A History of American Literature Summary - PDF

A History of American Literature Summary Session 0: - For the purposes of this lecture, we define “American” as inclusive of all the areas that are nowadays part of the U.S. and all languages and cultures practiced in those areas. Yet, more reductive or more extensive definitions...

A History of American Literature Summary Session 0: - For the purposes of this lecture, we define “American” as inclusive of all the areas that are nowadays part of the U.S. and all languages and cultures practiced in those areas. Yet, more reductive or more extensive definitions of “American” are also possible. - The indefinite article „a“ implies that there are several possible „histories“ of American literature, including different texts, authors, perspectives, and chronological references. Compiling a history of American literature implies making a selection, many selections are possible. Session 1: Native American Beginnings - Learning outcomes -> framework of learning outcomes o Extracting and constructing meaning o Interaction and involvement o Critical thinking! - Pre-Columbian Literature: o Pre-Columbian → pre-colonial, early Native American (all of the above are fine) o Indian → Native American, Indigenous peoples o In Canada → First Nations, First Peoples, or Aboriginal. o In Mexico, Central America, and South America, indígeno/a (Indigenous), comunidad (community), and pueblo (people). o Add denomination when available e.g. „Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo) is an American writer.“ - Central Aspects of Native American Cultures o Oral literature, cultural work, significance of dreams, personification of elements, dualist thinking, collective authorship, different versions oft he same story, goal of harmony - Form & Style: o Oral literature -> oratures o Perfomances: embedded within rituals, performed by an individual, call and response, multimedial: music, gestures, facial expressions, repetitions, enumerations, direct audience addresses o Translation & remediation (adaptation, re-presentation, or transformation of indigenous oral traditions and narratives into written forms, especially by colonizers or later scholars) - Genres: o Song-poems o Stories:  ▪ Creation stories: explain the world, past and present, ground community in a shared mythical past. establish common views ▪ Trickster stories: educate and entertain, cycle disruption of harmony -> punishment, reaffirmation of harmony and order o Speeches o Ritual drama (with or without words) o Formulas (for dances and performances) - Cultural work: o Historiography (esp. In speeches) o Education (explaining the world) o Group cohesion (through a common heritage/collective memory) o Spirituality (actions and presence of gods and spirits) o Celebration (e.g. in rituals) o entertainment - Akimel O’odham (Pima) o Native American tribe from the southwestern United States, primarily in what is now Arizona → along the Gila, the Salt, and the Santa Cruz rivers o Engineered the most extensive canal civilization in the Americas o Pinnacle in the 15th century and then decay (draughts, floods, colonization) o Song of creation: ▪ Dualism: sun & moon ▪ Four quarters of the world ▪ Sense of harmony, pride and joy ▪ Repetitions ▪ Entertainment ▪ Explaining the world ▪ Spirituality ▪ Oral tradtition, rituals and ceremonies, education purpose: educating the young about their heritage, moral values and the natural world - Navajo Nation o Refer to themselves as Diné – The People o Name oft he nation and their language o American Southwest – Arizona, Utah and New Mexico o „Long Walk“ – significant and tragic event: forced relocation/displacement and interned in the mid-19th century ▪ Previous tensions and conflicts between the Navajo people and the U.S. government, partly due to competition over land and resources ▪ Song: “It was the wind“ -> personification of the wind, deep connection between the Navajo people and the natural elements, particularly the wind ▪ Unity of creation, explaining the world, unifying force: wind (later, light) - Laktota Nation  o Thítȟuŋwaŋ o Sioux subgroup (Lakota, Eastern Dakota and Western Dakota) o North and South Dakota o Speakers of Lakȟótiyapi/Lakota o Lakota song: interconnectedness, earth and sun, connecting element: light (earlier. Wind) - Osage [ˈoʊseɪdʒ] Nation o “Calm Waters.” Ni Okašką, Wazhazhe, Great Plains o Dependent on buffalo hunting o Bufallo song: ▪ Speaker: buffalo entering the world ▪ Dualism: bulls & cows ▪ Repetitions - Tohono O’Odham Nation (Pápago) o “Desert People,” closely related with the Akhimel O’Odham (Pima) o Sonora desert o Pápago, mistransliteration by Spanish settlers o Dependent on buffalo hunting o Song of encouragement: ▪ important cultural and spiritual practice among the Tohono O'odham people ▪ used in various ceremonies and rituals to provide support, renewal, and encouragement to individuals and the community as a whole ▪ expression of melancholy and vulnerability ▪ war song, connectedness, community - Ta’Kaiya Blaney: Women’s Warrior Song # - David Cusick (Tuscarora), David Cusick’ Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations o detailed account of the origins, legends, and history of the Six Nations, including the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Cusick’s work includes: ▪ Creation Stories: Cusick describes the origin stories of the Haudenosaunee people, reflecting their cosmology and spiritual beliefs ▪ Historical Narratives: He provides accounts of significant events and leaders in Haudenosaunee history ▪ Cultural Practices: The book includes descriptions of various cultural practices and traditions, offering a glimpse into the social and ceremonial life of the Six Nations - Iroquouis Creation Story o explains the origins of the world, the emergence of the first humans, and the establishment of societal norms o Similarity or influence? -> syncretic religion  ▪ belief system that arises from the blending or merging of different religious traditions, practices, or beliefs ▪ blending of Iroquois beliefs with Christianity and other European religious elements vs.preservation of their traditional creation stories and spiritual practices - Stories: Adventures of Ictinike o collection of traditional tales featuring Ictinike (or Iktinike), a trickster figure from the folklore of the Plains Native American tribes, particularly the Lakota Sioux o The one who plays tricks, deception / magic / jokes o Figure of ambiguity at the intersection of good and evil o Dualism: good & evil, Rabbit & Ictinike o Magic: feather becomes an eagle o Trickster story: Ictinike as a transgressor