American Literary Movements 1650-present AKA…the “isms” of literature

What is American Literature? What is an American? What is Literature? What is American Literature?

Puritanism/Colonialism 1650-1750 Genre/Style: Utilitarian writing, sermons, diaries, personal narratives Written in plain style Effect/Aspects: Instructive Descriptive Reinforce authority of the Bible and church Historical Context: Predestination Notion of progress, preoccupation with guilt, emphasis on hard work and drive toward affluence All people are corrupt and must be saved by Christ Examples: Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards

Puritanism/Colonialism 1650-1750 American writing began with the work of English adventurers and colonists in the New World chiefly for the benefit of readers in the mother country. Some of these early works reached the level of literature, as in the robust and perhaps truthful account of his adventures by Captain John Smith and the sober journalistic histories of William Bradford in New England. From the beginning, the literature of New England was also purposed for the edification and instruction of the colonists themselves, intended to direct them in the ways of the godly.

Revolutionary/Age of Reason 1750-1800 Genre/Style: Political pamphlets Travel writing Highly ornate style Persuasive writing Effect/Aspects: Patriotism grows Instills pride Creates common agreement (and opposition) and issues National mission and the American character Control in own destiny? Historical Context: Tells readers how to interpret what they are reading to encourage Revolutionary War support Instructive in values Moves away from lofty philosophies (God, church, etc…) to domestic, immediate issues Examples: Poor Richard’s Almanac by Benjamin Franklin Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry

Revolutionary/Age of Reason 1750-1800 This period was a time when authors were focused more on their own reasoning rather than simply taking what the church taught as fact. During this period there was also cultivation of patriotism. The main medium during that period were political pamphlets, essays, travel writings, speeches, and documents. Also during this period many reforms were either made or requested, for instance during this time the Declaration of Independence was written.

Romanticism 1800-1860 Style/Genre: Character sketches Slave narratives Poetry Short stories Effect/Aspect: Value feeling and intuition over reasoning Journey away from corruption of civilization & limits of rational thought toward integrity of nature & freedom of the imagination Helped instill proper gender behavior for men and women Allowed people to re-imagine the America past (good thing???) Historical Context: Expansion of magazines, newspapers, & book publishing Slavery debates Industrial revolution brings ideas that the “old ways” of doing things are now irrelevant Examples: Poems of Emily Dickinson Poems of Walt Whitman “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Romanticism 1800-1860 After the “Age of Reason” came to an end, the people of America were tired of reality; they wanted to see life as more than it was. This was the Era of Romantics. The main medium that presented itself at that time were short stories, poems, and novels. During this era, as appose to the “Age of Reason” the imagination dominated; intuition ruled over fact, and there was a large emphasis on the individual/common man, and on nature or the natural world. Gothic literature was also introduced at this time, which is a sub-genre of Romanticism, this genre included stories about characters that had both good and evil traits. Gothic literature also incorporated to use of supernatural elements.

Transcendentalism 1840-1860 Style/Genre: Poetry Short Stories Novels Effects/Aspects: True reality is spiritual Idealists Self-reliance & individualism Importance & significance of nature Historical Context Today in literature we still read of people seeking the true beauty in life and in nature In literature, we also still see a belief in true love and contentment Examples: “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalism 1840-1860 This movement pushed America from the elaborate and fantasy like writings displayed in the period Romanticism, into a period of literature that stressed individualism, and mature and self-reliance. Often Transcendentalists used nature to gain knowledge or to return to a life of self-reliance and individualism. It also stressed the fundamental idea of a unity between God and the world, that each person was a microcosm for the world. Unlike many European groups, the Transcendentalists never issued a manifesto. They insisted on the differences in each individual.

Anti-Transcendentalism/ Dark Romanticism 1840-1860 Genre/Style: Poetry Short Stories Novels Hold readers’ attention through dread of a series of terrible possibilities Feature landscapes of dark forests, extreme vegetation, concealed ruins with horrific rooms, depressed characters Effect/Aspects: Used great symbolism to great effect Sin, pain and evil exist Historical Context: Today in literature we still see portrayals of alluring antagonists whose evil characteristics appeal to one’s sense of awe Today in literature we still see stories of the persecuted young girl forced apart from her true love Examples: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe

Anti-Transcendentalism/ Dark Romanticism 1840-1860 During the same time period when Transcendentalism was taking place, it’s opposite, Anti-Transcendentalism, was also happening. As oppose to Transcendentalism, which focused on the natural world and its relationship to humanity, and the quest for understanding of the human spirit. Anti- Transcendentalism focused on the limitations of mankind, and its potential destructiveness of the human spirit. For instance, water brings life, but it’s excess, i.e. a flood, can bring death and destruction. (Notice how they sometimes use nature in their writings to reflect what goes in with humans. Example: Scarlet Letter and the forest – reflect Pearl’s wild nature; only place Hester and Dimmesdale can be free, etc.)

