The Isms in American Literature w American Studies Program w Skeletal Outline Presentation.
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Transcript of The Isms in American Literature w American Studies Program w Skeletal Outline Presentation.
The Isms in American Literature
American Studies Program Skeletal Outline Presentation
Essential Questions:
What defines a literary movement?
Essential Questions: How does literature reflect
social climate?
Essential Questions:
How does literature and an understanding of its chronology and themes show how we as a people, came to be who we are today?
Pre- and Early Colonialism to 1776 Colonialism was a way of
life based on the belief that the Bible was the Word of God.
•Religion should permeate every phase of living.
•Man’s only purpose is to glorify God.
•Every action, including writing, should further this objective. Hours spent writing were taken away from important tasks such as plowing fields or praying.
Pre- and Early Colonialism
Writing must serve a practical purpose.
1. Relate the experiences of the settlers and attract interest in the colonies, such as John Smith’s General History.2. Discuss problems dealing with right and wrong (aids to worship), such as Samuel Sewall’s diaries and Edward Taylor’s poetry.3. Writing should be utilitarian, unless it imitated English models.
Pre- and Early Colonialism
Typical Colonial Writers:Anne Bradstreet
“To My Dear and Loving Husband”
“Upon the Burning of Our House” Jonathan Edwards
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God”
Edward Taylor
“Huswifery”
“Upon What Base?”
Pre- and Early Colonialism
Typical Colonial Writers:
William Bradford (Of Plymouth Plantation)Chapter 9
Of their voyage, and how they passed the sea, and of their safe
arrival at Cape Cod September 6. These troubles being blown over, and now all being compact together in one ship, they put to sea again with a prosperous wind, which continued divers days together, which was some encouragement unto them; yet according to the usual manner many were afflicted with sea sickness. And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence. There was a proud and very profane young man, one of the sea-men, of a lusty, able body, which made him the more haughty; he would always be condemning the poor people in their sickness, and cursing them daily with grievous execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end, and to make merry with what they had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curseand swear most bitterly. But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a
desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard.
Neoclassic Literature 1776-1820 Neoclassicism is a conscious attempt by
writers to interpret the form and ideals of ancient works, especially from Greece and Rome.
Neoclassical writers stressed logic, order, correctness, and dignity.
Wrote primarily about social life and social interactions.
Characteristics of Neoclassic Lit.
• Clarity, simplicity, and directness.• Dignity and logic.• Formality--correct form.• Didacticism- the use of works of art to convey
moral, social, educational or political messages. A didactic work is one in which the artistic values of the work are subordinated to the message or meaning.
Characteristics continued…
• Didactic purpose: man can reach perfection if he learns the laws of nature (natural law).
• Man needs freedom to study natural laws (hence, emphasis on self-government).
• Often, neoclassical writers were satirists.
Terms to know:
virtue, aphorism, maxims, hyperbole
Typical Neoclassical Writers
Benjamin Franklin
• The Autobiography• Poor Richard’s
Almanac• Maxims/Aphorisms
Typical Neoclassical Writers
Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of
Independence The Constitution of
the United States
Typical Neoclassical Writers
Phillis Wheatley• “To His Excellency General Washington”
Patrick Henry• “Speech in the Virginia Convention”
Thomas Paine• The Crisis
Romanticism, Transcendentalism
and Anti-Transcendentalism
1820-1860 Essayists and Poets
Romanticism Romanticism is both an attitude and a
literary style.• It represents a reaction against the formality of
neoclassicism.• Imagination, fancy (in the sense of “fanciful”),
individualism and revolt against tradition are elements of romanticism.
Chief Characteristic: emphasis on emotion and imagination.
Romanticism Characteristics
• 1. Rebellion against the past, rules, orthodoxy, etc. (not as a subject…the past is often chosen)
• 2. A tendency toward inspiration (vs. classics) as subject and method.
• 3. A concern with the individual, especially the author. (hence, emphasis on personal emotion)
• 4. An interest in untamed nature.• 5. An encouragement of the reader’s
imagination.
Romanticism Typical Romantic Writers
Edgar Allan Poe
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville
Romanticism Typical Romantic Writers
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• John Greenleaf Whittier
• James Russell Lowell
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
Untamed Nature
Beauty
Imagination
Fancy
Transcendentalism Transcendentalism was one aspect of
romanticism. Definition: Transcendentalism is a philosophy
which holds that basic truths can be reached through intuition rather than reason.• Basic truths of the universe lie beyond the
knowledge we obtain through our senses.• People must go beyond or transcend what their
reason and senses tell them.
Transcendentalism Transcendentalists stress:
• Beauty of nature• Essential divinity of all people• Primary importance of the human spirit.
