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American literature slides
- 1. COLONIAL PERIOD (1620-1820) Literary Trends: NativeAmerican Literature Captivity Narratives (Settlers) Slave Narratives Spiritual autobiographies Jeremiad—rants against society’s moral ills
- 2. FAMOUS AUTHORS Anne Bradstreet CottonMather Benjamin Franklin Thomas Paine Thomas Jefferson Frederick Douglass
- 3. THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1820-1865) Literature presented: •Celebrationof individualism •Reverence of nature •Respected imagination over reason •Fascination with death and supernatural •Focus on emotions and feelings
- 4. LITERARY TRENDS Romanticism—literature thatfocused on emotions and feelings over reason. Transcendentalism—the belief that through individual contemplation one could transcend reason and discover a higher reality. Gothic Novel —Stories that are suspenseful and terrifying including dark castles, storms, psychological issues, victimization of women, and lots of screaming.
- 5. FAMOUS AUTHORS Washington Irving RalphWaldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau Emily Dickinson Nathaniel Hawthorne Edgar Allan Poe Walt Whitman Herman Melville
- 6. REALISM AND NATURALISM (1865-1910) Realism—came aboutas a result of the Civil War. Works attempted to portray life as it really was. Mundane of middle-class life Critical comments on American politics, gender, race, economics, social issues Naturalism—You are controlled by your environment. Authors do not judge, just merely observe. Regionalism—Literature that connects itself to a particular geography; its culture, language, food, setting—the setting often becomes another character.
- 7. MAJOR WRITERS Mark Twain KateChopin Edith Wharton Willa Cather Jack London Paul Laurence Dunbar W. E. B. Du Bois
- 8. THE MODERNIST PERIOD (1910-1945) Poetry shouldnot mean, but be. Literature should teach and entertain, yet not too much of either. Good literature remained beyond the grasp of the general reader—complex and abstract, filled with metaphors, irony, subtlety, ambiguity…. A huge time of industrial change for this country.
- 9. THE MAJOR WRITERS Robert Frost CarlSandburg Ezra Pound T.S. Eliot e.e. cummings F. Scott Fitzgerald Katherine A.Porter William Faulkner Ernest Hemingway John Steinbeck Zora Neale Hurston Langston Hughes Richard Wright
- 10. THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD/ POST-MODERNISM (1945-PRESENT) BeatGeneration—drug subculture, spontaneous prose Southern Gothic—sexist, racist, mentally ill, physically disabled characters. Post-modernism—explores fantasies and extreme experiences. Literature is a game between writer and reader. Doubt if literature can reflect any true reality.
- 11. MAJOR WRITERS Eudora Welty FlanneryO’Connor Elizabeth Bishop John Updike Tennessee Williams Arthur Miller Sylvia Plath Adrienne Rich Jack Kerouac Ralph Ellison Gwendolyn Brooks Toni Morrison Maxine Hong Kingston Alice Walker Tim O’Brien Sandra Cisneros Amy Tan Kurt Vonnegut August Wilson J.D. Salinger Maya Angelou
Editor's Notes
- #3 Colonial Period (1620-1820) Frederick DouglassRegarded as one of the most compelling antislavery documents produced by a fugitive slave, the Narrative is also valued as an eloquent argument for human rights. As such, it has transcended its immediate historical milieu and is now regarded as a landmark in American autobiography. Anne Bradstreet (Puritan)America's first published poetauthorship being a most disreputable occupation for women of the time.They perceive in her a spirit of uncommon independence within a man's world;To My Dear and Loving HusbandIf ever two were one, then surely we. (1) If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee. (2) If ever wife was happy in a man, (3-4) Compare with me, ye women, if you can.5 I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold, (5-6) Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that Rivers cannot quench, (7) Nor ought but love from thee give recompence. (8) Thy love is such I can no way repay; (9-10)10 The heavens reward thee manifold I pray. Then while we live, in love let's so persever, (11-12) That when we live no more, we may live ever.
- #6 The Romantic Period(1820-1865) Henry David Thoreau's Walden was published in 1854. The essay details the experiment in personal independence and self-reliance that Thoreau underwent, starting on July 4, 1845 for 2 years, 2 months and 2 days Walden Pond. Here are a few famous quotations from the essay: Focus/Theme is the Meaning of Life and how to live life well.s individualism, freedom from conformity, and nature as a source of spiritual renewal for mankind."I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still, and threw them out the window in disgust." - 1. Economy, Walden, Henry David Thoreau"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion." - 1. Economy, Walden, Henry David Thoreau"To be awake is to be alive." - 2. Where I Lived and What I Lived For, Walden, Henry David Thoreau"I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born." - 2. Where I Lived and What I Lived For, Walden, Henry David Thoreau 172 pageI went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived…. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of lifeThoreau supports every one of us doing whatever we do really well and being whoever we are to the max.PoeGothic, dark literature, died in obscurity. Fascination with death and supernatural—emotions/feelingsConsidered the father of the genre: Detective FictionHumpty Dumpty in the style of Edgar Allan Poe – cool!http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/80163Alcoholic, substance abuser, abandoned by father, mother died, married cousin, she died…one of the most influential and widely read American authors of the nineteenth century, First, I dismembered the corpse. I removed the arms, the legs and the head. I then deposited all beneath the scantlings. I then replaced the boards, so cleverly, so cunningly, that no one, not even HIM could have detected the difference.
