Title: American Literary Timeline
1American Literary Timeline
- Colonial Period
- Age of Reason
- Romanticism
- Transcendentalism
- Anti-Transcendentalism
-
- Realism
- Naturalism
- Regionalism
- Modernism
- Contemporary
-
2Colonial PeriodEarly America-1776
- This period was at the very beginnings of
America and it made way for the rest of the
countries literature. In the first stages of
America there were writers, such as Thomas
Hariot, who wrote A Brief and True Report of the
New-Found Land of Virginia in 1588 in which he
described The Americas in words and picture.
The book was quickly translated into Latin,
French, and German it was a window for the Old
World to see an embellished version of the New
World. - Others that dominated this era were the Puritans
whose definition of good writing was writing that
brought home a full awareness of the importance
of worshipping God and of the spiritual dangers
that the soul faced on Earth, and the literature
that was produced by the Puritans reflected this.
Authors of the Colonial Period
Edward Taylor
John Woolman
Anne Bradstreet
William Bradford
3Age of Reason Late 1770s to Early 1800s
Authors of the Age of Reason
- This period was a time when authors were
focused more on their own reasoning rather than
simply taking what the church taught as fact.
During this period there was also cultivation of
patriotism. The main medium during that period
were political pamphlets, essays, travel
writings, speeches, and documents. - Also during this period many reforms were
either made or requested, for instance during
this time the Declaration of Independence was
written.
Abigail Adams
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Paine
4Romanticism 1800-1850
- After the Age of Reason came to an end, the
people of America were tired of reality they
wanted to see life as more than it was. This was
the Era of Romantics. The main medium that
presented itself at that time were short stories,
poems, and novels. During this era, as opposed
to the Age of Reason, the imagination
dominated intuition ruled over fact, and there
was a large emphasis on the individual/common man
and on nature or the natural world. - Gothic literature was also introduced at this
time, which is a sub-genre of Romanticism. This
genre includes stories about characters that had
both good and evil traits. Gothic literature
also incorporated the use of supernatural
elements.
Authors of the Romanticism
Washington Irving
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Edgar Allen Poe
Herman Melville
5Transcendentalism1840-1855
- This movement pushed America from the elaborate
and fantasy writings displayed in the period of
Romanticism into a period of literature that
stressed individualism, nature, and
self-reliance. Often Transcendentalists used
nature to gain knowledge or to return to a life
of self-reliance and individualism. It also
stressed the fundamental idea of a unity between
God and the world and that each person was a
microcosm of the world. - Unlike many European groups, the
Transcendentalists never issued a manifesto.
They insisted on the differences in each
individual.
Authors of the Transcendentalism
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman
Sarah Margaret Fuller
6Anti-Transcendentalism 1840-1855
- During the same time period when
Transcendentalism was taking place, its opposite,
Anti-Transcendentalism, was also happening. As
opposed to Transcendentalism, which focused on
the natural world and its relationship to
humanity and the quest for understanding of the
human spirit, Anti-Transcendentalism focused on
the limitations of mankind and its potential
destructiveness of the human spirit. For
instance, water brings life, but its excess, i.e.
a flood, can bring death and destruction.
(Notice how they sometimes use nature in their
writings to reflect what goes on with humans.
Example Scarlet Letter and the forest
reflects Pearls wild nature, the only place
Hester and Dimmesdale can be free, etc.)
Authors of the Anti-Transcendentalism
Herman Melville
Nathaniel Hawthorne
7Realism 1865-1915
- This literary movement took place during the
Civil War. At a time when a war was taking place,
people were tired of Transcendentalism and
Anti-Transcendentalism. For one thing, they were
both extremes of the same spectrum one was nice,
happy, and frilly the other was dark and
destructive. People wanted to see things how
they were, so Realism came about. - Realism also came about as a reaction to
Romanticism, in which there were heroic
characters and adventures with strange and
unfamiliar settings. In response, Realisms
authors tried to write truthfully and objectively
about ordinary characters in ordinary situations.
Authors of the Realism
Mark Twain Samuel Clemens
Bret Harte
Sarah Orne Jewett
James Henry
8Naturalism 1865-1915
- The Naturalism literary movement that took place
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century tended to view people as hapless victims
of immutable natural laws. Naturalism is closely
related to Realism, only it usually views the
world in a darker perspective. In Naturalism, it
is widely shown that free will is an illusion
that things that happen in the universe happen
and could not happen any other way. - Also a defining characteristic of Naturalism is
that its characters lives are shaped by forces
they cannot control.
