AMERICAN LITERATURE

1. The beginning - native tradition, literature of exploration



American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its
preceding colonies.



During its early history, America was a series of British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day
United States.
- the first colonists were British men who brought with them their own language, books and mode of

thoughts.

-1607 - the first permanent English colony was planted at Jamestown in Virginia.



Its literary tradition begins as linked to the broader tradition of English literature.



Native American's oral stories - are always different than original story.



American Indians
1) Origin stories - creating the world (woman was created first and gave birth to men, people are not
superior to any other creatures, no original sin, their land was given to them at the beginning of the
world)
2) Trickster tales (in oral tradition, trickster is a form of an animal which can transform into human)
3) Historical narratives



Thomas Harriot was British and took part in the expedition to Roanoke Island in 1585 with Sir Walter
Raleigh and painter John White. In 1586 Sir Francis Drake reached Roanoke Island and the colonists
wanted to go home with him. The first colonization wasn't successful. In 1587 115 settlers were sent to
America, but when ship returned they were gone-nobody knows what has happened to them.



Literature of exploration - those who traveled to settle in America started to write letters and reports
about their voyage, exploration



Diego Colon - was a taino Indian from the Bahamas, his real name is not known, this one was given to
him by Christopher Columbus.



Explorers were not sure if the natives were people or animals. They were compared to Europeans, but
thought to be and seen as warriors, enemies.



Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe - written in 18

th

century, based on the story of Alexander Selkirk who

spent 4 years on the desert island near Venezuela.



Friday (the native men, Robinson's servant) has some kind of religion, but it is not superior to the
Robinson's religion. Gos does not live with and among people, but higher, in Heaven. Live after death -
Robinson believes in heaven and hell, Friday claims that this is the same place. Robinson opens Friday's
eyes on religion.



Friday's appearance - he is similiar to Europeans, but more tanned.



Friday is treated like he was about to be bought by Robinson.



Friday has a knowledge about the world, is a mature person, but very childish.



Friday is fantasy, he is Defoe's invention.



Friday is kneeling in front of Robinson - he wants to be his servant.



Robinson does not treat Friday like a human being, names him Friday in memory of the day that he has
saved his live, likes that he has a servant, he 'created' him.



Robinson was very religious, he was a protestant who claimed that work is a way to salvation.



Footprint in the sand is a sign which Robinson thinks belongs to someone who would threat him. 'It
might be the devil' - he expects that devil would have shoes, but gives up this idea. He thinks that
natives are more scary than devil - he doesn't know what to expect from the natives - they represent
the unknown when the devil could be understandable.

2. Literature of colonization 1607-1775



Three 'lives' of Pocahontas
1) Disney - a love story of an English captain (John Smith) and an Indian girl(Pocahontas) who is

attractive to European people

2) Captain John Smith - He came to America in 1607 and was attacked by Indians. Pocahontas, at the

age of 12, wanted to

protect him from death. She was a good Indian.

3) Pocahontas as a historical figure - her real name was Matoaka, she was born around 1595. She met

Captain John Smith in

1607, in 1610 married an Indian man, but was kidnapped by English men who

started to teach her Christian religion. They gave her a new name - Rebecca Rolfe as she married John
Rolfe. She was presented to the king John III, died at the age of 21on her way back to America.



Colonizing perspective establishes clear hierarchy:
1) the self superior to the other (which is familiar) and to the unfamiliar (exotic)
2) For example: Robinson-Friday, European, Christian, white-non-European, pagan, non-white,

civilization, culture, reason, science-nature, emotions, intuition



John Smith - first American author writing in English. He was the leader of the first settlement colony
(Jamestown, Virginia) from 1608 to 1609. He wrote 'The General History of Virginia', 'New England and
the Summer Isles' where he was advertising a perfect place. He invented stories and then called them
history. He presents the colony as a place where English people should settle.

3. Puritan Literature



Pilgrim fathers and Puritans



The terms are similar, but not the same.



Renaissance -ancient culture is reborn, reformation - rise of Protestantism, end of medieval Christianity.
1534 - The Church of England was established.



