1. American literature time periods

2. Native American Literature
Pre-1620 – 1840
Native Americans dominated the New World
Oral tradition of songs and stories
Origin myths – floods, earth-diver, trickster stories
Focuses on the natural world, the sacred world, and the importance of land and peace

3. Puritan/colonialism Authors: William Bradford, Of Plymouth…
Anne Bradstreet, To My Dear…
Cotton Mather
Edward Taylor, Huswifery
William Byrd
Jonathan Edwards, Sinners…
1620 – 1750
Focuses on historical events, daily life, moral attitudes (like Puritanism), and political unrest
Sermons and poems were common

4. Rationalism Authors: Thomas Paine, The Crisis Benjamin Franklin
1750 – 1815
Explains & justifies the Revolution
What does “American” mean?
Nationalism & patriotism increase after the War of 1812, which removed the last British troops
Age of Reason: valued reason over faith; questioned their traditions
Almanacs, newspapers, magazines
Authors:
Thomas Paine, The Crisis
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

5. Romanticism & transcendentalism
Authors:
Washington Irving
Walt Whitman
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau
Philosophical attitude that celebrates individualism, nature, imagination, emotions
Rebellious spirit of westward expansion
Respect for the individual and the pursuit of truth

6. Realism Authors: Mark Twain (local color)
1850 –1900
Turbulent period of Civil War, industrial invention
Examines and conveys harsh realities of life & human frailty
Writing accurately portrays the
Local color: habits & speech of people = regional culture
physical landscape
human struggles to overcome war, natural disasters, family problems
Authors:
Mark Twain (local color)
Ambrose Bierce & Stephen Crane (realities of war)
Willa Cather
Kate Chopin

7. Naturalism (A part of Realism)
1880 – 1940
An extension of Realism
Focused on grim reality of life
Observed characters like scientists observe animals –watching them live, struggle, and die
Contrasts Transcendentalism; Naturalists viewed nature as indifferent, sometimes cruel
Characters are helpless victims of the environment and their human nature/heritage
Authors:
Jack London
Frank Norris
Theodore Dreiser
James T. Farrell

8. modernism Authors: Ernest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald T. S. Eliot
1900 –1950
20th century: wars, increased population, the Depression, commercialism
Themes of alienation, change, the threat to the individual and to the American Dream
Use of symbolism, irony, and understatement
Stream of consciousness writing
Harlem Renaissance: African-American lit. flourishes
Authors:
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
T. S. Eliot
Langston Hughes & Zora Neale Hurston (Harlem Renaissance)