ETI 309-Introduction to Contemporary
Western Literature
Outline of American Literature
Early American and Colonial Period to 1776
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American literature begins with the orally transmitted
myths, legends, tales, and lyrics of native American
cultures.
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There was no written literature among the more than 500
different native American languages and tribal cultures
that existed in North America before the first Europeans
arrived.
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Native American stories glow with reverence for nature
as a spiritual as well as physical mother. Nature is alive
and endowed with spiritual forces; main characters may
be animals or plants, often totems associated with a
tribe, group, or individual.
Early American and Colonial Period to 1776
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The first European record of exploration in America is in a
Scandinavian language.
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The Old Norse Vinland Saga recounts how the
adventurous Leif Eriksson and some wandering Norsemen
settled briefly somewhere on the northeast coast of
America in the first decade of the 11th century.
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The first known contact between the Americas and the rest
of the world began with the voyage of an Italian explorer,
Christopher Columbus, in 1492, funded by the Spanish
rulers Ferdinand and Isabella.
Early American and Colonial Period to 1776
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The first colony was set up in 1585 at Roanoke, off the
coast of North Carolina. It was carefully recorded by
Thomas Hariot in A Briefe and True Report of the NewFound Land of Virginia (1588).
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The second colony, Jamestown, was established in
1607; it endured starvation, brutality, and misrule, but the
literature of the period depicts America as the land of
riches and opportunity.
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In the 17th century, pirates, adventurers, and explorers
opened the way to a second wave of permanent
colonists, bringing their wives, children, farm
implements, and craftsmen's tools.
Early American and Colonial Period to 1776
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The Plymouth Colony was established in 1620.
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Revolting against religious oppression, Puritans in
England participated in the Great Migration and
founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630.
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The Middle Colonies (present-day states of New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) were
characterized by vast diversity.
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The last of the Thirteen Colonies, Georgia Colony, was
established in 1733.
Early American and Colonial Period to 1776
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Puritan style of literature varied from complex
metaphysical poetry to journals and religious history,
but the themes remained constant:
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life was seen as a test
failure in that test meant eternal damnation
the world was seen as an arena of constant battle
between God and Satan.
By 1700’s religious dogmatism began to be replaced
by the spirit of toleration and religious freedom.
Formation of the United States of America 1776-1789
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The Thirteen Colonies began a rebellion against the
British rule in 1775, proclaimed their independence on
July 4, 1776, and constituted the first thirteen states of
the USA.
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1783 Treaty of Paris acknowledged of the US as an
independent nation.
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Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was
ratified on March 1, 1781; it was replaced by the
Constitution in 1789 and George Washington became
the first president of the US.
Formation of the United States of America 1776-1789
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The United States Bill of Rights was ratified on
December 1791 to guarantee individual liberties (The
first ten amendments of the Constitution).
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The American Revolution also led to nationalistic
hopes for a great new literature, which became an
obsession.
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James Cooper (Leather-Stocking Tales), Washington
Irving were two of the first great American writers.
Westward Expansion 1789-1849
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With The Lousiana Purchase in 1803, French presence
from the Western border was removed.
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Slave importation from Africa became illegal in 1808.
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The Monroe Doctrine (1823) proclaimed the United
States' opinion that European powers should no longer
colonize or interfere in the Americas.
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Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in the forced
migration of several native tribes to the West.
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The discovery of gold in California in 1848 led to the
Gold Rush 0f 1849.
New England Romanticism and Transcendentalism
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The Romantic movement reached America around
1820; romantic ideas centered around the spiritual and
aesthetic dimension of nature, and the importance of
the individual mind and spirit; a major theme was the
development of the self.
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Closely linked to the Romantic movement was
transcendentalism, embodied by Ralph Waldo
Emerson (Nature-1836) and Henry David Thoreau
(Walden, or Life in the Woods-1854)
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Transcendentalism was a liberal philosophy favoring
nature over formal religious structure, individual insight
over dogma, and humane instinct over social
convention.
Civil War Era 1849-1865
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The irreconcilable differences (about government,
economy, and slavery) between the North and the South
began to emerge in mid-19th century.
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After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860,
eleven states withdrew from the union and established a
rebel government in 1861, the Confederate States of
America.
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The Civil War, which erupted when the Confederacy
attacked the Border States, ended in 1865 with the
victory of the union.
Civil War Era 1849-1865
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Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass-1855) expressed the
country’s democratic spirit (“Song of Myself” the most
original poem ever written by an American)
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Emily Dickinson and her poetry provide a link between
her era and the literary sensitivities of the 20th century.
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Along with Whitman and Dickinson, Herman Melville
(The Moby Dick), Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet
Letter), and Edgar Allen Poe (Narrative of Arthur Gordon
Pym) represent the first great literary generation
produced in the United States.