English kings
1) Henry VIII - the inventor of Anglican church
2) Edward VI - believed in reformation
3) Mary Tudor - catholic, fought against Protestants
4) Elizabeth I - made church more inclusive and tolerant, reestablished the church
5) James I - during his reign the first group of separatists moved from England for religious reasons -

they are called Pilgrim Fathers.



Pilgrim Fathers - in 1608 they went to Holland, but they couldn't settle there, as they couldn't
communicate with Dutch people. They returned to England (Southampton) and went to America on the
ship 'Mayflower' and their voyage lasted 66 days. They arrived to Cape Cod (not to Virginia-as they
wanted) and started Plymouth colony.



Puritans - English Protestants, an activist movement within the Church of England.



What is the puritans' perspective about?
1) things happen, because they are God's will
2) God has a plan for every person
3) Included also non-believers



Differences between Puritans and Pilgrim Fathers

PURITANS

PILGRIM FATHERS

Did not separate officially from the Church of
England

Separated officially from the Church of England

Arrived to America in 1628

Arrived to America in 1620

Non-separated (critical, but still in the church)

Separatists

A city on the hill

Escape persecutions, religious freedom

Ministers

No ministers

Contact with other churches

No contact with other churches, infant baptism



Puritanical - strict rules, extremely traditional, limited rights and freedom, conservative.



Both puritans and Pilgrim Fathers believed that they have a right to establish their own laws.



Predestination - people's fate after death is already decided. You cannot change God's will. God is giving
you signs (and you can see them by reading bible, going to the church, praying). Some people are
elected by God.



Thomas Morton - ('devil incarnated' according to William Bradford) settled around Plymouth, traded
with Indians, built a maypole with his men. Founded the colony of Merrymount about which Morton
said that it is 'the new English Canaan' (another advertisement for English people)



1682 - english edition of Mary Rowlandson's narrative, about her being captured and imprisoned by the
Indians



Anne Hutchinson - religious leader and thinker. She orginised meeting for women to talk about religious
issues, she became very popular and was considered dangerous for the society. She was accused of
being a witch, had a trial and was banished from Boston. She went to Rhode Island.



The Crucible - Arthur Miller's play (first time on stage in 1953)



Witch trials -1692-1693 - no courthouse, judges in Salem taken from Boston.



Hypocrisy of Puritans
1) land-lust - if you wanted your neighbours' land, you can accuse them of practicing magic.
2) Ergot Theory - girls consumed something which was causing hallucinations



Roger Williams - 1603 - 1683 - the first to institute democracy in America, was a rebel and separatist.
He went to America in 1630 (Massachusetts Bay Colony, Boston), was against Puritan leadership and
takig the natives' land away from them. He went to Plymouth, but returned to Boston in 1633, became
a minister of Salem Church. As a minister he argued for reparation of church and state. His opinions
were claimed to be heresy and he was banished from Boston. He lived with Indians in the wild for some
time, then went to Rhode Island and started a colony - Providence Plantations (church and state
separated, Indian rights respected). He was an untypical figure, he is often considered as father of
American democracy.



'A Key Into a Language of America' - it supposed to be a dictionary, but it also included poems where
Williams presented natives as noble savages (childish, naive, pure in heart).



Anne Bradstreet - the first American Puritan woman to be published ('The Tenth Muse' 1650 in England,
later sprung in America). Published without her agreement, she started to improve it. She wrote poetry
to read it to her family. She wrote about philosophical contemplation. Then she started to write about
her husband, sickness, home and what happens to her family.



Edward Taylor - strict puritan minister. His poems were discovered only in 1930s. His poetry was very
sensual and include his meditations. He wrote his poems before the mass to gather his thoughts. He
didn't want his poems to be published.



Enlightenment - 18

th

century, age of reason



Humanism - focus on human being, not on God



Humanitarianism - believing in good that every human can make



Tabula rasa - born with a 'blank sheet', not sinful



Empirical principle - gaining knowledge by experience and by senses



Isaac Newton - 'Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy' - universe, rise of the modern science,

reason is capable of objective description of world.



Deism - God created the world, but has no interest in human affairs.



