American Literary History Skript PDF

1. Indigenous Cultures and Settler Colonialism 1.1 Indigenous Cultures History does not begin with Columbus/ the colonization of the American Continent Pre-Columbian History/ Pre-contact History = Indigenous History -> More than 10 000 years maybe even up to 40 000 years Not just one culture, but various -> due to geographical and climatic conditions (hunting, agriculture, fish- ing, trade, nomadic, village cultures) Example: Pueblo Cultures of the Southwest Pueblo: Spanish term, Eurocentric perspectives, shaped the way we think about them -> problematic dynamic Flourishing around 100 BC but emerged way earlier Cultural precursors: Mogollan, Hohokam, Ancestral Puebloans o Four-corner areas (now: Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) o Center of archeological work, main tourist attraction (e.g., Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado) o Highly developed village and farming cultures, permanent settlers o Known for their architecture/ cliff-dwellings o Decline during 1270s due to droughts, war & soil migrations Mesa Verde functions as a multi-cultural region that consists of many indigenous groups and many lan- guages, hemispheric trade network -> exchange of good, technology, cultural practices,… multiple and di- vers groups build community together Around 1500 Discovery in 1492, found a highly advanced civilization with complex trade networks Network of diverse, highly developed cultures and civilizations, more than 500 tribal nations = 5-12M peo- ple vs. in 1900 -> 250 000 native Americans in US census More than 300 different languages -> only about 2/3 have survived but some of them only spoken by less than 100 speakers today Native American Oral Traditions Late incorporation into American Studies (see anthologies/ introductory presentation), only 2-3 decades ago Literary history of NA texts doesn’t start with arrival of Europeans Oral tradition: o Closely linked with religious/ spiritual practices o passed down from generation to generation & adapted to historical circumstances o collective origin and function -> serves the community o transcription -> problematic The Storyteller: central figure in oral tradition, not to be questioned, powerful figure Forms and formats: o Omens, Prophecies, Riddles, Songs, Prayers, Stories o E.g. The Iroquois Creation Story, The Navajo Creation Story, Raven and Marriage o Content -> origin / creation stories, trickster stories ▪ Trickster stories: usually a coyote, rabbit or raven that plays tricks Smart, funny and witty Outsmarts opponents & wins challenges Continuity and progress, didactic stories Transcription: only happened after Europeans arrived, problem with translating original NA language into English: changes in form and content, forced European influences onto the material Example: “This Newly created World” o Winnebago creation story, short poem o Emphasizes harmony, positive beginning -> “Pleasant” o Key image: mother earth->in text: grandmother o Expresses a harmony with earth and the surroundings o Nature as shelter vs. European view of nature as hostile Heruntergeladen von Oral Tradition remains alive in Native American oratory Late 19th-century and 20th century anthropological projects o Boas, Kroeber, Matthes, Neidhardt Black Elk Speaks (1932) black elk = holy man Contemporary (written) literature o Vine Deloria, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich; Gerald Vizenor Contemporary Architecture o National Museum of the American Indian, Washington (2004): organic architecture and symbols 1.2 First Europeans in America Contextual Spotlights Renaissance: stress on Individualism, knowledge expansion, extension of power ‘Age of discovery’: innovations in naval discovery & new ship building techniques, European desire to re- map world, eurocentric Political rivalries: Portugal, England, France, Spain Commerce: opening new Trade routes, Alliances Demographic Changes: rapid Populational growth -> desire for colonial expansion Reformation: Religious conflicts -> migration, missionary progress The Origins of ‘America’ Amerigo Vespucci: 1505 Travel reports = Quatuor Americi Vesputii Navigationes Martin Waldseemüller o Coined term ‘America’->geographical name o Published a map of the world in 1507 o His America referred to south America tough (-> Mercator Map 1569) o ->act of naming = Linguistic act of taking possession (no real relation between name & space) Late 15th and 16th- Century European voyages and colonization Problematic vocabulary: Discovery -> because it was only new to colonizers, not to inhabitants Multinational affair dominated by Spain, Spanish dominance ended 1588 America was multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural: diverse Europeans met diverse Indigenous Late 15th and 16th century: Multinational affair o England: John Cabot: 1497 Nova Scotia, Newfoundland; Martin Frobisher:1576-1578 Northern Can- ada; Humfry Gilbert: 1583 Labrador, Newfoundland; Davis: 1585-1587 Northern Canada; Francis Drake: 1577-1580 around South America to Oregon and Washington o France: Verrazano: 1524 to Carolinas and up the Atlantic coast to Newfoundland; Cartier: three voy- ages 1534-1542 into Canada, to Quebec, St. Lawrence River as far as present day Montreal; reports: René Goulaine de Laudonnière, L’histoire notable de la Floride 1586; Samuel de Champlain, Voyages 1613, eds. 1627, 1632 o Spain (after Columbus 1492/ 1493-96/ 1498/ 1502-04) ▪ Hernándo Cortés: 1519 lading in Mexico, first conquistador (1519: Mexico ca 25 million people; 1600: Mexico ca 1-2 million people) -> New Spain: St. Augustine as first successful European set- tlement, FL (1565); Santa Fe (1609) ▪ Juan Ponce de Leon: 1512-13, 1521 to Florida -> failed ▪ Pánfilo de Narvaez: 1527-36 Florida, Texas, Mexico City, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, La relacion/ The Narrative; first textual account of an expedition into interior of North America ▪ Hernando de Soto: 1539-42/43 Tampa Bay, Appalachians, southern Texas, see “Gentleman of El- vas”, Relacam verdadeira dos Trabalhos/ The Discovery & Conquest of Terra Florida (1557) ▪ Francisco de Coronado: 1538, 1540-42 northern Mexico, Grand Canyon Kansas; see Pedro de Cas- taneda, Relacion de la jórnada de Cíbola/ The Narrative of the Expedition of Coronado (ca 1562/1565, ed. 1896) ▪ Juan de Onate: 1598, El Camino Real/ Nueva Mexico (north of Rio Grande) Writing and Anthologizing the new world Taking possession o Europeans create texts that portray their encounters (creating a specific version of America) o These texts differ: discovery, exploration: not planning to stay, conquest, settlement: not planning on returning to Europe -> Eurocentric perspectives + Constructions Heruntergeladen von Collections/ Anthologies o Martin Waldseemüller, Cosmographieae introduction (1507) o Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Navigationi et viaggi (1550-59) o Richard Eden, The Decades of the New World or West India (1555) o Richard Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques (1589) o Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas, His Pilgrims (1625) Popularity, wide circulation throughout Europe o Anthropological/ ethnographic -> ethnocentric o Early modern travel reports o Nature writings -> science o Maps or charts: European point of view o Some visual representations (esp. Theodore de Bry): important because many people could not read -> What was written or shown visually had a high impact on what Europeans thought about America Anthologizing the ‘New World’ o Act of collecting ▪ Ordering the new world -> existing patterns ▪ Act of colonizing, taking symbolic possession -> you write about it, you take possession of it ▪ Collecting -> taming new things by putting them into new patterns ▪ Via writing/ text to make it stand the test of time Early European Rep. of ‘America’ o Narrative o Autobiographical o Promotional: advertise advantages of the country they describe, try to attract more Europeans o Sensational: sea monsters, animals, savages -> excite o Wonder ▪ “the central figure in the initial European response to the New World, the decisive emotional and intellectual experience in the presence of radical difference” ▪ Reaction to “all that cannot be accounted for” (Stephen Greenblatt) o Repertoire of images (interpretations, expectations, stereotypes) ▪ Paradise, new beginning, newness ▪ Ethnocentrism: self vs. other (evaluation based on their norms) ▪ Unfamiliar -> familiar (names, comparisons, negations = intertextuality = process of borrowing) use language that they would also use at home to interpret the new o Dualism of attraction and repulsion o Cultural imperialism, expansionism, ethnocentrism = taking possession of the New world =constructing the New World form a European ethnocentric perspective = military, political, cultural appropriation and imperialism, textual appropriation Example: Columbus (focus texts) o 4 Letters: 1493, 1494, 1498, 1503 o 1493 Letter -> circulated in Europe, many editions ▪ Letter as a formal text to the king ▪ Rhetorical purpose: to convince king of benefits of his travels and the land he encounters ▪ Ethnographic ▪ Purpose of describing country ▪ Autobiographic aspects “I”, expression of own identity/ experience, stresses own achievements! ▪ Phrases text as if it had legal legitimation/implication: “I gave a new name” → takes power, pos- session ▪ Stresses that everything is there in “large number” as approach to convince (e.g. great variety, infinite, “land of plenty”) ▪ Uses terms of at home: trees as “Spanish trees”, comparisons, negations ▪ Feature of promotional literature ▪ Greenblatt: “emphasis on wonder” ▪ “didn’t see any monstrosity” → collective expectations back home ▪ Natives as inferior and “noble savages” → going naked as sign of innocence, element of paradise Heruntergeladen von 1.3 English Settlement and colonization- North America (end of 16th /early 17th century) 1541-42: St. Lawrence River (French) -> failed 1562: Carolina (French) -> failed 1565: St. Augustine (Spanish) 1584-87: Roanoke (English) -> failed 1604: Port Royal (French) 1607: Jamestown (English) 1608: Quebec (French) 1609: Santa Fe (Spanish) 1614: New Netherland/ Fort Orange (Dutch) 1620: Plymouth (English) 1625: New Amsterdam (Dutch -> English 1664) 1630: Boston (English) 1638: New Sweden/ Fort Christina (Delaware River, ann. By New Netherland 1655) 1642: Montreal (French) 1683: Germantown, Pennsylvania Two major objectives in Western Hemisphere: Commercial: Find Passage to Asia + Find Gold on the way Geopolitical: Attack Spain + Reduce Spanish Power The Lost Colony of Roanoke 1584: Walter Raleigh sent Arthur Barlowe 1584-85 Barlowe to Roanoke Island (Today North Eastern Port of North Carolina) Enthusiastic report: The First Voyage Made to the Coast of America (1584/85)-> promotional text Depiction of Native Americans -> Wonder/ openness but savages he took to England to