2. Main Characteristics of American
Literature
Writing Articles | August 29, 2009
The United States has such a large
and varied literature that we can
make no true generalizations about it.
But three characteristics seem to
stand out and give it a flavor all its
own.
3. First, American literature reflects beliefs and traditions that come from the nation’s
frontier days. The pioneer ideals of self-reliance and independence appear again
and again in American writings. American authors have great respect for the value
and importance of the individual. They tend to reject authority and to emphasize
democracy and the equality of people. They often celebrate nature and a sense of
boundless space.
Second, American writers have always had a strong tendency to break with literary
tradition and to strike out their awn directions. Writers of other counties seem to
absorb their national literary traditions. But many American authors have rejected the
old in order to create something new.
Third, a lively streak of humor runs through American literature from earliest times to
the present. In many cases , a dash of salty humor saves a serious theme from
becoming too sentimental. American humor tends to be exaggerated rather than
subtle. It reflects the people’s ability to laugh at themselves even during the most
difficult times.
4. American author wrote the Gothic
Romance The Scarlet Letter (1850)
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4 July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts
in the family home at 27 Hardy Street, now a museum. He was the son
of Elizabeth Clarke Manning and Nathaniel Hathorne, a Captain in the
U. S. Navy who died when Nathaniel was four years old. His ancestors
were some of the first Puritans to settle in the New England area and the
lingering guilt Hawthorne felt from his great grandfather having
officiated during the Salem Witch Trials provided a theme for many of
his stories including The House of Seven Gables. After his father died
Nathaniel and his mother moved to her parents‟ home just a few doors
down from #27, which Hawthorne referred to as „Castle Dismal‟.
5. American author wrote Little Women
(1868);
Born on 29 November 1832 in Germantown (now part of
Philadelphia), Pennsylvania, Louisa May Alcott was the second
daughter of Abigail `Abba‟ May (1800-1877), women‟s suffrage and
abolitionist advocate and Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1893),
transcendentalist philosopher and education and social reformer
who helped found the controversial and pioneering Temple School
in Boston, Massachusetts in 1834. Amos played an active role in the
education of Louisa and her three sisters Anna, Elizabeth, and May.
6. American author, outstanding representative of
naturalism, SISTER CARRIE (1900)
Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, the ninth of ten children.
His parents were poor. In the 1860s his father, a devout Catholic German
immigrant, had attempted to establish his own woolen mill, but after it was
destroyed in a fire, the family lived in poverty. Dreiser's schooling was erratic,
as the family moved from town to town. He left home when he was 16 and
worked at whatever jobs he could find. With the help of his former teacher, he
was able to spend the year 1889-1890 at Indiana University. Dreiser left after
only a year. He was, however, a voracious reader, and the impact of such
writers as Hawthorne, Poe, Balzac, Herbert Spencer, and Freud influenced his
thought and his reaction against organized religion.
7. American author, wrote the Pulitzer Prize-
winning novel The Age of Innocence (1920)
Edith Newbold Jones was born into the wealthy family of George Frederic Jones
and Lucretia Rhinelander on 24 January 1862 in New York City. She had two
brothers, Frederic and Henry “Harry” Edward. To escape the bustling city, the
family spent summers at „Pencraig‟ on the shores of Newport Harbour in Newport,
Rhode Island. When Edith was four years old they moved to Europe, spending the
next five years traveling throughout Italy, Spain, Germany and France. Back in New
York young Edith continued her education under private tutors. She learned French
and German and a voracious reader, she studied literature, philosophy, science, and
art which would also become a favourite subject of hers. She also started to write
short stories and poetry. Fast and Loose was published in 1877 and Verses a collection
of poems privately published in 1878. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the editor
of Atlantic Monthly William Dean Howells are said to have read and been impressed
by these early works.
8. American short story writer, novelist, best known for his
Yoknapatawpha cycle, a comédie humaine of the American
South, which started in 1929 with SARTORIS / FLAGS IN
THE DUST and completed with THE MANSION in 1959.
Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.
William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, as the oldest of
four sons of Murray Charles Faulkner and Maud (Butler) Faulkner. While
he was still a child, the family settled in Oxford in north-central Mississippi.
Faulkner lived most of his life in the town. About the age of 13, he began to
write poetry. At the Oxford High School he played quarterback on football
team and suffered a broken nose. Before graduating, he dropped out school
and worked briefly in his grandfather's bank.