of cultural rules and boundaries (vs. Rabbit) o Didactic: trickster is punished for his deceit and trickery, sense of harmony is restored -> convey moral lessons, cultural values through humor and wisdom Session 2: Colonial Literature – From the late 17th to the late 18th Century - Pre-colonial period (until 1620) -> colonial period (1620-1800) o Colonial period starts in 1620 due to arrival of the Mayflower at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620 (not in 1492?) ▪ Mayflower: ship that carried the Pilgrim fathers ▪ 1492: beginning of colonization of the Americas in general, 1620 is specific to the US - Early European Settlements o 16th/early 17th century: England, Spain, France, Netherlands, Sweden and others compete along the Atlantic coast o 1664: New Amsterdam becomes New York. England, Spain and France control of the Atlantic seaboard ▪ Transition from Dutch to English rule through English seizure of New Amsterdam o Mid-18th century: England along the Atlantic coast; France in the middle oft he continent, Spain in the West, Southwest and Florida o 1783: Treaty of Paris: French claims east of the Mississippi go to England; west of the Mississippi go to Spain ▪ After Treaty of Paris: France disappears from the map, British left with Canada, free United States in the east, Spain in the west - English settlements: Jamestown, Viriginia (1607) o First permanent English settlement in the Americas, main settlement in the colony of Virginia o Founded by John Smith/Viriginia Company of London: commercial settlement, main goal: exploitation of resources, mostly illiterate settlers ▪ John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles (1624)  ▪ historical account, detailed narrative of Smith’s experiences and observations regarding the English colonies in Virginia (Jamestown), New England, and the Bermuda Islands (referred to as the Summer Isles) o Few literate settlers: drinking songs, popular tales, diaries o 1613: Amonute/Matoaka (Pamunkey, known to Europeans as Pocahontas) kidnapped for ransom ▪ Native American woman of the Powhatan Confederacy, a group of tribal nations in the Tidewater region of Virginia ▪ April 1613: Pocahontas was captured by the English during the First Anglo- Powhatan War, a conflict between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Confederacy ▪ part of a broader strategy by the English to force the Powhatan people into submission and to negotiate a peace settlement ▪ relationship between the colonists and the Powhatan: with tension and hostility due to ongoing conflicts over land and resources o 1619: first recorded African slaves in English North America arrive in Jamestown o 1622: “Indian Massacre”/Anglo-Powhatan War/Powhatan Uprising of 1622 ▪ 300/one third of English settlers killed - English settlements; Plymouth Plantation (1620) o Founded by the Pilgrims (Puritan Separatists) who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower o Puritanism: “purifying“ Anglican Church of Catholic rituals and ornamentation o Under Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and James (1603-1625), resistance to Puritan reform efforts: emigration, escaping prosecution o William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (1651) ▪ Separatist/Puritan leader, travelled on the Mayflower ▪ historical account, early history of the Plymouth Colony o 1620: Thanksgiving ▪ feast shared between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people after first successful harvest in 1621, moment of cooperation and gratitude - English settlements: Massachusetts Bay (1630) o Founded by Massachusetts Bay Company, mostly non-separatist Puritans who came over on several ships, including the Arbella, did not want to separate from Anglican Church of Catholic ornamentation ▪ Arbella: symbol of Puritan migration and the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, representing the significant religious and cultural impact of the Puritan settlers o Puritanism: “purifying“ Anglican Church of Catholic rituals and ornamentation o Under Charles I (1625-1649), tensions between Church of England and Puritans increase: more emigration (escaping prosecution) o John Winthop: A Model of Christian Charity (1630); city upon a hill ▪ Sermon articulating Winthrop’s vision for the colony and its role as a “city upon a hill“ -> model of Christian charity and communal living o 1692/93: Salem Witch Trials ▪ series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts ▪ Puritans believed in the existence of witchcraft and saw it as a serious threat to their religious and social order  ▪ colony was experiencing various strains, including political, social, and economic tensions. These included conflicts with Native Americans, land disputes, and internal divisions among the settlers - Central Aspects of Puritan Culture o Pre-destination: saints/elect vs. sinners ▪ Saints/elect: individuals ‘predestined‘ by God to achieve salvation ▪ Derived from Calvinist theology according to which God has already chosen who would be saved or damned -> doctrine known as predestination o Introspection and self-scrutiny (Selbstkritik/-prüfung), “Am I in God’s favour?“ ▪ Diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, conversion narratives o Conception of history: typology ▪ theological framework related to the Old Testament, historical events and figures (= “type“) as prefigurations foreshadowing later events -> seen as fulfillment or “antitypes“ ▪ Biblical type foreshadows Puritan anti-type (ex. history of Puritans as ‘types‘ of biblical events (migration to America, Israelites‘ Exodus) vs. experiences of Puritans as ‘antitype‘ (= fulfillment of the promise and pattern set by biblical narratives) o Literacy (ability to write and read -> morally upright and religious people) o Covenant of Grace (vs. Catholic Covenant of Works) ▪ In Reformed theology: agreement established by God with humanity, through Jesus Christ, whereby salvation is offered to sinners based on grace (necessity of personal faith and repentance) rather than human merit ▪ vs. Covenant of Works, which was based on human obedience and merit, as seen in the Garden of Eden o Sense of mission ▪ Puritans as the new chosen people/new Israel drawing parallels between their experiences and those of the Israelites in the Bible Israelites were seen as God's chosen people in the Old Testament ▪ America as the new Canaan parallel between their journey to the New World and the biblical Israelites' journey to the Promised Land of Canaan - Jeremiad: Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity o Sermon given by John Winthrop (probably on board of the