Higher and Secondary Special Education Ministry of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Gulistan State University
«History of American Literature»
Guliston‑2005
Introduction
In the tenth century brave Scandinavian sailors reached the Western coast of the Present USA. On 12th of October 1492 Christopher Columbus landed on one of the islands (in the region of Cuba). About 1500 Florentine Amerigo Vespuchi came to the shores of the New World. But only at the beginning of the XII century did Europeans begin to open up Western Coasts of the North America. At that time the Spaniards founded settlements along the Atlantic coast (in the territory of the present day Florida, Georgia and South California). The Dutchmen settled in the district of Hudson. In Manhatten island (Hudson-) 1613 the Dutch settlement became New Amsterdam. In 1604 Frenchmen founded the first settlements in Canada. Englishmen set about to colonize America, a little later, the first English colony was Virginia which was founded in 1607. In 1620 «Mayflower» brought from England the first detachment of the colonists = puritans, who founded New Plymouth (near present day Boston). Later near that place there sprang up New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and these united under the name of New England. In 1634 there appeared Maryland and in 1681 William Penn founded the Quaker colony, Pennsylvania.
American Literature can not be captured in a simple definition. It reflects the many religious, historical and cultural traditions of the American people, one of the world's most varied populations. It includes poetry, fiction, drama and other kinds of writing by authors in what is now the US. It also includes non written material, such as the oral literature of the American Indians and folk tales and legends. In addition, American literature includes accounts of American written by immigrants and visitors from other countries, as well as works by American writers who spent all of their lives abroad.
The United States became an independent nation by winning the Revolutionary War in America (1775–1783). Much of the literature of this period addressed issues relating to American independence.
American literature begins with the legends, myths and poetry of the American Indians, the first people to live in what is now the US. Indian legends included stories about the origin of the world, the histories of tribes and tales of tribal heroes. With rare exceptions this oral literature wasn't written down until 1800's.
The earliest writing in America consisted of the journals and reports of European explorers and missionaries. These early authors left a rich literature describing their encounters with new lands and new civilizations. They publicized their adventures, described the New World, and tried to attract setllers in words that sometimes mixed facts with propaganda.
Colonists from England and other European countries began settjing along the eastern coast of North America in the early 1600's and created the first American colonial literature. The colonies in Verginia and New England produced the most important writings in the 1600's. In the 1700's, Philodelphia emerged as the literary center of the American colonies.
Captain John Smith wrote what is regarded as the first American book, «A True Relation of… Virginia (1608). It describes how he and other colonists established the first permanent E. settlement in America at Jamestown, John Smith wrote «A Description of New England) in 1616. Smith told a version of the famous story of Pocahontas in The General Histories of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624). The story claims that Pocahontas, the daughter of an Indian chief, saved Smith's life when her father was about to have him killed.
In «The History of the Present State of Virginia» (1705) historian Robert Beverley wrote about the tragic destruction of the American Indians.
To Beverley, the Indians represented possibilities for happiness, innocence, harmony and freedom. In 1620, the Pilgrims founded Plymouth Colony the second permanent E.settlement in America. Many Pilgrims belonged to a group of E. Protestants called Puritans.
The Puritans recorded their own history out of a desire to communicate with fellow believers in England, to attract new coloniests, and to justify their move to a new country. Cotton Mathew wrote more than 400 works on many subjects.
Historical works aimed at recording the life of the Puritans, their journey to America, and the major events, as well as the everyday chronicle, of their life in the New World. William Bradford, «History of Plymanth Plantation». Adward Johnson «History of New England», Coblun Mather «Masnalia Christi Americana». Underlying all these writings, one always finds the idea of Providence; the worldwhich is described is always seen as a reflection of the divine order so that constant analogies are drawn between the beauty of nature and the still of the Architect who created it. Sermons were by far the most common sort of literature in American Colonial communities totally controlled by the church. Dozens of ministers published the sermons that they had written, the best known being those of Thomas Hooker, Increase and Colton Mather.
In spite of the Puritans admiration for the classics and poets like Milton, poetry was often distrussed for appealing for much to the senses and the imagination.
John Smith (1580–1631)
John Smith lived a life crammed with adventure and achievement during a great age of exploration. It had not taken long for adventurers and merchants to begin to explore the New World Columbus had discovered. The Spanish to the south, the French to the north, the English along the mid-Atlantic coast, the Dutch, the Swedes, the Portuguese – all of Europe seemed to be moving west. By Smith’s time, about 1600 exploration and the search for gold were still important, but the desire to establish permanent settlements was growing. Smith strong-willed, imaginative, a born leader – was in the right place at the right time.
