1. Literature Eras
U.S. Literature

2. I. Indigenous (crossed over-present day)
A. Indian tribes like the Cherokee, Iroquois & Navajo
B. Oral Tradition
C. Songs, stories, poetry
D. Stories as a way to explain life

3. II. Puritans (1600-1750) A. Came to escape religious persecution
B. Sense of divine mission
C. Plain, simple life
D. Predestination: thought already determined who got into heaven and who didn’t.
E. Writing journals to keep track of the history
F. Nature is evil, Forrest Satan’s home

4. III. Rationalism(1760-1780) A. Enlightenment: American Revolution
B. Move focus on church to focus on human
C. God gave us reason; we get Truth in reason
D. Ideas such as freedom, liberty and justice
E. Focus on I
F. Revolutionary subjects in pamphlets and essays as well as journals
G. Development of the printing press- print media

5. IV. Romanticism (1800-1860) A. Passionate emotions of every emotion
B. Reason replaced with gut instinct
C. Truth discovered in creation (woods) since God created it
D. Doubt about social and political hierarchies
E. Literature “democratized” every day person reads
F. Rise of fiction
G. Transcendentalists

6. G. Transcendentalists
i. Truth in nature ii. Everyone can reach Truth iii. Society will improve iv. Truth from revelation not knowing v. Nonconformity vi. Self-reliance vii. Non-fiction poetry and essays

7. V. Realism and Naturalism (1880-1910)
A. Urban movement (cities)
B. Heredity and environment determine fate
C. Everything transparent to everyone
D. Scientific process
E. Growth of leisure class/free time

8. VI. Regionalism/Local Color (1880-1950)
A. Rural areas (farms, mostly south)
B. Rise in magazines and periodicals
C. Writings driven by audience
D. Stories driven by ideology (by ideas not facts)
E. Usually recognizable by use of dialect (Y’all comin’?)

9. VII. Modernism ( )
A. Break from Realism because of WWI and cubist nudist painting.
B. Audience determines meaning- not writer
C. Fragmented idea of Truth: war- technology is good because we win but bad because people die
D. America failed
E. Harlem Renaissance

10. VIII. Post Modernism (1950-Now)
A. Completely disillusioned after dropping atomic bomb (world is capable of true evil)
B. American Dream (house in suburbs, 2.5 kids, dog) failed
C. Culture consumer driven ($$$)
D. No possibility of one Truth
E. Beat Poetry (1960s)