Mae Chow
Since the Civil War, American literature history has been dominated by the Civil War. Cody Marrs, a critic, and Christopher Hager recently observed that 1865 was a significant periodization of American literature for both students and educators. “American Literature to 1865,” “American Literature after 1865.” These are the standard rubrics for countless courses, anthologies, and critical works. Yet, Hager and Marrs ask, what if “as an event in literary history is both a rupture and an occasion for extension?” Many celebrated writers of the 1850s (Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass) continued to produce important works during and after the war 👍 Realism, a literary movement associated with the end of the nineteenth century, has significant precedents in antebellum literature 😁 How would the study of nineteenth-century American literature change if we explored these continuities? [1]
Randall Fuller holds the Herman Melville Professor of Nineteenth-Century American Literature in the University of Kansas. Fuller is also the author of Emerson’s ghosts: Literature and Politics and the Making of Americanists. He is currently working on a book that will focus on Oscar Wilde and Henry James. American Literature and American Literary History have published his articles about nineteenth- and twenty-century American literature. His publications include the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He also received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Guggenheim Foundation. Washington University was where he received his PhD. Updated April 2020. We are grateful to Joell Anders, Yangzhou (China) for alerting us. [2]
A stunning write-up by easternct.edu The Civil War’s devastation severely challenged sentimentalism’s faith in God and family. It’s also giving rise to romantic optimism, which powered transcendentalism. These literary modes never really disappeared—Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1868), for example, drew on all three—but the rapid changes occurring in American life seemed to many to necessitate new forms Literary expression. Urbanization increased rapidly, as did immigration, Darwin’s theory of evolution shook up former certainties, and new technologies like the Transcontinental Railroad and the telephone altered how Americans connected with one another. Three related literary styles emerged to replace sentimentalism and transcendentalism in postbellum American fiction. They were realism (regionalism), naturalism, and naturalism. Because of the rapid growth in literary markets, authorship has become an increasingly accessible option for many people, especially those who are not writers. African AmericansNative Americans, women, and immigrants. The new era was one in which slavery had been eliminated but African Americans still had limited rights. Black voices rose to national Recognition was given, along with new Native American voices protesting continued encroachment of native lands, and new educational policies that seek to strip Native Americans from their cultural identity. This was brought to our attention by Lesleyann McKinnon. [3]
EDSITEment’s lessons and interactives devoted to slave narratives include essential Civil War readings and unlock a window on the 19th century for today’s student. . Students can see the personal experiences of ex-slaves by studying Slave Narratives. In From Courage to Freedom: Frederick Douglass’s 1845 Autobiography students read the autobiographical Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845), which follows Douglass’s courageous escape from his Maryland slaveholder and documents his journey from slave to free man. EDSITEment lesson. Perspectives on Slave Narrative examines the Narratives of William W. Brown and An American Slave (1847) in several ways. They consider historical record, literary rhetoric and autobiography. The students are then asked to deal with prejudices that may have been held about the story. Bao Pyle (Cochabamba), Bolivia, last modified this 20-days ago [4]