American Literature

A lot of information in a short amount of time—pay close attention and take notes!

In the beginning…

There was Columbus. He was a greedy entrepreneur who encouraged the slavery of American Indians. On the bright side, he had cute names for his ships, and, luckily for Asia, never reached his intended destination.

We had a very active century of exploration.

The Spaniards swarmed over the New World like crazy, some thought they had a religious duty to bring “enlightenment” to the savages, but most came to take their lunch money.

When the rest of the world saw what Spain had going, they were eager to get their share.

The game begins…

France concentrated on the Mississippi region but never did seem to make their colonization work well.

England had profitable colonies in the Caribbean, and, as an afterthought, had a few places in North America. They also raided Spanish ships full of gold and silver.

Portugal looked further south. Brazil was their big prize.

Tough time for American Indians Between the genocide and diseases

like smallpox, the native population (which was already weakened just before the Europeans visited) didn’t have much of a chance.

Had the Europeans tried this 150 years prior, they may have had a much more difficult time in “colonizing.”

Religion

If you have learned in the past that folks came to America to make a safe haven for all religions, you have been misled.

Puritans and Quakers came here because they were being persecuted in other countries. The Puritans had NO intention of creating a place where anyone but Puritans would be welcome.

What about writing?

Being greedy for land and gold is fairly time-consuming.

Slaughtering a few million Indians takes a while.

Staying alive in a harsh physical environment requires that you pay attention.

Writing in America took a backseat. We have a few journals and “histories” but little else.

Writing cont.

There was some religious writing as well. It generally is not the most enjoyable stuff to read unless you are heavily into damnation and complex syntax.

Cotton Mather was a remarkable intellect. We will read (or try to read) a passage from one of his works.

Names to know

Hernan Cortez Sir Francis Drake John Smith William Bradford Anne Bradstreet (one of the few real

writers) Jonathan Edwards

Pre-Revolutionary Period

There was not yet a real American literature—was all about Europe.

Politics took up a lot of the creative energy of the time

Neo-classic outlook—Jefferson, Franklin, Patrick Henry, etc.

Closely allied philosophically with French revolutionaries.

Post-revolutionary period

Things began to settle down Birds could sing, bugs could buzz and

writers could write. Artists began looking for an American

identity. Washington Irving, James Fenimore

Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe

Authors

Irving—well respected internationally Cooper—had his moments as a writer

but basically a hack Poe—most things you think you know

about him are wrong

Beginning of a period of optimism

With the Louisiana Purchase, suddenly we are a huge country.

We whipped the British again in 1812 We started to develop in many

important ways: communication, transportation, industry, shipping,

On the other hand, we still dressed funny

Optimism cont. There was an idea that became

popular in the 1830s and 1840s known as Manifest Destiny—the proposition that we have a god-given right (some even said obligation) to occupy this continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The corollary to this was that if you got in our way (Indians, Mexicans, English, Russians, etc.), we have the right to remove you.

Still more optimism

So we had this shiny new army sitting around that needed to kill some folks

The first country that made us angry was Mexico. So we invaded Mexico, a country that was not even close to prepared for the fight. It was like beating up the little, blind, one-legged girl in your class and declaring it a great victory. To make matters worse, we got Texas in the deal.

Transcendentalism

Given this spirit of optimism and American infallibility, it is not surprising that a philosophy like transcendentalism came forth.

It has it basis in European romanticism and in Oriental religion

It was not practiced by many; however, it was talked about a lot and was important to the development of American literature.

Characteristics of transcendentalism

“God” is the oversoul Everyone (with the possible exception

of some IB sophomores) has a little bit of the oversoul within them

Each person can and should pursue their own truth

The past is so 500 yr. ago. Start fresh.

Transcendentalist authors

Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau Emily Dickinson (she wasn’t as cool

because she only had two names)

Some other big name authors (American romanticism)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (Scarlet Letter) Herman Melville (Moby Dick) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(Evangeline)