display Huge discrepancy between high hopes and their failure Importance of texts: based on texts rather than facts Roanoke 1585/1586-1590 o Painter John white and Scientist Thomas Harriot o By 1590: no traces left -> “Lost Colony” They only found the word carved in a tree No further tries of expansion until after 1600 Jamestown, Virginia First proper permanent English Settlement in North America, 108 colonists 1607: Virginia Company of London -> Jamestown Sep 1609: 500 People->May 1610: 100 People->1622: 4000 People Immense growth meant expansion into Indian territory Economic crisis and expansion: need of cheap laborers, especially for their tobacco plantations Headrights: Land given to European settlers who paid their own passage or the passage of a laborer Indentured servitude: selling their labor for passage Introduced Slavery: 1619 first African slaves in Virginia, triangular slave trade Representations: Ethnographic & ethnocentric travel reports 16th century Europeans saw immediate and comprehensive textualization and representation, influential texts, documents and images -> ethnographic & ethnocentric texts accumulated and circulated with lasting impact, enormous impact on people perception -> laid the ground for later ideologies of America Examples Arthur Barlowe, The First Voyage Made to the Coasts of America (written 1584/85, publ. in Hakluyt 1589) Thomas Harriot (1560-1621), A Brief and True Report of the New-Found Land Virginia (1588, then also in Hakluyt) John White (1545-1593): various reports, esp. the one of 1590 on “lost colony” (in Hakluyt) Walter Raleigh (1544-1618), The Discovery of Guiana (1595) William Strachey, For the Colonie of Virginia Britinnia, Lawes Divine, Morall, and Martiall (1612) -> widely distributed, e.g. used by Shake- speare for The Tempest The writings of John Smith: special position in the history of American literature and culture 1608: A True relation of such occurrences and accidents of noate as hath hapned in Virginia since the first planting of that Collony 1612: A map of Virginia with a description of the country, the commodities, people, government and religion 1616: A Description of New England; or, the observations and discoveries of Captain John Smith German tr: 1617; includes the famous map 1620: New Englands Trialls [expanded version 1622] 1624: A Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles... 1584 to the present 1624 1630: The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain John Smith, In Europe, Asia, Affrica, and America, from A.D. 1593 to 1629. 1631: Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters in New England, Or Anywhere... Heruntergeladen von Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) A Brief and True Report of the New-Found Land Virginia (1588) o First book about the New World written in English o Formal aspects/ conventions ▪ Fusion of exploration & settlement ▪ Ethnographic (catalogue of Native habits) ▪ Promotional ▪ Sensational o Cooperated with John White on the documentation of Roanoke ▪ Very influential ▪ “The arrival of the Englishmen in Virginia”: not only a map but shows the first encounter with Na- tives, “starting point”, story of hardship (bravery, shipwrecks, monsters ▪ “The manner of making boats” ▪ Interest in the culture, realistic style of painting (paintings and visual representations!) ▪ Stressing of everyday life of Native Americans ▪ Realistic paintings that work with European structures (villages look like European ones) The Cultural Work of John Smith (1580-1631) - Prototype of English Settler 2 voyages to North America o 1606-1609: Jamestown/ Virginia -> Early map ▪ Pocahontas episode -> American folklore very Eurocentric, John portrayed as innocent o Second voyage 1614 -> coast of New England ▪ Invented name “New England” in 1614 ▪ Map of New England (included in book of 1616) Work shows aspects of Self-Promotion and Self Representation, puts himself in the center Specific Aspects of Smith’s work o Significance for literary history: narrative and subjective mode -> suspense o Autobiographical tendencies o Ideological (early ‘rags to riches’; individual / ‘middle class’; glorious contrast -> opportunities in Eu- rope vs opportunities in America) o Writing FROM America o Highlight the role of the individual -> later ideologies of American individualism o Center: opportunities America offers in contrast to Europe -> contrast 1.4 New England English Settlement and colonization – North America: New England Puritans (late 16th and 17th century) o Protestant religious group o “Purification” – Church of England -> “Reformation didn’t go far enough” o Church of England still to popish, corrupt, hierarchical, etc. and more interested in worldly power than religious teachings Controversy among Puritans: How to achieve reform? (different Puritan groups) o Non-conformists: Reform from within the Church (staying in the Church of England and chancing it) o Separatists: break with the Church ->Members of both groups participated in the colonization and creation of the ‘New England Puritans’ Selected Aspects of Puritan Worldview: o A religion that determined everything in daily life o Congregationalism: rejection of centralization & hierarchy of the Church of England -> In congrega- tions autonomist ministers and elders are elected o Covenant (=Bund) theology: e.g. covenant of grace -> you can be saved through good Faith o Predestination: God chooses those he wants to save o Providence/ providential history: assumption that everything is ordained by God Plymouth Mayflower to New England in 1620 Separatists from Northern England -> fled to Netherlands because of religious persecution in England ->Plans to go to Virginia in 1619 Became known as the “Pilgrim Fathers” Heruntergeladen von John Carver and William Bradford Mayflower Compact o Arrival off the coast of Massachusetts/ off Cape Cod in November 1620 ▪ Off from the area of their charter -> no rules on how to live together o Symbolic and legal act of self-construction: Mayflower compact as ‘Constitutional document’ o Signed still aboard November 11, 1620 o ‘Landing’ at Plymouth on December 21, 1620 -> Patuxet land (Wampanoag) o Marks roots of democracy: stresses rule of majority & principle of common consent Cultural and historical significance of Plymouth Plantation! A ‘beginning’ from a Eurocentric Perspective Massachusetts Bay 1630: “Winthrop fleet” to New England (11 ships, 700 passengers) -> Massachusetts Bay Colony o Vs. 1620: 1 ship with 102 passengers Arrival in June 1630 o John Winthrop (governor), “Model of Christian Charity” (1630) -> while still on board o Sermon: spirit of community & organizational ideas o Community as “one body/one ship” -> contribution to community -> individuals that live responsibly o “God is among us” = The chosen ones -> especially strong: able to resist 1000 of their enemies -> Them as model for everybody else, above everyone else “city upon a hill” -> exceptionalist expression 1.5 Representations: Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Both ventures produced large numbers of foundational texts o Repertoire, lasting images,… o Rules and origins of American Exceptionalism o America founded on Rhetorical and verbal acts o Writing about becomes writing from America o Anglo-Saxon, white, male -> Images & Stereotypes of New England o Community- ex-verbo -> Texts at the core of the community-> shape the community Style o Plain style: Focus on discovering one’s relationship with God, not entertainment o Typology: highlights workings of providential history, Old Testament: foreshadows future events o Religious -> communal o Wilderness, errand, and trial: something God wants Forms o Life writing: Autobiographical writing o Historiography: record and praise God’s wonderworking providences o Sermons: by non-clergy and proper ▪ Jeremiad: source = Jeremiah in the Bible -> political sermon that developed in late 17th century ->urges to keep faith and preserve ideas of founders o Poems, … Examples 1621-1634 Mourts Relation (1622); Edward Winslow, William Bradford, publ. George Morton Edward Winslow (b. 1580-1655), Good News from New England (1624) William Morrell, Nova-Anglia (1625) John Winthrop, "General Observations/Reasons to be Considered...for the Intended Plantation in NE" (1629) Francis Higginson (b. 1586-1630), New England's Plantation (1630) John White (b. 1575-1648), The Planter's Plea (1630) John Cotton, Gods Promise to His Plantation (1630) John Winthrop, "A Modell of Christian Charity" (1630) William Wood (fl. 1629-1635), New Englands Prospect (1634) Poems Puritan Poetry Contradiction: Usually Puritan literature was meant for information, not entertainment o Predominant ideas: informare and movere (vs. delectare) Poem as field of tensions / competing discourses o Collective expectations - individual voice o Timeless doctrine – everyday details o Prescribed forms (what is usually accepted)- individual deviations Michael Wigglesworth (1631-1705) Edward Taylor (ca. 1642-1729) Heruntergeladen von Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) – Poetry o Sailed to Boston with John Winthrop in 1630, privileged circumstances o 3 volumes of poems o The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America (London 1650) ▪ First Book of poetry by an inhabitant of America, published by her brother o Several Poems (1678; republ. Anon 1758) published after her death o 1867- edition of the Works in Prose and Verse ed. By John Harvard Ellis- 1678 edition plus Andover manuscripts -> documents handed down by the Bradstreet family o The Tenth Muse (1650) ▪ “The Prologue” Trying to be modest for her own protection but: expresses idea of women having poetic abilities -> reflections on poetics and gender roles Similar to “The Author to Her Book” o “Before the Birth of One of her Children”, “To my Dear and Loving Husband”, “Upon the Burning of our House” -> titles express personal fears and own (sexual) desires; not only conventions/eternal topics (fear of death!) ▪ Overcomes realm of public poetry -> moves to personal expressive poetry Puritan Captivity narrative o Stories by former white captives of Native Americans after they return ▪ Sites of memory/acts of remembering: determined by hindsight interpretation and evaluation ▪ Typically 3 parts Starting point (experience of being captured) Middle/ Main part (recount of involuntary life under Native Americans) Ending: Rescue and return to civilization -> ends where it began, belief in progress ▪ Content: encounters and exchanges between colonizer and colonized -> bipolar manner: inno- cent white victim vs savage native about moving into Indian culture and out of it again -> journey pattern ▪ Hybrid form: mixture of aspects from autobiographical writing, adventure story, melodramatic, sensational writing, gothic/horror, travel literature, ethnographic/ethnocentric, story of initiation (story where main character moves into a new culture and