AMERICAN LITERATURE Flashcards
is the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States.
American literature
was shaped by the history of the country that produced it.
American literature
begins with the arrival of English-speaking Europeans in what would become the United States.
American literature
naturally a colonial literature, by authors who were Englishmen and who thought and wrote as such.
American literature
=His chief books A True Relation of…Virginia…(1608) and The General Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles.
=wrote in the tradition of geographic literature
John Smith
Her poetic style derived from a long line of British poets, including Spenser and Sidney.
Anne Bradstreet
Both the content and form of the literature of this first century in America were thus markedly English.
Anne Bradstreet, John Smith
In early _ century America, writers like Cotton Mather carried on traditional ideas.
18th
Mather’s _ and _ defended older Puritan convictions.
Magnum Christi Americana (1702) and his Manuductio ad Ministerium (1726)
Four notable authors -
Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe
- emerged and ushered in a period of significant literary development.
Edgar Allan Poe
: Two notable Southern novelists.
John Pendleton Kennedy and William Gilmore Simms
Kennedy’s _ showcases plantation life.
Swallow Barn (1832)
Simms’s _ highlight his talent in historical fiction.
Yemassee (1835) and Revolutionary romances
Significant movements in drama, poetry, fiction, and criticism during _ period.
WW1
=Authors experimented with radical literary techniques.
=American writers often break with literary traditions, embracing originality.
=Writers from other countries often adopt their national literary heritage.
=Many American authors actively reject the old in pursuit of new literary creations.
American literature
has a strong element of humor, dating back to early examples.
American literature
_ humor often balances out serious themes, preventing over-sentimentality.
Salty
_ is a common feature;
Exaggeration
_ acts as a coping mechanism during tough times.
laughter
THEMES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE
A JOURNEY FROM INNOCENCE TO AWARENESS, THE AMERICAN DREAM, THE LAND AND THE FRONTIER, THE HERO, COMMUNITY
=A prevalent theme in American literature
=Some characters are destroyed by their experiences, while others find strength in adversity.
JOURNEY FROM INNOCENCE TO AWARENESS
=Writers often expose the reality of the dream being an illusion, empty, deceptive, and destructive.
=Evident in works like Arthur Miller’s plays (The Crucible, Death of a Salesman) and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
THE AMERICAN DREAM
