1880-1940 AMERICAN LITERATURE through this time period, essay structure, history dates , definitions, WIDER reading
of American lit or relate to every aspect of main concepts and through the time period!!, go through sirs class notes and
summarize in here too
ESSAY STRUCTURE
1. Lead with A02 foreground with A02 techniques like this :
- Sum up extract eg ‘In this novel underpinned with a sense of realism, we are faced with 2 (presumably) central
protagonists meeting for the first time as the writer dripfeeds us with constructs of their disposition…. Eg
- The third person omniscient narrator employs a variety of literary and linguistic devices to present X CHARACTER
AS .. / reveal the impacts of X
- This extract is typical of American literature in the late 19 th century and fits our expectations and thematic
concerns of American literature by endorsing a realist/romantic/ sentimentalist/classicist/ modernist approach
WEBSITES: https://www.stuvia.com/doc/459818/1930s-america-context
https://www.stuvia.com/search/uk/ocr/english-language-and-literature
https://www.stuvia.com/doc/424713/english-american-literature-context-for-unseen-passage
https://jwpblog.com/2017/08/22/american-literature-1880-1940-unseen-extracts/
https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/1890.htm
Wider reading https://jwpblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/jwp-unseen-extracts.docx
,https://jwpblog.com/2020/06/04/on-writing-an-unseen-for-ocr-a-level/
GOTO PHRASES:
AO2 phrases:
— Parataxis : writing with no conjunctions except ‘and’ or no conjunctions at all to show lack of reasoning (likes to
modernism writing as they saw life without order cause or reason or no justification for migrants to be treated
like that etc)
— Parenthesis : a phrase written in brackets eg something extra on the sentence
— Anti-hero : a protagonist whose heroic qualities coexist alongside negative characteristics or a notable character
flaw (more modernistic literary style as there was no sole hero and villain, they are mixed)
— Archetype ; a typical example of a particular type of character eg a migrant or hero. The Joads are archetypes of
migrants suffering the consequences of mans inhumanity to man as a result of the Great Depression stemming
from the Wall Street crash
— Episodic ; divided into sections that DON’T follow on from eachother chronologically
— Frame narrative / Chinese-box narrative : a narrative which is contained within a wider narrative / frame (storys
with characters speaking in a story with characters speaking)
— Indirect characterization: Revealing a character (eg their traits and what type of person they are) through their
WORDS or ACTIONS without explicitly stating what their significance is for the reader’s understanding of that
character
— Unreliable narrator. ; a first person narrator whose character makes the reader question the truthfulness of his
narration
— Transience ; short period of time, a state in which things always seem to be changing
— Dialect / grammatical slips can identify the character as an immigrant in america!! Like gatsby who came and
took advantage of the opportunity america endorses
— Look at the spoken LANGUAGE / dialect / non standard english, who can this cha after identify with? An
immigrant?
DEFINITION AND TIME DATE: DEFINITIONS
MANIFEST DESTINY –
Frontier -
- Enlightenment- A west art. A European intellectual movement from the 17 th to 18th centuries that valued reason
and rationality OVER superstition and religious belief (characters tying to find their purpose in life novels
representing their journeys)
- Capitalistic : descriptive of capitalism in which the profits from trade are kept by individuals and not given to the
state (eg private owned profit companies) (in the ending chapter of grapes of wrath the farmers destroyed
rotten fruits instead of giving them to the migrants as they wanted to have a limited amount of supply so they
could tag premium prices for them instead of selling rotten ones at low prices)
- NIHILISM – a world view that considers existence (life) to be meaningless (no purpose/meaning to life, leaning
towards modernism
- SECULARIZATION – the process whereby society becomes less concerned with matters concerning religion (eg in
1933 the ban of the protestant – like legislations of prohibition
- Great depression – 1929 plus the decade long period of economic poverty that affected America after the walk
street crash of 1929
- The Dust Bowl – central areas of american farmland reduced to dust during the 1930s by a long drought and the
effects of agricultural management (eg over farming)
-
communist party
, idealist,
, Utopian
, gothic
, naturalism (determinism),
Romanticism
, industrialization,
Urbanization
, modernism- An artistic and cultural movement beginning around the turn of the 20 th century which was defined by
greater level of artistic experimentation and sought to represent the diversity of societal and economical change
occurring during that period
, realism, - Realism is a literary and artistic movement in the 19th century; it emerged as a reaction toward romanticism
movement. American realism begins between the years1865 until1910; this period marked the end of sectional conflict
or the years following the civil war, in which people mind and spirit were changed. Writers shifted from describing the
internal side, to explore the external conditions and humanities. They describe reality as it is, avoiding emotions and
spiritual aspects which romantic writes used to focus on their writings.