Arbella) o Explains the covenant between God and the Puritans ▪ Safe passage and promised land in exchange for the construction of a reformed and purified community: a city upon a hill o a text that laments the backsliding of the community and prophesizes its downfall, often in harsh tones (biblical roots: warnings of doom to the Israelites by Prophet Jeremiah if they did not repent from their sins and return to God) - Captivity Narrative: Rowlandson, Sovereignty o experience as a captive of Native Americans during King Philip's War o personal account of her ordeal but also reflects broader themes of Puritan faith, cultural conflict, and the concept of sovereignty o she interprets her experience as a test from God and finds solace in Biblical scripture - Cultural changes in the 18th century o Decline of the importance of Puritanism o Religious revivals: 1730s: ▪ Great Awakening (series of religious revivals that swept through the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, highly emotional and passionate sermons) ▪ Iterinant preachers, emotional spirituality, inclusivity (Native and African Americans Welcome) -> conversion narratives ▪ dramatic recounting of the individual's realization of their sinfulness, an emotional struggle, and an eventual, transformative experience of God’s grace o Growing appeal of enlightenment philosophy ▪ Age of Reason: logic, self-reliance, self-determination, individualism, progress o Growing tensions between Britain and American colonies (taxes and representation) ▪ 1770: Boston Massacre, English troops shoot protesters ▪ 1773: Boston Tea Party, protest against English tax legislation ▪ 1775: Revolutionary War ▪ 1776: July 4 – Second Continental Congress approves Declaration of Independence ▪ 1783: Treaty of Paris – end of Revolutionary war - The American Enlightenment o period of intellectual ferment in the American colonies during the 18th century o crucial role in shaping the ideological foundation of the American Revolution and the formation of the United States - Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography (1768) o Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790): publisher, printer, inventor, scientist, politician, diplomat o End of predestination doctrine → rise of self-made man ▪ He wants to reach moral perfection ▪ Not via divine providence or pre-birth salvation but with self-discipline charts and to do lists ▪ In direct contrast with Puritan doctrine of predestination o Prototypical man of the Enlightenment and self-made man o Idea of vanity (Selbstgefälligkeit/Egoismus) as a contradiction (self-value vs. mere value of an individual as part of the funding of God’s community) - Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) o Thomas Paine (1737-1809): political activist, philosopher, political theorist o Common Sense: pamphlet advocating American independence from Great Britain, call to action o Focus on reason, facts o Universality of American cause o Rejection of Monarchy, monarchical corruption, economic and social advantages - Phillis Wheatly, “On Being Brought…” (1773) o Phillis Wheatley (1753-84): enslaved poet, manumitted in 1773 o Her titles include (memorize 2!): ▪ Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley  ▪ Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England ▪ To His Excellency General Washington o Reflection on journey from Africa to America, acknowledgement of her African heritage o Conversion to Christianity, views her enslavement as a means of finding spiritual salvation, part of a ‘divine plan’ o “On Being Brought from Africa to America”: justifies Middle Passage as “mercy,” promotes conversion of the enslaved, but also affirms their intrinsic dignity as human beings o Manumission: act of freeing a person from slavery or servitude ▪ Derived from the Latin word manumissio (= "release from bondage") - John Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813) o French-American writer and farmer known for his influential work "Letters from an American Farmer" ▪ portrayal of American life in the late 18th century ▪ shaping perceptions of the American frontier and the American identity ▪ “What is an American?“ A new man (who does this leave out? -> women and children, minorities) Hybridity (“strange mixture of blood”) but European or of European descent (who does this leave out? -> indigenous groups and other minorities, ex. Phillis Wheatly) Unique, exceptional = “no other countries” (American Exceptionalism) New mode of life New ideas and new opinions “transcend previous social status and build a new identity based on hard work and personal achievement, identity characterized by diversity, opportunity, departure from rigid social structures of Europe“ (servile dependence, useless labor) Session 3: The American Renaissance – Poetry, Transcendentalism and the Essay - Terminology: F. O. Matthiessen, American Renaissance, 1941 o Reinaissance: Italian renaissance, 1400-1500 ▪ Period of cultural and artistic “rebirth” after the Middle Ages ▪ literary and cultural flowering in the United States during the mid-19th century, roughly from the 1830s to the 1860s ▪ Concentration of achievements in the fields of painting, sculpture, literature, science, philosophy, music ▪ Follows the so called “dark ages” (another name for the Middle Age), period of cultural, intellectual and scientific “darkness” and stagnation (5th to late 15th century) ▪ rise of significant literary figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman ▪ characterized by literary innovation and diversity ▪ rebirth in the sense of America’s way of producing a renaissance ▪ Key differences:  European renaissance American renaissance Span of several centuries and Concentrated in a few decades encompassing much of Europe (1830s-1860) and primary focus on the US “rebirth” of classical knowledge Birth of a new cultural and literary and learning from ancient Greece identity unique to America and Rome Emphasis on humanism, Emphasis on individualism, rediscovery of classical antiquity democratic ideals and exploration and significant advancements in of uniquely American themes and art, science and philosophy experiences ➔ Revival of classical ➔ Emergence of a distinctively aniquity American literary and cultural identity during transformative period in U.S. history - Key developments o Westward expansion = Frontier (Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Frontier in American History,” 1920) ▪ advancing border that marked the extent of settled, civilized areas and the beginning of uncharted, often wilderness territories ▪ line of demarcation o Urbanization in the East o Lack