Realism 1855-1900 Style/Genre: Novels and short stories Objective narrator Does not tell the reader how to interpret the work Dialogue includes voices from around the country Effect/Aspects Social realism aims to change a specific social problem Aesthetic realism includes art that insists on detailing the world as one sees it One’s perspective is one’s reality Historical Context: Civil War brings demand for “truer” type of literature that does not idealize people or places Examples: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Awakening by Kate Chopin The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Realism 1855-1900 This literary movement took place during the Civil War; at a time when a war was taking place people were tired of Transcendentalism and Anti- Transcendentalism, for one thing they were both extremes of the same spectrum, one was nice and happy, and “frilly;” the other was dark and destructive. People wanted to see things how they were, so Realism came about. Realism also came about as a reaction to Romanticism, in which there were heroic characters, and adventures, with strange and unfamiliar settings. In response Realism authors tried to write truthfully and objectively about ordinary characters in ordinary situations.

Modernism 1900-1950 Style/Genre: Novels Plays Poetry Highly experimental as writers seek a unique style Use of interior monologue & stream of consciousness Effect/Aspects: In pursuit of the “American Dream”… Admiration for America as a “paradise” Optimism Importance of the individual Historical Context: Writers reflect the ideas of Darwin (survival of the fittest) and Karl Marx (how $ and class structure control a nation) Overwhelming technological changes of the 20th century Rise of the youth culture and counter cultures WWI & WWII Harlem Renaissance Examples: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Poems by TS Eliot, Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, e.e. cummings, Carl Sandburg Short stories by Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck

Modernism 1900-1950 This type of writing is one of the most experimental types. Modernist authors used of fragments, stream of consciousness, and interior dialogue. The main thing that authors were trying to achieve with Modernism was a unique style, one that they could stand out for, and be known for. During this period Technology was taking incredible leaps and two World Wars took place, there was destruction of a global scale. The younger generation began to take over the main stage.

Harlem Renaissance 1920s Style/Genre: Allusions to African-American spirituals Uses structure of blues songs in poetry (repetition) Superficial stereotypes revealed to be complex characters Dialect Effect/Aspects: “Conversation art” Blues and jazz transmitted across America via radio and phonographs (widespread popularity) Historical Context: Parallel to modernism Mass African-American migration to Northern urban centers African-Americans have more access to media and publishing outlets after they move north Examples: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Essays & poetry of W.E.B. DuBois Poetry, short stories and novels of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston Poetry of Claude McKay, Jean Toomer and Countee Cullen

Harlem Renaissance 1920s Originally called the New Negro Movement, the Harlem Renaissance was a literary and intellectual flowering that fostered a new black cultural identity in the 1920s. Chiefly literary, the birth of jazz and many other artistic firsts are credited within this time period. The years between WWI and the Great Depression were “boom times” for the United States and jobs were plentiful in cities, especially in the North. Between 1920 and 1930 almost 750,000 African Americans left the South and many of the migrated to urban areas in the North to take advantage of the prosperity and the more racially tolerant environment. The white literary establishment soon became fascinated with the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance and began publishing them in larger numbers. But for the writers themselves, acceptance by the white world was less important, as Langston Hughes put it, than the “expression of our individual dark-skinned selves”.

Post-Modernism/ Contemporary 1950-present Style/Genre: Fiction/Non-fiction Mixing of fantasy with non-fiction; blurs lines of reality for reader No heroes/anti-hero Concern with individual in isolation Narratives Present-tense Emotion-provoking Humorless or humorous irony Effect/Aspects: Erodes distinctions between classes of people Insists that values are not permanent but only “local” or “historical” Some too soon to tell Historical Context: Post-WWII prosperity Media culture interprets values People beginning a new century and a new millennium We are still struggling with many issues and face new ones all the time Examples: The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Beat Poets: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien Writings of Maya Angelou, Barbra Kingsolver, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton

Post-Modernism/ Contemporary 1950-present In the years since the Modernism period, American authors have begun to write from a plethora of genres. Americans have realized that the best way to go is have many authors writing what ever it is they are best at. That’s exactly what has happened, there are more different types of writing being done at one time than at any other period in history; Fantasy, fiction, science fiction, horror, Political writings, romantics, plays, and poems, anything and everything.