- The writings during this period were also regional or local because of the Industrial Revolution
- . Their themes mainly surrounded realities of everyday life and the effect of the new modern age on people's life
and thinking, by showing the breakdown of traditional values that American society was touched to and the
growing plight and troubles of the new urban poor.
- They believe that freedom of humans is limited especially for woman, who was created to serve man and raise
children. Barrish states "American realist writers attempted to depict a wide range of Americans more
accurately than prior literary modes had including not only middle and upper class white citizens but also such
politically disempowered and socially marginalized people "(Barrish p06)
- in this sense American realists built up their plots and characters around simple and ordinary people unlike
classical and imaginative heroes. They focus more on the character rather than the plot (character is more
important than the plot). In addition to that, they use regional dialects and common dialogue which associated
well with the community.
- Many writers like Mark twain, William Dean Howls, Stephen crane and Henry James tried to show and reflect
the Victorian society through their works by showing the positive and the negative points of such new period.
The realistic movement was successful, and many readers were attracted to the realists, because they put their
real life and struggles into consideration.
- Henry James was known as the father of psychological realism, because of his looking into the souls and minds
of his characters, in this sense James's focus is purely the internal side or world of the protagonist. So he
explained his own realism in term of its opposition to romanticism. In his novel the portrait of a lady, James
breaks down the Victorian tradition especially the image of woman, whom was presented by his heroine" Isabel
Archer ".so he explores the conflict among the individuals and society by investigating the life of Isabel whom is
obliged to choose between her independence and freedom or to still under social stereotypes.
- In this sense James work is based on the exploration of emotions, dilemmas of existence and moral issues. So
readers automatically will pay attention to how minds react to the events in the story and how they see the
world. He is more interested in the point of view, style and language. In which reader will learn how to think
about what he read.
- Moreover he expresses the relationship of the American and the European consciousness. (Osmond is the best
example who represents the effect of the European culture on the American society) .all in all it can be said that
James had tries to reflect the characteristics of the realistic period through his novels ,he shows the negative
aspects ,woman struggles to be totally independent and social stereotypes that Victorian society used to believe
in. That what makes Henry James's novels were and still considered as master pieces of the realistic period
new America,
old Europe
, dystopian,
transcendentalism,
Noble savage
, abolitionism (stopping slavery),
women’s rights and INDEPENDENCE (Isabel archer)
, progressive era,
, , Great Depression 1929,
radicalization,
WW1
Anti – Elitism hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people.
Gilded age
- New world VS OLD WORLD : Henry James often addresses the difference between the "old
world," or European values and culture, and the "new world," or American values and
culture. Literature and art are often considered to be places where a culture can showcase
its sophistication, traditions, and values in their highest form. For Europeans during the
mid to late 19th century, it was a novel idea that Americans were developing a higher
culture capable of producing works of great literature. By the time The Portrait of a
Lady was written though, several American authors had already gained respect in the Old
World, such as Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Walt Whitman.
Yet, the question remained: what cultural ideas and values did Americans represent?
Could such new ideas change European culture? The literary tradition associated with the
Old World at the time was after all, in a state of decadence. The character of Lord
Warburton represents this. He has many political ideas about revolution and change, but
he benefits from the very institution against which he rebels in thought. Madame Merle
and Gilbert Osmond, though both are Americans, are examples of Old World values -- they
are Americans who have come to Europe and fully adapted to the lifestyle of the
Europeans. (For example, it is explicitly mentioned that Madame Merle is of the "old world"
and Gilbert Osmond is likened to convention itself.) When Isabel Archer arrives in the first
scene at Gardencourt, the men are discussing the possibility of women bringing new ideas
with them. Isabel Archer represents American modernity and culture. When she walks in,
she is the materialization of the hope that a fresh perspective on things could help revive
old European traditions that are decadent and rigidly formal. However, in the book, she
falls under the power of an American who has committed to Old World values; she falls for
the illusion that there is a real system of value behind his aestheticism. Isabel is initially
presented as a friendly face of an American expatriate, so innocent to reflect the innocent
and moral values that the new world of America held in the eyes of Jame’s.
OCR American Lit:
Context & Concept
- 1880 marks an important conceptual boundary. The idea of ‘the frontier’ as geographic
reality and metaphor for the potential of all Americans to forge a new life in the vast
territories of the West (My Antonia and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) waned with the
end of opportunities for settlers.
- American Romanticism, exemplified by writers such as Poe, Hawthorne, Whitman,
Melville, Thoreau and Emerson, was losing its dominant position.
- Notions such as ‘the frontier’ and the individualism inherent in Romanticism are not simply
discarded after 1880 but rather survive as crucial concepts underpinning the literature
that follows.
- The ‘frontier’ endures as an elusive, ill-defined paradise in ‘road movies’ and novels such
as Kerouac’s On the Road.
- The Romantic ideal of the individual tested by circumstance persists in works such as
Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms and in later writers.