of international copyright agreements (until 1890s): English books are cheaply available in the U.S. o Key reading public: middle-class women in Eastern cities o literary market during the 19th century experienced significant growth and transformation ▪ increased literacy and education ▪ technological advancements ▪ diverse genres and themes romanticism and transcendentalism realism and naturalism social and political issues - Romanticism o Reception of European Romanticism in the U.S.: combining European forms with American contents o Romanticism vs Enlightenment ▪ Emphasis on emotion and individualism, self-expression (intuition) ▪ Role of nature ▪ Stages in a Romantic poem Observation (of nature) Emotional reaction Reflection ▪ Examples: While they do replicate European forms and rhyme patterns… William Cullen Bryant, “To a Waterfowl”  o Bryant’s waterfowl is American due to its solitary flight symbolizing the American ideal of individualism, self- reliance and pursuit of personal goals o Perseverance and determination mirroring experiences of early American settlers and pioneers/Puritans during their travels across the Atlantic to the “New Canaan” William Cullen Bryant, “The Prairies” o Featuring American landscape for which “the speech of England has no name” o Breezes of the south, prairie hawk, palms of Mexico, vines of Texas, etc. ▪ Dark romanticism: subgenre delving into the darker aspects of human nature and the human psyche (Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne) Exploration of guilt, sin and the macabre Ex.: Edgar Allen Poe, “The Raven” (1845) o Grieving man encountering a mysterious raven one bleak December night o American Gothic o Reversal of the spirit of American romanticism and spirit of confidence o Rendering connecting of man and nature into something ominous and ghastly o Nature as dark and threatening o The presence of the raven brings a sense of foreboding and dread, as it becomes a harbinger of sorrow and despair, messenger of doom for the narrator - Transcendentalism o Branch of romanticism, philosophy and literary movement o Going beyond “the interest in the soul, the transcendent, the divine, the universal“ o Individualism, self-reliance, self-expression and self-determination, confidence, optimism, cosmic benevolence o Supremacy of human intuition to all traditional knowledge (church, philosophy. Science) ▪ Intuition guides to truth o Transcension according to transcendentalists only possible in the encounter with nature outside of society o Key role in defining American literature o R.W. Emerson, „The American Scholar“ (1837) ▪ Another pressing concerns of the transcendentalists: Defining the spirit and newness of American literature ▪ “The American Scholar” often referred to as America’s “intellectual declaration of independence“ ▪ The American Scholar should be a “man thinking” not a thinker ▪ The American scholar is not a “bookwarm,” they sit at the intersection of scholarly interests and communion with nature, love of libraries and love of the woods, reading ad writing but also farming Nature → Immersion in nature necessary for scholarly work ▪ Call for intellectual independence, development of one’s own intellectual identity instead of merely imitating European traditions  ▪ Creation of a uniquely American scholarly tradition reflecting the country’s own experiences and values o H. D. Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” (1837) ▪ individuals have a moral duty to resist laws and government actions that are unjust, principle of conscience taking precedence over legal obligations ▪ individual responsibility ▪ critique of government and institutions, justice vs legality (does not necessarily equate to morality) o Walt Whitman “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry“ (1858) ▪ part of his collection Leaves of Grass ▪ exploration of time, human connection, and the shared experiences of individuals ▪ celebration oft he ordinary, emphasis on the interconnectedness of all people across time and space ▪ Whitman introduces free verse in US poetry Anthemic, celebratory, patriotic, sensual tone, rendered in free verse ▪ The “poet of democracy“: celebrating America in Leaves of Grass (1855) ▪ Poet of the body, poet of the soul Duality, physical and spiritual dimensions of human experience o Emily Dickinson, “The Soul Selects” (c. 1862) ▪ contemplative exploration of individuality, choice, and the nature of the soul ▪ clear form, fragmentary language: dahes, incomplete sentences, introspective, searching, suggestive tone Session 4: The American Renaissance – Romantic Fiction; Slave narratives - American fiction: late development o Puritan reservation towards fiction o Lack of international copyright agreements (until 1890s), it was cheaper to read European books o Preference for British books, popularity of historical romances by Sir Walter Scott o Discovery of US settings and topics by 1800 o Popularity of short stories in newly founded literary magazines (e.g. North American Review; 1815-1840, The Atlantic,…) o Many readers still felt inferior towards Europe (“colonial complex”) o Seduction novel ▪ Low reputation in terms of aesthetic value - Four subgenres of Romantic novels o Romance ▪ William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy (1789), Susanna Rowson, Charlotte Temple (1794) o Picaresque novel (“Schelmenroman”) ▪ irregular installments → interrupted, full of rambling narratives + digressions, including discussions of the author’s own career  ▪ characters are artistic achievements comparable to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, but traveling through the frontier of the USA in Western Pennsylvania ▪ Encounters with adventurers and strange travelers o Gothic novel ▪ Written in the form of a long letter by Clara Wieland, the protagonist’s sister ▪ Clara uses correspondence to narrate the murder-suicide of her brother and his family by "order" of a seducing stranger o Nostalgic adventure ▪ James Fenimore Cooper, Leatherstocking tales Frontier fiction, wilderness novels: Frontier, nature, Native Americans and Americans “going” native, pioneers, moving west, “noble savage” figures Beginning of an American environmental conscience, critique of wasteful hunting practices, encouragement of caring relation to nature International recognition, “American Sir Walter Scott” - The American Adam o Pervasive myth: American was originally an Eden, and Americans like Adam before the Fall: fresh, innocent and full of hope o Representative of masculine identity formation and hegemonic US identity (white male captured in the act of conquest) o Defined by R.W.B. Lewis in 1955 ▪ a radically new personality, the hero of the new adventure ▪ an individual emancipated from history, happily bereft of ancestry, untouched and undefiled by the usual inheritances of family and race ▪ an individual standing alone, self-reliant and self-propelling, ready to confront whatever awaited him with the aid of his own unique and inherent resources ▪ One possible question on the test: What does Crevecoeur’s American Farmer and Lewis’s American Adam have in common? ▪ Possible answer: Both are myths of American masculinity and/in American nature. Both are attempts to describe early conceptions of Americanness. They both posit that the American man is a completely new creature, free from the bonds of European culture, at ease in American nature. - Herman Melville (1819-1891) o “Call me Ishmael.