ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE

OBJECTIVES
 To discover the History, Culture and Tradition of British-American English/Literature
 To identify the distinguishing features of notable Anglo-American lyric, poetry, songs,
poems, sermons and allegories
 To analyze the major influences of Anglo-America in writing in literary forms

Anglo-American Literature
 Are literary works under the influence of the British Empire and the early discovery of
American Literature. It began in the late 450 years up to the present time. It is divided
into different period or era; which correspond to the different characteristics, attributes,
values and influences that can be seen in each literary works.
Another definition
 Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England, the English people, or the
English language, such as in the term Anglo-Saxon language.
 Anglo is a Late Latin prefix used to denote English. The word is derived from Anglia, the
Latin name For England, and still the modern name of its eastern region. Anglia and
England both mean land of the Angles, a Germanic people originating in the north
German peninsula of Anglia.
What is considered Anglo-American literature?
 Anglo-American is used to refer to anything belonging to, relating to, or involving
England and America, especially the United States, or the people of the two countries.
 It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The
Americas, New Zealand and Australia. Hence, Anglo-American literature refers to the
body of written work produced in the English language from England and America.

Literary periods in Anglo Literature

1. Old English Literature (450-1100)
2. Middle English Literature: 1100-1500
3. English Renaissance: 1500-1660
4. Neo-Classical Period: (1660-1700)
5. Modern Period
1. OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (450-1100)
 Old English literature (sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon literature) encompasses
literature written in Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) in Anglo-Saxon England from
the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
 GENRE/STYLES: Epic poetry; Hagiography; Sermons; Bible Translation; Chronicles
Sample literary Masterpiece:
Beowulf
 Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative lines. It is the oldest
surviving long poem in Old English and is commonly cited as one of the most important
works of Old English literature. It describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian
warrior of the sixth century.
Authors:
 Most Old English poets are anonymous; twelve are known by name from Medieval
sources, but only four of those are known by their vernacular works to us today with any
certainty: Caedmon, Bede, Alfred, and Cynewulf. Of these, only Caedmon, Bede, and
Alfred have known biographies.
Caedmon
 Caedmon (flourished 658–680) is the best-known and earliest English poet whose name
is known. He lived at the abbey of Whitby in Northumbria in the 7th century. Only a
single nine-line poem remains, called Hymn, which is also the oldest surviving text in
English.

2. Middle English Literature (1100-1500)

 The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the
English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s.
 In this period religious literature continued to enjoy popularity and Hagiographies were
written, adapted and translated.
 GENRE/STYLE Romance; Bible Translations
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer
 The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer was enormously popular in medieval
England with over 8 copies in existence from the 1500s. Its popularity may be due to the
fact that the tales were written in Middle English, a language that developed after the,
Norman invasion, after which those in power would have spoken French.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English chivalric
romance. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types
of folklore motifs, the beheading game and the exchange of winnings.
Author:
Chaucer, Geoffrey
 Chaucer, Geoffrey (c. 1340-1400) [literary writing] The major poet of England in the late
Middle Ages and the most significant writer before Shakespeare. Born and educated in
London, Chaucer served in the court and the army and went abroad on diplomatic
missions.

