American Literature

美国文学思维导图，包括：Colonial Period (1607-1765)、Revolutionary Period (1765-1800)、The Age of Romanticism (1800-1865)、The Age of Realism (1865-1918)、American Modernism (1918-1945)。

American literature 

• Colonial Period (1607-1765)
  • Historical background
    • found the new continent called America
  • mainly two kinds of writing
    • ①practical matter -of -fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, ect. ②highly theoretical, general polemical, discussions of religious questions.
  • Puritanism
    • wanted to purify the church to its original state glory the God
    • lifestyle - pious , austere of taste, diligent, thrift rigid sense of morality, self-reliant
    • writings were personal, serious and religious, featuring a plain style and religious subjects with the focus on a God-centered world
  • characteristics of writings
    • main literary writings
      • diaries, journals, travel books, collections of letters, histories, poetry, biographies, prose
    • characteristics
      • ①the authors′s adventure experiences in the new continent ②the geographic Introduction of the colonies
  • major writers
    • Puritan Literature
      • William Bradford (1590-1657)
        • ①the first governor of the Plymouth Plantation ②letters and other prose writing
        • works
          • The History of Plymouth Plantation
      • Anne Dudley Bradstreet (1612-1672)
        • the first noted poetess in colonial period
        • works
          • The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America
      • Edward Taylor (1642-1729)
        • finest poet of the colonial period a colonial American poet, pastor and physician of English origin
    • John Smith (1580-1631)
      • ①founder of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia ②" the first American writer "
      • works
        • A Map of Virginia General History of Virginia
    • John Winthrop
      • ①the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ②Journal 
      • works
        • The History of New England
• Revolutionary Period (1765-1800)
  • background information
    • historical background
      • social and economic background
        • the rapid growth of population and industry
    • political background
      • the British government forced dependence by ruling the 13 colonies and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.
    • cultural and literary background
      • emerging of new literary centers Enlightenment
  • Dominant Thought ：American Enlightenment
    • an intellectual movement
  • characteristics of writings
    • forms
      • political pamphlets and state papers, essay
    • characteristics
      • ①derivative and dependent ②writing patterned on the writing of 18th century ③a calling for literary independence
  • major writers
    • Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
      • Businessman, scientist, statement, humanitarian, writer
      • works
        • Poor Richard ′s Almanack The Autobiography
    • Thomas Paine
      • works
        • Common Sense The American Crisis
    • Thomas Jefferson
      • The Declaration of Independence
    • Philip Freneau (1752-1832)
      • ①one of the most significant poets of nature ②the poet of the American Revolution ③the first American writer to idealize the native Indian civilization
      • works
        • The Wild Honey Suckle The Indian Burying Ground
      • features
        • description of nature expression of his political ideas
• The Age of Romanticism (1800-1865)
  • background information
    • industrialization → economic boom, development of journalism
    • population and states doubled
    • westward expansion
    • the influence of English literature
    • optimism and hope among people
  • Transcendentalism / Romantic Idealism
    • the summit of American Romanticism
    • man 's emphasis should be placed on spirit; the importance of the individual should be stressed; nature is symbolic of the spirit or God 
  • general features of Romanticism
    • stress emotion rather than reason
    • stressing freedom and individuality
    • idealism rather than materialism
    • writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements
  • major writers
    • pre-romanticism 1770s-1830s
      • Washington Irving (1783-1859)
        • the first American to achieve international literary reputation the first American Man of Letters 
        • works
          • The Sketch Book The Tales of a Traveller
        • features
          • humorous vivid and true character portrayal finished and musical language
      • James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
        • launched two kinds of immensely popular stories → the sea adventure tale and frontier saga created a myth about the formative period of the American nation
        • Works
          • The Leatherstocking Tales →regarded as " the nearest approach yet to an American epic " Precaution The Spy The Deerslayer
        • style
          • (1) highly imaginative (2) good at inventing tales (3) good at landscape description (4) conservative (5) characterization wooden and lacking in probability (6) language and use of dialect not authentic
      • William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)
        • the first American to gain the stature of a major poet
        • works
          • To a Waterfowl The Yellow Violet
        • features
          • brevity single effect originality in theme
      • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • post-romanticism (1830s-1860s)
      • Transcendentalism writers
        • Ralph Wald Emerson (1803-1882)
          • Works
            • Representative Men English Traits
          • features
            • tendency to restate varied illust rations epigrammatic quality
        • Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
          • Work
            • Walden
      • Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
        • a poet, short story writer, and literary critic father of modern short story father of detective story father of psychoanalytic criticism
        • works
          • poetry- The Raven, To Helen short story- Murders in the Rue Morgue, Detective horror- The Tomb of Ligeia, The Tell-Take Heart
        • major themes
          • Death, horror, negative thoughts of science
      • Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
        • Works 
          • The Scarlet Letter The House of the Seven Cables The Marble Faun
        • features
          • created vivid and symbolic images made a story exist in its own right but appeared as a moral symbol 
• The Age of Realism (1865-1918)
  • realism
    • a recurrent moded of representing humanlife ＆ experience exactly as they really are
    • schools of realism
      • Psychological realism
        • explored the psychology of characters explored the innermost depth of the Psychological and more nature of human beings
      • Local Colorism/ Regionalism
        • stressed fidelity to a particular geographical section and a faithful representation of its habits, speech, manners , history, folklore, or belief
      • Naturalism
