American Literature 1. Theme-Pursuit of Happiness 2.Early Fiction 3. Before the Civil War 4. After The Civil War 5.In the 20 th Century

1. Theme-pursuit of happiness 1.1 fantastic dreams 1.2 down-to earth dreams 1.3 religious pilgrimage 1.4 restlessness

2. Early Fiction 2.1 Washington Irving Inventing a history for the Americans History of New York Rip Van Winkle The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Literary possibilities of the west 2.2 James F. Cooper ---Mythmaker ---forerunner of all heroic forest scouts, bear hunters and cowboys

3.1 Transcendentalists 1) Ralph Emerson - -by studying and responding to nature, individuals could reach a higher spiritual state without formal religion. “ Nature” 2)Henry David Thoreau Walden --- The dictates of an individual’s conscience should take precedence over the demand of society

3.2 Power of Imagination 1) Edgar Allen Poe Romantic poet Suspenseful and terrifying tales The Masque of Red Death The Fall of the House of Usher Pioneer in science fiction and mystery story

2) Nathaniel Hawthorne ---Imaginative romances ---Exploration of moral themes Twice-told Tales The Scarlet Letter 3) Herman Melville ---his life experience ---his masterpiece: Moby Dick

3.3 New Vision Walt Whitman( ) ---a true American Voice: Celebrating the American landscape, people, their speech and government ---His life experience ---His masterpiece: Leaves of Grass (Song of Myself) ---features of his poems

3.4 Reform and Liberation The end of slavery Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin –The story –Its social influence The civil war

4.1 Regionalism 1)What is regionalism 2)Important figures: ---William Dean Howells ---Mark Twain: –Life experience –Literary style –Masterpiece: The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn

4.2 A New Wave 1)Naturalists ---Realistic description of everyday life: W.D.Howells:The Rise of Silas Lapham Stephen Crane:The Red Badge of Courage Theodore Dreiser:Sister Carrie Upton Sinclair: The Jungle Jack London: Call of the Wild ---the fate of individuals: Henry James:The Wings of the Dove Edith Wharton:The Age of Innocence

4.3 Sympathetic views 1)Sympathetic views: Kate Chopin Willa Cather 2) Democratic spirit: Black Writers W.E.B.Dubois: Souls of Black Folk

5.1 Rebellious Spirit “Revolt from the village” Rebellion against the limited life of small towns –Sherwood Anderson:Winesburg, Ohio –Sinclair Lewis The first American Nobel Prize winner Main Street

5.2 the Modernists Imagism –Ezra Pond T.S. Eliot: –The Waste Land E.E.Coming Wallace Stevens William Carols Williams

5.3 Lost Generation A literature of disillusionment F.Scott Fitzgerald: –The Great Gatsby John Dos Passos: U.S.A Ernest Hemingway(Nobel prize winner) –Moral code and style –masterpieces William Faulkner(Nobel prize winner) –Realistic and experimental –materpieces

5.4 Harlem Renaissance What is Harlem The new Negro articulate, conscious of racial identity Langston Hughes Countee Cullen Style: ---exotic images ---rhythms of black music

5.5 New Drama Eugene O,Neill (Nobel Prize winner) –Symbolism –Science of psychology –Heightened language –Theme: individuals’ search for identity –masterpieces

5.6 Depression Realism and Escapism John Steinbeck –The Grapes of Wrath Margaret Mitchell –Gone With the Wind During WWII –Norman Mailer: The Naked and the Dead –Joseph Heller:Catch-22

5.7 Postwar Voices and the “Beat Generation” Receptivity of black voice: –Ralph Ellison:Invisible Man Jewish writers –Saul Bellow, Bashevis Singer, Philip Roth Playwright: Williams and Arthur Miller The Beat Generation –Alan Ginsberg: Howl –J.D. Salinger:the Catcher in the Rye

5.8 New American Voices The feminist movement –Toni Morrison:The Beloved the first black American Nobel Prize winner –Alice Walker:The Color of Purple Writers from other ethnic groups: Chinese writers: Maxine Hong Kingston Amy Tan