Handout 2
The Forming of a National Literature
18th century: The Age of Politics Follows the Age of Theology (17th c.)
 A break with the mother country, resulting in the War of Independence (1775-1783)
 Practical-political tendency
 social, political, geographical, literary changes, the influence of Enlightenment
 multiplicity of religion: Calvinism (Puritans), Quakerism, Deism, Unitarianism.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
 "father of all Yankees", a self-made man
 practical instructions to moral education:
◦ Poor Richard's Almanac,
◦ The Way to Wealth (a collection of proverbs and aphorisms),
◦ Autobiography (himself as example)
Major texts of the 18th century: autobiographies, journals, essays, articles, political
documents, sermons. Fiction appears towards the end of the century.
Four classics: B. Franklin: The Autobiography; Thomas Jefferson: Notes on the State of
Virginia; John Woolman: The Journal; J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur: Letters from an
American Farmer
Bestsellers: B. Franklin’s Poor Richard's Almanack (“The Way to Wealth”), Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense;
Political texts: B. Franklin: “Rules by which a Great Empire May be Reduced to a Smaller
One” (1774); Thomas Paine: Common Sense (1776); Thomas Jefferson: “Summary View of
the Rights of British America”; The Declaration of Independence (1776).
Drama: Royall Tyler’s The Contrast (1787);
Poets of transition: Philip Freneau, William Cullen Bryant, Joel Barlow;
Fiction: Hugh Henry Brackenridge: Modern Chivalry (published in parts: 1792-1815)
Charles Brockden Brown: Alcuin: A Dialogue (1798); Wieland; or the Transformation
(1798); Ormond (1799); Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker (1799)
Beginnings of 19th century: The Age of Early Republicanism
The forming of an independent national literature – the frontier as a forming factor
National literature:
 Patriotic task
 American topic combined with English highbrow style
 Aim: documentation and symbolism
 What is English periphery becomes American mainstream
Handout 2
Washington Irving (1783-1859): “The Father of American Literature”
 Used pseudonyms, Diedrich Knickerbocker, Geoffrey Crayon; First American writer
acknowledged abroad, but felt out of place in America as an author. Spent 17 years in
Europe
 The History of New York (1809) by Diedrich Knickerbocker
◦ turning fact into fiction; grotesque-humorous piece about the colony-founding
Dutch ancestors
 The Scetch Book (1818)
◦ includes he famous stories “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
◦ Peacefulness of Dutch communities contrasted with the noisy bustle of American
towns.
◦ It is not possible to write in a country where there are no legends or superstitions.
◦ Used European sources for tales.
◦ elements of the Gothic)
◦ international standard, breaking with puritanism, humor, as opposed to:
James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
Ambiguous, critical
New topic: tried to use American sources (esp. history) although there was a “poverty” of
materials. Turned to nature and pioneers as a subject
New national hero: Natty Bumppo (Leatherstocking: a scout and hunter; the gentleman of the
forest) + the noble savage
Romantic, Rousseauist concept
Major themes: conquest of the wilderness, the destruction of the native population, the
formation of a new type of white population
The Deerslayer 1841 - young hero, hunter, helps the white travellers
The Last of the Mohicans 1826 - best structure; war of Indians and whites
The Pathfinder 1840 - middle aged hero, love story
The Pioneers 1823 - aging hero leaves civilisation and goes to wilderness
The Prairie 1827 - 90-year-old trapper dies
Conclusion
The forming of a national hero in American literature takes place in 3 stages:
1. B. Franklin in Autobiography,
2.The Dutchman in Irving's writings,
3. The frontiersman in Cooper's novels.
Cooper's self-contradictory philosophy continues in transcendentalism, trying to solve the
problems of wilderness vs. civilization and individual vs. society.
The American Renaissance – the classical literary period in American literature between
1845-1855, when many notable poets, writers appeared on the literary scene (Poe, Hawthorne,
Melville, the Transcendentalists, etc.)