LITERATURA USA 15.11.2010WYKŁAD 22.11.2010 29.11.2010 6.12.2010Making of a National Literature (1800 – 1865) Part 1
Historical background
- Expanding territories
- Immigrants are coming
- Shift from agriculture to industry
- Steamboat
- Locomotive
- Cotton gin
- Abolitionist Movement
- Native Americans removal
- Women’s movement
- Debating societies, lyceum movements
- Newspapers and magazines
William Lloyd Garrison
- Founded the anti-slavery journal, to promote the Abolitionist Movement
“The Trial of Tears”
- 1830 – the US Government forced the removal of Native Americans
Washington Irving (1783 – 1859)
- One of the 1st American writers to achieve international fame
His works
- “Salmagundi” (1807, 1808) magazine: satirical essays about social climbers, politicians, military men, critics, belles written by W. Irving, his brother William and by James K. Paulding.
- “A History of New York from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch Dynasty” – 1809; written under the name of Dietrich Knickerbocker.
- “The Sketch Books of Geoffrey Grayon Gent” – 1820; a collection of tales and sketches including “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legends of Sleepy Hollow”
W. Irving’s other collections
- “Life and Voyages of Columbus” 1828, etc.- historical books
W. Irving’s style
- Humour – it’s not what he says, but how he says it
- Exaggerates with a straight face
- Makes ironic remarks
- Says the opposite of what he means
- Uses long sentences and many words of Latin derivation
- Exaggerates grandly the seriousness of situations
W. Irving embraces the spirit of the new Romantic movement
- An emphasis upon emotion
- A great interest in the picturesque elements of the past
- Enthusiasm about portraying national life and character
- Drew from German literature for the suggestion of legends
- Master of description (sights, colors, sounds, feelings)
- Creator of an atmosphere indicating mystery and evil
Rip Van WinkleForerunner of Romanticism
- Rip – a man of nature
- Supernatural phenomena
- The genre used (legend)
- Nostalgia for the past
- Concern for individual freedom
- Love for the beauty of the natural landscape
- Rip starts a certain tradition of American heroes – the counter-hero (negative but we like him)
James Fenimore Cooper
- “The Pilot”, 1823 – a sea novel
- “Precaution”, 1820 – a dynastic novel of manners, political satire and allegory
- “The Spy”, 1821 – about a secret agent Harvey Birch, who spied upon the British during the Revolutionary War (Cooper’s 1st successful novel)
- “Leatherstocking Series” – 5 novels, uniquely American, with a frontier setting, including Indians as characters and the westward migration as the social background (American frontier of 1740 – 1804).
Tales
- Each incoming ware displaces the earlier the ongoing and inevitable ware of settlers is seen not only as gains, but also as losses; deep tensions between the lone individual and society, etc.
“Leatherstocking Tales”
- Based on history; full of action, danger, escapes, brave deeds; arrival of the 1st Whites as scouts, soldiers, traders and frontiersmen; the coming of poor, rough settler families.
1) “The Pioneer” (1823) – Natty Bumpoo (White scout) is middle-aged and ahs difficulty setting in a “civilized” community; his friend Chiugachgook (Mohican Indian) dies despite Natty’s efforts to save him.
2) “The Last of the Mohicans” (1826) – Bumpoo is called Hawkeye
3) “The Prairie”
4) “The Pathfinder” (1840)
5) “The Deerslayer” (1841) – a young Natty Bumpoo (Deerslayer) kills an Indian in a fight who gives him the name Hawkeye
To read the story of Natty Bumpoo from youth to old age one must read these novels not in the order of composition, but following this order: 5, 2, 4, 1, 3.
The American Frontier
- The Leatherstocking novels move the reader back in time, further into the American past, emphasizing the youth and the innocence.
American Hero
Natty Bumpoo
- Outstanding woodman
- Peacefull man adopted by Indian tribe
- Loves nature and freedom
- Famous frontiersman in American literature
- Literary forerunner of many cowboy and backwood heroes
- An idealized individualist who is better than the society he protects
- Is pure, with ethical values
- Can distinguish good from evil
- Complains about the destruction of wilderness
So-called AMERICAN ADAM (natural wisdom, morality, reliance on action and instinct rather than thought, reasoning)
Questions:
- Are human beings basically good or evil?
- What kind of society is needed in the New World?
Cooper’s writing style
- Long, complex descriptions
- Careless about details in his wording
- The characters: men seem self-important, while ladies are sentimental
- At times the characters seem to be reading their lines, instead of talking naturally
W. Irving vs. J. F. Cooper
- Irving searched Europe looking for themes. He imported and adopted European legends, culture and history.
- Cooper grasped the essential myth of America – the wilderness and created distinctive American characters and themes.
Making of National Literature (1800 – 1065)Part 2
Romanticism – a particular attitude toward the realities of man, nature and society.
Characteristics
- Free rebellious spirit
- Individualism
- Intuition
- Inner life, importance of the subconscious
- Strangeness and mystery
- Fantastic visions
- Enthusiasm for primitive life
- Nature (sources of the knowledge of the primitive, refuge from civilization, revelation of God to the individual)
- Idealizing the “noble savage” – on individual not spoiled by luxury and sophistication
- Stress on emotion rather than reason
- Subjectivity in form and meaning
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849)
- Poe’s mother -> a talented English actress, Elizabeth Arnold
- Poe’s father -> a much less talented American (Irish) actor, David Poe. He was an alcoholic who deserted his wife.
- Poe’s mother died of consumption.
- Poe is taken to the home of John Allan and wife (a wealthy tobacco merchant)
Relations with his foster father
1) GAINS
- Poe spent time in England, beginning his education in private schools
- Admitted to the University of Virginia and later to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point.
2) SUFFERING
- Given a small allowance at the University of Virginia, Poe turns to gambling, later got no allowance at all, and could not pay his gambling debts;
- Dismissed from West Point for violations of academy regulations.
Poe’s first marriage
- Poe married his thirteen -year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1835
- This marriage gave his life some affection and structure
- In 1842, Virginia ruptured a blood vessel while singing
- When she died in 1847, he fell into an abnormal state of mind and body
Poe’s character
- Had an unstable temperament
- Was insecure, troubled, disturbed, neurotic, unhappy, with reasonless, fears.
- Led a life of outward struggle and inner turmoil
- Moved from Richmond Virginia) to New York, then to Philadelphia, and finally to Baltimore
- Maintained real and varied interest in the world around him (letters, reviews, essays), not only in literature but also in theatre, architecture, music, painting, commerce, education, government and science.
- Kept the pose and beliefs of a souther aristocrat
- Has been described by others as a: sadomasochist, drug addict, sex pervert, egomaniac.
Poe’s ways of writing (5 examples)
- Had genius when he was healthy
- Had strong ambitious and enormous capacity for work
- Used his experience in his writing
- He meticulously revised what he regarded his best work
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