“ -> One of the most famous beginnings in literary history ▪ a reference to the Ishmael in the Abrahamic religions' sacred texts o Short story: „Bartleby the Scrivener“ (1853) another iconic quote: „I would prefer not to“ ▪ related to concepts of civil disobedience and passive resistance, also connected to the modern notion of „quiet quitting“ o Why whales? Because of two things: ▪ whaling was Nantucket's most lucrative promising industry ▪ 1820 incident: whaler Essex was attacked and sunk by a whale o Most famous book: October 1851 Moby-Dick; or, The Whale ▪ Adventure story about hunting a white whale  ▪ multiple perspectives, impossible to assign just one meaning to any character or event ▪ ambivalence of whiteness: frequently positive: innocence, purity here: terror. The WHITE whale is a terrifying monster focus: emotional effect of the color white on the onlooker → characterization of the text as Romantic/to be classified as part of the American Renaissance/Romanticism - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) o Dark Romantic (like Poe), critical of the transcendentalists o Dark woods, puritan horror, witches and devils o From Salem o Major Puritan theme in his writing o Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” (1835) ▪ “Dark” initiation story from innocence to experience ("beginning of a journey") from faith to doubt (Centrality of doubt, suspicion of Puritan hypocrisy) from optimism to pessimism from illusion to disillusion from community to loneliness ▪ Elements of (dark) romanticism (nature, the forest, the wilderness, the supernatural, a specifically American kind of horror in the figures of witches and ugly Puritans, Romantic exploration of the protagonist’s self) o Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance (1850) ▪ Novel found a hostile territory in the19th century -> Puritan resistance to the genre ▪ “romance” → historical novel that combines historical setting and the supernatural ▪ the past can only be fully understood with the help of the imagination WHY IS THE SCARLET LETTER CALLED A “ROMANCE” AND NOT SIMPLY A “NOVEL”? During Romanticism, literature shifts towards the inner dimension of the self, the novel as a genre would give explorations of the self great space: But because of former Puritan resentments towards the form of the novel, the 19th century in US context is a hostile environment to the "novel,“ perceived as a frivolous genre. This is why we often have "historical novels” or texts that are supposed to be informative about history, but also have some fictional and supernatural elements → Romance Romance genre based on the assumption that the past can only be fully understood with the help of the imagination - Early Women’s movement o Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902): early feminist philosopher and author ▪ Active in the abolitionist movement  ▪ Met Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) at the World Anti Slavery Convention, both angry at the exclusion of women, who did not play an active role at the convention (were only allowed to watch) ▪ Organized the Seneca Falls convention (1848) o The Seneca Falls Convention ▪ “Declaration of Sentiments” ▪ Central to the declaration were issues related to gender equality, expressed in 18 points: for example, inability to control wages and property, the difficulty in gaining custody in divorce, right to vote ▪ “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal;” → direct quote from the declaration of independence ▪ Addition of the word “woman” or “women” throughout and focus on issues related to gender equality ▪ recognition of voting rights for women in the nineteenth Amendment, in 1920 - Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) o landmark novel in American literature and a significant work in the history of the abolitionist movement, shaping public opinion about slavery in the US o Tom, a slave, is to be sold “down the river,” has to leave his family; befriends a white girl on his journey South; her father buys him, takes him to New Orleans o In one year, 300,000 copies sold in the U.S./1.5 million worldwide: most popular American book until then, true bestseller o Written for an audience of white abolitionists o Based on abolitionist materials & slave narratives, contains dozens of life stories of fictional slaves o White version of black life - we also find black versions of black life, e.g. in the Slave Narrative ▪ Criticized as sentimental stereotyping of the good, suffering Black man who will always endure & not rebel - Slave narrative o OD of Literary Terms: written account by an escaped or freed slave of his or her experiences of slavery, special American form of autobiography ▪ appeared as an important kind of abolitionist literature in the period preceding the Civil War o movement from slavery to freedom, from object to person o role of alphabetization, education and literacy in acquiring freedom o ex. The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass (1845) - Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) o Assisted by white US writer Lydia Maria Child, though Jacobs had been taught to read and write o Jacobs's grandfather was white. Her grandmother's mistress taught Harriet to read and sew, together with her grandmother they taught her Christian values. When her grandmother's mistress died, Harriet became the property of Mr. Norcom (Mr. Flint in the narrative) o 1842: chance to escape to the North, though Jacobs was still stunned by the racism there o Describes slavery as an experience too horrible to forgive o Parts of her autobiography published in a newspaper o The accounts of sexual abuse shocked her readers  o Target audience: middle-class women o Some readers were upset by her highlighting the role of the Christian church in maintaining slavery Session 