INTRODUCTION

 Americanliterature was shaped by the his

tory of the country that produced it. For
almost a century and a half, America was
merely a group of colonies scattered alon
g the eastern seaboard of the North Ameri
can continent—colonies from which a few
hardy souls tentatively ventured westward
.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 Thishistory of American literature begi
ns with the arrival of English-speaking
Europeans in what would become the Unite
d States. At first American literature w
as naturally a colonial literature, by a
uthors who were Englishmen and who thoug
ht and wrote as such.
There are five (5) per
iods in American litera
ture
 GUESS???
GUESS???

- y + ial
+
 COLONIAL PERIOD
 Thefirst European settlers of North America
wrote about their experiences starting in the
1600s. This was the earliest American literat
ure: practical, straightforward, often deriva
tive of literature in Great Britain, and focu
sed on the future.In its earliest days, durin
g the 1600s, American literature consisted mo
stly of practical nonfiction written by Briti
sh settlers who populated the colonies that w
ould become the United States.
 FAMOUS WRITER
John Smith was
a english Soldie
r, explorer, col
onial governor,
and author.
 FAMOUS WORKS
 The Generall Hi
storie of Virgi
nia, New-Englan
d, and the Summ
er Isles
 A description o
f New England
 GUESS???

+ TIC +

ROMANTIC PERIOD
 ROMANTIC PERIOD
 Romanticperiod, which lasted from about 18
20-1860, was a movement where literature fo
cused on intuition, imagination, and indivi
dualism. ... Transcendentalism Transcendent
alism was an American literary and philosop
hical movement that lasted from the 1820s t
o the 1850s.
 FAMOUS AUTHOR
 WashingtonInvi
ng was the firs
t American auth
or to found suc
cess in both in
Europe and in A
merica.
 FAMOUS WORKS
Rip van Winkle
 Thelegend of sl
eepy hollow
 GUESS???

O +ER +

Modernist Period
 MODERNIST PERIOD
 Advancesin science and technology in
Western countries rapidly intensified
at the start of the 20th century and
brought about a sense of unprecedente
d progress. The devastation of World
War I and the Great Depression also c
aused widespread suffering in Europe
and the United States.
 FAMOUS WRITER
 F. Scott Fitzgera
ld was an America
n short-story wri
ter and novelist
famous for his de
pictions of the J
azz Age (the 1920
s),
 FAMOUS WORKS
The great G
atsby;
The side of
Paradise
 GUESS???
- E + ALISM +

NATURALISM PERIOD
 NATURALISM PERIOD
 Thehuman cost of the Civil War in the Unit
ed States was immense: more than 2.3 millio
n soldiers fought in the war, and perhaps a
s many as 851,000 people died in 1861–65.
Walt Whitman claimed that “a great literat
ure will…arise out of the era of those fou
r years,” and what emerged in the followin
g decades was a literature that presented a
detailed and unembellished vision of the wo
rld as it truly was
 FAMOUS AUTHOR
 Theodore Dreiser was
foremost among Americ
an writers who embrac
ed naturalism. His Si
ster Carrie (1900) is
the most important Am
erican naturalist nov
el.
 FAMOUS WORKS
His Sister C
arrie
An American
Tragedy
 CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
 TheUnited States, which emerged from Worl
d War II confident and economically strong
, entered the Cold War in the late 1940s.
This conflict with the Soviet Union shaped
global politics for more than four decades
, and the proxy wars and threat of nuclear
annihilation that came to define it were j
ust some of the influences shaping America
n literature during the second half of the
20th century
 FAMOUS AUTHOR
 Ralph Waldo Ellison w
as an American noveli
st, literary critic,
and scholar best know
n for his novel Invis
ible Man, which won t
he National Book Awar
d in 1953.
 FAMOUS WORKS
Invisible Man
Shadow and Ac
t
 CHARACTERISTICS
American literature reflects beli
efs and traditions that come from
the nation’s frontier days.Ameri
can writers have always had a str
ong tendency to break with litera
ry tradition and to strike out th
eir awn directions.
 GENRES
Realistic foction
Suspence
Wae
Romance
Literary fiction
HOPE YOU

Enjoy It