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American Literary Periods and Their Characteristics

American Literary Periods and Their Characteristics. A person’s fate is determined by God (predestination) All people are corrupt and must be saved by Christ (Original Sin). Puritan/Colonial 1650-1750 Historical Context. Puritan/Colonial 1650-1750 Genre/Style.

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American Literary Periods and Their Characteristics

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  1. American Literary Periods and Their Characteristics

  2. A person’s fate is determined by God (predestination) All people are corrupt and must be saved by Christ (Original Sin) Puritan/Colonial1650-1750Historical Context

  3. Puritan/Colonial1650-1750Genre/Style • Sermons, diaries, personal narratives • Written in plain style

  4. Puritan/Colonial1650-1750Effect/Aspects • Instructive • Reinforces authority of the Bible and church

  5. Puritan/Colonial1650-1750Examples • Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation Rowlandson's "A Narrative of the Captivity“ • Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God“ • Though not written during Puritan times, The Crucible & The Scarlet Letter depict life during the time when Puritan theocracy prevailed.

  6. Revolutionary/Age of Reason175 0-1800Historical Context • Tells readers how to interpret what they are reading to encourage Revolutionary War • support Instructive in values

  7. Revolutionary/Age of Reason175 0-1800Genre/Style • Political pamphlets • Travel writing • Highly ornate style • Persuasive writing

  8. Revolutionary/Age of Reason175 0-1800Effect/Aspects • Patriotism grows Instills pride • Creates common agreement about issues • National mission and the American character

  9. Revolutionary/Age of Reason175 0-1800Examples • Writings of Jefferson, Paine, • Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac and "The Autobiography"

  10. Romanticism1800-1860Historical Context • Expansion of magazines, newspapers, and book publishing Slavery debates • Industrial revolution brings ideas that the "old ways" of doing things are now irrelevant

  11. Romanticism1800-1860Genre/Style • Character sketches • Slave narratives • Poetry • Short stories

  12. Romanticism1800-1860Effects/Aspects • Value feeling and intuition over reasoning Journey away from corruption of civilization and limits of rational thought toward the integrity of nature and freedom of the imagination • Helped instill proper gender behavior for men and women • Allowed people to re-imagine the American past

  13. Romanticism1800-1860Examples • Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis" • Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" • Poems of Emily Dickinson • Poems of Walt Whitman

  14. American Renaissance/Transcendentalism1840-1860Historical Context • Today in literature we still see portrayals of alluring antagonists whose evil characteristics appeal to one’s sense of awe • Today in literature we still see stories of the persecuted young girl forced apart from her true love • Today in literature we still read of people seeking the true beauty in life and in nature … a belief in true love and contentment

  15. American Renaissance/Transcendentalism1840-1860Genre/Style • Poetry • Short Stories • Novels • Anti-Transcendentalists • *Hold readers’ attention through dread of a series of terrible possibilities • *Feature landscapes of dark forests, extreme vegetation, concealed ruins with horrific rooms, depressed characters

  16. American Renaissance/Transcendentalism1840-1860Effect/Aspects • Transcendentalists: *True reality is spiritual • *Comes from18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant • * Idealists • * Self-reliance & individualism • * Emerson & Thoreau • Anti-Transcendentalists: • * Used symbolism to great effect • *Sin, pain, & evil exist • * Poe, Hawthorne, & Melville

  17. American Renaissance/Transcendentalism1840-1860Examples • Poems and essays of Emerson & Thoreau Thoreau's Walden • Aphorisms of Emerson and Thoreau • Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter • Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Black Cat"

  18. Realism1855-Civil War & Post War periodHistorical Context • Civil War brings demand for a "truer" type of literature that does not idealize people or places • Battlefield Photography

  19. Realism1855-Civil War & Post War periodGenre/Style • Novels and short stories Objective narrator • Does not tell reader how to interpret story • Dialogue includes voices from around the country

  20. Realism1855-Civil War & Post War periodEffect/Aspects • Social realism: aims to change a specific social problem • Aesthetic realism: art that insists on detailing the world as one sees it