gets new insights) ▪ Precursor of American novel “Puritan Indian captivity narrative “-> early and special variant of the form o Didactic: captivity as a god sent affliction one is to learn from o God’s will: captivity = punishment, return = God`s grace o Collective significance: example for the community o Ministers edited narratives->religious intentions o ->Literature of the 17th century, but gains importance again in 18th century while American Revolu- tion and American Independence o Example: “Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”, Mary Rowlandson (1682) ▪ Author Mary Rowlandson: born in England, migration experience to New England, puritan woman, wife of minister; held captive together with her 3 children for 3 months; she and two sur- viving children were freed ▪ Narrative -> bestseller ▪ Conventional reading: puritan woman sees experience as god’s test Native Americans from stereotypical and ethnocentric perspective ▪ Re-readings: Personal emotions and individual feelings: does not accept the course of history as god’s plan Will to survive in this world: a certain secular perspective Different images of indigenous identities: more human Transgression of intercultural borderlines Ambivalent ending Heruntergeladen von ▪ Conclusion Opposition to dominant, puritan world view Breaking Puritan doctrines and religion Indian culture as an alternative and English culture open to criticism and reevaluation ▪ Parallel between 1773 title page image and The Bloody Massacre (1770) image: Indians are just as bad as the English -> both attack the people of New England 1.6 Controversies and Dissent Thomas Morton, New English Canaan (1630/1637) -> first major non puritan account of new England Counter statement to Bradford’s Plymouth Plantation, Bradford imprisoned Morton twice Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomian Controversy (1630s) Came to Massachusetts in 1634 Husband held high government offices -> privilege and status Meetings at her house to discuss the sermon of the previous Sunday (usually only men did this) For a direct, unmediated, personal relationship with God -> seen as attack towards ministers and Church itself Antinomians = those who reject authority and the importance of law and order (against the law) “A woman not fit for our society“ Court proceedings: the fact that she had a deformed child = proof of her misconception o Depicted in John Winthrop, Short Story (1644) Banned from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in 1638 Salem Witchcraft Persecution (1692) o Most influential event in shaping the negative image of 17th century Puritan New England -> cruel, irrational, repressive society and culture o Literary Representation in fiction, drama or poetry: “The Crucible”, “Young Goodman Brown”, “Witch- ing times” o Accusation of members of society signing a pact with the devil and tormenting the faithful o Up to 200 people accused in a short period -> accusation through individuals who stated to be tor- mented by the devil through the witches -> accusation to get rid of economic competitor ▪ Often the accused person’s Land would be next to the accuser’s Land -> chances of getting the accused’s Land o 3 types of “evidence”: bodily marks, confession (communal pressure) and spectral evidence o Consequences: death (19 hanged, 1 pressed to death) Indigenous-white encounters Relationship got harder and harder as more Europeans came to America Wars: mostly because of Land disputes o 1637/38 Pequot War o 1676/77 King Philip’s War o 1689-97 King William’s War -> appropriation and depiction as “God’s punishment” Missionizing: oppress indigenous cultures by using religion and the intention to “save them” as validation -> religion of self = more important than religion of other o Efforts started in 1640s when English were criticized for not doing enough in that field ▪ Eliot Tracts (1647-1659): 10 books on the efforts of missionizing native Americans 17th Century texts -> Repertoire of images of Native Americans o Stereotypes & Racism ▪ Tactic for positive self-representation ▪ Superiority and justification ▪ Indigenous Counter Voices: indigenous oratory, tribal histories, travel reports, protest literature/ memorials, poetry, fiction, Autobiographical writings (Samson Occom, William Apess) William Apess (Apes) In his works: o Challenges whites and their perspective o Praises traditional indigenous virtues o Protests against extinction of indigenous identities o Rejects ethnocentrism and attacks racism Heruntergeladen von 2. Revolution through the American Renaissance 2.1 Contexts: Reading/Writing the Revolution Around 1750: “British North America” o Mainly the territory of the 13 original colonies on the Eastern seaboard o Between the revolution and the Civil War, the South and the West were added to the US territory Contexts of the American Revolutionary War o Historical consciousness -> British colonists start seeing themselves as American o Great Awakening (1740s & 50s) first national movement, religious movement that helped to create a sense of national unity o Since 1760s increasing economic Tension -> resentment toward Britain o Military History 1760: George III becomes King of Great Britain -> “the enemy” of revolutionary literature 1764: Sugar Act: issue of taxation, paying taxes but no representative in Parliament 1765: Stamp Act (repealed 1766) 1768: British troops arrive in Boston -> Britain turns against Colonies 1770: Boston Massacre 1773: Tea Act/ Boston Tea Party: first case of popular protest -> revolutionary venture -> protest taxation ->turning point->mass movement 1774: Coercive Act/ First Continental Congress in Philadelphia 1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord: Marks beginning of war 1775-1783: Revolutionary War/ War of independence -> War begins before the declaration of independence 1776: Thomas Paine, Common Sense (January)/ “Declaration of independence” (July) 1778: France recognizes the United States 1781: British troops (under General Cornwallis) surrender at Yorktown 1783: Treaty of Paris: ends revolutionary war 1787: Philadelphia Constitutional Convention 1788: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, The Federalist Towards end 18th century: Northwest Ordinance (1787/89) and Louisiana Purchase o Acts that create the Norwest territory, westward expansion & admission of new states o Idea of Manifest Destiny: flourished especially in 1830s-1860s ▪ Destiny / divine task to expand ▪ Openness/ vastness of land justified expansion ▪ John L. Sullivan (1845): it is “our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us” 1812-1815: British American War or 2nd war for independence o American victory affirms US dominance in north America 1823: Monroe Doctrine -> furthermore confirms the hegemony of the US in the Western hemisphere 1845-1848: conflict and war with Mexico Population o 1700: 300.000 people in colonies vs. 1790 (first census): 4 million Americans o 1860:31 million o 1861: about 9 million people in southern states -> 3.5-4 million of them = slaves o 1830: “Indian Removal Act”: place Native Americans on the other side of the Mississippi and give their land to white people 2.2 Reading/Writing The Revolution The American Enlightenment and American Revolutionary Writing o Right to self-determination o Rightfulness of popular rebellion against tyranny o (natural) goodness: human beings are uncorrupted in a natural state o Inalienable rights (J. Locke): Life, Liberty, Property o Freedom, free speech, political rights and possibility of improvement o Notion of individual progress towards perfection ▪ Perfection comes from: Freedom, free speech, political rights o Devine harmony of natural world: harmony & balance -> government (checks and balances) o Progress -> movement towards perfection 6 texts and the process of nation-building o American Revolution 1. Thomas Paine, Common Sense (Jan 1776) Published anonymously in Philadelphia, few months before the Declaration of Independence Single most influential pamphlet of the American Revolution Calls for a break with Britain and union of the Colonies 1st public text that attacks the King, forms major points of the Declaration of Independence Heruntergeladen von 2. Declaration of Independence (1776) One of the Sacred documents Marks the beginning of a nation No legal document within the legal system -> emotional appeal Main influence: John Locke, Theory of Natural Rights o Life, Liberty, Property -> Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness Establishment of ideas for government o The establishment of the political system of the USA 3. Constitution (1787) Brevity, openness -> constant and continuing interpretation Legal document, foundational texts Structure of nation 4. The Federalist Papers 85 essays that support the constitution and its ratification Foundational statement for the American political philosophy o Early interpretations of the American republic 5. J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur: Letters from an American Farmer (1782) Definition of shared characteristics, basic differences of Europa & America Image of America: most perfect society in the world American as citizen, not subject of the King 6. Thomas Jefferson: Notes on the state of Virginia (1787/88) Altogether 23 individual queries Most influential: nr. 19 -> agrarian ideal: America = agrarian nations Criticizes notion of America as a nation of commerce People as “good moral people” when they are connected to land Agrarian America vs. commercial Europe America as a national construct founded on texts and their interpretations Textual power: construction of characteristics that survive until today Revolution = process 2.3 Benjamin Franklin (1706-90)- The Representative American? Not from a wealthy family but very self-educated Universalist -> took on many diverse roles, e.g. printer, business man, journalist etc. From slave owner to abolitionist, before: obsession with whiteness, problematic, Eurocentric, anti-Black, after: spoke against slavery (very late in his life) Late Puritanism -> American Enlightenment -> emergence of the U.S. Poor Richard’s Almanack: Philadelphia 1733-1758 o Almanacks: calendars extended with editions, forerunners of magazines The Way to Wealth o Preface to the 25th (1758) Poor Richard’s Almanack the US -> Rotunda o Ideological testament: Earlier “Poor Richard Improved” “Father Abraham’s Speech” o Written in the voice of Father Abraham o Resembles form of a sermon o Condensed version of Franklins ideology of individual progress, commercial success, civic virtues (fru- gality, industry, prudence, circumspection) ▪ Personal vices prevent success (idleness, pride, folly, sloth, debts) ▪ Self-made man ▪ Work ethic The Autobiography Presentation of the idea of the prototypical American “the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection” Publication in Europe -> reputation ‘homo americanus’ 1st classic of