Authors of the Naturalism
Stephen Crane
Jack London
Theodore Dreiser
Frank Norris
9Regionalism 1865-1915
- Regionalism was a literary movement in which
authors would write a story about specific
geographical areas. By writing about regions,
the authors explore the culture of that area,
including its languages, customs, beliefs, and
history. - Not only did writers in this time try to show
the region they wrote about to their readers, but
they also made an attempt at a sophisticated
sociological or anthropological treatment of the
culture of the region.
Authors of the Regionalism
Willa Cather
William Faulkner
Kate Chopin
Frank Norris
10Modernism 1915-1946
- This type of writing is one of the most
experimental types. Modernist authors used
fragments, stream of consciousness, and interior
dialogue. The main thing that authors were
trying to achieve with Modernism was a unique
style, one that they could stand out and be known
for its uniqueness. - During this period, technology was taking
incredible leaps. There were also two world wars
and destruction on a global scale. The younger
generation began to take over the main stage.
Authors of the Modernism
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
John Steinbeck
Robert Frost
11Contemporary 1946-present
- In the years since the Modern period, American
authors have begun to write from a plethora of
genres. Many Americans simply write in the style
that suits them individually rather than
mimicking specific styles. There are more
different types of writing being done at one time
than at any other period in history fantasy,
fiction, science fiction, horror, political
writings, romantics, plays, and poems, anything
and everything.
Authors of the Contemporary
J. D. Salinger
Stephen King
Joyce Carol Oates
Robert Jordan
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14Edward Taylor (c. 1644-1729)
- Taylor was a Minister who studied at Harvard
College, and whose works were never published by
Taylor, himself, until they were discovered in
1930s. He wrote such pieces as Metrical History
of Christianity, which mainly a history of
Christian martyrs.
Colonial Period
15John Woolman (1720-1772)
- The best known work by a Quaker was written by
this man, simply named Journal in 1774, this
journal was a complete and full account of his
life in a pure, heartfelt style of great
sweetness that have attracted many American and
English writers for many years after Woolman had
past away.
Colonial Period
16Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612-1672)
- The first publication of a book of poems in
America, was also the first publication by a
woman in America. She also wrote The Tenth Muse
Lately Sprung Up in America in 1650.
Colonial Period
17William Bradford (1590-1657)
- He was elected governor of Plymouth shortly after
the pilgrims landed in on Plymouth Rock. He was
essentially the first historian of the new
colonies. His participation in the voyage of the
Mayflower and being governor made him the ideal
person for this job. He wrote Of Plymouth
Plantation in 1651.
Colonial Period
18Abigail Adams (1744-1818)
- She wrote letters that campaigned for womens
rights. Her grandson, Charles Francis Adams,
published The Familiar Letters of John Adams and
His Wife Abigail During the Revolution, which
were just what they said they were, letters
written by Abigail and her husband.
Age of Reason
19Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
- Franklin is well known worldwide for his
discoveries in the world of science and also for
works that he contributed to, such as the
Declaration of Independence, and his theories on
electricity. His works were all new ideas things
people never thought of before because they
always took what they got as fact.
Age of Reason
20Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
- Jefferson is bets know for writing the
Declaration of Independence, the document came
about as a response to these times, people were
thinking for themselves, and one of the major
thing the Americans discovered was that they
didnt need England. So Jefferson wrote the D of
I to formally state that.
Age of Reason
21Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
- Paine wrote mostly pamphlets that would spur
ideas and immediate action. In the document "The
American Crisis," Paine wrote about the
oppression that America suffered from Britain,
and propelled America into a war with Britain.
Paine, to this day, is well known for his
propaganda.
Age of Reason
22Washington Irving (1789-1851)
- Irving was the first famous American author
hes also known as the Father of American
Literature. He wrote travel books, short
stories, and satires. Some of his works include
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and
Devil and Tom Walker.
Romanticism
23Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)
- Poe had a bad childhood that made him despise the
world, and his works reflected his work. He is
credited for creating the modern short story, and
the detective story. He also challenged two
long-standing theories, one, a poem had to be
long, and two, a poem had to teach you something.
Some of his works include, "The Raven", "Bells",
"Annabel Lee", and "Dream."
