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HISTORY OF THE AMERICANLITERATURE

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American Literature

y is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies.

y During its early history, America was a series of

British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States.

y its literary tradition begins as linked to the broadertradition of English literature.

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American Literary Timeline

y Colonial Periody Age of Reasony Romanticismy Transcendentalismy Anti-Transcendentalismy Realismy Naturalismy Regionalismy Modernismy Contemporary

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Colonial LiteratureEarly America-1776

y This period was at the very beginnings of America and itmade way for the rest of the countries literature. In thefirst stages of America there were writers, such as ThomasHariot, who wrote A Brief and True Report of the New-Found Land of Virginia in 1588; in which he described The

Americas in words and picture. The book was quickly translated into Latin, French, and German; it was a window for the Old World to see an embellished version of the New

World.

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Age of ReasonLate 1770s to early 1800s

y This period was a time when authors were focused more ontheir own reasoning rather than simply taking what thechurch taught as fact. During this period there was alsocultivation of patriotism. The main medium during thatperiod were political pamphlets, essays, travel writings,speeches, and documents.

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Romanticism1800-1850

y After the Age of Reason came to an end, the people of America were tired of reality; they wanted to see life asmore than it was. This was the Era of Romantics. Themain medium that presented itself at that time were shortstories, poems, and novels. During this era, as appose tothe Age of Reason the imagination dominated; intuitionruled over fact, and there was a large emphasis on theindividual/common man, and on nature or the natural

world.

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Transcendentalism1840-1855

y This movement pushed America from the elaborate andfantasy like writings displayed in the period Romanticism,into a period of literature that stressed individualism, andmature and self-reliance. Often Transcendentalists usednature to gain knowledge or to return to a life of self-reliance and individulaism. It also stressed thefundamental idea of a unity between God and the world,that each person was a microcosm for the world.

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Anti-Transcendentalism1840-1855

y During the same time period when Transcendentalism wastaking place, its opposite, Anti-Transcendentalism, wasalso happening. As oppose to Transcendentalism, whichfocused on the natural world and its relationship tohumanity, and the quest for understanding of the humanspirit. Anti- Transcendentalism focused on the limitationsof mankind, and its potential destructiveness of the humanspirit. For instance, water brings life, but its excess, i.e. a

flood, can bring death and destruction.

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Realism1865-1915

y This literary movement took place during the Civil War; ata time when a war was taking place people were tired of Transcendentalism and Anti-Transcendentalism, for onething they were both extremes of the same spectrum, one

was nice and happy, and frilly; the other was dark anddestructive. People wanted to see things how they were, soRealism came about.

y Realism also came about as a reaction to Romanticism, in which there were heroic characters, and adventures, with

strange and unfamiliar settings. In response Realismauthors tried to write truthfully and objectively aboutordinary characters in ordinary situations.

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Naturalism1865-1915

y The Naturalism literary movement that took place in thelate nineteenth and early twentieth century, tended to view people as hapless victims of immutable natural laws.Naturalism is closely related to Realism only it usually

views the world in a darker perspective. In Naturalism it is widely shown that free will is an illusion that things thathappen in the universe, happen and could not happen any other way.

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Regionalism1865-1915

y Regionalism was a literary movement in which authors would write a story about specific geographical areas. By writing about regions the authors explore the culture of thatarea; including its languages, customs, beliefs, and history.

y Writer in this time tried, not only, to show the region they wrote about to their readers, but they also made an attemptat a sophisticated sociological or anthropological treatmentof the culture of the region.

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Modernism1915-1946

y During this period Technology was taking incredible leapsand two World Wars took place, there was destruction of aglobal scale. The younger generation began to take over themain stage.

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Contemporary Contemporary 19461946--presentpresent

y In the years since the Modernism period, American authorshave begun to write from a plethora of genres. Americanshave realized that the best way to go is have many authors

writing what ever it is they are best at. Thats exactly whathas happened, there are more different types of writing

being done at one time than at any other period in history;Fantasy, fiction, science fiction, horror, Political writings,romantics, plays, and poems, anything and everything.