Leading American Transcendentalists:
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Henry David Thoreau
Anti-Transcendentalism
Based on three major principles:• Nature is indifferent, unforgiving, and often
unexplainable.• People posess the potential for both good and
evil.• The truths of existence are elusive.
Ant-Transcendentalism Basic Traits:
• Pessimistic• Arrogant• Fear of nature • Evil/mysterious side of nature• Villain• Selfishness• Tragic ending• Fiction
Ant-Transcendentalist Writings
Moby Dick The Scarlet Letter~Herman Melville ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Pit and the Pendulum ~Edgar Allan Poe
The Rise of Realism, Regionalism, Local Color
1860-1914
Realism
Realism is a general term applied to any literary work which shows life as it is.
Realistic writers show both the positives and the negatives in life.
Realism is a reaction against romanticism, especially its subjects: the past, nature, etc.
The subject of the realist is the ordinary person or event.
Realism
The romantic realist presents life as s/he finds it, but generally seeks out the pleasant side of life Or tempers the unpleasant by • his own emotional feelings
• Bret Harte in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat ”
• Or his nostalgic recollections• Mark Twain in Adventures of
• Huckleberry Finn
Realism Some characteristics of realism:
• 1. The focus is on the present.• 2. The emphasis is on character and motivation
rather than plot.• 3. The realist emphasizes facts.• 4. Specific details are important.
The local color movement was part of Realism. Regionalism is an example of Realism.
Realism
Other Typical Writers:
Anzia Yezierska
Willa Cather
Walt Whitman
Naturalism/Muckraking
Naturalism
Naturalism is an extreme of Realism which examines life with more objectivity than the “life as it is” technique of Realism.
Naturalism
The subject of naturalism is usually a social problem or vice. • 1. Characters are often “type” characters--they
represent the vice or weakness of a group, so their lives and backgrounds are presented in great detail.
• 2. Determinism may be a part of naturalism. (Biological determinism = man’s actions are determined by heredity and he has little choice in his own destiny.)
Naturalism
Characteristics of naturalism include: 1. Objectivity
• The author does not judge his characters; rather, he places them in situations where they behave in certain ways.
2. Candor (reaction against Victorianism)• Man and woman should be studied to discover their deeper instincts.
• According to a naturalist, fear, hunger, and sex are the three strongest drives.
Naturalism
Characteristics of naturalism include: 3. Philosophy of Determinism
• A) A complex view that man is a victim, esp. the view that man is an animal, helpless against fate.
• B) The philosophy may take three forms:
• i. Sociological emphasis (Sinclair’s The Jungle)
• ii. Mechanistic philosophy (Dreiser’s Sister Carrie)
• iii. Fatalism (Crane’s “The Open Boat”)
Naturalism
Characteristics of naturalism include: 4. A bias toward pessimism in selecting
details (e.g., typical settings are slums, sweatshops, factories, etc.)
5. A bias in the selection of characters.• A) marked physical but small intellectual activity.
• B) excited, neurotic temperament
• C) strong characters whose wills are broken
Naturalism
D. Naturalism is sometimes (not always) socialistic or radical in politics.
Naturalism
D. Typical naturalistic writers:
Sherwood Anderson
Ernest Hemingway Jack
London
Modernism
The Modern Self• The chief characteristic of the self is alienation.• The modern self is often unable to act, feel or
express love.• The modern self has a tormented recollection
of the past.
Modernism
Themes of Modern Literature• Collectivism versus individualism• Anxiety regarding the past• Historical discontinuity• Disillusionment• Violence and alienation
Modernism
Themes of Modern Literature• Decadence and decay• Loss and despair• Breakdown of social norms and cultural
sureties• Race and gender relations• Sense of place, local color
Modernism
Stylistic Innovations• A disruption of original syntax and form
• Stream of consciousness- presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without regard for chronological sequences or traditional syntax
Modernist Writers
Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises
The Old Man and the Sea
A Farewell to Arms
T.S. Eliot
Prufrock and Other Observations
The Waste Land
F. Scott FitzgeraldTender is the Night
The Great Gatsby
Postmodernism The Difference between Modernism and
Postmodernism• Modernism presents a fragmented view of human
subjectivity, and presents that fragmentation as tragic, something to be mourned as a loss
• Postmodernism still represents a fragmented view of human subjectivity, BUT does NOT lament the idea of fragmentation or incoherence. The world is meaningless? Let’s not pretend that literature can make meaning then, let’s just play with nonsense.
Allen Ginsberg
Toni Morrison
Gwendolyn Brooks
Postmodern Writers
Essential Questions:
What defines a literary movement?
Essential Questions: How does literature reflect
social climate?
Essential Questions:
How does literature and an understanding of its chronology and themes show how we as a people, came to be who we are today?