        • human beings are controlled by laws of heredity and environment; the universe is cold, godless, indifferent and hostile to human desires - life becomes a struggle for survival.
  • background information
    • The Civil War broke in 1861
    • wealth and power were more concentrated in the hands of the few " captains of industry " but life of millions was hard to survive
    • the frontier was about to close and disillusionment and frustration were widely felt
    • Darwin 's evolutionary theory
  • characteristics of writings
    • to downplay plot in flavor of character
    • to concentrate on middle - class life ＆ preoccupations, avoiding larger, more dramatic issues
    • to represent life and the social world in minute detail
    • emphasizes the inner awareness and inward movement of characters
  • major writers
    • Psychological realism
      • Mark Twain (1835-1910)
        • outer " life " of the Americans
        • works
          • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Innocents Abroad Roughing It
      • Henry James (1843-1916)
        • forerunner of American realism forerunner of " stream of consciousness " novels the founder of psychological realism outer " life " of Americans
        • works
          • The American Daisy Miller The portrait of a Lady The Turn of the Screw
    • Local Colorism 
      • Harriet Beecher Stowe
        • Mother of American Realism American writer ＆ abolitionist
        • works
          • A Key to Uncle Tom′s Cabin A Tabe of the Great Dismal Swamp
    • Naturalism
      • Emile Zola
        • the first Naturalistic writer
      • Jack London (1876-1916)
        • one of the leading naturalist writers of the 20th century
        • works
          • The Son of the Wolf The Call of the Wild The Sea-Wolf White Fang
      • Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945)
        • the pioneer of the naturalist school in American literature
        • works
          • Sister Carrie Jenny Gerard The Financier The Bulwark and the Stoic
• American Modernism (1918-1945)
  • background information
    • World War I America has great profit fast development in technology old moral code breaks  consumerism prevailed Great Depression
  • three schools of American Modernism
    • modern poetry ：experiments in form ( imagism )
    • modern realism ( the Lost Generation )
    • Novels of Social Awareness
    • The Harlem Renaissance
    • The 20th Century American Drama
  • the Lost Generation
  • major writers
    • Imagism
      • Ezra Pound (1885-1972)
        • a forerunner of modern American poetry one of the most controversial figures in the 20th Century American literature 
        • Works
          • Collected Poems of Ezra Pound Hugh Selwyn Mauberly
        • features
          • language ：intricate and obscure theme: complex subject matters form: no fixed framework, no central theme to poetic rules
        • style
          • very difficult to understand fresh and lyrical
      • Robert Frost (1874-1963)
        • received forty-four honorary degrees won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times a national bard
        • Works 
          • Mountain Interval The Gift Outright The Road Not Taken Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Death of the Hired Man
        • style
          • plain speech of rural New Englanders short, traditional forms of lyric and narrative
    • modern realism
      • F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
        • one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century
        • Works
          • This Side of Paradise The Beautiful and Damned Tender is the Night The Last Tycoon The Great Gatsby
        • features
          • limited point of view suspense mystery reliable
      • William Faulkner (1897-1962)
        • one of America 's greatest novelists and short story writers of the 20th century 
        • Works
          • As I Lay Dying The Sound and the Fury Absalom, Absalom!
        • features
          • Stream of consciousness and interior monologue Multiple narrators: multiple points of view Disruption of the time sequence Complex Syntax Mythical Patterns
      • Earnest Hemingway (1899-1961)
        • won the Pulitzer Price and the Nobel Prize 
        • Works
          • The Sun Also Rises A Farewell to Arms For Whom the Bell Tolls The Old Man and the Sea
        • features
          • simple language-telegraphic style implicit emotion-the iceberg principle colloquial- dialogue innovative inform-stream of consciousness, symbolism
    • The Harlem Renaissance
      • Ralph Ellison (1914-1994)
        • one of the first recipients of the National Medal of Arts
        • Works
          • Invisible Man Paris Review
      • Alice Walker (1944-)
        • won the Pulitzer Price
        • Works 
          • The Color Purple To Hell With Dying The Temple of My Familiar
        • major themes
          • racism, poverty, life struggle, religion, isolation, violence, the strengths of family, self-worth
    • American Drama
      • Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953)
        • father of American drama  Nobel Prize for Literature
        • Anna Christie Strange Interlude Long Day 's Journey into Night
        • features
          • theatrical technical and dramatic forms naturalism and expressionism the stream of consciousness
      • Tennessee William (1911-1983)
        • the most important Southern playwright Pulitzer Price
        • Works
          • The Glass Menagerie A Streetcar Named Desire Critics Circle Award
        • major themes
          • a dark version of life disease of civilization
• Contemporary Literature (1945--)
  • background information
    • end of World War Ⅱ Cold War began Civil Rights movement the feeling of skepticism, anxiety, worries and upheavals prevailed Literature in this period was full of robust energy and creative activity
  • black humor
    • the fantasies, extremities and comic modes of the ludicrously picturesque
  • " the Beat Generation "
    • Some young people turned to the East and Zen Buddhism for consolation or solution to problems and later loosely formed a literary school
  • Jewish writers and black writers
  • southern literature
  • Chinese American writers
  • major writers
    • Saul Bellow (1915-2005)
      • won Nobel Prize for Literature and Pulitzer Price Jewish
      • Works
        • Mr. Sumnler ′s Planet Humboldt ′s Gift Seize the Day
      • features
        • a lively prose style
    • Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
      • the leading figure and spokesman of the Beat Generation 
      • Works
        • The Town and the City On the Road The Dharma Bums The Subterraneans
    • Amy Luth Tan (1952-)
      • Chinese American
      • Works
        • The Joy Luck Club The Kitchen God's Wife The Moon Lady The Hundred Secret
    • J.D.Salinger (1919-2010)
      • Jewish
      • Works
        • The Catcher in the Rye A Perfect Day for Bananafish Fanny Zooey
    • Joseph Heller (1923-1999)
      • black humor
      • Works
        • Catch- 22 Something Happened God Knows 
    • Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.(1922-2007)
      • black humor
      • Player Piano The Sirens of Titan Slaughterhouse - Five If God Were Alive Today