14. American Indian Literature

Considering the form, American Indian Literature consisted of folk tales and myths, transmitted orally.
What was characteristic was the repetition of incidents connected with the sacred number 4 and the fact
that there were many versions of the same story.

These were mostly stories about a hero's journey, involving overcoming obstacles. A characteristic feature
was the presence of a trickster figure, changes in nature affecting the hero and the creation of worlds.

Early American Literature

•

literature of exploration and discovery

•

written in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch

•

bafflement over unfamiliar, unnamed territory

JOHN SMITH

His major works were:

− A true relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Happened in Virginia (1

st

published

report of the 1

st

colony)

− The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles

His writings generally glorified him and he tried to present his adventures in an optimistic light.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

− traveled to South America and made popular the City of Gold - El Dorado - in his book The

Discovery of Guiana

RICHARD HAKLUYT

He was an expert on geography. His major works were:

− Diverse Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America
− The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (the 1

st

anthology of everything known of colonisations and explorations in America. Why? To promote the
idea of settlement)

15. The Puritan tradition

Puritan literature

− the dominant theme was religion and the supreme literary value - the Bible
− audience consisted of uneducated, common people
− popular forms were sermons, diaries and chronicles

WILLIAM BRADFORD

In his Of Plymouth Plantation he describes the voyage to the New World as a part of the divine
plan, a search for meaning.

EDWARD JOHNSON

His Wonder-working providence is the first New England history to be published. It represents the
point of view of an ordinary man. America was presented as the place of the final battle between
Christ and Satan.
The work, however, is considered naive and simplistic and therefore not reliable as a historical
source.

ANNE BRADSTREET

In her The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America she wrote about the reality and the world of
the Bible. She presents tensions unusual to the Puritan way of thinking, writing e.g. about her
family life.

EDWARD TAYLOR

He's known for the manuscripts discovered in Yale University: The Poetical Works of Edward
Taylor.

Taylor is the finest poet of colonist period.

In his dramatic poem God's Determinations he presents a combat between Christ and Satan for
human souls.

He represents the tradition of the English metaphysical poetry containing metaphors, puns,
paradoxes.

17. Early American fiction

There were all manner of obstacles to the emergence of national literature, such as:

− importing art from Europe
− London as the primary cultural capital
− America's dependence on British literary models and traditions
− Puritan mentality allowing no time for reading for fun
− main concern with practical everyday problems

WASHINGTON IRVING

He was the 1

st

American writer to receive international fame. His literary debut was nine essays

contributed to the Morning Chronicle newspaper.

He invented a nickname "Diedrich Knickerbocker" to narrate A History of New York, a story
satirizing Dutch-American mannerisms and retelling Dutch legends.

What was enormously successful in both Britain and the US was The Sketch Book, a collection of
essays and stories.

His small masterpieces, having their origins in German folklore include Rip Van Winkle and The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

He spent almost one third of his life in Europe, which resulted in writing such works as Tales of a
Traveler – influenced by his stay in Germany and France and The Alhambra - a record of his
experiences in Spain.
In 1830 he received a medal from the Royal Society of literature.

Actually, he didn’t invent anything genius, however he was a skillful writer.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

The creator of the myth of the American West, best known for the stories of the American frontier.
He's considered founding father of historical novels, he also helped to develop and popularize sea
novels, novels of manner, political satires and allegories.

Challenged by his wife, he wrote a novel of manners of an English setting: Precaution

The Spy – the American Revolution as time of historical crisis
The Pilot – first American sea novel of major importance
Leatherstocking Tales - most memorable lit. achievement containing 5 novels; story of the pioneers
of a New World

What needs to be pointed out is that the literature of this period was not very original. It was
influenced by Europe, e.g. German folk tales influenced Rip Van Winkle. The new feature of early
American fiction was placing the action in America and focusing on its history. For example in Rip
Van Winkle, king George III is mentioned.

18. Edgar Allan Poe's literary achievements

He was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic
Movement.

− Poe is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre
− most recurring themes in works were death & beauty, alienation & deception, loss &

despair

− he was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story
− he is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre
− he is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction

His first book was Tamerlane and Other Poems.

He won a short story contest with his tale A Manuscript Found in a Bottle. Two years later he became an
editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. There he developed a reputation as a cut-throat critic, writing
vicious reviews of his contemporaries. Poe also published some of his own works in the magazine, including
two parts of his only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.

In late 1830s, Poe published Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, a collection of stories. It contained
several of his most spine-tingling tales, including The Fall of the House of Usher.

Poe launched the new genre of detective fiction with his The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

Poe became a literary sensation in 1845 with the publication of the poem The Raven. It is considered a great
American literary work and one of the best of Poe's career.

Continuing work in different forms, Poe examined writing in general in several essays, including The
Philosophy of Composition. He also produced another thrilling tale, The Cask of Amontillado, and poems
such as Ulalume and The Bells. In the latter he produced an onomatopoeic effect, showing how sensitive to
sounds he was. Because of that feature he was called the jingle man.

20. Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth
century.

The idea behind the concept is that people, men and women equally, have knowledge about themselves and
the world around them that "transcends" or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel.

This knowledge comes through intuition and imagination not through logic or the senses.

People can trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right.

A transcendentalist is a person who accepts these ideas not as religious beliefs but as a way of
understanding life relationships.

The most significant representatives of transcendentalism were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David
Thoreau.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

An American essayist, lecturer, and poet who was recognized as the first truly "American" thinker.

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and
expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his essay, Nature.

As we read in his work, in order to experience the union with nature we must be separate from the
distractions imposed on us by the society.

Nature is understood as morality; the product of the spirit. The Oversoul and the true self of each individual
is connected to it.

In his essay The American Scholar he discloses his opinion that Americans shouldn't imitate Europeans.
He's of the opinion that people are naturally good and hence our potential is limitless. Furthermore,
everything in life is a source of knowledge which makes everyone apt to be a scholar.

In Self-Reliance Emerson emphasizes the need for each individual to avoid conformity and follow their own
instincts. The work is considered a scholarly Declaration of Independence.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

He wrote to inspire, liberate and to transform.

His memoir, Walden, depicts two years away from civilization, during which he learnt how to live
deliberately and deep. To know life by experience.

He emphasizes the need to renew our life just as he did at Walden; it was a baptism, an initiation into a new
life.

In Civil Disobedience he presented the outrage over social injustice. It was his protest against the war with
Mexico.

In Plea for Captain John Brown he expressed his protest against slavery.

According to Thoreau, what is moral must be found in the heart of each individual person and truth is more
important than love, money and fame.

26. Poetry of Robert Frost and e.e. cummings

ROBERT FROST

Robert Frost is considered the most highly esteemed poet of the 20

th

century. He is highly regarded for his

realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech.

His work frequently employed settings from life in New England.

Frost was a poet of traditional verse forms, modern master of the narrative poem, honored frequently
during his lifetime with Pulitzer Prize.

Some of his finest poems are:

− Birches
− Fire and Ice
− Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

e.e. cummings

He was one of the most innovative poets of the 20

th

century, known for his experiments with poetic forms

and languages to create a distinct personal style:

− he revised grammatical and linguistic rules to suit his own purposes, e.g.

he used if, am and because as nouns

− his page layouts were unique
− he used startling imaginery and word coinages

In cummings' works heroes were outsiders, just like in Buffalo Bill.
What is more, he wrote a novel Enormous Room based on his own experiences.

27. The Lost Generation

The decade of the LOST GENERATION was the period following the end of WW I. Traumatic experience
of the 1

ST

WAR OF MASS DESTRUCTION influenced writers. Dominating idea was death, not victory

and people lost faith in American Dream.

Disillusioned young American writers turned away from social writing.

It was also a boom period when money and consumerism became important.

Paris was considered

the cultural capital of the Western world.

SHERWOOD ANDERSON

- focused on the provincial life of the West

- Windy McPherson’s Son - the story of Sam McPherson's rise in the world of business and search
for emotional enlightenment in later life

- Marching Men - about the exploitation of men in a mining town.
- Winesburg, Ohio – short story cycle set in small town America

Narrative structure of Anderson's works is characterized by:
- minimal plot, lack of logical order of events
- unique, psychological depth
- epiphanies, psychological revelations

FRANCIS SCOTT FITZGERALD

Chronicler of the dissolution of the American dream and the chronicler of the Jazz Age.
He focused on consumerism and cult of the youth; criticized the American society, on people's
shallowness and selfishness.

− In his novel This Side of Paradise Fitzgerald presented a picture of the young America in the

Roaring Twenties.

− Tender is the Night, another novel was about an American psychiatrist in Paris and his

troubled marriage to a wealthy patient.

− He began work on another novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon and he had completed over

half the manuscript, but he died of a heart attack.

With its beautiful lyricism, pitch-perfect portrayal of the Jazz Age, and searching critiques of
materialism, love and the American Dream, The Great Gatsby is considered Fitzgerald's finest
work.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Ernest Hemingway served in World War I and worked in journalism.

He used laconic language; focused on essential. Characteristic for his style is the verbal art of omission.

He was renowned for novels like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and
The Old Man and the Sea.

The Sun Also Rises - presents the aftermath of the war, the disillusionment of the Lost Generation, its post-
war morality. The novel depicts human aimless existence.

A Farewell to Arms - it's a love story of an American officer and a British nurse on Italian front. It's about
the inhumanity of the war machine.

To Whom the Bell Tolls - it's a novel about the Spanish Civil War. It concentrates on the main character,
Robert Jordan, who dies for another nation.

The Old Man and the Sea - it's a universal fable of human life. It presents a struggle of a man with a
gigantic marlin, both Santiago's opponent and his brother and shows the protagonist's spiritual victory.