American literature

1
American literature

• New England Transcendentalism
• Emerson and Thoreau

2
General introduction of new England
transcendentalism

• It is the summit of American Romanticism
• Leaders Emerson and Thoreau
• Club Transcendentalist Club
• Manifesto Nature in 1836 by Emerson. (It is
  regarded as the Bible of New England
  Transcendentalism.)
• Their journal The Dial
• Sources German Idealism, German
  Transcendentalism and American Puritanism.

3
Major ideas of New England Transcendentalism

• Placing emphasis on spirit or Over-soul, as the
  most important thing in the universe.
• --- a new way of looking at the world
• Stressing the importance of individual
  (self-reliance)
• --- a new way of looking at man
• Offering a fresh perception of the nature as
  symbolic of the Spirit or God.
• The Universe is composed of Nature and the
  Soul. Spirit is present everywhere. The
  individual soul communed with the Over-soul and
  was therefore divine.

4
Influence of New England Transcendentalism

• An important influence to American literature.
• It inspired a new generation of famous authors as
  Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman
  and Dickinson.
• It inspired one of Americas most prolific
  literary periods in its history.

5
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

• American philosopher, poet and essayist
• The most eloquent spokesman of New England
  Transcendentalism.
• Works
• Nature 1836
• Essays First Series 1841
• Essays Second Series
• Representative Men
• English Traits
• The Conduct of Life
• The American Scholar
• The Over-Soul
• Self-Reliance
• The Transcendentalist
• The Poet

6
Emerson

• During his lifetime he was considered one of the
  two or three best writers in America, and
  certainly the most influential among his
  contemporaries.
• His influence extended beyond his own century.
• His essay The Poet marked the birth of true
  American poetry and true American poets such as
  Whitman and Emily Dickinson.
• His The American Scholar has been regarded
  (first by Oliver Wendell Holmes) as Americas
  Declaration of Intellectual Independence.
• His reputation has fallen somewhat in the present
  century.

7
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

• American essayist and poet
• Leader of American Transcendent
• Works
• Walden, or Life in the Woods
• Civil Disobedience
• Life Without Principle
• A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
• The Maine Woods
• Cape Cod
• A Plea for Captain John Brown
• Slavery in Massachusetts

8
Evaluation

• His influence goes beyond America.
• Thoreaus masterpiece, Walden, is a great
  Transcendentalist work that came out of the
  period under discussion.
• Thoreau has been regarded as a prophet of
  individualism in American literature. He was very
  critical of modern civilization. Civilized man
  is the salve of matter.