3. English Renaissance (1500-1660)

 English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England from the early 16th
century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that
is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century.
 The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from
the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the 17th century.
 The Renaissance saw the rise of English theatrical drama, most notably William
Shakespeare but also from authors such as Christopher Marlowe.
 GENRE/STYLE: Vernacular Literature; Comedy; Tragedy
A. Elizabethan and Jacobean period (1558-1625)
 In the history of English literature, the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods are both
referred to as “The Age of Shakespeare.” This epoch is known as the “Golden
Age of Literature.” It runs from Elizabeth's accession in 1558 to James I's death in
1625.
B. Late Renaissance (1625-60)
 The Late Renaissance, often also called the Mannerism period, is characterized by
artworks that typically took other works of art as models. Their primary subject
was the human body often elongated, exaggerated, elegant, and arranged in
twisted poses.
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
Works of William Shakespeare
 The most famous and important plays Shakespeare wrote during the renaissance are
Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. Before his retirement, he had made a lot of
innovations in the genres, comedy, drama, romance, and other forms of performing arts,
which we still use up to the present moment.
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spencer
 An epic poem, which follows the adventures of a number of medieval knights. The poem,
written in a deliberately archaic style, draws on history and myth, particularly the legends
of Arthur. Each book follows the adventures of a knight who represents a particular
virtue (holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice and courtesy) and who has that
quality in him or herself tested by the plot. The Faerie Queene is an allegorical work in
praise of Elizabeth I (represented by Gloriana – the Faerie Queene herself – and the
virgin Belphoebe) and of Elizabethan notions of virtue.
 The poem is unfinished: Spenser’s original plan was for 12 books, but we have just
seven, the last being incomplete. The first three books were published in 1590 and the
second three in 1596.
Authors:
William Shakespeare
 Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British
theatre (sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period).
Shakespeare’s plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not all he wrote.
Shakespeare’s poems also remain popular to this day.
Edmund Spenser
 Edmund Spenser was an English poet who lived during the Renaissance. His writing was
highly influential and accomplished, setting the stage for a number of later works. The
English essayist Charles Lamb described Spenser as ''the poet's poet'' because his work
was technically accomplished and was greatly admired by other writers of his age and
after.

4. Neo-Classical Period (1760-1798)

1. Restoration Age:(1660-1700)
 The first period in the Neoclassical Period was the Restoration Period. The name
comes from the restoration of the monarchy after the return of Charles II after
Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. The period after King Charles I was beheaded
and the monarchy was restored to order. The style of the period was concise and
made use of short sentences. John Milton, John Bunyan, and John Dryden were
the primary influences.
2. Augustan literature (1700-1750)
 Augustan literature is a style of British literature produced during the reigns of
Queen Anne, King George. It was a literary epoch that featured the rapid
development of the novel, an explosion in satire, the mutation of drama from
political satire into melodrama and an evolution toward poetry of personal
exploration.
 3. Age of sensibility: (1750-1798)

The period in British literature between roughly 1740 and 1800 is sometimes
called “the Age of Sensibility,” in recognition of the high value that many Britons
came to place on explorations of feeling and emotion in literature and the other
arts.
 GENRE/STYLE: Pastoral and Mock-heroic
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
Gulliver's Travel of Jonathan Swift
 Travels into several remote nations of the world. In four parts. By Lemuel Gulliver a, first
a surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, commonly known as Gulliver as Travels,
is a prose satire By Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, that is Both a satire on
human nature and the "travellers tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's Best known full-
length work, and a classic of English literature.
Authors:
Jonathan Swift
 Jonathan Swift was a highly satirical writer who often openly criticized politics and
political issues. Due to the time they were published, their politically – focused themes,
and the base from which most of his writings were inspired puts swift and his works
resolutely in the Neoclassical era. Even after the end of the period in the late 18th century,
Swift’s work continued to influence writers and stories world – wide, even to present day.
Samuel Johnson
 Samuel Johnson was an English writer and lexicographer, a major figure in 18th century
literature as an arbiter of taste, renowned for the force and balance of his prose style. He
was one of the most famous in the neoclassic period, Johnson was influential that the
second era in the movement was named after him.