5: Realism, Local color writing - The Civil War and its Aftermath (1861-1865) o United States vs. Confederate States o Massive devastation, especially in the South (600,000 lives lost out of a population between 30-38m) o South: Reconstruction (until 1876) North: industrialization & urbanization o African Americans: founding of all-black towns (Freedman‘s Town) and black colleges massive exodus to the industrial centers in the North. Many left their former places of enslavement (plantations), badly paid employment, massive poverty, segregation. o Continuing animosity between North and South development of the myth of the “Lost Cause” (antebellum nostalgia, also in literature) ▪ reinterpret the reasons for the South's defeat in the Civil War and to promote a narrative that justified and romanticized the Confederacy o 1862: Homestead Act: any American citizen could apply for land and acquire it free of charge. Notion of „free“ land vs Native Americian dispossessed and expropriated. o 1869: first transcontinental railroad completed o 1890: “frontier“ declared closed, no more land to be conquered and explored to West. New Frontier: South. ▪ (Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier” 1893) o 1898: Spanish-American War (U.S. intervention in the Cuban war for independence): U.S. as imperialist power o 1873: Charles Dudley Warner & Mark Twain, The Gilded Age ▪ growing division between rich and poor, magnates (Inhaber wirtschaftlicher Macht) and slums - Manitfest Destiny o 19th-century American belief and ideology that the United States was destined to expand its territory across North America o rooted in a sense of national mission and entitlement, often justified by a belief in racial superiority and a divine right to spread American values and institutions ▪ Military expansionism + Puritan chosenness/city upon a hill = Manifest Destiny o John Gast, American Progress (1872) ▪ visualization of Manifest Destiny ▪ white figure “Columbia” carrying a book in her arm, signifying literacy and “civilization” ▪ slaves are absent from the painting: depict American expansion as a noble and progressive mission romanticized vision of American progress - Realism (1865-1890s) o Response to the sentimental novel and sensational mode:  o change towards the predominance of fiction and the novel towards a serious reflection on the nation o Plausibility and verisimilitude (vs. Romanticism) ▪ The appearance of being true or real = verisimilitude o consider characters and events which are apparently the most ordinary and uninteresting, realism reveals (c. George Parsons Lathrop, 1874) - William Dean Howells (1837—1920) o Truthful treatment of commonplace Americans: honest, ordinary people, good- hearted, modest, little local heroes - Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady (1880/81) o Free-spirited American woman inherits a large fortune and becomes overwhelmed by life. Set in England o Limited point of view (the protagonist as the center of consciousness who filters all events for us) o Use of free indirect style to render psychological processes o "inner realism"/consciousness ▪ Issue of selfhood ▪ Focus on relationships and emotions connected withthem, suffering as an active process - Mark Twain, (1884/85) o Not part of a specific school or historical period o Embodiment of the (US) American Writer o Local Color Fiction [German "Lokalkolorit"]: o Record + immortalize distinctive natural, societal + linguistic features of a particular area (usually their heritage or chosen environment) o Emphasis on the distinctiveness of regions (other examples: e.g. Kate Chopin (French US South/Louisiana/New Orleans), Sarah Orne Jewett (New England), William Faulkner (US South),...) o Against conventional religiosity + romances, instead focus on "common sense"/ambivalence - Local Color: Form o “Detailed representation in prose fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress, and ways of thinking and feeling which are distinctive of a particular region”; “sentimental or comic representation of the surface particularities of a region” (Abrams) o Depicting intercultural encounters between region and nation ▪ Example: Kate Chopin, “The Return of Alcibiade” (1892) o literary and artistic technique of depicting the unique characteristics, customs, and details of a specific geographic area or cultural setting o Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899) ▪ exploration of female identity, sexuality, and personal freedom ▪ Set in the late 19th century, the novel examines the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman who experiences a profound transformation as she seeks to assert her own desires and independence ▪ rebellion against the “cult of true womanhood” The Cult of True Womanhood (Barbara Welter): o Piety o Purity o Submissiveness  o Domesticity ▪ Chopin’s novel employs local color to depict the Creole culture of Louisiana detailed descriptions of the setting, customs, and dialects contribute to the authenticity of the novel’s portrayal of life in the American South Session 6: Naturalism – Harlem Renaissance - Naturalist Aesthetics o Literature as an experiment on human beings o Goal: showing human behavior under pressure as determined by instincts, heredity, environment o Extraordinary situations and characters (vs. realism) o While Realism focuses mainly on literary technique -> Naturalism implies a philosophical position o objectivity and careful attention to detail, but they add determinism (blind chance: Human life is viewed as being at the mercy of uncontrollable exterior forces—an environment that does not care about the people living in it) o Important Influences ▪ Human behavior as determined by heredity and environment ▪ 1879 Emile Zola, "The Experimental Novel" outlined his theories on the methodology and principles that should guide the writing of novels, particularly from a Naturalist perspective - Romantic fiction vs Naturalist fiction: o In Romantic fiction, nature often plays a symbolic and emotionally evocative role, representing the beauty, mystery, and sublime aspects of the natural world o In contrast, Naturalism, which emerged as a response to Romanticism, portrays nature with a more deterministic and indifferent perspective, emphasizing its harsh and indifferent characteristics - Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat” (1897) o Crane's real-life experience of surviving a shipwreck off the coast of Florida o naturalistic portrayal of human struggle and its depiction of nature as an indifferent and uncontrollable force o sea as natural force, indifference - Harlem Renaissance o Intellectual and