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American Literature
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Description of the main literary movements & authors + book analyses.
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AMERICAN LITERATURE 1AMERICAN LITERATURE
1st half of the
17th c.
19th c.
Puritan 1730s-1750s 1830s-1840s late 19th - 1920s-1940s
The early 20th c.
literature The Great American Transcend- Modern-
& historical Awakening entalism Realism ism
Renais-
novel sance
The Puritan settlement (17-18th centuries)
Pilgrim Fathers (Puritans of the Mayflower) ≠ Founding Fathers (framers of the Declaration of
Independence)
1607 → John Smith founds Jamestown in Virginia
back to England, describes America as a land of freedom
1620 → Mayflower Puritan population:
Separatists Dissenters
o the Anglican Church has reached a point of o the Church of England still can be purified
no return o some are predestined to be saved and
o => there should be a clean break some to be damned
o „soldiers‟ against the „archenemy of o dogma of justification by faith: if you
mankind‟ believe, you might be saved no matter what
o => start a new colony with the true religion o agreement between God and the people:
(≠ England) the Covenant of Grace
- God keeps loving them
- they try to make themselves better
- believers will be saved
Of Plymouth Plantation, by W. BRADFORD
one of the first testimonies of Puritan life in America
difficulties (unwelcoming nature and weather) BUT they had to build the „city of God‟
The Mayflower Compact
convention which sets up a civil structure to allow any citizen to practice their religion
AMERICAN LITERATURE 1
, AMERICAN LITERATURE 2
st
Ann BRADSTREET → 1 American writer whose poems were published
rediscovered in the 60s-70s by American feminists
known for her way to find solace in faith
collection of poems The Tenth Muse: editorial success in England
Edward TAYLOR → American doctor & preacher
religious poetry (reminiscent of John DONNE)
most fashionable genre at the time: the historical novel
history = what God intents for the human kind
=> typological reading = interpretive frame whereby anything that happens can be prefigured in the Bible
TYPE (ex. Hebrews crossing the Red Sea to find the Promised Land)
ANTI-TYPE (Puritans crossing the Atlantic Ocean)
Magnalia Christi Americana, by Cotton MATHER (1702)
one of the most important Puritan historical work
tells the story of the foundation of America, led by John Winthrop (associated with Moses)
“a city upon a hill“: manifesto of American exceptionalism (Americans have a mission: founding the city of
God)
1670 → 111,000 people in the Puritan cities in America
1700 → 250,000
1760 → 1,600,000
Boston (MA capital city) & Philadelphia (unofficial capital city) most benefited from the expansion
William Penn → Quaker politician
owner of Pennsylvania
opened the land to settlement for people of all faith
gave the people of Pennsylvania a „frame of government‟
1662 → Royal Society (London): promote new knowledge based on science and not only beliefs
th th
shift from 17 to 18 : time of great discoveries (Enlightenments) => scientific world view
Deism = faith not questioned: God is a great mathematician and clockmaker => less interventionist God
=> more abstract entity
Descartes → innate ideas ≠ Empiricism = every idea stems from experience (John Locke)
American thinkers influenced by Empiricist and Deist philosophies but believed all men were endowed
with common sense/natural light
but some people still attached to Puritan way of thinking
The Great Awakening (1730s-1750s)
conservative reaction against the new world view introduced by the scientific discoveries of the century
Jonathan EDWARDS → minister and prose writer
religious experience = bound to the senses?
faith distinct from Empirical knowledge
religious truth can also be an object of aesthetic experience
“A Divine and Supernatural Light”
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
th
mid-18 c. → idea of liberty, reason and pursuit of happiness self-evidence, belief in perfectibility of
man, future progress
AMERICAN LITERATURE 2
, AMERICAN LITERATURE 3
Benjamin FRANKLIN → one of the Founding Fathers
President of Pennsylvania
self-educated man
great sense of public service
interested in physics and politics
no religious truth can be proven => better not to talk about it
believed in a great clockmaker but not sure Jesus was the son of God
idealist => did not believe in predestination
common sense => natural sense of right and wrong helped them know
the English king was a bad king
autobiography (unfinished) considered one of the most important
American literary works of the century
1764 → Stamp Act: tax on all newspapers, legal documents and licenses
but Americans not represented in the political decisions of the nation
=> “no taxation without representation”
Thomas PAINE → most persuasive orator of the Revolutionary period
did not set foot in America before he was 37
self-brought, interested in political philosophy
Common Sense (1776): most popular book in the 18th c. America
first pamphlet against English rule over America =>
great impulse
notion of separating from England is natural for God
himself put this idea in the heads of the Americans (cf.
God of the Enlightenments)
plain style => widely readable (avoided „ceremonial expressions‟)
Thomas JEFFERSON → 3rd President of the US
Declaration of Independence
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
founder of the University of Virginia
fought against all forms of tyranny
his library became the Library of Congress, the world‟s largest library
AMERICAN LITERATURE 3
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