18th century America



The nation is transforming, there are more settlers



Conflicts between settlers



Philadelphia - the capital, cultural and business center



There were not only English settlers, also German or Dutch



Benjamin Franklin - The General Magazine 1741



1

st

half of 18

th

century - Great Awakening

1) Puritanism
2) Religious reaction to 18

th

century philosophy

3) The 1

st

Great Awakening - 1730s-1740s - focus on emotions, feelings



2

nd

half of 18

th

century - American Revolution



Jonathan Edwards - 1

st

half of 18

th

century (1704-1758)

The 1

st

modern American

The last medieval American

Well educated, studied Locke, Newton

Faith, religious believes

Interested in science, natural world

Was a very orthodox puritan



Jonathan Edwards - 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God'
1) What is God like in Edwards' sermon?
He has ultimate power, hates the sinners, is angry, can do anything
2) What is Satan like?
He is inferior to God, he is his servant.
3) The sermon hastens the listeners to conversion. Does it mean that you can convince God to save

you and to change the Convenant?

If you are doing good, there is a bigger chance you will go to heaven, but it's not sure. Becoming a

member of the church is also giving you a chance to be saved. If you are a sinner, you will go to hell anyway.

4) What images does Edwards use to describe the situation of the sinners?
The fall is unexpected, sinner walks on the edge. You can fall, even if you don't expect it -> to hasten

people to convert.

5) Describe a 'wicked man'.

4. The literature of Reason and Revolution



American Revolution ≠ Revolutionary War



American Revolution - 2

nd

half of 18

th

century, process of creating the USA



Revolutionary War - 1775-1783 - military conflict against the British



Benjamin Franklin - Founding Father, took part in the Revolutionary War, signed the Declaration of
Independence. Wrote his autobiography - his most important text - first to his son, then more general to
society. He was a writer and inventor



A good example of American Dream - when he arrived to Philadelphia, he had nothing. To achieve the
dream he had to work hard, have courage, determination. He achieved popularity and financial success
(from zero to hero!). America 'wanted to help him'.



Autobiography - very very easy to read, journalistic style. He doesn't mention Revolution and
Revolutionary War. Chaotic, gaps in time. Specific purpose - a guide for Americans - how to achieve
success like he did. Describes America as an idyllic place - too optimistic.



'Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America' - political piece of writing. Treats natives as actual

people, not like animals, describes resposibilities of men (hunters and women (children, food, home),
emphasizes the politeness of natives.



J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur - 'Letters From an American Farmer', Letter III - 'What is American' -
when you arrive to America, you become someone new. You leave your European identity behind and
start a new, better live. Melting pot - melted in the new rase of men. Multiculturalism. (In Europe - if
you were born poor, you would die poor.)



'Common sense' by Thomas Paine - push to revolution. 'The Crisis' - read aloud to American troops.



The purpose of Declaration of Independence - 13 colonies transformed to 13 states, gaining
independence from the British Empire. 4

th

July! 4 of 6 first presidents from Virginia.



Thomas Jefferson - 3

rd

president of USA, divided the system into two parties - republicans and federalists.

He was a republican - represented the South.(federalists were more conservative)



Thomas Paine - 'An Occasional Letter On Female Sex'
1) women are adored and oppressed - their beauty is adored, but they have no power in public live.
2) Speaks with the woman's voice - asks what the women want and answers that they want to be

remembered (they have a

connection with men by love etc)

3) Women are not equal to men, but they want their interest
4) Sees women determined by their bodies
5) Your sex determines your position in the society



Olaudah Equiano - African, former slave. He earned a price for his freedom. Vary skilled businessman,
was against slavery. He was the 1

st

American slave to be published. He wanted abolishment of slavery -

development of some places in Africa, profitable for white people (it makes economical sense, a lot of
money)



Phillis Wheatley 1753-1784 - born in Africa, brought to Boston in 1761. She was a black slave, she was
taught to read by her 'owners' who cared about her education. She was a converted person. She started
to write her own texts, poems. She was a child prodigy. Traveled to Europe, was published in 1773. After
her death people wanted more of her works. The date of her first publication is the date when black
women's American literature started.



