American Literature Periods (Sem 1-2)

incuded protest literature, response to war writing, and a mosaic of voices from diverse cultures; includes present day

The Great Gatsby; Of Mice and Men; challenged the American Dream

rise of African American culture: art, music, literary; produced unique forms of artistic expression; Langston Hughes

questioned conventions of modernism; wrote nonfiction to address social issues (ie racism); blurred fiction & nonfiction

Set in 1690s Puritan village; written as an allergory to criticize the hypocrisy of McCarthyism (1950s)

Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were among this group

Emphasized living a simple life; stressed individualism and self-reliance; Emerson & Thoreau

saw a rise in commercialism and journalism as literature; Ernest Hemingway

experimented with style & forms; rising disillusionment in American Dream; artists felt alienated; WW I period

Inspired by nature; emphasized emotion and imagination over reason; celebrated the individual spirit

Martin Luther King, Jr., Tim O'Brien, Rita Dove

local "color" writing; use of local dialect to give a sense of areas for the country

saw a rise of female writers; writing reflected society's limitations and gender roles; Kate Chopin

delivered sermons contrasting good and evil; Jonathan Edwards was one

Explored the human capacity for evil; included elements of supernatural; Edgar Allan Poe

explored common themes: reverence for nature and worships of many gods; folk and trickster tales; oral tradition

Looked at humans as helpless “creatures moved by forces beyond their understanding or control”; Jack London