Unit 2544: Survey of American Literature

1. Early American Literature (Colonial Period to Early 19th Century)

• Overview of historical and cultural context
• Major genres: Puritan poetry, sermons, early fiction
• Key authors and works:
  • Anne Bradstreet: themes of faith, family, identity
  • Jonathan Edwards: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and Puritan rhetoric
  • Washington Irving: early American Romanticism, "Rip Van Winkle," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

2. Transcendentalism in American Literature

• Philosophical foundations: self-reliance, individualism, nature
• Historical background and emergence in the 1830s–1850s
• Key authors and works:
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson: essays ("Self-Reliance"), nature writing
  • Henry David Thoreau: "Walden," civil disobedience
• Themes: optimism, intuition, nonconformity

3. Realism and Regionalism (Late 19th to Early 20th Century)

• Reaction against Romanticism and idealism
• Focus on everyday life, social realities, and local color
• Key authors and works:
  • Mark Twain: "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," satire and vernacular speech
  • Kate Chopin: "The Awakening," issues of gender and identity
  • Sarah Orne Jewett: regional settings, "The Country of the Pointed Firs"

4. Harlem Renaissance (1920s Cultural Movement)

• Historical context: post-WWI, Great Migration
• Celebration of African American culture and identity
• Key authors and works:
  • Langston Hughes: poetry and jazz influences
  • Zora Neale Hurston: folklore, "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
  • Claude McKay: political themes, "If We Must Die"

5. Modernism in American Literature (Early 20th Century)

• Context: industrialization, WWI, cultural upheaval
• Characteristics: experimentation, fragmentation, stream of consciousness
• Key authors and works:
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald: "The Great Gatsby," critique of the American Dream
  • Ernest Hemingway: minimalist style, "The Sun Also Rises"
  • T.S. Eliot: poetry, "The Waste Land"

6. Post-World War II Literature

• Cultural context: postwar prosperity, Cold War, social change
• Movements:
  • Beat Generation: Jack Kerouac ("On the Road"), Allen Ginsberg ("Howl")
  • Postmodernism: Thomas Pynchon ("Gravity's Rainbow"), Toni Morrison ("Beloved")
• Themes: alienation, identity, narrative experimentation

7. Contemporary American Literature (Late 20th Century to Present)

• Focus on multiculturalism, globalization, and social issues
• Key authors and works:
  • Jhumpa Lahiri: immigrant experience, "Interpreter of Maladies"
  • Junot Díaz: race, identity, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"
  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: feminism, postcolonial themes, "Americanah"
• Themes: intersectionality, identity politics, cultural hybridity