American Literature: Overview and Origins

• American Literature encompasses various texts and authors

Objectives

• Recognizing American texts and authors is a key goal
• To contextualize texts within their region, nation, and the world
• To appreciate the cultural and aesthetic diversity of global literature

Overview

• America emerges as a global superpower in the present

Historical Context

• Understanding how American literature evolved is vital

Pre-European Settlement

• 500 Native American tribal cultures existed
• Each tribe had its own religion, worshipping sacred persons, deities, animals, or plants
• Varied tribal political and social orders were present
• Oral traditions thrived with creation stories, legends, songs, tales, riddles, proverbs, fairy tales, and epics

Arrival of the Colonists

• English colonists introduced written literature to America
• John Winthrop, William Bradford, and Captain John Smith wrote notable narratives
• Puritanism was a religious movement to guide individuals toward spiritual salvation
• Puritan literature aimed to transform the colonized and ensure colonizer followed a righteous path

American Revolution

• A rise of intellectuals shaped the identity of the new country

Famous Writers of the Revolution

• Philip Freneau pioneered American lyrical poetry
• Thomas Paine was effective in using pamphlets
• Francis Hopkinson was a prominent polemicist
• Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson were Founding Fathers and writers

18th Century Theater and Novels

• William Dunlap and Royall Tyler plays had a theme of love for the newly liberated nation
• William Hill Brown and Charles Brown were among the earliest American novelists
• Washington Irving wrote "Rip Van Winkle"
• James Fenimore Cooper is credited with "The Last of the Mohicans"

19th Century Literature

• Transcendentalism and Romanticism surged as literary movements
• Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Ralph Waldo Emerson explored transcendentalist views
• Social reformation and moral excellence were prominent themes
• Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville defined the Romantic Movement

Civil War

• Division and tension led to the creation of realistic, passionate works
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" taking an anti-slavery position
  • William Gilmore Simms wrote "The Sword and the Distaff" taking a pro-slavery position
• Regional literature gained national attention after the war
• A national audience sought to rebuild fractured America
• Mark Twain, Bret Harte, George W. Cable, and Henry Timrod were prominent

Further 19th Century Developments

• American fiction progressed from realism to the psychological depth
• Noted writers include Henry James and Edith Wharton
• Emily Dickinson revolutionized poetry

Early 20th Century Literature

• Prominent writers included Ezra Pound, E.E. Cummings, Robert Frost, and Carl Sandburg
• Ideas like Marxian social theory and new psychology emerged
• Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe contributed

Contemporary Times

• The era represents a snapshot of American literature's ongoing evolution

20th Century Characteristics

• Literary criticism rose, influenced by Ezra Pound
• Analytical studies covered diverse literary genres
• Hollow and tense aspects were depicted of contemporary American life
• Political and social events, such as presidential elections and the Vietnam War, inspired literature

Latin American Literature

• Latin American Literature includes works from countries like Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, Colombia, and Peru

The Vanguardia

• The Vanguardia (avant-garde) took place in Latin America from approximately 1916 to 1935
• It collectively refers to different literary movements
  • Creacionismo was founded by Vicente Huidebro, from Chile
  • Ultraismo was introduced by Jorge Luis Borges, from Argentina
  • Estredintismo was founded in Mexico City by Manuel Maples Acre
  • Surrealism started in Argentina when Aldo Pellegrini launched the first Surrealist magazine

Surrealism

• Surrealism combines unrelated images or events in a strange, dreamlike way
• This art form gained influence in Latin American literature throughout the 20th century
• Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet, wrote “Residence on Earth” which was inspired by surrealism
• Octavio Paz, a Mexican poet, wrote poems with surrealist imagery, published in "Freedom Under Parole"
• Jorge Luis Borges was known for fantastic stories, which are in "Ficciones”
• Alejo Carpentier, a Cuban writer, wrote "The Kingdom of This World", a novel with magic realism
• Miguel Angel Asturias, a Guatemalan writer, wrote the novel "The President", introducing magic realism with Carpentier

Boom Novels

• Modernist novels appeared in the latter half of the 20th century
• The Death of Artemio Cruz (Carlos Fuentes), Hopscotch (Julio Cortazar), The Time of the Hero (Mario Vargas Llosa), One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) are a few

Post-Boom

• Women writers published works in the last twenty years of the 20th century
• The House of Spirits (Isabel Allende), E. Luminata (Diamella Eltit), Black Novel with Argentines (Luisa Valenzuela) are authors

North American Literature

• North American literature is in English published in United States

19th Century North American Authors

• Edgar Allan Poe was famous for macabre stories and poems like "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Cask of Amontillado", "Annabel Lee", and "The Raven"
• Nathaniel Hawthorne was known for symbolical tales like "The Hollow of Three Hills" and "Young Goodman Brown"
• He also wrote the gothic romance, "The Scarlet Letter"
• Emily Dickinson wrote distinct poems with imperfect rhyme who avoided regular rhythms
• Poems by Emily Dickinson, came out in 1890,

20th Century North American Authors

• Robert Frost wrote poems with traditional stanzas and blank verse. such as Mending Wall, The Road Not Taken, and After Apple-Picking
• Harper Lee, published "To Kill A Mockingbird" in 1960, translated to 40 languages
• Ezra Pound, leader of the Imagists, emphasized direct language and imagery
• "Ripostes" (1912) and "Lustra" (1916) are well known
• Anne Sexton was known for confessional poetry which deals with private experiences
• Her work, Live or Die (1966) won a Pulitzer prize

Robert Frost's, "The Road Not Taken"

• The poem describes a speaker reflecting on a choice between two diverging paths in a yellow wood
• The speaker expressing regret not being able to travel both roads
• The speaker takes the path "less traveled by", leading to a unique and different life experience
• The poem explores themes of choice, individuality, and reflection on life decisions