Judith Sargent Murray 1751-1820 - very strong opposition - 'On the Equality of the Sexes'. Critics were
mentioning the bible (for them it was obvious that women are inferior to men, because it was written in
the bible). It focuses on the gender rather than on biological sex. She said 'give us the same
opportunities'.



Susanna Haswell Rowson 1762-1824 - 'Charlotte: a Tale of Truth' 1791. The 1

st

novel, sentimental

romance. Tragic, educational. A story of Charlotte Temple who makes wrong choices. A warning to
young girls - what they shouldn't do.



Philip Freneau - 'The Wild Honeysuckle' - the poet of American revolution, mixes classicism and
romanticism (precursor of American romanticism)

5. The Age of Romanticism



American Romanticism - mystic creatures, supernatural elements, medieval legends, tragic, unfulfilled
love, focus on individual, refers to nature, natural world, focus on emotions, dreams, visions,
orientalism-exploration.



Gothic Literature - Dark Romanticism - comes from England, 18

th

century, not as good literature



Matthew Lewis - 'The Monk'



Dark Romanticism - tabu subjects, characteristic setting - cemeteries etc, focus on the evil in the human
mind



Washington Irving 1783-1859 - 'The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon' - 'Rip van Winkle', 'The Legend of

Sleepy Hollow' - the 1

st

author to achieve an international success, supported himself by writing only.



'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'
1) on the one hand the mystery, the crime, supernatural creatures, characteristic gloomy music, setting,

fog, outfits. On the other hand almost funny, in some moments 'too much'.

2) The clash between enlightenment (Ichebod believes in reason-science, everything can be explained in

reference to

knowledge) and romanticism (Ichebod's mother and Katerina connected to nature).

3) Reference to American history - the headless horseman. He was German, fought in Revolutionary War,

not to fight for independence, believed in English crown, killed by patriots.

4) Katerina's mother killed by 'romantic fever', in fact she was a witch
5) Imagination - vivid visions, creating images.



The painting by Christian Schussele - 'Washington Irving and his literary friends' - american writers -
hoax



Washington Irving 1809-1859 - the central literary figure in America, 1

st

professional writer, writing was

not only a hobby for him. He spent many years in England. We can see contrast between European and
American culture in his works, irrationality of the 19

th

century romantic literature.



James Fenimore Cooper 1789-1851 - famous for his historical novels ('Leatherstocking Tales', 'The Last
of The Mohicans')



Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864 - 'The Scarlet Letter'



Ralph Waldo Emerson - transcendentalism



'SMALL WORLD OF AMERICAN WRITERS'



Renaissance 1850s - human mind, reason, knowledge. It's the time when a lot of American writers
begun their career.

6. American Gothic



Gothic literature - subgenre of romanticism
1) evil in human mind
2) Supernatural creatures, sceneries, situations
3) Americans have a right to posses more and more land, people reached Pacific Ocean in settling in

1840, there are more and

more people in America.

4) Everyone is happy, there is no reason to call gothic literature dark romanticism



Why is gothic literature called dark romanticism?
1) Many Americans are racist, xenophobic, threatened by Catholic church
2) Natives - eastern Indians pushed away from their land
3) Slavery becomes a very serious problem
4) Women have no rights, no access to education, profession, no right for voting
5) Urbanization is becoming wrong
6) Focus on dark sides of America



Elements of Freud psychoanalysis - tried to find ways to satisfy ID
1) ID - podswiadomosc
2) EGO - mediator between JD and reality (reason, judgement)
3) SUPEREGO - demand of society, culture



Edgar Allan Poe - 'The Tell-Tale Heart'
1) Defence mechanisms - against pain, trauma, unpleasent feeling (denial - erasing sth from your

memory, displacement, sublimation)

2) Compensation - murderer's wish satisfied



Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849 - born in Boston, dies in Baltimore. He was an unwanted child, his mother

died, his uncle took care of him (John Allan-father figure), he was never adopted formally (unhappy
relation between them). He got married in 1835 to 13-year-old cousin, who died short after they
wedding. He was poor and addicted to alcohol, his death is a mystery. He was popular, but became even
more popular after his death.



