Orals SE Form 6

Question 1

1. What were the most common literary products in the early days of American (white) settlements?

• first settlers
• examples

Answer 1

Surmons (preken), religious works, travel descriptions, almanacs, diaries, moralistic stories (very puritanical).

The first settlers of America were very religious, they moved to America because of religious reasons. (The Pelgrim Fathers, puritans).

Examples:
- Mary Rowlandson ; narrative of the captivity. (de streng gelovige vrouw was ontvoerd (abduct) door indianen. De enige reden waarom zij dit overleefde was door haar vertrouwen in God).

• Nathaniel Hawthorne ; The Scarlet letter (one of the first novels)

Question 2

2. Explain the term Frontier literature.

- examples

Answer 2

1800-1860: westward advance to Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. First the pioneers, followed by the main army of settlers (small farmers, attracted by virgin land).

1893: trying to populate Oklohoma -> the Oklohoma land rush: This was a race for land, could be done walking, by horse, by wagon etc. people who were at Oklohoma the first could put stakes around a piece of land and then it was theirs to keep. This was a start to make a living for themselves (farmers).

Frontier literature: stories about the wild west, about indians and cowboys. Also the unaffected life of the settlers, close to nature (which was magnificent). This form of literature contains humor, it is about the hard life at the frontier. It also has Romantic elements like escapism, nature, individualism and simplicity.

Examples:

• Walt Whitman ; Pioneers! O Pioneers! (poetry)
• James Fennimore Cooper ; The last of the Mohicans, The leatherstocking tales (these are stories about the native americans)

Question 3

3. America could (and still can) be broadly divided into three parts geographically. Which parts are meant here and what was their importance to American literature? (Also know from which part your american literature book is!!!!)
   - examples

Answer 3

• The North-East
New England: rich, urban, sophisticated, rather European.

Examples:

• Henry James ; The portrait of a lady, the bostonians
• Edith Wharton ; The age of innocence, the house of Mirth

• The South
Plantations, slavery

Examples:

• Mark Twain ; Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn
• Harriet Beecher Stowe ; Uncle Tom’s cabin

• The West/The Wild West
Frontier literature

Examples:
- James Fennimore Cooper

Question 4

4. Mention at least three famous American authors of the 19th century.

Answer 4

Herman Melville ; Moby Dick (North-East)

• Henry David Thoreau ; Walden
• Emily Dicksen
• Walt Whitman
• Ralph Waldo Emerson

Question 5

5. Why is Edgar Alan Poe not considered to be a typical American author?
   - examples

Answer 5

Edgar is associated with the New Romantic Movement, which is an English movement not American. He wrote in the tradition of the Romantics. Gothic elements, pure beauty, traditional verse forms like the ballad.

Examples:

• The Raven
• Short stories

Question 6

6. Explain the term Roaring Twenties (or Jazz Age) think about the economical situation in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century.

Answer 6

Situation in the early twenties. It is right after World war 1 and America had to do mass productions because Europe could not produce anymore. The economy of America went up like crazy. The wealthy Americans kept spending their money -> parties -> jazz music.

-enormous economic growth (the business of America is business).
(mass production of cars ; T Ford)
-very optimistic
(sky is the limit)

(anti)Climax: Black Tuesday 24 october 1929, the Wall street krach followed by the Depression.

The terms Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age refers to the carefree decadent lifestyle of the well-to-do.
Roaring: a lot of partying and spending big money (hedonistic)
Jazz: type of music that was popular (very avant garde back then)

Question 7

7. What is meant by the term Lost Generation?

Answer 7

Lost Generation: the writers disappointed in the shallow, materialistic attitude prevailing (heersend) in the Roaring Twenties -> superficiality

Many of them fought in World war 1

The writers wanted to escape (literally) and many went to Europe (South of France, London, Paris, Berlin)
Reaction to world war one.

Example:

• F. Scott Fitzgerald: The great gatsby
• Dos Passos: Manhattan transfer
• Ernest Hemmingway: A farewell to arms
• E. E. Cummings (poet): I carry your heart

Fitzgerald and hemmingway had been soldiers in WW1.

Question 8

8. Apart from White American literature, there are also other groups in American society that produce literature.
   - examples

Answer 8

The immigrants, especially the Jewish immigrants.

Example:

• Philip Roth: Portnoy’s complaint
• Bernard Malamud: God’s Grace
• Chaim Potok: the chosen

-Black American writers

Example:

• Alice Walker: the color purple
• James Baldwin: if Beale street could talk

Question 9

9. What is the American equivalent of the Angry Young Men and what did this movement stand for?

Answer 9

The Angry Young Men in England: from the 50’s, socialists. They were against the class system after the second world war. De hoofdpersonen in hen boeken waren dan vaak ook mensen van lagere/midden klassen.

America: The Beat Generation. (fifties and sixties)
The hippies, peace on earth. (Vietnam wars)
Popmusic (woodstock)

The movement started out political, they were socialists/communists (America was very afraid of communism). Later on it became a cultural movement, it was all about “finding yourself”. It was a individual movement.

Example:

• Jack Kerouac: On the road
• J.D. Salinger: The catcher in the rye
• Allen Ginsburg (poet) – beat generation