5. Modern Period
 The modern period, heralded by what is known as the Enlightenment, began in the West
in the 17th and 18th centuries with the end of the religious wars that had torn Europe
apart. There were various changes took place in the field of literature also during the
modern period. The imaginative writing, verses, structure of the verses of Victorian
period became obsolete. Writers works started losing the magic they used to have in
previous age. Victorian writers were becoming rancid and their works were failing to
evoke the spirit of the readers. Art has to be renewed in order to revitalize the readers.
But Victorian art works were lacking the surprising elements and freshness in the content.
 Scholars do not agree on the exact dates of the Enlightenment. Most literary historians
support the claim that it ended with the onset of the French Revolution in 1789, and they
place the beginning somewhere between 1660 and 1685.
  English literary modernism developed out of a general sense of disillusionment with
Victorian era attitudes of certainty, conservatism, and Belief in the idea of objective truth.
 GENRE/STYLE: Modernist novels using the stream of consciousness technique and
Science fiction
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
The Sound and the fury by William Faulkner
 The Sound and the Fury was written by William Faulkner. The Sound and the Fury is set
in Jefferson, Mississippi, in the first third of the 20th century. The novel centers on the
Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the
dissolution of their family and its reputation.
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H Lawrence
 Lady Chatterley's Lover is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was
first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated
edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, when it was the
subject of a watershed obscenity trial against the publisher Penguin Books, which won
the case and quickly sold three million copies. The book was also banned for obscenity in
the United States, Canada, Australia, India and Japan. The book soon became notorious
for its story of the physical (and emotional) relationship between a working-class man
and an upper-class woman, its explicit descriptions of sex and its use of then-unprintable
four-letter words.
Authors:
William Faulkner
 William Cuthbert Faulkner was a Noble Prize-winning American novelist and short story
writer. One of the most influential of the 20th century, his reputation is based mostly on
his novel, novellas and short stories. He was also a published poet and an occasional
screen writer
David Herbert Lawrence
 A prolific poet, painter, and essayist, D.H Lawrence (1885-1930) is today best known for
his novels, which remain popular with a general reading public in part because he
maintained conventional syntax and grammar and fairly straight forward plots, such as
the chronicle of several generations in the life of the family. Thematically, however, and
particularly in their portrayals of sexuality, his novels challenged the traditions of English
fiction.

American Literature
 American literature is the literature written or produced in the area of the United States
and its preceding colonies. During its early history, America was a series of British
colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States. Therefore, its literary
tradition begins as linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, unique
 American characteristics and the breadth of its production usually now cause it to be
considered a separate path and tradition.

Periods in American Literature:

1. Puritan/Colonial (1650-1750)
2. Revolutionary/Age of Reason (1750-1800)
3. Romanticism (1800-1860)
4. American Renaissance/Transcendentalism (1840-1860)
5. Realism (1855-1900)
6. The Modernist Period (1915-1945)
7. Harlem Renaissance (1920s)
8. Postmodernism (1950-present)

1. Puritan/Colonial (1650-1750)
 The Puritan/Colonial time period took place from 1492 to 1800, this time period has four
distinct characteristics: Narrative Focus, Religion and Poetry, Enlightenment, and The
Great Awakening.
 Narrative Focus was used extensively during this period. Most of the literary works of
this genre are composed of letters, journals, biographies, and memoirs.
 Religion is prominent in colonial American literature and can be found mostly in Puritan
writings. The Puritans wrote about the religious foundations of many of their settlements
and employed the constant theme that God should be worshipped. The written works are
usually written in poetry form.
 The Enlightenment showed a great shift in colonial American literature from a religious
foundation to scientific reasoning applied to human nature, society, culture and political
awareness. Many texts were written in pamphlet or narrative form and challenged the role
of God and religious life, seeking to replace them with reason.
 The Great Awakening was a religious revival that impacted the English colonies in
America during the 1730s and 1740s. The movement came at a time when the idea of
secular rationalism was being emphasized, and passion for religion had grown stale.
 GENRE/STYLE: Sermons, diaries, personal narratives written in plain style
Authors:
Cotton Mather
 Mather was a writer and minister in Massachusetts who combined both a belief in old
superstitions like witchcraft and a belief in more modern ideas like vaccinations. After
overcoming a speech impediment, he joined the clergy. He wrote more than 400 works,
including Magnalia Christi Americana in 1702, “an ecclesiastical history of America.”
He also wrote works justifying slavery and instructing masters on how convert their
slaves, such as The Negro Christianized in 1706.
Anne Bradstreet
 Bradstreet is widely considered the first American poet and was the first woman
published in both America and England. Despite having no formal education, she was
drawn to poetry and created works which were widely praised, including by Cotton
Mather. Her collection of poetry, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, was
published with corrections in 1678 and contained unpublished poems which covered her
illnesses, love letters to her husband, and her fear of dying in childbirth. The book proved
popular enough that King George III had a copy in his library.
John Dryden
 A poet during the English Restoration, Dryden wrote a poem to eulogize Oliver
Cromwell entitled “Heroique Stanzas” in 1658. In later years, he would write satires of
fellow poets and politicians. Despite writing fiction and plays, his works still had many of
the themes of Puritanism, and he was himself a proponent of many Puritan causes.

