24. American Literature

17th century (diaries)

American literature is the youngest of all national literatures – its roots go back to the beginning of the 17th century when the first English colonies in American were founded.

For a long time, American literature was under the influence of English literature. The first books were histories and diaries of newcomers, like William Bradford´s History of the Plymouth Plantation.

18th century (political)

The real history of American literature begins in the time of the American fight for independence. Various papers about political problems were written. It tells us about the problems and needs of that time. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin describes the life of a scientist, journalist and politician. Thomas Paine in his Common Sense urged an immediate Declaration of Independence which was written thanks mainly Thomas Jefferson. Washington Irving wrote a large biography of George Washington (the first American president) and The Sketch Book.

19th century (prose)

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) described American wilderness and wrote Indian novels of adventure (The Last of the Mohicans).

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was a poet, short story writer and critical essayist. He was the founder both of science-fiction and the detective story. He was also keen on cosmology and cryptography.

One of his best poems is The Raven. On a stormy night a tired student who has lost his love asks if he will ever meet her ever again in some other world. A raven comes and answers: “Nevermore”. He also wrote some wonderful stories such as The Black Cat, The Golden Bug, The Pit and the Pendulum…

His was one of 3 children (1 brother and 1 disabled sister). Their mother (an actress) died at the age of 24 when Poe was 2. His father Poe (an actor) had been gone for 2 years.

Later Poe lived in an adoptive Allan family. However, he was disinherited later as he drank and was in debts constantly. Then he lived with his aunt and cousin Virginia. He married Virginia when she was 13 pretending she was 21. He was 13 years older. Her early death (when she was 24) inspired some of his writing. He was the first American who tried to live by writing alone (no other income). He wasn´t successful, though. His death was as mysterious as his work. He was found in delirium in the street. He died in hospital 3 days later. All medical reports about his death were lost. Was it alcohol, drugs, suicide, cholera, syphilis, rabies, cooping…?

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was a poet of democracy, freedom, and sexual love. His collection of poems Leaves of Grass are often labelled as pornographic or obscene. (Whitman´s sexuality is unclear.) He uses “free verse” which is his innovation.

Herman Mellville (1819-1891) was the greatest symbolist, he sailed on seas for many years. His experience at the sea were the basis for many novels. The most famous is Moby Dick, a story of Captain Ahab, a man hunting Moby Dick, a white whale. In the past the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab wants to revenge. The hunt ends in disaster, Captain Ahab is pinned to the whale´s body by his own harpoon. It describes the neverending fight between a man and the nature.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) is one of the greatest US authors. He came from the South and worked as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi river. “Mark twain” is a river-man´s phrase meaning two-fathoms-deep (fathom= sáh/ metr). His real name is S.L.Clemens. His novel The Gilded Age gave the name to the whole period after the Civil War. It is a bitter satire on the get-rich-quick years. His best books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) are based on his own boyhood along the Mississippi. They describe the local life in humorous stories. Huck is a portrait

of a frontier boy. Huck is free and remains free till the end of the book, when he runs away because he is afraid that Aunt Sally will adopt him and civilize him. And this he would not be able to “survive”. (His other books are: Life on the Mississippi, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur´s Court…)

20th century

In the 20th century, American literature has achieved an artistic level never before dreamed of. American prose and drama have begun to influence the development of world literature. Jack London (1879–1916) was a man of low social origin, mariner, factory worker, and reporter. He described

adventurous life at the time of the gold rush in Alaska. The best-known of his novels is The Call of the Wild, the story narrated by a dog in the Far North, who escapes from civilisation to lead a wolf pack.

The First World War had an influence on the post-war generation of writers, usually called “The Lost Generation“ (a term invented by Gertrude Stein). The war they witnessed had no meaning for them, and gave them nothing but a purposeless, cruel, and disillusioning experience. The writers lost their ideals and were not able to find a suitable place in society. A typical representative of The Lost Generation is Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) and Francis Scott Fitzerald (1896-1940)

Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954 for his famous book The Old Man and the Sea. It is about a human fighting against the nature and bad sides of his character. (A man can be destroyed but not defeated. An old man can´t catch fish for many days. In the end he catches a huge merlin, fights with it for 3 days, calls it brother, apologizes, wins, but on the way home sharks eat it all. Skeleton remains only.) Hemingway became a journalist after the WW1. A Farewell to Arms is one of the best novels about WW1. It is a love story of an American soldier in the Italian Ambulance Service and an English nurse. For Whom the Bell Tolls is about Robert Jordan Fighting in Spanish War. There is his famous monologue how beautiful the world is and how much it is worth fighting for.

Francis Scott Fitzerald is connected with Jazz Age of the 20s. He wrote about wealthy people for whom everything is so easy because of money. The Great Gatsby is his best novel - about a very rich man who earns all his money by smuggling. He is doing this because he wants to be on the same level as Daisy, his former lover, who had always been rich.

A prose representative of the post-war generation was Jerome David Salinger. In his works (e.g. The Catcher in the Rye) he expressed the distaste for conventional and ruthless behaviour, and the admiration for sincere and honest individuals. Over the course of three days, a rich kid who can't stop getting expelled from every school he attends wanders around Manhattan trying to get (1) drunk and (2) lucky. It is a 1951 novel about a depressed prep school boy with a heart of gold.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) – won the Nobel Prize in 1962, wrote The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden…(uncovers the reasons of social unjustice)

William Styron (1925-2006) wrote in his Sophie´s choice about a non-Jewish victim of WW2 who had to choose in Auschwitz which of her two children should go to the gas chamber. She chose her daughter as the boy was blond and blue eyed and had better chance to survive. After the WW2 she got to America. She met Nathan, they became lovers, tried to live on but committed suicide in the end.

Ray Bradbury (1920) – is a sci-fi writer who wrote Martian Chronicle (stories about visiting Mars and Martians), Farenheit 451(about the world in 50 years (around 2000, the book was written in 1950s). People are devoted to TV, books are prohibited and burnt by firemen. Firemen lost their previous job as the houses are built inflammable. Books are flammable at 451Farenheit.)

In the 1960’s a group of poets, who were disgusted by the corrupt and commercial world around them, tried to make their world better by drugs, drink and Zen Budhism: This “Beat Movement“ is well expressed in the poems written by Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) and collected in his Howl and Other Poems (1956). Some of his critics consider him the greatest American poet since Whitman, while others feel that his works show signs of madness. (He was a King of the Rag Day /Majáles/ in Prague in 1968). A representative of the “beat prose“ is Jack Kerouac (1922–1969). On The Road is the bible of the Beat Group, about friends travelling across the continent and their “beat” and restless characters. The work is written on one role of paper.

Drama of 20th century

During the 20th century, the American drama achieved a very high level. Famous American dramatists are Eugene O’Neill and after World War II e.g. Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) wrote Death of a Salesman, telling the story of a man, who is the victim of a world whose structure of society has changed too rapidly, and old values have been too quickly destroyed for him to understand. Eugen O´Neil (1888-1953) - won the Nobel Prize in 1936, Mourning Becomes Electra is one of his plays. William Tennessee (1911-1983) – wrote Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and others.

Drama of 20th century

During the 20th century, the American drama achieved a very high level. Famous American dramatists are Eugene O’Neill and after World War II e.g. Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.

Drama of 20th century

During the 20th century, the American drama achieved a very high level. Famous American dramatists are Eugene O’Neill and after World War II e.g. Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.

Drama of 20th century

During the 20th century, the American drama achieved a very high level. Famous American dramatists are Eugene O’Neill and after World War II e.g. Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.