American Literature
Lecture I The Beginnings of American Literature
Part I Historical Background
The Western Hemisphere had already been reached by courageous Scandinavian seafarers in the 10th century, but the actual discovery of America was made in the 15th century when Christopher Columbus landed on some island near Cuba in 1492 which he mistook for India. Later Amerigo Vespucci explored that coast and the new continent came to be called America after the name of its undoubted discoverer. The Northern part of America was explored by Henry Hudson; the Southern continent was explored by the Spaniards and the Portuguese. At first the only aim of the white adventurers was to get gold. It was at the beginning of the 17th century that colonization of America really started. Four European nations competed in that overseas expansion: Spain, Holland, France and England.
A group of English Puritans (the so-called Pilgrim Fathers, approximately 100 men) crossed the Atlantic on board the ship the Mayflower in 1620. They agreed that they would build up a new society where every member could be free. From their colony New Plymouth immigrants spread in all directions. In the 18th century a bitter struggle was fought among England, France, Spain and Holland to determine to which country the new continent should belong. In the end England defeated its rivals and became the supreme ruler of the North American continent. This New World had already been long inhabited by the Red Indians, the native population. The Europeans could have easily managed to live in America without disturbing the Indians, but they, in their greed for riches, were ruthless. The way the Indians were annihilated by the white race constitutes one of the darkest pages in the history of mankind. The Indians never made good slaves. So, the colonists started bringing convicts from the prisons of Europe as labour, and also Negroes from Africa. The black population of America increased rapidly. Not only were Negroes bought and sold. The shipping companies also organized the kidnapping of 12-13 year-old white children. Another type of white slaves was poor artisans and peasants from Ireland, Scotland and other countries, who were ready to risk everything to save their families from starvation.
Part II The Roots of the National American Literature
The Colonial Period / the Age of Faith
1. European Influence
The Pilgrim Fathers brought books to America, they opened schools; in 1636 they founded Harvard College, the first American University. Though they were religious fanatics and preferred the Bible to all other books, they were the first to publish books in America. The authors were far from being professional writers, but their works told the story of the colony. We can mention the names of William Bradford (1590-1657), one of the Pilgrim Fathers, he wrote “The History of the Plymouth Plantation”; Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), a poetess, in her poems she described the life of the first generation of the New Englanders; Sarah Kemble Knight (1666-1727), a woman writer, who kept a diary.
American culture, however, cannot be really understood if we view it only in the light of European influence. American literature is an independent literature intimately connected with the history of the country.
2. Indian Mythology
Some of the Europeans who had come to America learnt from the Indians: they became acquainted with their social laws and appreciated such human values as their love of freedom, their self-respect, and their contempt for wealth. The natives supplied the picturesque element for most of the writing of colonial times. To them also were due a number of involuntary journeyings, the accounts of which make an important part of American literature. There is nothing in English, or in any other language, that surpasses these narratives of Indian captivities in vividness or in the bare statement of physical suffering and mental torment.
3. Negro Folklore
The Negroes contributed greatly to the development of the arts. Negro songs and acting became part of American national music and drama. Negro folk-lore has given American literature a specific colouring: a mixture of jocularity and sadness.
4. Revolutionary Influence
American literature owes its revolutionary traditions to the War of Independence (1775-1783); it is often called the American Revolution. The works of the first American colonists were primarily nonfiction, including histories, journals and sermons with a unifying theme of what life was like in North America in early colonial times.
Part III The Revolutionary Period
Enlightenment / The Age of Reason
(1760-1800)
The writers of this period believed that by using reason human beings could manage themselves and their societies without depending on authorities and past traditions. Reason, they also believed, thrived on freedom - freedom of speech, freedom to experiment, freedom to question existing laws and institutions.
The leading writers of the period tended to write on science, ethics or government rather than on religion. Typical of the period of the Age of Reason are such men as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Philip Freneau.
The Americans of the Age of Reason differed in one dramatic way from their English contemporaries. They were given the chance to test their ideas about freedom and progress by creating a new society. The chance came when the 13 colonies decided - or, as they felt, were forced - to become independent. The American Revolution was fought not only with muskets, but also with thousands of pamphlets, essays, songs, poems and speeches.
American literature originated in journalism.
1. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).
By cleverness and hard work he changed himself from the poorly educated son of a candle-and-soap-maker into a world famous scientist, diplomat, philosopher and writer. He made his living mostly as a hard-working Philadelphia printer. But he also helped improve the city’s pavements, street lighting, sanitation, fire companies and police; he ran a magazine and a newspaper; he founded a debating club, a hospital, the American Philosophical Society, the first American library and the college that became the University of Pennsylvania; he studied earthquakes, ocean currents and wind; he invented the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, a device for lifting books off high shelves, a rocking chair that could swat flies, a musical instrument called harmonica and a stove that was sold throughout America and Europe; he assisted in creating the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the USA; he discovered the laws of electricity (for which he won honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale and a gold medal from the English Royal Academy); and became the first American millionaire.
Franklin was also a brilliant writer. He perfected the Puritan plain style (smooth, clear and short). He kept a huge correspondence and wrote on everything from love to chess. Most popular among his earlier works were “The Poor Richard’s Almanacs”, noted for their witty sayings:
- Keep the shop, and thy shop will keep thee.
- Love your neighbour; yet don’t pull down your hedge.
- A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may
never get over.
- Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
- Don’t throw stones at your neighbours, if your own windows are glass.
- Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
- Fish and visitors smell in three days.
- Now that I have a sheep and a cow everybody bids me good morrow.
2. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826).
He was a statesman, patron of the arts (he collected paintings and played the violin), architect (he designed and built the buildings and campus of the University of Virginia), the author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the USA (1801, he served for 2 terms). He carried out the Louisiana Purchase, which added to the USA over 820,000 square miles of land formerly owned by France.
3. Philip Freneau (1752-1832).
He was the leading poet of the American Revolution, the first romantic poet of America. He introduced the American landscape and American Indians into popular literature.
He may truly be considered the Father of American Poetry.