cultural revival of African American arts, politics arts and culture centered in Harlem, 1910s-1930s o Golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art o Great Migration: By 1920, some 300,000 African Americans from the South had moved north, and Harlem was one of the most popular destinations for these families. o Harlem from white to Black → Black Americans finding a cultural identity in a white-dominated Manhattan. Black pride movement o 1903: W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folks  o 1909: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) o 1910: Crisis (official journal of the NAACP; edited by Du Bois) ”a quarterly journal of civil rights, history, politics and culture (that) seeks to educate and challenge its readers about issues that continue to plague African Americans and other communities of color.” o 1924: Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life o 1925: Alain Locke, The New Negro (anthology of Black writing) - W. E. B. DuBois o Co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored* People (NAACP) in 1909 o The Souls of Black Folks (1903) ▪ foundational text in African American literature and a critical examination of the social and political conditions faced by African Americans in the early 20th century ▪ exploration of race, identity, and the struggle for civil rights o African Americans need the right to vote, education, equality and justice o Double consciousness of African Americans - Alan Locke, The New Negro* (1925) o Anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays on African and African American art and literature edited by Alain Locke - Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967) o Poet, dramatist, short story writer, essayist. Newspaper columnist for the Chicago Defender for 20 years o Socialist. Condemned US imperialism in Cuba + Haiti Session 7: Modernism – Frost, Eliot, Pound, O’Neill - Robert Frost o Robert Frost (1874-1963): one of the US’s most beloved poets o Realistic but nostalgic depictions of rural life in New England - Between pre-Modernism and Modernism: Frost o “Birches” (1916) o Birch tree as a metaphor for the course of life o Storms metaphor for tragedies in life o Resilience: Be like the birch, which bends but does not break Yet: the storms of life leave traces... - Modern Aesthetics: Modernism (1914-1945) o Radical break with established bases of Western culture (esp. religion, truth) o Transnational phenomenon: expatriates o Exploration of the Inner Self, Ambiguity and Fragmentation o Experimentation with Form and Style, dislocation and alienation o Some intellectual influences ▪ Max Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Rise of Capitalism (1905); Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), (1913), Das Ich und das Es (1923), Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory (1920) → importance of perspective – George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (1890); W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903); Ezra Pound, “Make It New”(1935) - Modernist Poetry o Reflection of a world that fell apart o Uncertainty o Pessimism o Alienation of the individual from other individuals and from the world o quest for meaning (often frustrated) o shifting perspectives (including internal perspective/s) o relativism (no privileging of any one culture, civilization, or way of understanding) o fragmentation o symbolism (e.g. T.S. Eliot’s “waste land”) - T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1911) o themes such as self-doubt, alienation, and the complexities of modern life o dramatic monologue with a lot of intertextual references o absence of love, connection, fear of death o speaker is alone in a hostile world, an industrial city o speaker feels excluded from “the room [where] women come and go, talking of Michelangelo” o speaker feels paralyzed, unable to act o “yellow smoke” as objective correlative: an object (in a literary text) that is recognized as corresponding to a thought, idea, or emotion - Ezra Pound (1885-1972) o Founder and central figure of Imagist movement (1914-1917): ▪ Imagism emphasized simplicity, clarity of expression, and precision through the use of exacting visual images o From “A Retrospect,” essay on poetic theory by Ezra Pound ▪ “It is better to present one Image in a lifetime than to produce voluminous works.” ▪ “Use no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something.” ▪ “Use either no ornament or good ornament.” - Developments in Early 20th-Century Drama o Traditionally: little drama due to Puritan reservations o Late 19th century: commercial drama, driven by broadly appealing content (thrill, romance, melodrama) and “stars“ o (At the same time: vaudeville shows with different acts, including scenes from plays or operas, music, acrobatics, films; minstrelsy) o 1912: foundation of the first small amateur theater in the U.S., “The Chicago Little Theatre,” to stage classic and modern European plays with higher intellectual standards o 1915: founding of the best-known American independent theater, “The Provincetown Players,” by George Cram Cook and his wife Susan Glaspell in New York and on Cape Cod (Massachusetts) o 1916: Provincetown Players’ production of Eugene O’Neill’s one-act play “Bound East for Cardiff” is an immense success o By 1920: thousands of experimental theaters all over the U.S., promoting highbrow drama against cheap entertainment  - Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) o most influential figure in Pre-WWII US drama o 1936: Nobel Prize o three phases: ▪ early phase: disillusioning one-act plays ▪ middle phase: expressionist drama inspired by Greek models (Sophocles, Euripides) etc.) ▪ late phase: realistic American tragedies (e.g. Long Day’s Journey into Night; 1956) o characteristics of his plays: ▪ psychological depth and complexity of his characters ▪ plot is less important than the drama of the mind - Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956) o family drama with strongly delineated characters o Tension between seeming and being: family trying to pretend that everything was fine, unsuccessful in convincing each other o use of masks and avoidance strategies: continuously unmasking themselves and putting on new masks o Symbolism (fog for Mary’s morphine addiction, fog horn, Mary’s hands, Edmund’s tuberculosis): symbolic realism o inner action rather than outer action (exploration of psychological states) Session 9: Children’s literature - Children‘s literature indicates works, oral or written, sometimes accompanied by illustrations or audiovisual material, produced in order to entertain