American literature Representation for individualism, success, upward mobility, perfectibility (he is the self-made man) Franklin’s individual life represents collective history, conduct book, didactic manner Heruntergeladen von Written at different times and in different places -> historical and international influences List of 13 Virtues as a chart for self-control & schedule -> structuring & planning to guarantee progress Temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, chas- tity, tranquility, humility 2.4 Toward Cultural Nationalism The Search for a Common vision: From the Revolution through the 1830s Towards nationalism: political, identity/ community, culture: literature, arts, festive culture “usable past” -> cultural history (idea that if you want to create something helpful for the current situation, you need to work with the memory of the past) Rhetoric of “glorious contrast” supported the positive image of America Need for American literature/statements -> common vision! Romanticizing (American Romanticism 1820s-Civil War) o Strategy to create a positive notion towards America o Based on European Romanticism o Rejects neo classicism and reason, emphasizes emotions, imagination, and individuality o Some writers of this era -> American Renaissance ▪ Focus on: innovation, imagination, spontaneity, emotions, individuality, nature in an untamed state -> the common man as hero, humans = good, infinity, unfinished states, disorder, extremes, transitoriness of life, beauty and harmony of creation, representations of Indians (often as “noble savages”) Programmatic statements (1809-1845) Common positions and major ideas: America, American nature, American history (the American past is worth writing about) Criticism towards writer’s who imitate British and European styles “The American Scholar” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837) Cultural independence, new American intellectual, “The American scholar should be a man thinking” Original title “An Oration Delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge August 31, 1837” 3 major sources of influence for a prototypical American Scholar as “man thinking” o Nature, books and action (Life, personal experience) Wave of historical literature Fisher Ames, “American Literature” (1809) George Tucker, “On American Literature” (ca. 1813, publ. 1822) Walter Channing, “Essay on American Language and Literature” (1815) William Tudor, “An Address Delivered to the Phi Beta Kappa Society” (1815) Edward Tyrell Channing, “On Models in Literature” (1816) William Bryant, “Essay on American Poetry” (1818) John Knapp “National Poetry” (1818) Washington Irving, "The Author's Account of Himself" /The Sketch Book (1819) James Kirke Paulding, "National Literature" (1819/1820) Charles Jared Ingersoll, "A Discourse Concerning the Influences of America on the Mind" (1823) Edward Everett, "Oration on the Peculiar Motives to Intellectual Exertion in America" (1824; Phi Beta Kappa oration) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Our Native Writers" (1825; Bowdoin graduation speech) Robert Walsh, "American Drama" (1827) James Fenimore Cooper, Letters # 23 and 24 from Notions of the Americans (1828) William Ellery Channing, "Remarks on National Literature" (1830) Rufus Choate, "The Importance of Illustrating New England History by a Series of Romances Like the Waverley Novels" (1833) William Gilmore Simms, "The Epochs and Events of American, As Suited to the Purpose of Art in Fiction"/"The Four Periods of American History" (1845) Poetry of the American Revolution and the Early National Period Political: concerned with Revolution and nation building Didactic: attempt to advocate an American national character Collective and public -> American but in terms of form it seemed still adhere to European conventions The Rising Glory of America (1771/72) – Philip Freneau & Henry H. Brackenridge o Translatio imperii: The idea that America would rise to be an empire of worldwide significance o Desire for independence o Structured as a conversation among 3 voices (Acasto, Eugenio, Leander)-> collective agenda o Exceptionalism and glorious contrast (America as a new Jerusalem and Americans as chosen people) o Usable past Heruntergeladen von Fireside Poets o New English cultural dominance between American Revolution and Civil War o Document Popular acceptance of an American literature o Also called schoolroom poets because they were often read in schools o Major Poets: ▪ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ▪ Oliver Wendell Holmes ▪ James Russel Lowell ▪ John Greenleaf Whittier o Reformatory impulse: includes for example the critique of slavery ▪ But criticism is in sync with American ideologies o Traditional conventions o Patriotic/nationalist/didactic ▪ American materials, sentimental, Emotional, nostalgic o E.g., “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Longfellow American (Romantic) nature poetry (late 18th and early 19th century) o Romanticism o Freneau, Bryant, Schoolcraft o “The Prairies”, W.C. Bryant (1832/33): focus on specific American landscape (Midwest), impressions, vastness & beauty of land vs. political dimension (England doesn’t have the same landscape) Further Platforms for the Cultural Work of American Nationalism o Nationalist architecture in Washington DC shortly after the foundation of the USA -> plans for national capital ▪ French architect Pierre L’Enfant: Washington D.C./National Mall -> creation of a centric place rep- resenting the national ideals -> “sacred place” o Paintings as expression of national/patriotic sentiments and pride o Nature paintings: representation of national/patriotic sentiments & pride poets ▪ John James Audubon (1785-1851) sample drawing: fusion of national science, aesthetic sensibil- ity, and cultural nationalism ▪ Hudson river school (of painting) as 1st independent school of painting; influential through 19th century; greatness & vastness of landscape->cultural nationalism History paintings Portraits: celebrating American heroes & portraying patriotism o (1) focus on national heroes o (2) focus on typical American person/character Festive culture: Fourth of July vs. Forefathers’ Day o Forefather’s Day: anniversary of the 1620 landing of the Pilgrim Fathers -> Decline after Civil War Time period between 1780s and 1840s as a process of US-American nationalization in all fields of cultural pro- duction 2.5 American Renaissance: American Novels, Poetry, Short Stories F.O Matthiessen and the American Renaissance Traditional canon = American Renaissance (also called New England Renaissance) o Ca. 1830-1850s o Corpus of classic American Literature o F.O. Matthiessen, American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman (1941) Scholar who wrote about ALH, looks back and analyses what literature was back then Named 5 authors that were most important to him: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Representative Men (1850), Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables, Herman Melville: Moby Dick (1851), Pierre (1852), Henry David Thoreau: Walden (1854), Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass (1855) Democratic ideals, rather critical of America, BUT: problematic: white, male, exclusive American literature and culture “had com[e] to its first maturity and had affirm[ed] its rightful heritage in the whole expanse of art and culture. … You might search all the rest of American literature without being able to collect a group of books equal to these in imaginative vitality.” -> conclusion of literary/ cultural na- tionalism by the production of American literature of standard Heruntergeladen von Lasting impact on public perception (until 1970s/1980s) 1980s/1990s: New Americanist revisions/ canon revisions/ opening the canon -> women, ethnic writers, texts outside traditional forms and genres Change: critical thinking, reform movement, Civil Rights Movements, Women’s Movements Left out e.g. Frederick Douglass, Susan Warner, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frances Harper, Fanny Fern, … 2.6 Development of the art: American Novel(s) The American Novel: Precursors William Hill Brown “The Power of Sympathy or The Triumph of Nature” (1789) -> concerned with American issues -> beginning of American novel, written in America by an author born in America, set in America Sentimental (epistolary) novel: e.g. Rowson, Temple, Foster Gothic novel: e.g. Brown Gentry novel: e.g. Brackenridge Coming of Age 1820s through 1860s Supportive factors/contexts o Technical innovations: communication, transportation, printing -> faster and cheaper distribution o Demography: growing reading public, people had the time and money to read for entertainment o Attitude and cultural politics: fiction became socially acceptable, goal of creating a national identity Example: “Frontier Novels”, James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) o Popularized fiction o Cooper established the frontier novel and historical novel in America ▪ Frontier: imaginary line between east & west of US: wilderness in the west vs civilization in the east o Leather stocking novels: “The Prairie”, “The Pioneers”, “The Last of the Mohicans”... -> published be- tween 1823 and 1841 o Central topics: clash civilization – savagery on the frontier -> national topic, historical panorama from pre-revolutionary times into 1800s, stock character of noble frontiersman -> Natty Bumppo (central hero), good Indians vs. bad Indians, various traditions/ conventions, American scenes/ settings, civiliza- tion and ecological perspective, impact on Karl May -> THE American experience Romance vs Novel o Distinction romance and novel (today we use the umbrella term novel) by William G. Simms and Nathaniel Hawthorne in his Preface to the House of the Seven Gables (1851) Influential texts written around 1850s->written in form of “romance” Romance = THE American form, the most imaginary, centrally concerned with the individual o Associated with the romantic, imaginary, made up o Deals with what is possible, not copy of reality but possibility o Truth of the human heart, subject in the middle Advocates of the romance criticize the novel as an opposition and sth that stresses imitation -> too realistic Examples romance: o Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter (1850) o Melville Moby Dick (1851) 2.7 Development of the Art: American Poetry Contextualization in terms of the history of American poetry o Determined mainly by 4 tendencies (can overlap): ▪ Meditative, inspirational, religious ▪ Political, public, nationalistic ▪ Sentimental, patriotic, ideologically affirmative ▪ Romantic, Nature o Interested in transporting collective values, expressed public matters, ideology over individual Innovative Interpretations: From the individual to America: Whitman and Dickinson o Walt Whitman (1819-1892) ▪ Poet, journalist, editor, political essays, based in New York City ▪ Meditative lyrics focus on vastness of love (homo and hetero), city, technology, nature ▪ “Leaves of Grass” (1855) Significance: inauguration of a new “American” poetry in content and form Heruntergeladen von Production history: between 1855-1892, original (1885) version: 12 poems, including “Song of Myself” -> 200 copies, deathbed edition (1891/92): over 300 poems, including 1345 line long “Song of Myself” Reception: challenge to public poetry & Fireside poets, well received in Europe Preface: poetological statement, literary and cultural nationalism, poet as bard = prophet of democracy, stress on greatness of American nature ▪ Major aspects: central symbol = grass -> constantly growing, each leaf is different, every grass is important; free verse -> no strict/artificial patterns; autobiography -> homosexuality; democracy = best political system; Whitman: innovator, precursor o Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) ▪ Influence on poets up to present ▪ Innovative poetry in form and content ▪ The individual, psychological disposition, introspection, feelings ▪ Feminist Readings 2.8 Development of the Art: The American Short Story Issues and Terminology Not one model of the short story Array of short prose and short fiction Emergence of American short story/fiction/ narrative Brander Matthews invented the term short story in “The Philosophy of the Short-Story” (1885) Popularity of Short Stories can be attributed to magazines and the weekly publication of short stories Retrospection, authors back then did not use that term Matthews invented it later on Also: Collections -> Books that collected various short stories Washington Irving (1783-1859) Wealthy, conservative and high diplomatic positions International -> took European stories and worked them into his American writings Aspects at the center of his writing: o Romantic writing o Regional materials and local speech -> local color/ regionalism o International: first American writer with international recognition o Professionalization: first American writer to be able to live from writing A History of New York (1809): Work that made him famous under pseudonym Dietrick Knickerbocker o Follows history of Dutch New York o Mocks contemporary politics o Does not represent Puritan work ethic -> rather pastoral, communal, rural construction of America -> The American as a victim of Yankee America The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1819/1820) o Geoffrey Crayon: An invented Persona -> technique that has been used since Franklin o Short prose: sketches, loosely presented ideas, stories, tales ▪ “Rip Van Winkle” Sources: German legend Barbarossa; Peter Klaus; fairy tale -> magic sleep and returning to a life that has been changed in the course of history -> Americanization Authenticity vs fiction (Dietrich Knickerbocker): fusion of real and fiction Tale: fusion between fairytale like imagination and realistic description Journey Time and the passing of time -> historical change Identity: the preservation of identity despite historical change ‘old’ Dutch village -> new American, Yankee ways: critique Psychological reading -> prototype of innocent American that runs away from the political obligations the creation of the nation has brought about ▪ “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) Two versions of him: morbid in life and art vs. precursor of modernist literature, brilliant artist (defender of art for art’s sake) Heruntergeladen von Reflections on the “short prose narrative”: e.g. “the Philosophy of Composition” -> texts on how to write short stories Outsider position in literary movements of his time Aesthetics/ literary theories – theory of the short prose narrative -> gathered from several texts o “The Philosophy of Composition” o “The Poetic Principle” o “Review of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales” Central aspects: o Constructed effect: writer is an artist who constructs art o Autonomy of art (art for art’s sake): no historical context o The beautiful: Art should be beautiful more than useful o Anti-imitation /anti mimesis: should create one effect/ emotion -> short prose narrative, read it as one, totality of effect and expression, unique and single effect, intensity, imagination, no diverse ray of topics and ideas -> one particular focus, very flat characters Thematic concerns o Gothic horror: mystery, rationalism, irrationalism, ruins, castles, haunted mansions, dusk, dawn, trap doors, death, undead, doppelgangers, etc. o Imp of the perverse: one of the primitive impulses of the human heart o Grotesque: putting together things that don’t go together -> grotesque effect, helplessness o World as enigma/ tale of ratiocination o Examples: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Imp of the Perverse, The Purloined Letter, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget o Important for future writers: Short story/fiction/ narrative -> Local color writing, Women’s writing 3. American Voices through the Civil War into the 20th Century 3.1 Interlude: American Transcendentalism Philosophical movement ca.1830-1860 (roughly same time period as romanticism) Concord, MA / Cambridge, MA / Harvard University -> Central role of New England and New England Cul- ture for the formation of American Literature in the first half of the 19 th century Center: Hedge Club/ Transcendental Club -> initiated by Frederick Henry Hedge Heterogeneous group of people working and living together rather than a school Name/term -> move towards new ways of living and thinking o Stress the connection with idealist philosophies (e.g., Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, 1788) o Stress on the willingness to transcend/ transgress (-> non-conformity) Framework for reform movements e.g. women`s movement or abolitionist movement Major representatives: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), e.g. "Nature" (1836), "The American Scholar" (1837), “Self-Reliance" (1841), … Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) George Ripley (1802-1880) > ed. The Dial Orestes A. Brownson (1803-1876) Elizabeth Peabody (1804-1894) Theodore Parker (1810-1860) William Henry Channing (1810-1884) William Ellery Channing (1817-1901) Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), e.g. Summer on the Lakes in 1843 (1844), Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), … Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), e.g. Little Women (1868), Little Men (1871) Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), e.g. Walden, or, Life in the Woods (1854), Resistance to Civil Government / Civil Disobedience (1849/1866), … Main publication platform: The Dial (1840-1844) a magazine -> heavily criticized by mainstream magazines for its intellectualism and its reformatory stances “An outbreak of Romanticism on Puritan soil” (Perry Miller) Diversity, hybridity, multivocality Major positions and concerns: o Dissent: From Mainstream/Popular American culture ▪ Literature: disagree with fireside poets and their patriotism, reject cultural imitation of Europe ▪ Social & political ideologies: anti-materialistic, call for simplicity, life with and in nature o Imagination: stress imagination over understanding o Language: medium which conveys the powers/ results of imagination o Self/ individualism: self-determined, self-reliant, self-confident Vs. reliance on God (no longer) Heruntergeladen von o The poet: individual with intensified imagination, special self-reliance o Nature: key element, mystic experiences, open book to be read, good, simplicity, beauty, Thoreau o Reformatory impulse: individual = source for a perfect society ▪ Fight against slavery ▪ Attacks on Indian removal policies ▪ Women’s movement ▪ Labor movement ▪ Attacks on technology and progress ideology ▪ Outcome: Communitarian, utopian experiments Brook Farm (1841-47): co-operative living experiment (Hawthorne lived there) Fruitlands (1844.45): vegetarian living/ tradition of agrarianism Influential for the 1960s 3.2 Women’s Movement(s) through the 19th Amendment Major ideological frameworks Continuing discrepancy -> foundational documents vs. Actual circumstances o No political rights, no opportunities for higher education, limited property rights, … Separation of spheres: male vs. female -> Man = rational, woman = irrational -> women confined to the domestic sphere, public sphere exclusively for men o Fanny Palmer and John Cameron: Four Seasons of Life (1868): Childhood: Season of Joy -> Youth: Sea- son of Love -> Middle Age: Season of Strength -> Old Age: Season of Rest Republican motherhood: Assumption that woman finds her fulfillment in the role of a mother -> Task = raise sons that will later be of service for the Republic (Irony: But how can she be inferior then?) Cult of true womanhood: piety, purity, submissiveness, domesticity o American version of Victorianism o Devine destiny of the woman: preservation of the home 3.3 Early Proponents of Women’s Rights Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672): poetry included female point of view, her wishes/ dreams… Abigail Adams (1735-1818): March 31, 1776 “Remember the Ladies” letter to her husband/ 2nd president o Discusses political issues from a woman’s standpoint, women`s view Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820): “On the Equality of Sexes” (1790) o Early conception of the idea that gender norms are social constructs o Claims that if there are intellectual differences between men and women it is because of the system men have created Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) leading feminist intellectual, equality for men and women o Criticizes men’s movements to liberate slaves while treating women badly o Criticizes claims of women as unstable for public positions but their “duties” of educating children and nursing Emergence of a women’s movement into the 19th century -> reform movement forms a close link to aboli- tionism -> larger struggle white/ black women participated in both Sarah Moore Grimké (1792-1873) Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919 Sojourner Truth, (17??-1883) Lucy Craft Laney (1854-1933) Angelina Grimké Weld (1805-1879) Fannie Barrier Williams (1855-1964) Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton; 1811-1872) Harriet Stanton Blatch (1856-1940) Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964) Lucy Stone (1818-1893) Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) Ida B. Wells Barnett (1862-1931) Charlotte L. Forten Grimké (1837-1914) Margaret Sanger (1883-1966) Blanche Kelso Bruce (1841-1898) Alice Paul (1885-1977) Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) o “Ain’t I a Woman?” (1851/1863) o Born in 1797 (real name: Isabella) as a slave to a Dutch-American, sold, wasn’t allowed to marry the man she wanted but forced to marry another slave, 5 children -> ran away in 1827 and changed her name o 1851: Sojourner Truth’s speech (Women’s Rights Convention, Akron Ohio) -> equal rights for African American Women -> several versions of the speech (1851: On Woman’s Rights, 1863: Ain’t I a woman -> most well-known version, changes in wording and accent) o Slogan for abolitionism: “Am I not a Man and a brother?”