Characteristics and Common Genre of English – American Literature

Characteristics of English – American Literature

NATIVE AMERICAN PERIOD (present – 1620)

Oral Traditions of songs and stories

- Narratives, myths, legends, songs, and creation stories

 This focuses on:

- The natural world as sacred
- Importance of land and place

Notable Works:

 “The Earth on the Turtle’s Back”

 “When Grizzles Walked Upright”
 “Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun”
 “Creation by Women

Colonial Period (1620 – 1750)

 Literature of the was dominated by the Puritans and their religious influences
 Emphasis on faith in one’s daily life
o Predestination – a person’s fate is determined by God.
o Original Sin – All are concept and need a savior.
o Puritan work ethic – belief in hard work and simple, no frills living
o Theocracy- government ruled by Bible/church.

Types of Writings

 Sermons
 Diaries
 Personal Narratives

Writing Style

 Writing is Utilitarian – not professional writers

 Writing is Instructive
 Puritan Plain Style – simple and direct
Representative Authors:

 William Bradford (Journal) – Phymouth Plantation

 Anne Bradstreet (Poetry)
 Jonathan Edwards (Sermon) – Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
 Mary Rowlandson ( Captivity Narrative) – A narrative of a Captivity
 Phillis Wheatley (Poetry)
 Olandah Equiano ( Slave Narrative)

Revolutionary Period: Age of Reason (1750 – 1800)

The Revolutionary Period usually refers to writings that are politically motivated, either in support of
American patriotism and Independence, or relating to the Constitution.

- Tells readers how to interpret what they are reading

- Meant to encourage Revolutionary War support
- Instructive in values

Genre/Style

 Political pamphlets
 Travel writing
 Highly ornate – style
 Persuasive writing
 Letters

Effects/Aspects

 Patriotism grows, Instills pride

 Creates common agreement about issues
 National mission and the American character

Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine – “Common Sense”

Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac and “The Autobiography”

Romanticism Period (1800 - 1860)

 Expansion of magazines, newspapers, and book publishing.

 Slavery debates
 Industrial revolution brings ideas that the “old ways” of doing things are now irrelevant
Genre/Style

 Character sketches
 Frontier exploits
 Slave Narratives
 Poetry
 Short Stories

Effects/Aspects

 Value feeling and intuition over reasoning

 Journey away from corruption of civilization and limits of rational thought towards the integrity
of nature and freedom of the imagination.
 Helped instill proper gender behavior for men and women
 Allowed people to re-imagine the American past

American Renaissance Transcendentalism (1840 – 1860)

 Transcendentalists: *True reality is spiritual *Comes from 18 th century philosopher Immanuel

Kant
 Self – reliance & Thoreau
 Seeking true beauty and Understanding in life and in nature.
 Poetry
 Short Stories
 Novels - * readers attention through dread of a series of terrible possibilities * feature
landscapes of dark forests, extreme vegetation, concealed ruins with horrific rooms, depressed
characters

Realism – Civil War & Post War Period (1855)

 Civil War brings demand for a “truer” type of literature that does of idealize people or places.
 Battlefield Photography

Genre/Styles

 Novels and shorts stories

 Objective narrator
 Does not tell reader how to interpret story
 Dialogue includes voices from around the country
 Social realism : aims to change a specific social problem
 Aesthetic realism: Art that insist on detailing the world as one sees it.
 Regionalism (1865 – 1915)

Regionalism was a literary movement in which authors would write a story about specific
geographical areas.

Writers in this time not only tried to show the region they wrote about to their readers, but they
also made an attempt at a sophisticated sociological or anthropological treatment of the culture of
the region.

By writing about regions, the authors explore the culture of that area including its language,
customs, beliefs, history.