Romanticism
24Herman Melville (1819-1891)
- In his time Melville was not entirely recognized,
however, in the more recent years he has been
considered one of the most top rated novelist of
all time. He is most well known for his epic
novel Moby Dick.
Romanticism
Anti-Transcendentalism
25Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
- Emerson had a strong sense of a religious mission
though he was accused of subverting Christianity.
He left the church saying, to be a good
minister, it was necessary to leave the church.
Some of his mayor works include Nature, published
in 1836.
Transcendentalism
26Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
- Thoreau Lived his life, to do just that, live his
life. He was never rich and for the most part
lived with little money all his life. His work
he is most well known for is Walden, published in
1854.
Transcendentalism
27Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
- Whiteman was born on Long Island, and was, for
most of his job life, a carpenter he was a man
of the people. Most of his learning career was
done on his own, after he left school the age of
eleven. His major work was entitled His Leaves
of Grass, published in 1855 over the years he
made many rewrites for this book. Some of his
famous poems are, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "Out
of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and "When
Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."
Transcendentalism
28Sarah Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)
- Fuller was born in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts.
She learned Greek and Latin at a very young age,
and later learned German and Italian. After her
father, a congressman, died she became a
schoolteacher. She worked with Ralph Emerson as
editors of The Dial, a literary and philosophical
journal, for which she wrote many articles
including The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Woman,
Woman versus Man in which she spoke for the
equality of men and women. Some of her other
works include Summer on the Lakes, published in
1844, and Women in the Women in the Nineteenth
Century, published in 1845.
Transcendentalism
29Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)
- Hawthorne was a Puritan who utilized his writings
to express his dark, and gloomy outlook on life.
Some of his works include Twice Told Tales,
published in 1837 The Scarlet Letter, published
in 1850 and The House of the Seven Gables,
published in 1851.
Anti-Transcendentalism
Romanticism
30Mark Twain Samuel Clemens (1835-1910)
- Twain is known by many as the greatest American
humorist and one of our greatest novelists. He
was known for using vernacular, exaggeration, and
deadpan narrator to create humor. Twain wrote
many great novels including, the Adventures of
Tom Sawyer, published in 1876 and The Prince and
the Pauper, published in 1881.
Realism
31Bret Harte (1836-1902)
- Harte was born in New York, and later worked in
California, on The California writing stories.
He worked with other well-known authors as well,
while at The California, authors like Mark Twain,
Charles Warren Stoddard, and Prentice Mulford.
He was later appointed Secretary of the United
States Branch Mint at San Francisco he held this
office until 1870. He then became the editor of
Overland Monthly, where he published "The Luck of
Roaring Camp," which brought him instant fame.
Some of his works included "The Heathen
Chinese, a poem published in 1870, Devil's Ford,
"The Twins of Table Mountain," "By Shore and
Sedge," and "A Millionaire of Rough and Ready."
Realism
32Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)
- Jewett grew up with books all around her, it was
only fitting she grow up to be a writer. The
early years of her life were much like the story
she wrote in A Country Doctor. Some of her works
include Miss Tempy's Watchers, originally
published in 1888 The Dulham Ladies, originally
published in 1886 A White Heron, originally
published in 1886.
Realism
33James Henry (1843-1916 )
- His father was an important theorist and
lecturer, and his older brother was a famous
American philosopher, William James. He attended
Harvard College. His early stories depict the
leisurely life of the well-to-do. In his time he
wrote many short stories including The Short
Story of a Year, published in 1865 Gabrielle
de Bergerac, published in 1869 and Guest's
Confession.
Realism
34Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
- Cranes writing was known for attacking
patriotism, individualism, and organized
religion it also confronted the meaninglessness
of the world. His work was also very well known
for its imagery and symbolism. The work he is
most famous for Red Badge of Courage, which was
set in the Civil War. Some of his other works
include The Open Boat, published in 1894 An
Episode of War, originally published in 1890.
Naturalism
35Jack London (1876-1916)
- London was born in San Francisco, California he
lived a hard life, switching from job to job for
whatever money he could get, after his father
abandoned him at a young age. He is one of the
most highly acclaimed writers of all time his
stories of life and death struggles are vivid and
engaging. Some of his works include The Call of
the Wild, published in 1903 White Fang,
published in 1906 Lost Face, published in
1910 and The Night Born, published in 1913.
