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American literature

American literature. FNSPE CTU in Prague APIN NATALIIA KOROPENKO. Table of contents. The Colonial Period (1492 – 1700) The Revolutionary Period (1700 – 1800) The Period of Romanticism and Transcendentalism(1800 – 1880) American Realism and Naturalism (1860 – 1930)

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American literature

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  1. American literature FNSPE CTU in Prague APIN NATALIIA KOROPENKO

  2. Table of contents • The Colonial Period (1492 – 1700) • The Revolutionary Period (1700 – 1800) • The Period of Romanticism and Transcendentalism(1800 – 1880) • American Realism and Naturalism (1860 – 1930) • American Modernism and the Literature of the First Half of the 20th Century • American Literature in the 2nd Half of the 20th Century and Contemporary American Literature

  3. The colonial period 1492 – 1700 Founding the first Colonies Trade & History of the first colonists French and Indian Wars The Road to Revolution

  4. The features of early American literature : • Era of colonizing the continent • English ideas and ways of writing: Pale faces/cooked poetry Redskins/raw poetry • Religion • Issues of living in a new land, travelling

  5. Important writers of the period: • John Smith – journal (1580 – 1631) • “A True Relation of Virginia” • William Bradford – journal (1590 – 1657 ) • “Of Plymouth Plantation” • Anne Bradstreet – poetry ( 1612 – 1672 ) • “To My Dear and Loving Husband.” • Mary Rowlandson – captivity narrative ( 1637 – 1711 ) • “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlnadson”

  6. The Revolutionary Period 1700 – 1800 The Stamp Act ignited the first serious opposition to English rule in the American colonies. Implementation of the United States Constitution *During this period, the majority of American writing was politically motivated, whether supportive of English rule or revolutionary in character.

  7. Politics vs Religion The Age of Enlightenment 1620s – 1780s The Great Awakening 1730s – 1750s Return to religious orthodoxy and fervor George Whitfield Fire and Brimstone Jonathan Edwards Long-term effects : Causes backlash against authoritarian rule, further fuels democratic revolt. • Rise of science • Regress study, methodology, logic etc - Sir Isaac Newton • Questioning institutions - Rene Descartes • Emerge of Individual Rights - John Locke • Long-term effects: Power gradually moves away from established institutions( Church,Monarchy), Democratic Revolutions.

  8. Famous writers and their works: • Benjamin Franklin • “The Way to Wealth” , Autobiography • Thomas Paine • “Common Sense” • John Hector St. John • “Letters from an American Farmer” • Tomas Jefferson • “Declaration of Independence”

  9. American Dream “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” AD is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking and hard work, not by chance.

  10. Romanticism and Transcendentalism 1800 – 1880

  11. Romanticism Transcendentalism Transcendentalism is the power of knowledge to transcend intellectual growth and spirituality. Were inspired by nature, spent time alone and relied on themselves Ralph Waldo Emerson “The Nature” Henry David Thoreau “Walden” Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Scarlet Letter” Emily Dickinson Herman Melville “Moby Dick” • Romanticism educes strong emotions and exemplifies significant events. • Revolt against classicism • The writers stressed imagination, nature and individualism • The Knickerbockers • Washington Irving “ A History of NY” • James Fenimore Cooper “Leatherstocking Tales” • Edgar Allan Poe

  12. Realism and Naturalism 1860 – 1930

  13. The features of early American literature : • Topics adopted by previous generation • Describing life as it was with its negatives • Industrialization and migration • Novel – the main genre

  14. Famous writers and their works: • Mark Twain “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” , • “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” • Harriet Beecher-Stowe • “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” • Henry James • “What Maisie Knew” • Jack London • “The Call of the Wild” • Theodore Dreiser • “Sister Carrie” , “American Tragedy” • Upton Sinclair • “The Jungle”

  15. Modernism and the Literature of the 1st half of the 20th Century

  16. New ways of writing and new topics • Living in the modern age • “modernism” Ezra Pound “Cantos” T. S. Eliot “The Waste Land” • Chicago renaissance Carl Sandburg “Chicago poems” • The lost Generation Ernest Hemingway “The Old Man and the Sea”, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” F. Scott Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby” , “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” William Faulkner Sinclair Lewis “Babbit” John Steinbeck “Of Mice and Men” James Joyce “Ulysses”

  17. Who was the Lost Generation • The “Lost Generation” reached adulthood during or shortly after World War I. • Disillusioned by the horrors of war, they rejected the traditions of the older generation. • Their struggles were characterized in the works of a group of famous American authors and poets including Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T. S. Eliot. • Common traits of the “Lost Generation” included decadence, distorted visions of the “American Dream,” and gender confusion.​

  18. 2nd half of the 20th Century and Contemporary American Literature

  19. The features of the period and writers: • The Beat Generation, Hippies • Ethnic writers become more involved • Post-modernism • The revolt against the system, ethnic and racial issues • New genres: comic books, sci-fi etc. • Transgressional fiction • J. D. Salinger “Catcher in the rye” • Harper Lee “ To kill a mockingbird” • William Styron “Sophie’s choice” • Tennessee Williams “A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” • Arthur Miller “Death of Salesman” • Edward Albee “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” • Jack Kerouac “On the Road” • Allen Ginsberg|LawrenceFerlingetti “Howl” • Charles Bukowski • Ken Kesey “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” • Bret Easton Ellis “American Psycho” • Chuck Palahnuik “ Fight Club”

  20. African-American literature Harlem Renaissance James Baldwin Toni Morrison “The Blue Eye” Jewish American literature Isaac BashevisSinger “Gimpel the Food” Bernard Malamud “The Fixer” Philip Roth “Portnoy’s Complaint” New genres Sci-fi Ray Bradbury “Fahrenheit 451” George R.R. Martin “A Song of Ice and Fire” Stephen King “The Shining”, “The Dreamcatcher” James Dasher

  21. Sources: • https://www.britannica.com/list/periods-of-american-literature • https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/american-dream.asp • https://www.thoughtco.com/the-lost-generation-4159302 • https://americanprofile.com/articles/list-of-americas-top-20-authors/ • https://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/20-best-american-authors/

  22. Thank you for your attention! Any questions?

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