1. Short Story Unit #2 “The Gift of the Magi” “The Necklace” “The Sniper” “The Cask of Amontillado “The Paperhanger”

2. Periods in Literature There are specific characteristics in written pieces that take shape due to the time period in which they were written. These periods have been given names, depending on what ideas and philosophy was shaping the world at the time they were written.

3. Ancient ?-476 Characteristics: epic struggles, religion, quests, tragic heroes, interaction between men and gods, morality Famous Authors: Sophocles, Homer, (Greek/Roman mythology) (The Bible)

4. Medieval 500-1500 Characteristics: religious overtones, courtly love (non-sexual), knights, chivalry, blend between fantasy and reality Famous Authors: Beowulf, Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales), Dante (Dante’s Inferno)

5. Renaissance (England) 1500-1670 Characteristics: idealism of classical civilizations (Greek/Roman), humanism (feelings/emotions), focus on protagonist-to tell story Famous Authors: Milton (Paradise Lost), William Shakespeare

6. Enlightenment 1700-1800 Characteristics: intellectual, philosophical, cultural and social movement, scientific Famous Authors: Ben Franklin

7. Romantic Period 1798-1870 Characteristics: Shift from reason to senses, feelings, and imagination. Shift from urban focus to rural and natural. Focus on individual intuition, imagination and emotions. Rebellious against oppression Famous Authors: Shelley (Frankenstein), Jane Austen

8. Victorian 1837-1901 Characteristics: Pure romance to realism, reflects daily life and practical problems, hardships of working class (industrialism), moral purpose, age of doubt/pessimist Famous Authors: Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Bram Stroker

9. Transcendental 1830-1860 Characteristics: the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. Famous Authors: Emerson, Hawthorne, Whitman, Thoreau

10. Realism 1820-1920 Characteristics: contains aspects of Victorian, but focuses on plight of individuals, breakdown of traditional values, regional locations, urban poor, focus on characters more than plot, realities of life Famous Authors: Twain, Sinclair

11. Naturalism 1870-1920 Characteristics: used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character, influenced by Darwinism, Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, violence, prejudice, disease, corruption, and filth Famous Authors: Jack London, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Faulkner, Edith Wharton

12. Existentialism 1850-today Characteristics: concerned with the concept of human existence. Everything is centered around the individual’s experience on earth and the limits one must endure for being human. Existentialists believe the human condition leaves us fully free to make our own decisions (with no guidance) and therefore completely responsible for their repercussions. Famous Authors: Camus, Kafka

13. Modernism 1910-1965 Characteristics: new technology combined with horrors of WW I and II made people question the future of humanity, focus on inner self. People felt alienated, worried about the decline in civilization Famous Authors: Steinbeck, Joseph Conrad, T. S. Eliot, Sam Beckett

14. Post Modernism 1965-today Characteristics: combination of elements from previous genres, uses humor, irony and dark comedy, novels that fictionalize actual historical events and characters Famous Authors

15. Gothic Literature Gothic fiction, is a genre or mode of literature that combines fiction, horror and Romanticism. The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. It originated in England in the second half of the 18th century and had much success in the 19th as witnessed by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Another well known novel in this genre, dating from the late Victorian era, is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The name Gothic refers to the (pseudo)-medieval buildings in which many of these stories take place. This extreme form of romanticism was very popular in England and Germany.

16. Southern Gothic Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction unique to American literature that takes place exclusively in the American South. Common themes in Southern Gothic literature include deeply flawed, disturbing or eccentric characters who may or may not dabble in voodoo, ambivalent gender roles and decayed or derelict settings, grotesque situations, and other sinister events relating to or coming from poverty, alienation, racism, crime, and violence.

17. Class Literature To Kill A Mockingbird: Post modernism, elements of Southern Gothic Anthem: Modernism, Distopian The Most Dangerous Game: Postmodernism The Monkey’s Paw: Romantic Sunday in the Park: Postmodernism The Rocking Horse Winner: Modernism

18. Class Literature Cont. The Gift of the Magi: Realism/Romanticism The Necklace: Realism/Victorian The Sniper: Modernism The Cask of Amontillado: Romantic, Gothic The Paperhanger: Postmodernism, Southern Gothic

19. Class Literature Cont. Fahrenheit 451: Modernism/Distopian The Odyssey: Ancient The Jungle: Realism Shakespeare: Renaissance