø Technological changes
Ø Rise of the youth culture
Ø Fear of eroding traditions
· Modern writers were known for:
Ø Themes of alienation and disconnectedness
Ø Frequent use of irony and understatement
Ø Experimentation with new literary techniques in fiction and poetry:
● Stream of consciousness
● Inferior dialogue
● Fragments
Ø Trying to create a new style
Ø Rise of ethnic and woman writers
· Imagists created a new kind of poetry
· Imagist poetry concentrates on creating a word picture, a snapshot of a
moment in time
· Writers in the Harlem Renaissance represent a flourishing of African-
American authors in a cultural movement that also included music and art
· These writers had two goals:
● To write about the African- American experience
● To create a body of literature by African- American authors that
could rival anything written by anyone else
VIII. POST- MODERNISM
· It includes:
Ø Unprecedented prosperity
Ø Global conflict
Ø Special protests (civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights movement)
Ø Mass culture and consumerism
Ø Rise of technology and space exploration
Ø Digital revolution
· The best adjective for this period is eclectic- collection of a little bit of
everything
· Creates traditional works without traditional structure of narrative
· Writings have increasingly addressed social issues related to gender,
race, youthful rebellion
· There was a questioning of “traditional values”- insistence that values are
not permanent but only “local” or “historical”, media culture interprets values
· Writing are often critical and ironic, concentrating on surface realities and
the absurdity of daily life
· No heroes, anti-heroes are common
· Individuals often seem isolated
· Beat and Confessional poets were present