- #8 Twain, Markcommentary on man's shortcomings that is humorous even while it probes, often bitterly, the roots of human behavior.It was banned from many public libraries on its first appearance for being "trash."In this novel, he uses Huck as a relatively naive narrator to make ironic observations about Southern culture and human nature in general. But the irony in Huckleberry Finn exists at several levels of narration: sometimes Twain seems to aim his irony at Huck, while other times, Huck himself is an ironic and detached observer.“It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn't no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds. But I never said nothing, never let on; kept it to myself; it's the best way; then you don't have no quarrels, and don't get into no trouble. “ Jack London Sailor, hobo, Klondike argonaut, social crusader, war correspondent, scientific farmer, self-made millionaire, global traveler, and adventurer, London captured the popular imagination worldwide as much through his personal exploits as through his literary efforts.400 nonfiction pieces, 200 short stories, and more than 50 books, fiction and nonfiction a tough-guy writerCall of the wild is written from the point of view of the dog, Buck, who is a survivor. Buck, a domestic dog, is kidnapped from his California home and brought north. He escapes, and as he travels farther north he becomes less and less civilized. Ultimately, Buck answers the "call of the wild," and is transformed into the Ghost Dog of northern legend. NATURALISM!
- #10 e.e. cummingsText all over the place! He tried very hard to blur the boundaries between visual art and literary arts.he thumbs his nose at conventions. the guy seems to get away with things that your high school English teacher would cream you for doing. Whatever it is, Cummings manages to top the list of most people’s favorite poets.experimentation with sounds. In his poetry, Cummings stressed the theme of individuality over modern conformist living. He innovated and experimented boldly in style, form, and even punctuation and grammar, signing his work “e.e. cummings.”*In Just… this poem might just remind you of the happiest days of your existence.“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” ― E.E. Cummings “Unless you love someone, nothing else makes sense.” ― E.E. Cummings“The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.” ― E.E. Cummings “The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches.” ― E.E. Cummings “She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still” ― E.E. Cummings John SteinbeckHis best books are about ordinary men and women, simple souls who do battle against dehumanizing social forces or who struggle against their own inhumane tendencies and attempt, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, to forge lives of meaning and worthThe Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (1937), are set in central California, where he grew upSteinbeck's descriptions of the sufferings endured by the dispossessed at the hands of owners of large farms and what are now called agribusinesses immediately generated controversy. The controversy never ended. The Grapes of Wrath continues to be one of the most commonly banned books in U.S. public schools and libraries.Lennie broke in. "But not us! An' why? Because... because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why." He laughed delightedly. "Go on now, George!"..."O.K. Someday—we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted.Steinbeck rather than writing a story about "dreaming" or "hoping" in general is instead making a very precise and pointed critique of certain aspects of what it is like for many people to live in California, and, by extension, American society. More specifically, Of Mice and Men is a critique of the plight of a certain stratum of that society—the landless, poor, agricultural workers—and in the figures of George and Lennie, Steinbeck tries to dramatize on an individual level the tragic story of an entire class of people.
- #12 The Contemporary Period/Post-Modernism Toni Morisson"Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window sign - all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured. 'Here,' they said, 'this is beautiful, and if you are on this day "worthy" you may have it.'"- Toni Morrison, The Bluest EyeMorrison’s first novel, published in 1970. It tells the tragic story of Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl growing up in Morrison's hometown of Lorain, Ohio, after the Great Depression. Due to its unflinching portrayal of incest, prostitution, domestic violence, child molestation, and racism, there have been numerous attempts to ban the book from libraries and schools across the United States, some of them successful.black women writers could talk about the horrible effects that racism, poverty, and substance abuse can have not only on the adults who experience them but on their children as well.The Bluest Eye forces us as readers to confront our own ideas of what counts as beautiful. When we read the nove portrays troubled characters who struggle to gain individual and cultural identity in a society that warps or impedes such discovery.John SteinbeckHis best books are about ordinary men and women, simple souls who do battle against dehumanizing social forces or who struggle against their own inhumane tendencies and attempt, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, to forge lives of meaning and worthThe Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (1937), are set in central California, where he grew upSteinbeck's descriptions of the sufferings endured by the dispossessed at the hands of owners of large farms and what are now called agribusinesses immediately generated controversy. The controversy never ended. The Grapes of Wrath continues to be one of the most commonly banned books in U.S. public schools and libraries.Lennie broke in. "But not us! An' why? Because... because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why." He laughed delightedly. "Go on now, George!"..."O.K. Someday—we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted.Steinbeck rather than writing a story about "dreaming" or "hoping" in general is instead making a very precise and pointed critique of certain aspects of what it is like for many people to live in California, and, by extension, American society. More specifically, Of Mice and Men is a critique of the plight of a certain stratum of that society—the landless, poor, agricultural workers—and in the figures of George and Lennie, Steinbeck tries to dramatize on an individual level the tragic story of an entire class of people.