Naturalism
36Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)
- One of Dreiser's favorite fictional devices was
the use of contrast between the rich and the
poor, the urbane and the unsophisticated, and the
power brokers and the helpless. Some of his works
include Twelve Men, published in 1919 A Book
About Myself, published in 1922 The Color of a
Great City, published in 1923 An American
Tragedy, published in 1925.
Naturalism
37Frank Norris (1870-1902)
- Norris studied in Paris, at the Univ. of
California, and Harvard. He also spent several
years as a war correspondent in South Africa
(1895-96) and Cuba (1898). Some of his works
include The Responsibilities of the Novelist,
published in 1903 The Octopus, published in
1901 and The Pit published in 1903.
Naturalism
38Willa Cather (1873-1947)
- Cather has been called, one of the most
interesting female writers in American literary
history. She was a teacher, a journalist and a
critic as well as a writer. She has a talent for
presenting settings, and characters that are rich
in language and imagery. She also won a Pulitzer
Prize. Some of her works include April
Twilights, published in 1903 and O Pioneers!,
published in 1913.
Regionalism
39William Faulkner (1897-1962)
- He served in both the Canadian and the British
Royal Air Force. He wrote most of his novel on a
farm in Oxford, Mississippi. Some of his novels
included The Hamlet, published in 1940 The
Town, published in 1957 and The Mansion,
published in 1959.
Regionalism
40Kate Chopin (1851-1904)
- Chopin loved literature as a child, and secluded
herself in it after her grandmothers death. She
never achieved much until 1884 when she finally
decided to pursue a career in writing. Some of
her writing included "Desirees Baby," published
in 1893 "The Awakening," published in 1899.
Regionalism
41Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
- Hemingway won a Pulitzer Prize and Noble Peace
Price for Literature. He used concise, direct,
spare, objective, precise, rhythmic writing
styles to create larger than life heroes, big
game hunters, etc. Some of his works include
The Sun Also Rises, published in 1922 A Farewell
To Arms published in 1929 For Whom the Bell
Tolls, published in 1940.
Modernism
42F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
- Fitzgerald wrote about the times. In his novel
The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, he wrote
about the roaring twenties, a time when no one
cared about the future and they had fun with what
they had then. Some of his other works include
The Side of Paradise, published in 1920 and The
Beautiful and the Damned, published in 1922.
Modernism
43John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
- Steinbeck wrote about the both the pains and joys
of life. The Grapes of Wraith, published in
1939, his most well known work told the story of
families ring to survive and stay together during
the depression. In other works like Tortilla
Flat, published in 1935, Steinbeck wrote about
the joys of life. Some of his other works
include East of Eden, published in 1952 Of Mice
and Men, published in 1937 and The Pearl,
published in 1947.
Modernism
44Robert Frost (1874-1963)
- Americas best known and most loved poet, Frost
wrote his poems in a traditional verse form. He
used the plain speech of rural New Englanders.
Some of his works include Death of the Hired
Man, published in 1951 Birches, published
in1920 and The Road Not Taken, published in
1920.
Modernism
45J. D. Salinger (b.1919)
- Salinger studied at NYU, and Columbia University.
After which he decided to devote his life to his
writing. His writing career was interrupted by
World War I, where he served in the U.S. Army.
His most well known work was his novel Catcher in
the Rye, published in 1951, a novel about a high
school student who tries to run away from his
life that he thinks is phony. Some of his
works are A Perfect Day for Bananafish published
in 1948 For Esmé With Love and Squalor,
published in 1950.
Contemporary
46Stephen King (b.1947)
- King write novels that frighten people. Some of
his major works are Carrie published in 1974
The Shining, publishing in 1998 Salem's Lot,
published in 1993 and The Stand, published in
1991.
Contemporary
47Joyce Carol Oates (b.1938)
- Oates received a type writer at the age of
fourteen and trained herself to write novel after
novel through high school and college. She
earned an M.A. in English at the University of
Wisconsin. Some of her works include Blonde,
published in 2000 Wonderland, published in 1971
and The Tattooed Girl, published in 2003.
Contemporary
48Robert Jordan (b.1948)-
- He went to the Citadel, the Military College of
South Carolina, where he received a degree in
physics. Jordans main area of expertise is in
the genre of fantasy. He is currently in the
process of writing a series of novel entitled The
Wheel of Time, some of the novels from this
series are, The Eye of the World, published in
1990 Crossroads of Twilight, published in 2003
and The Novel New Spring published in 2004.
Contemporary