1. Literary History of America
1588-present

2. Overview Puritan/Colonial (1588-1750)
Revolutionary/Age of Reason ( )
Romanticism ( )
American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism/Anti- Transcendentalism ( )
Realism/Naturalism ( )
Modernism ( )
Post-Modernism (1946-Present)
Contemporary (1970s-Present)

3. You will need to know: What & when (in the title on each slide)
Genre & Style (What was written & how it was written)
Effects & Aspects (Why it was written in the first place)
Historical Context (What was happening in the world at the time)
Who some of the major players are (names & pictures at the end of each section)

4. Puritan/Colonial Period (1588-1750)
Genre/Style: Sermons, religious tracts, diaries, personal narratives, religious poems. It was written in plain style.
Effect/Aspects: Instructive, reinforces authority of the Bible and the church. Very little imaginative literature was produced.
Historical Context: Puritan settlers fled England where they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs, and came to New England to have religious freedom.

5. Puritan/Colonial Period (1588-1750)
Thomas Hariot
wrote A Brief and True Report of the New-Found Land of Virginia in 1588
quickly translated into Latin, French, and German; it was a window for the Old World to see an embellished version of the New World
Anne Bradstreet
born & educated in England
considered a spinster at 25
first book of American poetry
first published American woman

6. Puritan/Colonial Period (1588-1750)
William Bradford
governor of Plymouth
essentially the first historian of the new colonies
wrote Of Plymouth Plantation in 1651
Cotton Mather
Comes from a long line of Puritan ministers
Harvard educated
(indirect) major participant in the Salem Witch Trials

7. Revolutionary Period/Age of Reason (1750-1800)
Genre/Style: Political Pamphlets, Travel Writing, and highly ornate persuasive writing.
Effect/Aspects: Patriotism and pride grows, creates unity about issues, and creates American character.
Historical Context: Increase in religious tolerance, change in how man views the self, interested in pursuit of scientific knowledge

8. Revolutionary Period/Age of Reason (1750-1800)
Benjamin Franklin
scientist, writer, diplomat, Founding Father
Explored all new avenues of thought
Thomas Paine
great American propagandist
Common Sense; presented argument for American freedom
The American Crisis; series of essays and articles that continued to argue for independence

9. Romanticism ( )
Genre/Style: Character Sketches, Slave Narratives, Poetry, and short stories.
Effect/Aspects: Emphasized intense emotion and appreciation of heroes
Historical Context: Publishing expands and industrial revolution brings new ideas.

10. Romanticism (1800-1860) Washington Irving
known as “Father of American Literature”
first famous American author
Advocated for stronger laws protecting authors’ works
Edgar Allan Poe
Bad childhood made him despise the world
Darkly metaphysical vision
Refined the short story
Created detective fiction
Challenged notion that poem had to be long & teach something

11. American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism/Anti-Transcendentalism (1840-1860)
Genre/Style: Poetry, Short Stories, and Novels.
Effect/Aspects: Humanism, individualism, and symbolism.
Historical Context: Years leading to Civil War, attempt to find a uniquely American art form based on older European works.

12. American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism/Anti-Transcendentalism (1840-1860)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leader of the Transcendentalist movement
Emphasized individuality, freedom, and relationship of the soul to the world
Henry David Thoreau
contemporary of Emerson
wrote Civil Disobedience, argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state

13. American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism/Anti-Transcendentalism (1840-1860)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
writes in direct opposition to Transcendentalists
most stories written about New England
Focus on inherent evil and sin in man
Usually have a deep moral message

14. Realism ( )
Genre/Style: Novels, Short Stories, Objective Narrator, and does not tell reader how to interpret the story.
Effect/Aspects: Social and Aesthetic realism.
Historical Context: Civil War brought demand for a more true type of literature.

15. Realism (1855-1900) Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
writes in strong, realistic everyday speech
first major author to come from center of the nation
Emily Dickenson
Writing has characteristics of both Romanticism and Realism
Rebelled against strong Puritan upbringing
Hardly anyone knew of her when alive

16. Naturalism (1865-1915) Genre/Style: Poetry, Short Stories, and Novels
Effect/Aspects: people are victims of the laws of nature, the universe, and fate
Historical Context: tied very closely to Realism; people were looking at harshness of post-Civil War country

17. Naturalism (1865-1915) poor working class writer
Jack London
poor working class writer
Gritty, vivid stories of life and death struggles
died at age 40; alcoholism, kidney failure, dysentery, morphine overdose
Stephen Crane
many characters suffer from crisis of identity/faith, fear of the unknown, and social isolation
died from tuberculosis at age 28

18. Modernism ( )
Genre/Style: Novels, Plays, Poetry, experiments in writing styles, interior monologue, and stream of consciousness.
Effect/Aspects: Pursuit of American Dream, Admiration for America, Optimism, and Individual Importance.
Historical Context: Writers reflected the ideas of Darwin, Freud, and Karl Marx, during WWI and WWII.

19. Modernism (1900-1946) Ernest Hemingway
used concise, spare, direct, objective writing to create bigger-than-life heroes
won Pulitzer and Nobel Peace Prize for Literature
John Steinbeck
wrote about both pains and joys of life
most writing took place during the Great Depression
famous for The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men

20. Post-Modernism (1946-present)
Genre/Style: Mixing of fantasy with nonfiction blurred lines of reality for reader, there were no heroes, humorless, narratives, present tense, and magic realism.
Effect/Aspects: Grinds down the distinctions between the classes of people.
Historical Context: After WWII prosperity.

21. Post-Modernism (1946-present)
JD Salinger
fought in WWII; D-Day, Battle of the Bulge
Most famous novel – Catcher in the Rye
became increasingly reclusive
died Jan 27, 2010, at 91
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
fought in WWII; captured by Germans during the Battle of the Bulge
darkly humorous critiques of society
most famous novel – Slaughterhouse Five
died April 11th, 2007

22. Contemporary Argument over dates – 1950 or 1970-present
Genre/Style: Narrative, fiction, nonfiction, anti heroes, emotional, irony, storytelling, autobiographical, and essays.
Effect/Aspects: Shift in emphasis from homogeneity to celebrating diversity.
Historical Context: New century, new millennium.

23. Contemporary (1950-present)
Stephen King
famous for books that scare people
lives in Maine
was rejected by publishers 30 times before 1st book published (Carrie, 1974)

24. Contemporary (1950-present)
James Oliver Rigney (a.k.a. Robert Jordan)
went to Citadel Military College in South Carolina
wrote in fantasy genre
died before finishing 15-book Wheel of Time series