In 1607 the first permanent English settlement Jamestown, Virginia, was formed. It was made up of one hundred men and four boys, and the man in charge was the twenty-seven year-old Captain John Smith. The colony would not have survived without John Smith. As it was, over half the colonists died during the first winter. After two years in Jamestown, Smith returned to England.
In 1614 a group of English merchants, who hoped to get rich from gold, whale oil, and furs, financed a six-month expedition to New England for Smith. He explored the coast of Main to Cape Cod, made maps, traded with Indians, and went back to England, never to return to America. Yet Smith wanted to return as we can see from his «Description of New England», published in 1616. Although he calls this work a description, Smith’s main purpose is not to describe but to persuade. This pamphlet is essentially and advertisement, a kind of seventeenth – century «commercial». It is an effort to raise money for another new expedition and to convince Englishmen to join Smith in establishing a new colony of which he hoped to be governor.
The United States became an Independent nation by winning the Revolutionary War in America (1775–1783). Much of the literature of this period addressed issues relating to American independence.
Franklin, Paine and Creve Coeur wrote in disnified, but Plain and clear, prose. This style reached its peak in the ringing eloquence of the «Declaration of Independence» written by Thomas Jefferson. The same type of writing appears in the sober language of the Constitution of the U.S-s, much of which was dratted by Gonverneur Morris, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay used this clear style in «The Federatist» (1784–1788), and series of public letters that persuaded New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution.
William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant merits a claim to be one of America’s first naturalist poets. Born after the Revolutionary War, Bryant turned to nature as a source for poetic inspiration. «Thanatopsis», the name of his most famous nature poem, is a Greek word meaning «view of death». The opening lines assert:
To him who in the love of nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language…
Edgar Allan Poe, was also a master of the prose tale. A gifted, tormented man, Poe thought about the proper function of literature for more than any of his predecessors, with the result that he became the first great American literary critic…
The next great American Romanticist, however, drew on America for both characters and seltings, and his work, though theoretical and philosophical, does mirror the attitudes and moves of the time. He was a Shy New Englander named Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although he wrote no poetry his short Stories and novels still rank among the best that America has produced.
Abolitionism. Harriet Beacher Stowe «Uncle Tom’s Cabin»
Transcendentalism. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the «Great Awakener» the founder of Transcendentalism, deeply influenced American literature. His Speeches «The American Scholar» (1837) and «Divinity School Address» (1838). His treatise «Nature» (1836). In 1840 started publishing «The Deal», the Transcendentalism review. 1841. Essays, first series. (Second series in 1844). 1845–1846 «Lectures on Representative Men» (published 1880); Poems.
Literature of a young nation (1788–1917)
Washington Irving rose to fame with humorous and its past in the magazine «Salmagundi» (1807–1808) and in a book, «A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (1809). The book is also called «Knickbocker’s History of New York» because Irving wrote it under the name Diedrich Knickerbocker. In «The Sketch Book of Geoffren Crayon,» (1819–1820), Irving combined the style of the essay and the sketch to create the first short stories in American literature. The book includes «Rip Van Wirkle» and «The legend of Sleepy Hollow» two of Irving’s most famous tales. In «Rip Van Wirkle» the title character awakens from a 20‑year sleep to find everything changed by the Revolutionary War. Irving’s doubts about American independence, his hostility toward New E-d culture, and his desire to mountain cultural ties with E-d run through all his early writing.
The poet William Cullen Bryantadapted the style of E. romantic poetry to describe the American landscape and to find moral significance in its beauty. Such poems as «Thanatopsis» (1817), «To a Waterfowl» (1818), and «To the Fringed Gentain» (1832) reflect Bryant’s admiration of nature.
Origin of the American Novel. Hugh Henry Brackenridge (1748–1816)
Hugh Henry Brackenridge was Scotch. He came to America still a child and he grew up in Pennsylvania. In 1768 he entered the Princeton University. On graduating from the University Brackenridge worked at school. During the War for Independence he served as a priest in the revolutionary army.
In 1776 he wrote his poem «Battle at the Banker Hill» and his play «General Montgomery’s Death» appeared.
After the War he moved to Pittsburgh; there he edited a newspaper and took an active part in the social life of the country, he supported Jefferson’s party. He became the Member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The activity supplied him with material for his satirical novel «Modern Chivalry» («Современноерыцарство»). The first part of which saw the world in 1792 and the second one came into existence in 1805. Brackenridge is seen in this novel as the founder of American realistic novel.