2. Revolutionary/Age of Reason (1750-1800)

 The Age of Reason refers to a period in history where countries such as France and
England showed a critical thinking approach to life. Occurring in the 18th century, the
age was a period that questioned things such as religion, philosophy, social life, and other
things to determine what was logical and what was not. This age is generally regarded as
the beginning of modern philosophy and the end of medieval approach to life. The Age of
Reason came after the Renaissance and before the short labeled as heretics or even being
burned at the stake, could not question some beliefs, especially religious ones.
 GENRE/STYLE: Political pamphlets; travel writing; highly ornate style and persuasive
writing
Authors:
Washington Irving
 He was a cultural and diplomatic ambassador to Europe like Benjamin Franklin and
Nathaniel Hawthorne. In spite of his talent, he probably would not have become a full-
time professional writer, given the need of financial rewards. In addition, Washington
Irving became one of the most famous American authors. He is primarily remembered for
his short stories such as "Rip van Winkle" and "the legend of sleepy hollow."
Benjamin Franklin
 “Practical yet idealistic, hard-working and enormously successful,” was a second-
generation immigrant who live in Boston Massachusett. Writer, printer, publisher,
scientist, philanthropist, and diplomat. He was the most famous and respected private
figure of his time. He was the first great self-made-man in America, a poor democrat
born in an aristocratic age that he helped to loosen up through his excellent example.
Benjamin Franklin is also one of the foremost of the Founding Fathers, he helped draft
 the Declaration of Independence and was one of its signers. In addition, Benjamin
Franklin is the only founding father to have signed all the four key documents
establishing the U.S: The declaration of independence, the treaty of Alliance with France,
the treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain, and the U.S Constitution.

3. Romanticism (1800-1860)
 A movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century,
emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. Often contrasted
with classicism.
 Value feeling and intuition over reasoning; Journey away from corruption of civilization
and limits of rational thought toward the integrity of nature and freedom of the
imagination
 Helped instill proper gender behavior for men and women
 Romanticism is characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as
glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It
is a reaction to the ideas of the Industrial Revolution, the aristocratic social and political
norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature.
 GENRE/STYLE: Character sketches; Slave narratives; Poetry; Short stories Washington
Irving's "Rip van Winkle and Poems of Walt whitman
Authors:
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson lived a life quite unlike other writers of the Romantic period: she lived largely
in seclusion; only a handful of her poems were published before her death in 1886; and she was a
woman working at a time when men dominated the literary scene. Yet her poems express a
romantic vision as clearly as Edgar Allan Poe’s. They are sharp-edged and emotionally intense.
And known for her bold original verse, which stands out for its epigrammatic compression,
haunting personal voice, and enigmatic brilliance
Edgar Allan Poe
He was a southerner with a darkly metaphysical vision mixed with elements of realism, parody
and burlesque. He refined the short story genre and created detective fiction. Many of his stories
foreshadow the genres of science fiction, horror and fantasy so popular today. Edgar Allan Poe's
stature as a major figure in world literature is primarily based on his ingenious and profound
short stories, poems, and critical theories, which established a highly influential rationale for the
short form in both poetry and fiction.

