Washington Irving (American anti-hero)

James Fenimore Cooper (frontiersman)

James C. Pennington (slave narrative)

Edgar Allan Poe (grotesque/arabesque literature)

Featured American settings and American character “types”

First American to achieve international reputation

Perfected the American short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”▪ Memorable characters: Icabod Crane & the

Headless Horseman▪ Humorous satire▪ Scary

▪ “Rip Van Winkle” Unique character: antihero vs.

Puritanical hero “Local color” American standards: hen-pecked

husband, overbearing wife, mysterious apparition

▪ “The Devil and Tom Walker” American twist to tradition folk tale Satirizes Puritan values Unique American setting with Gothic

elements

▪ First successful American novelist▪ Created first American adventure

story: Leatherstocking Tales, series of 5 novels—an American epic

▪ Featured first American frontier hero: brave, self-reliant, democratic

Natty Bumpo ( aka Deerslayer, Hawkeye, Leatherstocking)

Racial stereotypes: noble frontiersman, noble savage

Portrayed tragedy of Native American encounter with white civilization

Expostulated grandeur of the frontier

▪ James Pennington: “Escape: A Slave Narrative”

▪ Slavery: greatest national issue of the era

▪ Celebrated abroad more than in America

▪ Created modern short story: unity of character, detail, mood

▪ Created modern detective story

▪ Created psychotic murder story “The Cask of

Amontillado” “Hop-Frog”

▪ Literary criticism: “The Philosophy of Composition”

▪ Poetry: “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, “To Helen”

Historical events that defined and influenced American culture and literature

▪ War of 1812 resisted by Madison Americans wanted freedom

of the seas Westerners wanted to expand General Andrew Jackson hero

in victory of New Orleans Dolly Madison saved portrait

of George Washington in burning of Washington D.C.

▪ Results mixed, but reinforced bonds of American unity.

▪ The Missouri Compromise (1820) tried to unite a nation divided by slavery

▪ The Monroe Doctrine (1823) established foreign policy: Any intervention by external powers in American politics is considered hostile act against the United States

▪ Expanded democracy

▪ Champion of Westerners, common man, & individual rights

▪ Indian Removal Act 1830

▪American belief in “Manifest Destiny”Saw it as “God’s direction”, God’s manifest

Belief Americans were destined to conquer all American territories, from Atlantic to Pacific