The writer showed how the American bourgeoisie used democratic aciements of the revolution for their goals =aims; how the American bourgeoisie streugthened it’s rule (господство) Modern Chivalry is written in spirit of the English Englighteument novel of the XVIII century. The heroes of the book are Captain John Tarrago and his servant from Ireland Treg O – Riggee. They visit distant plays of the frontier, they were at inns, fairs; they watehed Eleetious to the local. Captain Farrago was well read and clever man. Being a democrate he does not believe American democracy blindly; he could see its dark sides as well.
He tried to bring up honest citizens of America showing them the «stupidity of ambitious pretentious «Braskenbridge’s traditions would be continued and deepened by the realists of the XIX century.
The Era of Expansion (1831–1870)
During the mid 1830’s the United States gained control of Texas, California, Oregon, and other western lands. The Indians who occupied many lands from coast to coast were forced to surrender their claims and to resettle an reservation.
To glorify the frontier
To praise the beauty of nature
In 1861, The Civil War broke out between the North and South. The North won the war in 1865.
Two main forms of fiction were practiced by American writers in the mid – 1890’s: 1) the sentimental novel and 2) the romance.
The sentimental novel, which had been developed by author Samuel Richardson in the mid – 1700’s, became immensely popular in the United S-s in the mid – 1800’s. This type of novel emphasized feelings and such values as religious faith, moral virtue, and family closeness. Its stress on traditional values appealed to many people during a period of rapid social and political change.
The sentimental novel also used reform. It became the means for rousing concern about the plight of black slaves, poor people, and other unfortunate members of society.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
He was born in 1706 in Boston, the son of a tallow-chandler. In 1718 he became a printer’s apprentice. In 1722 he began to write satirical papers under the name «Silens Dogood» for the «New England Courant» as a writer – enlightener. He was a philosopher, scientist. In 1729 he came to Philadelphia and found work as a printer. In 1726 set up his own press. In 1727 Benjamin created the «Junto Club» for the pursuit of scholarly knowledge.
In 1729 he bought the «Pennsylvania Gazette», it was later turned into «Saturday Evening Post». In 1732 he started issuing «Poor Richard’s Almanack». In 1742 he invented the Franklin Store and this is a collection of proverbs moral reflections, advertisements, recipes and advice, also remained popular for generations. In 1743 he founded the American Philosophical Society. In 1751 he makes experiments and observations in Electricity. In 1757 he went to London, as an agent for the Pennsylvania Assembly. In the same year he published «The Way to Wealth». During 1765–1770 he is very active against the Stamp Act in London.
In 1771 Benjamin wrote the first part of his «Autobiography». In 1775 he was sent as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In 1776 he helped draft the Declaration of Independence. He is sent to Paris to negotiate the treaty of alliance. In 1783 he signed the Treaty of Paris. In 1784 he started working on the «Autobiography» again. In 1785 he returned to America. He wrote against slavery. Died in Philadelphia in 1790.
In 1773 he wrote a satirical pamphlet «Rules by which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One». In 1784 he published another pamphlet in England «Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America» in defense of American Indians. His satirical pamphlet «On the Slave Trade» became his political precept – will.
Herman Melville called him «Jack of all trades, master of each and mastered by none – the type and genius of his land…» and indeed Benjamin Franklin’s life bears testimony to the variety of his pursuits and talents. It is the story of a gradual rise to power and a constant success: as a printer, and a scientist (he studied earthquakes, invented bifocal spectacles, was the first American to enter the Royal Society of London for his discoveries on electricity), in his municipal responsibilities in Philadelphia (where he created both a fire company and a police force, and introduced paving), and in his national duties as a tireless diplomat. He was the perfect representative of the Enlightenment, of the tolerant, reasonable, scientific intellect of the 18th century, believing in the perfectibility of man.
Franklin’s writings are the varied – essays, letters, speeches, satirical works-but his literary masterpiece is his «Autobiography». Written in a simple and direct style aimed at being understood by all, it relates his rise to success and maturity. Through the varied steps and careers of his life, we see him assuming different poses and roles which the elderly narrator describes with lucidity and distance. His pragmatic insistence on virtue, industry and self – reliance was later to be criticized as «bourgeois» and «utilitarian», but there is deep sincerity in the «Autobiography»; one feels that Franklin tried to better his fellowmen’s physical, intellectual and social conditions, that he was mainly concerned with the «common benefit of mankind».