2 interpretations of 'The Tell-Tale Heart' - psychoanalysis and biography

7. American Transcendentalism



Transcendentalism - originally very religious movement
1) Definition - literary, religious, intellectual movement
2) It questioned 2

nd

half of 18

th

century

3) Respect for women's rights
4) Uniquely America body of literature - aim to create something different from european writing,

literary independence
5) Mid 1830s-1840s - in that time the most popular
6) Emotions, intuition, inspiration from God
7) Struggle to redefine spirituality and religion

A) Unitarianism - liberal, born sinful, but you have potential and goodness
B) Transcendental Club - a group of Boston unitarians philosophy
C) Christianity in relation to other religions - it is worth to study Buddhism, Hindu, eastern

philosophy

D) Pantheism - all is God, God is nature
E) Gift of inspiration - gift from God

8) Counterculture



Main ideas of transcendentalism
1) The potentiality of human nature at its best
2) At the level of the human soul, all people have access to divine inspiration and seek freedom,

knowledge, and truth (equality)

3) The principle of the fresh-start; now-centered (past should not limit you)
4) Cosmopolitanism - eastern philosophy, other religions
5) Intuition
6) Individualism



Major figures
1) Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882 - went to Europe, met romantic British writers, we can see their

influence on him. He

was a public lecturer, preacher. He was the first editor of 'The Dial' -

transcendentalist magazine.

A) 'Self-Reliance' - optimistic thinking, pantheism, potential, individualism, use your own intuition,

look inside you

B) 'Nature' - nature is God, focus on a virtual, part of a natural world
C) 'The Over-Soul' - everybody share, souls are composed
D) 'Experience'

2) Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862 - philosopher, naturalist. He was writing for 'The Dial'. In years

1845-1847 lived at a cabin Walden Pont (he owned nothing, bought nothing, survived on what nature gave
him) and was imprisoned for it, because he refused to pay a tax. He believed in equality of people,
focused on study of nature.

A) 'Civil Disobedience' - Resistance to Civil Government. 'Government should serve people'.

Thoreau opposed the

Mexican-American war 1846-1848

B) 'Walden' - critique of American consumerism. People don't need to posses things.

3) Margaret Fuller 1810-1850 - she was editor of 'The Dial'.

A) 'Woman in the 19

th

century' - published in 'The Dial', feminist manifesto, stereotypes mentioned

B) 'The Angel in the House' - what should the perfect 19

th

century woman look like. Women aren't

superior to men, spiritual equality, aspects of culture and society(transformation of the society for

women).



Scattering process - writers focused on different aspects of live



Transcendentalism - 'elite, intellectual movement' - well-educated people who have money (despite
believing in equality.



Pieces of writing - mostly essays, non-fictional writing, no poems, autobiographical emphasis, ethical
aspect of writing

8. American Romanticism



Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 - poet, never left her house, was a loner ('Queen Recluse'), she was
exchanging letters with friends. She was a rebel - she refused to confess her faith in God in public. Her
poetry was discovered only after her death. She wrote 1147 poems, only in 1862 she wrote 350 poems.
She didn't title them.She gathered them in 833 fascicles.



Walt Whitman 1819-1892 - journalist, teacher, mechanist, nurse. 'Man of the people', father of free.
Between transcendentalism and realism. 'Leaves of Grass' 1855, 700 copies for his own money, he was
still adding and improving this text - 'living text', autobiographical, linked to the author. Extremely
controversial for people, sexual and homosexual aspects. He was 1

st

poet of democracy, uniquely

American.



Walt Whitman - 'Song of Myself' - the lyrical I describes himself as a part of the world, everything is
everything.
1) death is not scary, is not really the end. It's a transformation to sth else, it is not final. It sounds a little

Buddhist

2) Presents himself as a man of the people, everybody connected
3) Optimistic, celebration of the individual, no fears, no dark romanticism
4) Focus on 'now'
5) Grass - to explain life, to see the sense of the life in the smallest things.
6) Individual in the perfect harmony with the universe.



