Literature American

The document provides an overview of major American authors and literary periods from the colonial era to postmodernism. It discusses early colonial writers like John Smith and William Bradford and the influence of Puritanism. Major 19th century authors covered include Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, and Hemingway. Modernist writers like Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Frost, and Pound are also summarized. The document concludes with a brief description of postmodern literature.