Authors:

- Willa Cather
- William Faukner
- Kate Chopin
- Frank Norris

Naturalism (1890 – 1950)

 Trend rather than a movement; never formalized nor dominated by the influence of a single
writer.
 A more extreme, intensified version of realism
 Shows more unpleasant, ugly, shocking aspects of life.
 Objective picture of reality viewed with scientific detachment
 Determinism – man’s life is dominated by the forces he cannot control; biological instincts,
social environment.
 No free will, no place for moral judgement
 Pessimism
 Disillusionment with the dream of success; collapse of the predominantly agrarian myth
 Struggle of an individual to adopt to the environment
 Society as something stable, its predictability allowed one to present a universal human
situation through accurate representation of particulars
 Faith in society and art

The Moderns (1900 – 1950)

 Writers reflect the ideas of Darwin (survival of the fittest)

 Karl Marx (how money and class structure control a nation)
 Sigmund Freud (the power of the subconscious)
  Overwhelming technological changes of the 20 th Century
 Rise of the youth culture
 WWI and WWII

Genre/Style

 Novels Plays
 Poetry (great resurgence after deaths of Whitman & Dickson)
 Highly experimental as writers seek a unique style.
 Use of Interior monologues & stream of consciousness.

Effect/Aspect

 In Pursuit of the American Dream

 Admiration for America as land of Eden
 Optimism
 Importance of the Individual

Harlem Renaissance (Parallel to Modernism) – 1920

 Mass African – American migration to Northern urban center.

 African – Americans have more access to media and publishing outlets after they move north

Genre/Style

 Allusions to African – American spirituals

 Uses structure of blues songs in poetry (repetition)
 Superficial stereotypes revealed to be complex characters

Effect/Aspect

 Gave birth to “gospel music”

 Blues and jazz transmitted across American via radio and phonographs
 Essays & poetry of W.E.B. DuBois
 Poetry of Mckay – Toomer, Cullen
 Poetry, short stories and novels of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes
 Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Postmodernism – 1950 to present

 Post – World War II prosperity

 Media culture interprets values.
 Disillusionment
 Resistance to easily recognizable themes or morals in a story.
 Insists that values are not permanent but only “local” or “historical”
 Mixing of fantasy with nonfiction; blurs lines of reality for reader no Heroes
 Concern with individual in isolation
 Social issues as writers align with feminist & ethnic groups
 Usually humourless
 Narratives
 Meta-fiction Present tense
 Magic Realism

Common Genre of English – American Literature

Literary Fiction

- Literary fiction novels are considered works with artistic value and literary merit. They
often include political criticism, social commentary, and reflections on huminity

Mystery

- Mystery novels, also called detective fiction follow a detective solving a case from start
to finish. They drop clues and slowly reveal information, turning the reader into a
detective trying to solve the case, too.

Thriller

- Thriller novels are dark, mysterious and suspenseful plot-driven stories. They very
seldom include comedic elements, but what they lack in humor they make up for in
suspense.

Horror

- Horror novels are meant to scare, startle, shock, and even repulse readers. Generally
focusing on the themes of death, demons, evil spirits, and the afterlife, they prey on
fears with scary beings like ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, and monsters.

Historical
 - Historical fiction novels take place in the past Written with a careful balance of research
and creativity, they transport readers to another time and place – which can be real,
imagined, or a combination of both.

Romance

- Romantic fiction centers around love stories between two people. They’re light-hearted,
optimistic, and have an emotionally satisfying ending.

Western

- Western novels tell the stories of cowboys, settlers, and outlaws exploring the western
frontier and training the American Old West. They’re shaped specifically by their genre –
specific elements and rely on them in ways that novels in other fiction genres don’t.

Bildungsroman

- Bildungsroman is a literary genre of stories about a character growing psychologically

and morally from their youth into adulthood. Literally translated, a bildungsroman is “a
novel of education” or “a novel of formation”

Speculative Fiction

- Speculative fiction is a supergenre that encompasses a number of different types of

fiction, from science fiction to fantasy to dystopian. The stories take place in a world
different from our own.

Science Fiction

- Science fiction novels are speculative stories with imagined elements that don’t exist in
the real world. Common elements of sci – fi novels include time travel, space
exploration, and futuristic society.

Fantasy

- Fantasy novels are speculative fiction stories with imaginary characters set in imaginary
universes. They’re inspired by mythology and folklore and often include elements of
magic. The genre attracts both children and adults.

Dystopian

- Dystopian novels are a genre of science fiction. They’re set in societies viewed as worse
than the one in which we live.
-
Magical Realism

- Magical realism novels depict the world truthfully, plus add magical elements. The
fantastical elements aren’t viewed as odd or unique, they’re considered normal in the
world in which the story takes place.

Realistic Literature

- Relist fiction novels are set in a time and place that could actually happen in the real
world. They depict real people, places, and stories in order to be as truthful as possible.