Herman Melville 1819-1891 - he came form a rich family, his father died when he was 11, he had to go
to work. When he was 13 he got on the ship as a sailor and sailed to Liverpool. In 1840 he sailed to the
South Pacific and was captured by Typees (who were cannibals). He was imprisoned for a month,
managed to escape to the Tahiti an returned to Boston. He wrote his 1

st

novel in 1846 - 'Typee ,a Peep at

Polynesian Life'. Wrote many novels ('Omoo, a Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas' - adventures
in Tahiti, 'Redburn' - voyage to Liverpool, 'White Jacket' - adventures on the ship, 'Moby Dick', 'Piazza
Tales', 'The confidence Man'), few of them turned out as a financial failure ('Mardi', 'Pierre'). He was
popular in 1920s and 1930s.



Modernism - pessimistic approach to life, fragmentation-central idea, existential novels.



'Bartleby the Scrivener'
1) At the beginning Bartleby works a lot, but then he is more and more passive. After some time he says

'I would prefer not to' when asked to do some work, but is not fired.

2) He doesn't act like a human being, he is emotionless and blank, he seems to work like a machine

which break at some

point. He is contrasted with the vitality of other scriveners.

3) He is like a ghost - he doesn't eat or go out, no one can force him to leave the office.

4) 'I would prefer not to' - he won't do what he is asked for, but put his refusal in nice words.
5) Has an impact on other scriveners, he infects others, they start to use the same phrase.
6) Is a mystery for his boss
7) Lawyer produces true arguments
8) Narrator can't explain his behaviour
9) Dead letter - letter that cannot be delivered, unopened letter has no meaning.
10) Bartleby is a dead letter - is unread, we only know his envelop, his inside is unknown.



Nathaniel Hawthorne - 'The Scarlet Letter'
1) The importance of the preface - 'The Custom House'

A) explains the importance of the story
B) Represents the past - the place is old, dead, belongs to the past. Narrator doesn't fit in
C) Similiarity between Hester and narrator
D) Sets the story in time, what is history
E) Introduces the story, the history of scarlet letter
F) He finds a manuscript, some documents, decides to make up the story, he uses the document as

a base, everything else is his interpretation

G) Narrator isn't Hawthorne, but there are some similarities
H) Crimes of the past-Salem, what to do about them
I) Part of a novel, fiction

2) The most important themes of 'The Scarlet Letter'

A) sin of the adultery and punishment for it - the letter 'A'
B) Society, identity
C) revenge

3) What does the 'A' mean?

A) Hester - sin, punishment, 'living scarlet letter'
B) Angel - some Hester's characteristics
C) A decoration
D) Hester - nature, green letter, belongs to the natural world, truth-sayer
E) Pearl - incarnation of the scarlet letter, fruit of the sin, it is not evil, it's human nature
F) Arthur - wears an 'invisible' scarlet letter
G) Chillingworth - Hester's husband

4) Symbolist novel

A) the puritan society
B) Revolves around many different symbols
C) Original ideas of Puritanism - opposed to hypocrisy, simplicity, everybody has an access to the

bible, hierarchy, power of the church-left behind, work very important, radical,

D) IS HESTER EVIL - no but her sin was visible, the worst part of her sin was that she couldn't hide it,

being judgmental, excluding people from the society
5) Margins of the society

A) she has a distance - she knows more
B) She's different from other Puritan women
C) She doesn't associate with other con-damned people
D) Live in between culture and nature
E) She's in danger of being touched by the wilderness
F) Changes take place on margins

6) Wilderness - forest

A) the place where witches meet
B) Nature, opposite to civilization and culture
C) Doesn't respect the rules of society
D) Is about chaos, don't respect the categories - good or bad, but there are positive and negative

things

E) Hester and Arthur can be family there

7) The punishment in the Puritan culture

A) adulterers sentenced to death
B) In practice it rarely happened
C) Banished from civilized space
D) You needed the society in order to survive

8) Hester's punishment

A) Hester has more psychological than physical punishment
B) Shame
C) Exhibited - everyone see her sin
D) She's forever connected to the past
E) Even though she has done many good things, people see only her sin

9) Anne Hutchinson

A) didn't agree with Puritan rules
B) Rebellious
C) Organized meetings for women, talking about religion

10) Witchcraft

A) Mrs Hibbins
B) Hester resists witchcraft
C) Chillingworth - as if he cast a spell on Arthur