4. American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism (1840-1860)

 The American Renaissance was a revolution for literature and writers in America itself
that emphasized cultural authority. The American Renaissance took place throughout the
nineteenth century, primarily in the early segment of this era.
  The American Renaissance was a period of American architecture and the arts from 1876
to 1917, characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United
States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance humanism. The era
spans the period between the Centennial Exposition (celebrating the 100th anniversary of
the signing of the Declaration of Independence) and the United States' entry into World
War I.
 Transcendentalists: True reality is spiritual; Idealists; Self-reliance & individualism. It
was the belief in spiritual or transcendental truths beyond sense perception and material
existence. Common themes in transcendentalism was self-wisdom, nature and social
reform. Transcendentalist authors include Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson
and Margaret Fuller.
 Anti-Transcendentalists: Used symbolism to great eJect; Sin, pain, & evil exist.
 Anti-transcendentalists rejected this optimistic outlook on humanity and life. They
declared such optimism naïve and unrealistic. The anti-transcendentalists reflected a
more pessimistic attitude and focused on man's uncertainty and limited potential in the
universe. They viewed nature as vast and incomprehensible, a reflection of the struggle
between good and evil. The anti-transcendentalist felt humans were depraved and had to
struggle for goodness.  Although they thought goodness was attainable for some, they
believed in evil as its own entity. They believed sin was an active force; it was not just
the absence of good; they really did think, on some level, that the devil existed. The anti-
transcendentalists believed in a higher authority and that nature is ultimately the creation
and possession of God – and cannot be understood by humans.
 GENRE/STYLE: Poetry; Short Stories; Novels
Authors:
Walt Whitman
 He was born on long Island New York. Witman was a part-time carpenter, whose
briiliant, pioneering work expressed the country's democratic spirit. He was mostly self-
taught, he left school at the age of 11 to go to work. "His Leaves of Grass (1855)" which
he wrote and revised throughout his life contains, “Song of Myself," the most amazingly
original poem ever written by an American. Whitman is considered the father of free-
verse poetry. But he was much more than that. He introduced readers to previously
forbidden topics -- sexuality, the human body and its functions -- and incorporated
unusual themes, such as debris, straw and leaves, into his work.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 One of the most important Boston Brahmin poets was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He
was a professor of modern languages at Harvard, was the best-known American poet of
his day. He was responsible for the misty, historical, legendary sense of the past that
joined American and European traditions.
 He is the most popular American poet in the 19th century, known for such works as The
Song of Hiawatha (1855) and “Paul Revere's Ride” (1863).
5. Realism (1855-1900)
 American Realism period was between 1865-1930. It was directly after and directly
opposed to Romanticism and really got going after the American Civil War. American
Realism was then replaced by Naturalism in literature and died off in the mid-1900s.
 Realism portrays things truthfully and remains faithful to the real world. Works of
realism often intertwine descriptions of everyday activity with concerns about the impact
of war, politics and the brutal forces of nature. Rather than whisk the reader away to an
exotic location in the past or future, realist authors focus on their present day, attempting
to represent the acute struggles of men and women as they happen in the real world.
 Social realism: aims to change a specifc social problem. It refers to an art style born from
European realism that attempts to present the viewer plainly with a social critique of the
living conditions of minorities or the working class during the 19th and 20th century.
More simply- it is an art style that portrays the lives of poor and working folks This term
can be used to describe work done by artists, writers, filmmakers, and photographers-
basically, anyone who used a creative medium to make a statement about the socio-
political situations of the lower class
 Aesthetic realism: art that insists on detailing the world as one sees it. Aesthetic Realism
states that ethics begins with the human obligation to see everything, living and not
living, as well as one can. Where we get away from this obligation or don’t see it, or
diminish its meaning, it is rather clear that contempt is showing its strength; indeed, is
winning.
 GENRE/STYLE: Novels and short stories and Objective narrator
Authors:
Mark Twain
 Mark Twain uses realism in his stories because they are based on real things that could
happen in life. Twain portrays his stories in such a way that all readers can get an
understanding of the characters. Twain also gives his reader a visual that makes the
reader want to know what will happen next.
 Mark Twain was an American humorist, novelist, and travel writer. Today he is best
remembered as the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn (1885). Twain is widely considered one of the greatest American
writers of all time.
William Dean Howells
 He played an important role in the rise of realism in American literature and helped shape
the attitudes of the reading public. Truthfulness and attention to social issues were
necessary aspects of fiction to Mr. Howells.
 William Dean Howells, (born March 1, 1837, Martins Ferry, Ohio, U.S.—died May 11,
1920, New York City), U.S. novelist and critic, the dean of late 19th-century American
letters, the champion of literary realism, and the close friend and adviser of Mark Twain
and Henry James.
6. The Modernist Period (1915-1945)
 The Modern Period in American Literature 1915-1945 Many historians argue that
America's cultural coming of age occurs during this time. The artistic innovations of
Modernism are viewed as a response to dramatic historical, cultural, and economic
events.
 Modernist experimented with literary form and expression adhering to ezra pound's
maxim to "make it new."
 GENRE/STYLE: Novels; Plays; Poetry (a great resurgence after deaths of Whitman &
Dickinson); Use of interior monologue & stream of consciousness
Authors
T. S. Eliot
Eliot was an American-English poet, playwright, literary critic, and editor. He is best known as a
leader of the Modernist movement in poetry and as the author of such works as The Waste Land
(1922) and Four Quartets (1943).
T.S. Eliot exercised a strong influence on Anglo-American culture from the 1920s until late in
the century. His experiments in diction, style, and versification revitalized English poetry, and in
a series of critical essays he shattered old orthodoxies and erected new ones.
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas is modern because of his poetic technique. In his 'Fern Hill' he has experimented
with different forms, words and images. He gives newness to the much used phrases as in 'below
a time", "happy as the grass was green' or 'all the sun long'.

