American Literature Periods of Am Lit    Beginning of American Literature: 1607-1776 Colonial Period 1765-1790 The Revolutionary Age 1775-1828 The Early National Period Romanticism, Transcendentalism  1828-1865 The Romantic Period (Also known as: TheAmerican Renaissance)  The Age of Transcendentalism 18651900 Realism, Naturalism  The Realistic Period 1900-1914  The Naturalistic Period (extreme realism)  1914-1939 1920s 1920s, 1930s: American Modernist Period: Jazz Age, Harlem Renaissance The "Lost Generation" 1939-present 1950s 1960s, 1970s The Contemporary Period:  The Beat generation  American Literature recognizes works of: African-American Writers Native American Writers Asian-American Writers Colonial Period  Periods of Am Literature vary a lot  It´s impossible to give exact dates  The first literature started to appear after founding of the first settlement at Jamestown in 1607  It continuoud till the outbreak of the Revolution Literary genres:  Historical writings  Religious themes – sermons (kázání) tracts Writers: Anne Bradstreet (poet) Benjamin Franklin (The Way to Wealth) William Bradford The Revolutionary Age  The greatest documents of American history were authored:  Thomas Paine (Common Sense – he urged independence)  The Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson - 1776)  The Constitution (1789 - ratified) The Early National Period  Beginnings of true Am Literature  The writers wrote in th English style but the settings, themes and characters were authentically American  Washington Irving – he wrote about Am Life, biography of G Washington  James Fenimore Cooper – The Last of the Mohicans  Edgar Allan Poe Realism  Action against romanticism  Main literary form – novel  Authors accuse romanticism of falsehood  They describe common things, common places, everyday life Mark Twain  His real name: Samuel Langorne Clemens  He spent his childhood on the Mississippi river  Workedon a steamboat on the Mississippi  Travelled a lot  He recollects his childhood in his books  The Innocents Abroad  The Gilded Age  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  The Advedntures of Huckleberry Finn Tom likes danger, he´s always able to avoid problems, Huck represents social conscience, he´s sensitive to everything around him Naturalism  Derived from the word nature (interest in nature)  It has its origin in France – Zola  Prople are influenced by environmental forces (outside us) and inner drives (inside us) – peole can ´t control them  The main drives of characters: hunger, fear, sex, …  Their writings are often cruel and tragic  Stephen Crane  Jack London (Tjhe Call of the Wild)  Theodore Dreiser (An American Tragedy)  Upton Sinclair (The Jungle) Lost Generation  A term applied for Am Writers born around 1900, who fought in WWI  The term comes from Gertrude Stein  Main features: description of the loss of traditional values as the result of the war other social evils Ernest Hemingway  Find some info about him F S Fitzgerald  Connected with Jazz Age in 20s  Wrote many stories about wealthy people  The Great Gatsby – masterpiece (a rich man earns money by smuggling, he loves Daisy, but Daisy is married Nick – a narrator is is disgusted) American Dream Other 20th century writers  The Harlem Renaissance: Harlem (N.Y.) was a centre of it Motto: Let us return to Africa! (in a literary sense) We all have sth in common Main representatives:  Langston Hughes  Countee Cullen  Richard Wright The Great Depression = the end of American Modernist Period William Faulkner John Steinbeck Eugene O´Neil (a playwright) Dealt with social and political issues Jewish Writers        Big emigration of the Jews to the US Writers explore new themes of identity, psychological problems They are looking at their racial background Saul Bellow J.D Salinger (The catcher in the Rye) Bernard Malamud Joseph Heller (Cath 22) The Beat Generation  The main personalities:  A Ginsberg, W Boroughs, J Kerouac, G Corso  Knew each other, travelled through the US by taking drugs and having many sexual affairs  SAn Francisco – cradle of the Beats Basic Characteristics  Wanted to live life without social conventions  Against supermacy of money  Their idol = wanderer travelling with his bag from a state to state, listening to JAZZ, being spontaneous, free, sincere  Taking drugs, drinking alcohol Jack Kerouac  On the Road Written on toilet paper Journeys from East of States to the West [...]... but Daisy is married Nick – a narrator is is disgusted) American Dream Other 20th century writers  The Harlem Renaissance: Harlem (N.Y.) was a centre of it Motto: Let us return to Africa! (in a literary sense) We all have sth in common Main representatives:  Langston Hughes  Countee Cullen  Richard Wright The Great Depression = the end of American Modernist Period William Faulkner John Steinbeck... peole can ´t control them  The main drives of characters: hunger, fear, sex, …  Their writings are often cruel and tragic  Stephen Crane  Jack London (Tjhe Call of the Wild)  Theodore Dreiser (An American Tragedy)  Upton Sinclair (The Jungle) Lost Generation  A term applied for Am Writers born around 1900, who fought in WWI  The term comes from Gertrude Stein  Main features: description of... work:  1 realism: detective stories – logical, brilliant, rational  2 romanticism – irrationalism, mystery, violence, criminality, death, passion Perverse, vulgar, grotesque style Transcendentalism  American reflection of European romanticism  Philosophical movement  The transcendal philosophy was based on: 1 Free will Humanity Intuition Individual conscience It glories nature 2 3 4 5  All transcendentalists