  21. Realism1855-Civil War & Post War periodExamples • Writings of Twain, Bierce, Crane The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (some say 1st modern novel) • Regional works like: The Awakening. Ethan Frome, and My Antonia (some say modern)

  22. The Moderns1900-1950Historical Context • Writers reflect the ideas of Darwin (survival of the fittest) and Karl Marx (how money and class structure control a nation) • Overwhelming technological changes of the 20th Century • Rise of the youth culture • WWI and WWII • Harlem Renaissance

  23. The Moderns1900-1950Genre/Style • Novels Plays • Poetry (a great resurgence after deaths of Whitman & Dickinson) • Highly experimental as writers seek a unique style • Use of interior monologue & stream of consciousness

  24. The Moderns1900-1950Effect/Aspect • In Pursuit of the American Dream— • *Admiration for America as land of Eden • *Optimism • *Importance of the Individual

  25. The Moderns1900-1950Examples • Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby • Poetry of Jeffers, Williams, Cummings, Frost, Eliot, Sandburg, Pound, Robinson, Stevens • Rand's Anthem • Short stories and novels of Steinbeck, Hemingway, Thurber, Welty, and Faulkner • Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun & Wright's Native Son (an outgrowth of Harlem Renaissance-- see below) • Miller's The Death of a Salesman (some consider Postmodern)

  26. Harlem Renaissance(parallel to Modernism)1920sHistorical Context • Mass African-American migration to Northern urban centers • African-Americans have more access to media and publishing outlets after they move north

  27. Harlem Renaissance(parallel to Modernism)1920sGenre/Style • Allusions to African-American spirituals • Uses structure of blues songs in poetry (repetition) • Superficial stereotypes revealed to be complex characters

  28. Harlem Renaissance(parallel to Modernism)1920sEffect/Aspects • Gave birth to "gospel music" • Blues and jazz transmitted across American via radio and phonographs

  29. Harlem Renaissance(parallel to Modernism)1920sExamples • Essays & Poetry of W.E.B. DuBois • Poetry of McKay, Toomer, Cullen • Poetry, short stories and novels of Hurston and Hughes • Their Eyes Were Watching God

  30. Postmodernism1950-presentHistorical Context • Post-World War II prosperity • Media culture interprets values • Disillustionment

  31. Postmodernism1950-presentGenre/Style • Mixing of fantasy with nonfiction; blurs lines of reality for reader No heroes • Concern with individual in isolation • Social issues as writers align with feminist & ethnic groups • Usually humorless • Narratives • Metafiction • Present tense • Magic realism

  32. Postmodernism1950-presentEffect/Aspects • Erodes distinctions between classes of people • Insists that values are not permanent but only "local" or "historical"

  33. Postmodernism1950-presentExamples • Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and The Executioner's Song Feminist & Social Issue poets: Plath, Rich, Sexton, Levertov, Baraka, Cleaver, Morrison, Walker & Giovanni • Miller's The Death of a Salesman & The Crucible (some consider Modern) • Lawrence & Lee's Inherit the Wind • Capote's In Cold Blood • Stories & novels of Vonnegut • Salinger's Catcher in the Rye • Beat Poets: Kerouac, Burroughs, & Ginsberg • Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

  34. Contemporary1970s-PresentHistorical Context • People beginning a new century and a new millennium • Media culture interprets values

  35. Contemporary1970s-PresentGenre/Style • Narratives: both fiction and nonfiction Anti-heroes • Concern with connections between people • Emotion-provoking • Humorous irony • Storytelling emphasized • Autobiographical essays

  36. Contemporary1970s-PresentEffect/Aspects • Too soon to tell

  37. Contemporary1970s-PresentExamples • Poetry of Dove, Cisneros, Soto, Alexie Writings of Angelou, Baldwin, Allende, Tan, Kingsolver, Kingston, Grisham, Crichton, Clancy • Walker's The Color Purple & Haley's Roots • Butler's Kindred • Guest's Ordinary People • Card's Ender's Game • O'Brien The Things They Carried • Frazier's Cold Mountain

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