Rise of Industrialization 1865-1890
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13th Amendment outlawed slavery; 14th Amendment
guaranteed citizenship for everyone born or naturalized
in the US territories; 15th Amendment granted the right
to vote for everyone, regardless of race.
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Ku Klux Klan (KKK) emerged in the 1860’s and was
declared a terrorist group in 1870.
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American industry expanded dramatically; per capita
income became second only to that of Britain.
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Large wave of immigration both provided cheap labor
for the growing industries and created diverse
communities.
The Rise of Realism
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As industrialization grew, so did alienation.
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Mark Twain (pen name for Samuel Clemens) wrote
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; his style was based
on realistic, colloquial American speech, unlike early
19th-century American writers who tended to be
flowery (to prove that they could write as elegantly as
the English).
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Henry James (The American-1877, Daisy Miller-1879,
The Portrait of a Lady-1881, The Bostonians-1886, The
Ambassadors-1903) was noted for his themes
revolving around relationships between naïve
Americans and Cosmopolitan Europeans, feminism
and social reform.
Progressive Era 1890-1918
Post-War Era 1918-1940
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Large population and industrial growth led US to rise to
international power, both economically and militarily.
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US entered into WWI in 1917; in the post-war period,
business flourished and the successful prospered
beyond their wildest dreams.
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Prohibition that began in 1919 led to the proliferation of
illegal bars and nightclubs, featuring jazz music,
cocktails and daring attire.
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College enrollment doubled in the 1920’s and
Americans of the “Roaring Twenties” loved
entertainment, moviegoing, automobile touring and the
radio.
Modernism and Experimentation
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Ernest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises-1926, A Farewell
to Arms-1929, The Old Man and the Sea-1952) Scott
Fitzgerald (This Side of Paradise-1920, The Great Gatsby1925) dealt with themes such as the extravagance and
disillusionment of “the lost generation” of the period, and
the American dream.
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William Faulkner (The Sound of the Fury-1929, As I Lay
Dying-1930, Absalom, Absalom!-1936) experimented with
narrative chronology, different points of view and voices.
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The poetry by T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, as well as the
drama of Eugene O’Neill (Desire Under the Elms-1924,
The Iceman Cometh-1946) and Arthur Miller (All My Sons1947, Death of a Salesman-1949) are also well-known.
Post-War Era 1918-1940
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The revolution in Russia led to real fears of communism
in the US.
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KKK grew to more than 4,5 million members by 1924.
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Immigration Act of 1924 restricted foreign immigration.
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The Wall Street Crash of 1929 led to the Great
Depression; Roosevelt created the New Deal to restart
the economy and to help victims of the depression;
despite rapid recovery, unemployment remained high
until the 1940’s.
World War II 1940-1945
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The US cut off oil and raw material supplies to Japan;
Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor naval
base on December 7, 1941; four days later Germany
declared war on the US.
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The war with Germany ended on May 8, 1945, following
the surrender of Germany.
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Harry Truman became the president after Roosevelt’s
death; the US decided to use nuclear weapons to end
the conflict with Japan; two atomic bombs were dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Contemporary Period
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US emerged as one of the two superpowers from the
WWII; the membership of the US to the UN marked the
end of its isolationism toward more international
involvement.
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The Cold War began between the US and Russia; series
of conflicts, including the Korean War, ensued.
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During John F. Kennedy’s administration, the Cold War
reached its peak with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
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The Civil Rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr,
gained momentum in the 1960’s.
Contemporary Period
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Cold War continued until the collapse of communism in
1991; the US emerged as the world’s remaining
superpower after the the fall of the Soviet Union.
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The US entered the Vietnam War, which eventually cost
the lives of 58,000 American troops.
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Nixon administration ended with the political scandal of
Watergate.
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The US continued to become involved in military action
overseas with the 1991 Gulf War.
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AIDS epidemic spread fast through the 1980’s.
Contemporary Period
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During the 1990’s, the US began to face terrorist attacks
from Islamist terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida.
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On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists hijacked four
airliners, two of which crashed into the twin towers of the
World Trade Center, and one into the Pentagon.
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US Department of Homeland Security was created to
lead and coordinate counter-terrorism activities
Contemporary Literature
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The “Beat poets” emerged in the 1950’s, inspired by jazz, Eastern religion, and the
wandering life. The nucleus of the Beat movement:
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Jack Kerouac (On the Road-1957)
Alan Ginsberg (“Howl”)
William Burroughs (The Naked Lunch-1959)
Beat poetry was oral, repetitive and it might be viewed as the great-grandparent of
rap music; it was the most anti-establishment form of literature in the US.
Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar-1963)
Arthur Miller (All My Sons, Death of a Salesman)
Tennesse Williams (The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire)
Ralph Ellison (The Invisible Man-1952)
Saul Bellow (Dangling Man-1944, The Victim-1947)
John Cheever
John Updike
Norman Mailer
Toni Morrison
Amy Tan
Richard Ford
Sherman Alexie