1 / 11

Focus: War Literature

American Literature Realism and Modernism (1850-1955) What do governments owe to the bodies of their soldiers?. Focus: War Literature. Realism. It all started with the Civil War….

norman-patrick
Download Presentation

Focus: War Literature

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. American Literature Realism and Modernism(1850-1955)What do governments owe to the bodies of their soldiers? Focus: War Literature

  2. Realism • It all started with the Civil War…. • The dead were almost wholly unburied, and the stench arising from it was such as to breed a pestilence. Stretched along, in one straight line, ready for interment -- at least a thousand blackened bloated corpses -- with blood and gas protruding from every orifice, and maggots holding high carnival over their heads. • Reaction to Dark Romanticism (Gothic) • How? • Literary movement that developed towards the end of the Civil War and stressed the actual (reality) as opposed to the imagined or fanciful

  3. Literary Movements • The writing of this period steered away from the Romantic, highly imaginative fiction from the early 1800’s. • The Civil War brought a demand for the truth, not literature that idealized people or places • “Tell it like it is” mentality • Rejected the American hero. Focus changed to the ordinary American. π

  4. Realism Continued • Realist writing was inspired by hardships, whether it was war, the frontier, urbanization, or unfairness. • Journalism and Non-fiction was the focus of this literary time period. • Many groups, from women to freed slaves, started expressing their discontent with the way things were. • Themes: Survival, Fate, Violence, Nature as an indifferent force • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTCjHZWmgG0 Mov’t | π

  5. Why did this literary movement come about? • A reaction against Romanticism • rejected heroic, adventurous, or unfamiliar subjects • The harsh reality of frontier life and the Civil War shattered the nation’s idealism

  6. The American Civil War “The War Between the States” “The Nefarious War of Northern Aggression” “The Scuffle of Southern Secession” π

  7. Mathew Brady: Photo Galleryhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/photo-gallery/death/

More Related