and instruct young people, but this genre eludes clear definition. For example, the target reader may vary: more and more children’s books are enjoyed by both children and adults. It is a genre, but it can also include other genres: non-fiction, biographies, poetry, etc can also be designed as children’s literature. Moreover, this genre has evolved drastically across the centuries. - What is a child? o Before the 18h century → incomplete adult, child labor, expendable. o From mid-18th century → Enlightenment. Rousseau, Émile 1762 → pedagogy, what do children need to become decent citizens? ▪ children pure, uncorrupted beings in need of protection from negative circumstances o 19th century → Romanticism. Literature engages with children’s lives and sensitivities. Strong idealization of the figure of the child. Children closest to joy, nature, truth, innocence. - Children Lit in the United States - Colonial America until 1700s o Puritans → Catechism. The New England Primer, 1687 o Imported Puritan books for children ▪ Main purpose of child education in Protestant America: learn to read the Bible, impressing upon children the shortness of life, importance of avoiding death o 1680-1820 around 800 children’s books published in America  o T.W.’s A Little Book for Children, 1712 ▪ earliest publication in English to approach the problem from the point of view of the child rather than the adult - Children Lit in the United States - The 19th Century o „Bad Boy“ books: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876 o Juvenile magazines o Nonsense stories o Cautionary tales for girls - Children Lit in the United States - The 20th Century o First US fantasy novel: L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz, 1900 o First half 20th C: historical novels about the American past, „Little House“ series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1932 on o Animal stories. Jack London, The Call of the Wild, 1903 o Walt Disney 1930 ▪ impact on books like those by Doctor Seuss, 1937 onward and on comic books on superheroes - Concept of Othered places, groups, etc. Session 10: Post-war Drama; Neo-Realism; Beat Generation - Background: Literature & Culture in the Aftermath of WW II o interest in psychology → development of trauma lanuage o Bafflement in view of a world that seems increasingly meaningless or absurd o Genocide / The Holocaust o The Atomic Bomb → Apocalypse as a concrete possibility o Art was thoroughly infiltrated by irony + disbelief o Return to community values → Suspiciousness toward outsiders o Mechanization of life and labor o Lack of living space in big cities o Great Depression 1929 o Alienation of the individual, inner exile, loneliness - Return to community values! - Confessional Poetry o Poetry as a means of coming to terms with intense life experiences, breakdowns, mental illness - Elizabeth Bishop o priviledged mainstream voice, very established poet as many of these biographical details reveal, but very turbulent family history - J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951) o exploration of adolescent angst, identity, and alienation o It has been influential in shaping modern literary and cultural conversations about youth and individualism o 16-year-old Holden’s journey through New York City reflects his emotional turmoil and confusion o He interacts with various characters, including old friends, family members, and strangers, while grappling with his own feelings of alienation and dissatisfaction - The Beat Generation o Reaction to 1950s conservatism, resistance to the mainstream  o Name coined by Jack Kerouac; “tired,” “beaten down” — “upbeat,” “beatific,” — “on the beat” o Drug use, sexuality, Eastern religions, rejection of materialism and capitalism, unrestrained self-expression o Novelists: Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs; Poets: Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and others - Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1955) o shaping the Beat Generation and American counterculture of the 1950s and 1960s Session 11: Postmodernism; Recent African-American Literature - Background: Literature & Culture in the Aftermath of WW II o interest in psychology Bafflement in view of a world that seems increasingly meaningless or absurd o Art was thoroughly infiltrated by irony + disbelief - Postmodernist Aesthetics o Self-referentiality ▪ tendency to (obnoxious) self-reflection. When something or someone are very much concerned with themselves. These are books that are concerned with other books; fiction has become metafiction, novels have become metanovels, and texts are being discovered as intertexts whose reference is not to life but to other texts. Instead of narrating about things, they narrate how and why they narrate. METAFICTION AND INTERTEXTUALITY; FRAGMENTATION HUMOR AND IRONY; EVERYTHING IS A CONSTRUCTION - Civil Rights Movement o 1963: MLK I have a dream o 1964: Civil Rights Act: forbids discrimination on any basis - A Post-racial US: A Lost Hope o Post-racial America: a society that is free from prejudice, discrimination, and racial preference. Having reached a stage or time at which racial prejudice no longer exists or is no longer a major social problem (Merriam Webster) - Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) o Buidungsroman of a Black man going from naivety to political and social awareness, to radicalization, to disillusionment. Session 12: The Rise of Literature by Ethnic Minorities - From 1850: Immigration from China, Japan, Korea, South East Asia, and Filipino - „Asian American“ covers a lot of ground: East Asia but also South Asia, 7% of the population - Yellow peril and 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act prohibits immigration from China for ten years - WWII Pearl Harbor and internment of Japanese Americans - 1955-1975 Vietnam war and Vietnam War memorial - „Model Minority“ stereotype - Crazy Rich Asians (2000) and Oscar to Parasite (2020) → popularization of Asian American culture in film - How do Pre-Columbian Native American literature and contemporary Native American literature differ? o Early Native American literature/precolonial literature was mostly oral (orature). Contemporary NA literature is written. It covers all genres: fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, poetry… o NA culture is an endangered past for contemporary NA literature, but it was all early NA literature knew → contemporary NA literature invested in survivance, resistance, and preservation o Contemporary NA lit is a hybrid of precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial elements, themes, and forms -