American Literary History

- Indigenius (oral) literatures in hundreds of different languages (songs, stories)
- Indigenous cultures were not homogenous -> different from later stereotypes
- warfare and epidemics decimated the Indigenous population

- 17th - mid 18th century
- Anglophone literature closely associated with the history of colonization
- English settlements along the East Coast (Virginia & Madsachusetts)

- considered the church of England corrupt -> goal: Christian Community based on a pure version of Christianity
- belief in predestination -> God chooses those people who will be saved before their birth
- John Winthrop: new colony should serve as a model -> "city upon a hill"
- Salem witch trials in 1692

- non-fictional texts: diaries, letters, sermons, histography
- poetry: religious reflections
- captivity narratives: autobiographical texts

- mid 18th to early 19th century
- struggle for independence
- economy largely based on agriculture
- 1790s: first textile factories
- industrialisation
- immense population growth
- high rate of literacy

- Imitation of British models
- 'literature of emancipation' -> breaking away from british traditions
- rising glory poems: predict future glory for the young nation
- political plays exposing Britain to ridicule
- new standards for American English

- Industrialisation
- gender roles: 'seperate-spheres' ideology
- Seneca Falls Convention (1848) -> first women's rights meeting
- Expansion westward -> Manifest Destiny
- Indian Removal act (1830)

- after Americans independence, each state decided if slavery was legal or not
- 1777-1804: some northern states ended slavery
- new southern and northern states were founded where slavery was legal
- revolts of enslaved people
- antislavery societies, newspapers, pamphlets, petitions, boycotts, speeches, ...
- 1861-1865: American Civil War -> end of civil war = end of slavery

- c. 1830-1865
- genres: poetry, novels, short stories
- focus on Americanness
- interest in nature

= philosophical and literary movement associated with intellectual elite in New England
- main representatives: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller
- criticism of conformity; emphasis on individuality
- nature -> finding true purpose in life
- against slavery and supports feminism

- well known American writers (T.S. Elliot, Ezra Pound,...) moved to Europe -> criticised restrictions in American society
- pessimist attitude
- impact of visual arts on literature
- focus on subjective perception
- criticism of American myths, e.g. the American Dream

- between WW1 and Great Deoression, Harlem becomes centre of new Black American literature and culture
- mass migration of Black Americans to escape segregation
- Harlem often referred to as 'city within a city'
- music flourished (regtime, jazz, blues)

- racist discrimination and segregation
- fear of communism and socialism
- heteronormativity
- conservative gender roles
- renewed belief in American Dream after WW1
- consumer culture
- flourishing economy
- living standard improved

- protests against war in Vietnam
- second womens movement
- Hippie movement
- more liberal attitudes towards sexuality

- 1955-1968
- goal- gaining the same rights as white Americans
- primarily non-violent protests and boycotts
- 1963: March on Washington - Martin Luther King speech 'I have a Dream'
- 1964: Civil Rights Act: All segregation laws became invalid
- 1965: Voting rights act

- highly experimental writing
- visual elements (images, diagrams, experimental typography)
- linguistic experiments
- blurring boundary between high culture and popular culture