7. Harlem Renaissance: Parallel to Modernism (1920s)

 A literary movement in the 1920s that centered on Harlem and was an early manifestation
of black consciousness in the US The movement included writers such as Langston
Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.
 It was one of the richest most vibrant and most culturally generative artistic periods in
American history and the work that emerged from that period continues to shape the
landscape of American arts and letters today.
 Black people are tired of being treated as second-class citizens and many began more
forcefully advocating for their civil and political rights.
 Large cultural shifts can not only serve as a catalyst for social and political change but
can also spark new forms of creative and artistic expression, by the time the first great
migration was over a million Americans had moved to the north, with 175000 of them
settling into Harlem. Harlem is a single neighborhood in a New York city.
 Allusions to African-American spirituals; Uses structure of blues songs in poetry
(repetition)
 Superficial stereotypes revealed to be complex characters
 Blues and Jazz transmitted across American via radio and phonographs.
 GENRE/STYLE: Racial identity, Black life experiences
Authors:
Claude McKay
 Claude McKay, born Festus Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville, Jamaica in 1889, was a key
figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a prominent literary movement of the 1920s. His work
ranged from vernacular verse celebrating peasant life in Jamaica to poems that protested
racial and economic inequities.
 In addition to giving a voice to black immigrants, McKay was one of the first African-
American poets of the Harlem Renaissance. As such, he influenced later poets, including
Langston Hughes. He paved the way for black poets to discuss the conditions and racism
that they faced in their poems
Langston Hughes
 Langston Hughes was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, the flowering of black
intellectual, literary, and artistic life that took place in the 1920s in a number of American
cities, particularly Harlem. A major poet, Hughes also wrote novels, short stories, essays,
and plays.
 Langston Hughes, poetry was unique because it reflected both his personal experience as
a black man living in America and the experiences of working-class black people across
the country. He strived to reflect what he thought of as the authentic black American
experience, and refused to make black life look happier or less painful than it actually
was for so many.

8. Postmodernism (1950 to Present)

 The Postmodernist Period, also known as the Contemporary Period, was the era of
American literature immediately succeeding the Modernist Period, hence the name. The
Postmodernist Period came with the ending of World War II, specifically the dropping of
the atomic bombs to cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. upon the Japanese the
postmodernism is an American literature where the time is after the end of World War 2
till now, the world war and the civil rights movement and the cold war have their
influences on literature of this time. Americans consider themselves as the most powerful
party in world economy and politics. America's conflict with Soviet Union and the
invention of nuclear bomb influence shaping American literature.
 Literature writings of the contemporary period were very dynamic, all the forms of
literature like poetry and short stories novels started to grow these writings were written
on various themes, identity was a major theme because many African-American writer
started to publish their works racism was also an important theme because by these
writings we find the solid picture of common people their works and lives. The literature
were very good evidence of how Americans reacted to the modernist era and its culture.
 GENRE/STYLE: metafiction, magic realism and intertextuality
Authors:
Richard Brautigan
Richard Brautigan was one of the most prominent 20th century postmodern American authors
who used parody as a tool to denaturalize realistic novel writing convention. He believed that
there is no order and exact reality in life and parodied realistic novels.
Don DeLillo
DeLillo's novel possesses the postmodern element pastiche-the combination of multiple genres
in one work. Pastiche utilizes genres of the past to create something new and also prove that
literature can amalgamate many different writing aspects.
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