American Literary Periods and Their Characteristics

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) Covenant of Grace and Covenant of Works debate Puritanism1650-1750Historical Context

3. Puritanism1650-1750Genre/Style • Sermons • Diaries • Personal narratives • Written in plain style

4. Puritanism • Instructive • Reinforces authority of the Bible and church

5. Puritanism1650-1750Examples • 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. Rationalism1750-1800Historical Context • Tells readers how to interpret what they are reading • Meant to encourage Revolutionary War support • Instructive in values

7. Rationalism1750-1800Genre/Style • Political pamphlets • Travel writing • Highly ornate style • Persuasive writing

8. Rationalism1750-1800Effect/Aspects • Patriotism grows, Instills pride • Creates common agreement about issues • National mission and the American character

9. Rationalism1750-1800Examples • Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine- “Common Sense” • Benjamin 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 • Essays • Stories • Poems • Novels • Focus on • Nature • Emotion • Imagination • Intuition

12. Gothicism • Considered Romantics but explored the darker side of human existence • Awareness for human capacity and evil • Probing of the inner life of the characters and the mysterious forces that shape human behavior • Grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and violent events

13. Gothicism Edgar Allan Poe • Pioneer of the detective story • First major author of science fiction and fantasy • “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Cask of Amontillado” Herman Melville • Mostly adventure stories set in the South Pacific • Explores issues such as madness and the conflict of good and evil • Moby Dick

14. Nathaniel Hawthorne • Examined the darker facets of the human soul • Agreed with the romantic ideals of emotion and the individual • Many of Hawthorne’s stories are set in Puritan America • The Scarlett Letter, “The Minister’s Black Veil”

15. Transcendentalists • Came from “Transcendent” – knowledge that exists beyond reason or experience • Emphasized living a simple life and celebrating the truth found in nature • Favored personal emotion and imagination • Believed people were inherently good

16. Ralph Waldo Emerson • Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered to be a founding writer and philosopher within the American romantic movement. • Emerson is perhaps best known for his essays, from which emerge the grounding notions of Transcendentalism. • “Self-Reliance,” “Nature”

17. Henry David Thoreau • Wrote about living as one with nature and being self-reliant • Thoreau presents an exploration of self-discipline and self-discovery which resonates significantly through American literature. • Considered one of the first environmentalists • “Civil Disobedience,” “Walden”

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 • Frederick Douglass • Slave narratives

21. Realism1855-Civil War & Post War periodExamples • Writings of Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen 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. Authors of Regionalism Mark Twain Willa Cather Regionalism was a literary movement in which authors would write a story about specific geographical areas. Writers in this time not only tried to show the region they wrote about to their readers, but they also made an attempt at a sophisticated sociological or anthropological treatment of the culture of the region. By writing about regions, the authors explore the culture of that area including its- Languages Customs Beliefs history William Faulkner Kate Chopin Regionalism 1865-1915 Frank Norris

23. Trend rather than a movement; never formalized nor dominated by the influence of a single writer  A more extreme, intensified version of realism Shows more unpleasant, ugly, shocking aspects of life  Objective picture of reality viewed with scientific detachment Determinism – man’s life is dominated by the forces he cannot control: biological instincts, social environment No free will, no place for moral judgment Pessimism Struggle of an individual to adopt to the environment NATURALISM (1890s - 1950s)

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

25. 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

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

27. 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)

28. 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

29. 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

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

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

32. Postmodernism1950-present • Post-World War II prosperity • Media culture interprets values • Disillusionment • Resistance to easily recognizable themes or morals in a story • Insists that values are not permanent but only "local" or "historical"

33. 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

34. 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