-> “Am I not a Woman and a sister?” Heruntergeladen von Climax of women’s movement in 1848: Seneca Falls (upstate NY) -> Convention o Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and Lucrecia Mott (1793-1880) o “Declaration of Sentiments”/ “Seneca Falls Declaration” (1848) ▪ First official statement of this sort ▪ Signed by 100 participants of the convention (68 Women, 32 men) ▪ Modelled after Declaration of independence ▪ Demands Right to vote ▪ Vs. law of coverture (goal: Married Women’s Property Act) o Loss of momentum in 1850s During Civil war o Women had to break up the domestic sphere because men had gone to war -> high expectation of women actually gaining the recognition they wanted o Disappointment of high expectations after war o See esp. Amendment #15 ▪ Civil war Amendments #13 prohibits slavery (1865) #14: citizenship -> all people born/ naturalized in the US (1868) #15: prohibits denial of suffrage because of race, color or previous servitude (1870) -> suf- frage for black men but no women (black men can vote) The American women’s movement 1869-1919 o Major national organizations o 1869: formation of two ▪ National Woman Suffrage Organization (NWSA) ▪ American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) o 1890: Merging of the two into: National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) ▪ E.g., Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): History of Woman Suffrage (1881) Developments o Voting rights in 1919: 19th constitutional amendment o Higher education: by 1900, women = 30% of college students o ‘new woman’ around 1910 -> term “feminism 3.4 Women’s fiction Popular women writers of the first half of the 19th century and the cultural work of sentimentality o David S. Reynolds: Beneath the American Renaissance (1988) looks at women writers, their works and their impact, also he had not considered them as central (even though they wrote bestsellers) o Jane Tompkins: Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860 (1985) studies women writers for their cultural work and political function Context: (growing) reading public for imaginative literature -> women, young people o “The feminization of American culture” (Ann Douglas 1977) o Women writers -> best-selling- 19th century o Hawthorne didn’t like this development -> “mob of damned scribbling women” o E.g., Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) Female protagonists o Not just personifications of virtue and morality o But also: adventure feminists, victims of violence, exploited slave women, female criminals, sexually liberated women Sentimental fiction -> means to achieve reforms o Power of sentimentality: affective -> political ▪ Stir the audience’s emotions in a certain way (to act politically and change the conditions shown) o Suffering, innocent victim -> protagonist ▪ Speak to the reader, make him react -> change has to happen o Strategy: reader should feel and sympathize o Bipolar structure -> melodramatic mode of writing, obvious contradictions o Formulaic/ stock scenes Heruntergeladen von Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) o One of the most popular examples of sentimental fiction with a political agenda o Suffering of black protagonist “uncle Tom” -> make the reader stand up against slavery o Humanization of the slave who was previously seen as property o Accusations of inaccuracy -> publication of a key of documents the story was based on Significance of popular/sentimental novels: o Women: more agency, women act in a wider sphere than just the domestic one o Women: moral superiority o Expose social conditions/ evils as male dominated o Perspectives on American history, criticize male dominated version of history Early 19th century sentimental/ domestic novels -> popular into the second half of 19th century o Yet: women writers moving beyond pattern ▪ Realistic ▪ “awakening”, a protagonist who awakens (sees what the female life is really like) ▪ Solidarity/ bonding A transnational phase between sentimental fiction and feminism (e.g., Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844-1911), Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1823-1902), Rebecca Harding Davis (1831-1919) o Extension of subject matter o New protagonists break with roles o Formal/ structural innovations o Between tradition and innovation American feminist fiction at the turn of the twentieth century o Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) o Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) o Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930) o Kate Chopin (1851-1904) ▪ Works: At Fault (1890), Bayou Folk (1894), A Night in Acadie (1897), The Awakening (1899) ▪ New the life of a stereotypical southerner (plantation), fulfilled all the social obligations as the wife of a successful businessman -> business of her husband failed -> operated a plantation and a farm ▪ Fiction Set in 19th century Louisiana Regionalism/local color Central theme (attacking male dominance) o Tradition vs convention o Individual’s (women’s) right to self-fulfillment ▪ Example: The storm (1898) Unpublished until 1969- edition of Chopin’s works Contradiction to constraining gender roles: woman falls in love with another man than her husband and commits adultery in her own home -> breaking of the domestic sphere Symbolically explicit representation of sexual encounter No ‘narrative condemnation’ -> no regrets Intersections- African American Women o Double burden of being a woman and being black -> intersectionality 3.5 Black history & Abolitionism The Black Experience through the Civil war General sense of (political) disillusion o American Revolution o Civil War (1861-65) -> 1863: Emancipation Proclamation, legal end of slavery, no end of discrimination Slavery and life under slavery o First slaves: 1619 Jamestown -> about 400 000 slaves to British North America before 1776 -> 1861: between 3,5 to 4 million slaves in southern states o Southern Plantation system o Non-existent legal status -> considered property, objects Heruntergeladen von o Slavery codes: statutes passed by states/counties, regulating all aspects of private and public life o Economic interests o Oral Tradition: work songs, codes -> were not allowed to learn how to read 3.6 African American Writing Integral part of American literature o Survival: will and need to survive under all circumstances o Feeling of oppression, dehumanization o Strong emphasizes on collectivity of experiences o Interrelations Whites – Blacks, intercultural encounters, racism o (African) heritage African American Poetry o Three early poets: ▪ Lucy Terry ▪ Jupiter Hammon ▪ Phillis Wheatly 1st published poetry by an African American woman, slave experience Allowed to educate herself -> imitated Eurocentric conventions Neo-classical, bible, latain / Greek -> peoms are neo-classical “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious & Moral”-> corpus of 46 poems Perspectives and concerns: race, gender, colonial/ postcolonial/ national perspective of Amer- ica, poetological / artist “On Being Brought from Africa to America” 1773 -> ambivalence, undertones, finding a voice, bicultural: 2 traditions o Embraces Christian values & beliefs o African-Americans as human beings & part of God’s family: statement of equality in reli- gious language -> one day we will be equal o Not able to speak up openly against whites o Works with puns between the lines -> harsh critic o Works with morality: attacks, moral traditions as “African traditions” Abolitionism: The movement against slavery o Emerged in the first half of the 19th Century ▪ 1831: New England Anti-Slavery society ▪ 1833: American Anti-Slavery Society o Central figure: William L. Garrison ▪ The Liberator (abolitionist newspaper) from 1831 onwards o Wave of Publications ▪ An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829) David Walker ▪ Uncle Tom’ Cabin (1852) H.B. Stowe o Orations/ Sermons ▪ Sojourner Truth ▪ Frederick Douglass o Folk Poetry, Spirituals, Secular Songs, Folktales o (Fugitive) Slave narratives, a slave who managed to escaped o Anti-slavery almanacs (often including visuals) Official end to slavery o Emancipation Proclamation (1863) o Fourteenth Amendment/ Civil War Amendments (late 1860s) 3.7 Black History and Abolitionism Slave Narrative o Genuinely American/ African American form without European predecessors -> ‘new canon’ o Most important literary form between revolution and Civil War 1760s : highly productive and political ▪ First examples: Briton Hammon (1760) John Marrant (1785) Olaudah Equiano (1789) o Written by a former slave or taken from a dictated manuscript (manipulation) o Became popular in 1840s-1850s -> abolitionism Heruntergeladen von o Indebted to diverse forms o Didactic: further the abolitionist movement o Individual -> collective “we” o Sometimes pseudonyms for reasons of protection o Structure: journey pattern in 3 stages: from South to North, from bondage to freedom and ultimately experiencing freedom o Stock scenes/ characters: typical scenes of slavery that come up again and again o Melodramatic: emphasizes victimization of protagonist -> want to move the reader into action o 2 major audiences: fellow slaves and white middle class (women) o Examples ▪ Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797): The Interesting Narrative (1789) -> first and widely read example ▪ Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): Narrative of the Life (1845)-> most popular and widespread ex- ample of a slave narrative Preface by Farrison -> shows political activism Internationally read Douglass as one of the main figures of the abolitionist movement Importance of education in relation to the search for freedom: the more educated he is, the more he realized he needs to be free ▪ Harriet A. Jacobs (1813-1897): Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) -> female perspective, intersectionality o Neo-Slave narratives -> a look at slavery after it was already abolished -> continuing impact of the topic ▪ Elizabeth Keckley (1818-1907) Behind the scenes; or Thirty years a slave and four years in the white house (1868) Enslaved for more than 30 years, managed to buy her freedom, got married and divorced -> became dressmaker with white clients, Jefferson Davis’ and Abraham Lincoln’s families Became close to Mary Lincoln -> Old Clothes scandal: Mary couldn’t afford the dresses after her husband’s death so she offered help to sell her work -> scandal -> Elizabeth became poorer and poorer so decided to publish her story- > remained poor o Further Beginnings of African American Fiction ▪ Frances E.W. Harper (1825-1911) ▪ William Wells Brown (1814-1884) ▪ Hannah Crafts ▪ Harriet E. Wilson ▪ Martin R. Delany ▪ Frank J. Webbs 3.8 Beyond the Civil War – Realism & Naturalism After Civil War Time of ambivalence: drawbacks and improvements “Gilden Age” -> named after Mark Twain’s novel of 1873, not actually about being golden but about mate- rialism Time of abolition of slavery and the liberation of enslaved people (“Emancipation Proclamation 1863) o Civil War Amendments: abolition of slavery, citizenship and right to vote for African American men o Segregation and racism (13, 14, 15) o Jim Crow Laws -> institutionalized segregation o 1896: Plessy vs. Ferguson: Supreme Court, segregation as constitutional (until -> 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education) 1862: Homestead act 160 acres of land to anyone who pays a 10 Dollar registration fee -> live on the land and cultivate it -> promote agrarian farm life Mississippi West largely appropriated in the largest migration of American history -> further development of infrastructure 1869: railroad from East to West was completed Industrial North defeated agrarian south = end of ‘Old South’ -> rise of industrial and capitalist North (de- partment stores, mail-order catalogs) Heruntergeladen von Mass immigration o Ellis Island 1892 -> east, European immigrants o Angel Island 1919 -> west, Asian immigrants o Multicultural society Ideology: Frederick Jackson Turner “The significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893) -> closed Declared the frontier (line between east and west) as closed Ideology: to keep people together o Frontier: considered as space where democracy was born, cradle of American virtues o Rise of the (white and male) Myth of the West -> prototypical Americans space Consequences: o Destruction of Native tribes and cultures o Social consequences: massive increase of factory workers -> exploitation o Growth of urban areas: overcrowded living spaces, poor 3.9 Local Color & American Realism Local color Forerunner of American realism, literature that represents legions, local color movement 1830s onward, full bloom 1870-1900 Local: o People: regional, common people, focus on their manners, customs, habits,… o Language: local dialects, expressions o History: tell history of specific places and peoples o Describes local landscape and nature Forms/ conventions: mostly brief prose (sketches, tails, short stories) Significance and politics o Regional empowerment: local color stories help empower other regions than the north East o Stereotypes -> African Americans o Feminist agenda: Chopin, Freeman, Jewett, Cooke o Social criticism o Impact on literary history o Region Representatives ▪ New England: Harriet Beecher Stowe ▪ South: Kate Chopin, Joel Chandler Harris o West: Mark Twain ▪ Midwest: Hamlin Garland ▪ New York: Brander Matthews American Realism 1860-1914 Post-Civil War America -> realistic, authentic representation Natural sciences Regions Realist modes in visual culture: photography (Mathew Brady: Civil War photographs -> constructions, nar- ration, physicality), by the late 1850s and 1860s: camera = mobile -> Immediacy, authenticity, objectivity American realist writers: diverse but have common concerns o Professional (can actually live from writing) o Representation = define and influence reality o Prefer ‘novel’ rather than romance: the probable, the ordinary, “novel of manners” o Rejection of formulaic endings o The individual in the center: complex, ordinary (no stock characters) o Immediate narration (character inside the story as narrator instead of authorial narrator) o Vernacular (common language) o Roland Barthe’s “reality effect”: not immediate mimesis, but verisimilitude -> realistic ≠ real (focus on likeness of stories: stories that could have happened) Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835-1910) o Born in Missouri but grew up with frontier experience o Boyhood adventures o Central and last representative of American Realism o Early humorist -> then: pessimist Heruntergeladen von o Mostly prose o Realist writer but foreshadowed Modernism The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin (1884) o Sequel to The adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) o Journey presented in episodic structure o Protagonist/narrator Huck: limited perspective of a young boy, not corrupted by society yet (innocent criticism of society), no moral guidance from an adult, own creation of his critical picture of society ▪ Makes the journey longer and more complicated than necessary -> panorama of society ▪ Rejection of civilization ▪ Symbolic humanization of slave (friendship with Jim, a runaway slave) ▪ Observation of heterogeneous antebellum society (before Civil War) ▪ Proto-typical American who doesn’t want to grow up -> free, individualist life o Friendship with Jim: presented as a human, retrospective attack on slavery, call: overcome racism o Controversy: Huck as stereotypical racist? Victim? o Reception ▪ More than juvenile literature: critique of American society ▪ Shelley Fisher Fishkin “Was Huck Black: Mark Twain and African-American Voices” (1993) Asks if Huck was modeled after a black child called Jim that Twain knew Change of perspective ▪ Percival Everett “James” (2024) Retelling “Huckleberry Finn” from Jim`s point of view Posed the question: But what if Jim had his say? 3.10 American Naturalism Term -> traced back to the writing of Èmile Zola in 1860s Around the same time as American Realism Attacks “smiling aspects of American life” that are analyzed by Realists -> criticizes realists as too positive Dislikes realist belief that people have free will and are self-determined -> naturalists believe in the deter- mination by outside factors Belief that society can’t improve -> rejection of the positive belief of a learning process for bettering one- self and society Major influences -> main belief: humans as products of their environment o Evolutionary, deterministic biology -> Darwinism o Social Darwinism: transfer of evolutionary biology to sociological analysis, survival of the fittest (only most adaptable and ruthless person will survive) o Sociological determinism: human being as the product of the environment o French naturalist writers, esp. Zola and Edmond and Jules Goncourt o Economic determinism Innovation “reality”: incomprehensive, overpowering, hostile environment (no trust in morality) o New/ different treatment of topics ▪ Survival: human struggle, hostile nature and society ▪ Taboos: animalistic instincts ▪ Inhumane living conditions (urban slums,..) -> Crane, Maggie ▪ Culture of consumption -> Dreiser, Sister Carrie o Protagonists: lower class, remain socially marginalized ,“morally flawed” people (villains, prostitutes, corrupt businessmen, …) -> unpunished, successful o New/different views of man/woman: determined, helpless, instincts/ desires/ existential needs Example: Jack London, “The Low of Life” (short story,1901) o Set in a natural environment o Natural laws: “Survival of the fittest”: old, weak man as part of a tribe that must go on a journey, they all accept his weakness as unchangeable law of nature -> decision: man will be left behind Further counter voices: critical perfectives on reality o Sociological analysis/ cultural criticism ▪ Thorstein Veblen, “Theory of the Leisure Class” (1899) Heruntergeladen von Conspicuous consumption: consumer society, but people are not satisfied with consuming without anybody watching -> consumption on display Critical theory on lifestyle of that time; helps interpret “Great Gatsby” o Social Photography ▪ Jacob Riis & Lewis Hine Riis, “How the Other Half Lives” (text/pictures) o Tackles reality -> poor living conditions o Critique impacts of photography -> photography: depicting problems o Accessible for many people o Sympathy vs. exploitation: factual/evidence o Snapshot vs construction o Arrangement: sentimental o Melodramatic structures 4. The Many American Modernisms and Beyond 4.1 From World War 1 through the 1920s and into the 1930s WW I – Contexts and Impacts Foreign politics: end of isolationism, internationalization of American politics Domestic: conservatism, American nationalism Collective mentality: central, traditional American ideologies o Sense of mission, America claims a special role in the world o City upon the hill (crusade for democracy) Lost Generation: disillusion, experience of war, disappointed 1920s: A time of Paradox tensions Not just the Golden/Roaring twenties but also period of traditionalism and conservatism (prohibition, fun- damentalism, conservatism) Pros -> modern technological consumer and mobile society o Economic prosperity -> culture of consumption (franchise systems, assembly line) o Technological innovation, mobility (electricity as symbol of modernity, electric home appliances, cars) o Mass media and celebrity culture (Radio shows, early age of Hollywood movies, 1927 sound in movies -> 1928: steamboat willie, first sound clip, magazines, sports) o Urbanization -> urban population outnumbers rural population o Redefinition of role of woman/ flapper -> more independence, sophisticated, sexual liberation Cons o Reactionary/ conservative climate o Prohibition: responsible for the rise of organized crime in America o Xenophobic movements ▪ Immigration restrictions (National Origins Act) ▪ Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy (revived 1915 after “officially” being dissolved since the 1970s) Griffith, “Birth of a Nation” 1915 -> racist movie about Civil War Tulsa Race Massacre 1921 -> Massacre of Black people in Tulsa Oklahoma ▪ Anti-Semitism (even with popular writers) o Religious fundamentalism and economic conservatism 1930s: Great Depression and New Deal: Social & Economic Crisis Oct. 24th 1929: Black Thursday -> stock market crash and collapse of banking system 1932: 25% unemployment (= 13 mill. People) vs in 1929 3% -> mass poverty and homelessness Effects and consequences: o Crisis: ideologies- economic- society o Drop in birth rates: slow population growth o Move to the West -> California as Dream Land o Situation gets worse for women and minorities o 1932 Watershed elections: Democrats/ F.D.R. (bold persistent experimentation) o New Deal (reorientation, reformation of American government and politics) -> Turn away from the individual, government intervention and responsibility in all areas Heruntergeladen von 4.2 American Modernism: Contexts and Contours Modernism =responses to modernization and modernity, different phases against and for modernization o Modernization= process of reorganization (social, political and political reorganizations and upheavals) o Modernity = experience and awareness (how you feel and begin to think) Different phases: o Precursors and beginnings (later) 19th century through 1910s ▪ Experimentation ▪ Beginnings in Europe, avantgarde, arts e.g. Armory Show, 1913 NYC -> radical destruction of tra- ditions and repressive conventions ▪ Pound, Stein, Eliot: American precursors ▪ Forerunners: Symbolism of Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, Whitman, Pound; Ambrose Bierce o High modernism: 1920s and 1930s ▪ Socalled masterworks ▪ Move away from experimentation -> appreciation of forms, structures, order ▪ Influenced by the apocalyptic experience of WWI and its aftermaths ▪ Eliot, Joyce, Faulkner, Dos Passos o Final phase->194 0s into 1950s ▪ Late works of masters/ repetition of what was once new ▪ Time of honors and awards e.g. Eliot, Faulkner, Hemingway (Nobel Price winners) Features and Frames International movement, with origins in Europe Intermedial: Different forms of cultural expression (not just literature) Generational conflict: reaction of a younger generation Disillusion/discontent -> Lost Generation Individual perspective of the work /subjectivity/ multiperspectivism: Time -> psychological time Complexity and difficulty in regard to content and style (complex reaction to a complex time) Brevity/ fragmentation/ openness: stream of consciousness technique Hybridity/collage Emotional detachment/irony: belief of emotions as destructive -> appearance of lack of emotion but actu- ally very strong emotions Social and cultural criticism: against consumerism and exploitation Language: focus on common language American Modernisms Two strains o American modernism -> Hugh Kenner, A Homemade World o Part of international movement (Stein/Pound/Elliot) Frames o Emerson, Whitman: early authors who were interested in individualism o Newness: America has always been interested in newness -> colonialists interpreted America as some- thing new o Breaking with conventions o Ambiguity: want to make everything new but for American literary tradition it is not so new after all (idea of newness has always been there, e.g. Early Texts about America) 4.3 Modernist Poetry Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) – “the mother of modernism” Grandmother of postmodernism, radical break with all traditions and a desire for something new, prose texts express and reflect modern life, T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) – “impersonal poetry” & “objective correlative” cosmopolitan modernist, poetry = escape from emotions/ personality, no absence but avoidance, Ezra Pound (1885-1972) “to make it new” participated in the international movement of Modernism -> in- fluential in conventions but problematic figure in political perspectives o Totalitarian, fascist views (fan of Mussolini), antisemitic, censorship o Intertextuality: aspects from different kinds of texts o Direct treatment of topics, precision, clarity, sincerity Heruntergeladen von o Economy of words: use no words that do not contribute to the presentation o Musical phrase: natural rhythms and language, free verse o Freedom and anti-conventionalism o Imagism: an image is what presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time ▪ Marks the beginning of Modernist Poetry ▪ Central idea: Poetry should focus on the expression of one single image Associative process Epiphany moment ▪ “In a Station of The Metro” (1913/1916) “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” o Experience of everyday life in Paris o People in crowd: not really individuals, no individual expressions, only mass of people o Faces without individual traces are like image of nature o Double image: urban & nature o Associative: see something and associated to something else o No explanation, just image Authors of “American Modernism” (Homemade Modernism) returned to America after short period in Eu- rope o Marianne Moore (1887-1972) o Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) o (Edward Estlin) E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) o William C. Williams (1883-1963) o Robert Frost (1873-1963): most outstanding, influenced by modernism without caring to “go mod- ern” in the sense of joining the revolution, reaction to problems of time in his own way: traditional, counter movement to cosmopolitan modernism ▪ “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” Rural (and urban) nature: village Local color: interested in American nature Homemade: American world Concrete images/ the everyday/ direct treatment Language: concrete, direct, simple, traditional Narrative, telling a story Realistic, neo-romantic, classical (rhyme, stanzas) 4.4 Modernist Fiction The Lost Generation -> coined by Gertrude Stein o Desire for change, newness but also postwar disillusionment, bitterness o Dominant age group between 1920s & 1950s o WW1 wound as collective experience Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) o Part of the Lost Generation: personal experience of WW1 influences writers of the time o Personal response to WW1: “Hemingway code hero” ▪ Particular character that comes up in Hemingway’s stories ▪ Defined by stoicism, courage ▪ Emotionless acceptance of reality and hardships of life ▪ Underneath: disillusion, irony, detachment that hides emotions, artificial distance ▪ “hard-boiled stye”: simple, cold hearted, free of adornments ▪ Precision (comparable to objective correlative) ▪ Iceberg theory: theory of omission -> reader has to fill in the gaps, no exact description of emo- tion but plot, objects evoke them -> not actually a simple story, only looks simple on the surface ▪ Setting contributes to simplicity -> symbolic for inward Decontextualization: we don’t really know the exact place -> symbolic Short stories and novels o Example “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” (1926/33): setting of the café and an old man sitting in it, deaf -> not participating and understanding what is going in in the world, tried to commit suicide, Heruntergeladen von F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) o The Great Gatsby (1925) ▪ Self-made man: through imagination, not hard work -> show off wealth to impress a woman -> conspicuous consumption o Lost generation/ expatriates -> Paris experience o Jazz Age/ Roaring 20s -> America/ New York John Dos Passos (1896-1970) o Participated in WW1 o From communist to American conservative o U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), The Big Money (1936) o Simultaneous chronicle: authenticity o Intermediality: cinematic techniques & modernist fiction o Golden Twenties -> not golden William Faulkner (1897-1962) o The Sound and the Fury (1929) o Historical legacy of the South, guilt of the South o Talks about race, gender and sexuality o Multiperspectivism, subjectivity, stream of consciousness 4.5 Modernist Theatre Provincetown Players: o Bigsby: “birth of 20th-century American drama” ▪ Group of innovative young playwrights, actors, stage designers, directors -> a community some 30 “members”, against entertainment system of the 19th century -> newness, experimental o 1915: “Wharf Theater” - Provincetown, Massachusetts, (Cape Cod) -> 1916 in New York City Selected Plays: o Susan Glaspell, Trifles; Alison‘s House; Suppressed Desires (with Cook) o Eugene O‘Neill, Bound East for Cardiff; Emperor Jones o George Cram Cook, Change Your Style o Edna St. Vincent Millay, Aria da Capo against: o commercialized Broadway o theater and star system o sentimental melodrama o sensationalist drama o exaggerated 'realistic' stage settings for: o artistic drama o innovative/ experimental forms o psychological dispositions o sincere acting - “plays of true feeling” o simple but symbolic stage settings agenda of the Provincetown Players o One-act play Edward Bierstadt: “the one-act play demands complete unity of thought, and any change in the time or place during the action tends to destroy this unity” (1923) o e.g. Susan Glaspell, Trifles (1916) -> agenda of the new woman, extreme characters ▪ Detective story: woman who probably killed her husband, group of people that try to solve the case, feminist story -> men cannot solve it, but women do, solidarity, don’t tell men, started at the end (= the murder), female boding, psychological o Political plays from the Harlem Renaissance: historical pageants, melodrama, political one-act plays More modernist theater: political plays from the Harlem Renaissance political plays from the Harlem Renaissance political one-act plays / historical pageants, e.g. W.E.B. DuBois, “The Star of Ethiopia” folk sketches, (1911,1913,1915) Langston Hughes, “Don’t You Want to be Free” o e.g. Mary Burrill, “They That Sit in Darkness” (1919) (1937) o Jean Toomer, “Balo” (1922/1924) melodrama, e.g. Angelina Weld Grimké, “Rachel” (1916) o Georgia D. Johnson, “A Sunday Morning in the South” (1925) o Georgia D. Johnson, “Plumes” (1928) o Marita Bonner, “The Purple Flower” (1928) o May Miller, "Harriet Tubman" (1935) o Shirley Graham, "It's Morning“ (1940) Heruntergeladen von 4.6 Pluralization Contexts o Mass immigration late 19th/ early 20th century: development of strong ethnic groups/ neighborhoods that show ethnic pride and social self-association o Nationalist sentiments in wake of WW1 and xenophobic sentiments in 1920s ▪ Melting pot: not progressive, belief that people that come to America have to be willing to shed their cultural identity and adopt the Anglo-American culture o Early concepts of cultural pluralism o Growing body of ethnic and immigrant literature -> diverse movements and experiences (Asian American, Mexican American, Jewish America, …) Randolph S. Bourne (1886-1918) esp. Transnational America (1916) o Old elite/ immigrants (conservatism, from England) vs. new immigrants -> obvious contrast, old immi- grants expect all new immigrants to become like them, he sees no justification for that o His vision of a future America: ability to retain distinctiveness, pluralism, diversity, multiculturalism o Still very strong America centrism, exceptionalist Horace M. Kallen (1882-1974) o German-Jewish background o 1924 -> coined term “cultural pluralism” o Rejection of undue assimilation/ melting pot o America/American democracy should be pluralistic, transnational (mosaic) o Cultural pluralism! “symphony”/ ”Orchestration” -> diverse voices that create one symphony Mary Antin (1881-1949), Promised Land (1912) o Jewish American perspective o Immigrant perspective Zitkála- Šá “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” o Europeanized name (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) o Violent confrontations of whites on indigenous people 4.7 Harlem Renaissance African American literature and culture, beginning of the century - 1940s, climax 1920s Harlem = Northern Part of Manhattan -> most blacks had migrated here after 1914 -> center Social reality: overcrowding, poverty, high infant mortality, discrimination, segregation, … White patrons: finance black artists -> influence/ need of pleasing the patron Renaissance: hints at fact that there has been previous culture but suppressed, idea of rebirth Counters any arguments that black art and culture is not important, equal part of American literature, cu

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