American literature

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions
The 17th century
The 18th century
- The new nation
- Notable works of the period
  - Poets and poetry
  - Drama and the novel
The 19th century
- Early 19th-century literature
- American Renaissance
  - New England Brahmins
  - The Transcendentalists
  - New England reformers and historians
  - Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman
- From the Civil War to 1914
  - Literary comedians
  - Fiction and local colourists
  - The naturalists
  - Henry James
  - Critics of the gilded age
  - Henry Adams
  - Poets of the era
The 20th century
- Writing from 1914 to 1945
  - Experiments in drama
  - The new poetry
  - Fiction
    - Critics of society
    - Hemingway, Faulkner, and Steinbeck
    - Lyric fictionists
  - Literary criticism
    - Socio-literary critics
    - Moral-aesthetic critics
- After World War II
  - The novel and short story
    - Realism and “metafiction”
    - Southern fiction
    - African American literature
    - New fictional modes
    - The influence of Raymond Carver
    - Multicultural writing
  - Poetry
    - Formal poets
    - Experimentation and Beat poetry
    - “Deep image” poets
    - New directions
    - Autobiographical approaches
  - Drama
    - Miller, Williams, and Albee
    - The Off-Broadway ascendancy
  - Literary and social criticism
    - Literary biography and the “new journalism”
    - Theory

References & Edit History Related Topics

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American literature

Q: When did American literature begin?

Literature has existed in the Americas for as long as the people who lived there have been telling stories. Native American cultures have a rich history of oral literature. Mayan books from as far back as the 5th century are known, and it is believed that the Maya started writing things down centuries before that. As a specific discipline viewed through the lens of European literature, American literature began in the early 17th century with the arrival of English-speaking Europeans in what would become the United States.

Q: Who are some important authors of American literature?

Notable authors of American literature include: John Smith , who wrote some of its earliest works; Phillis Wheatley , who was the first Black woman to become a poet of note in the United States; Edgar Allan Poe , a standout of the Romantic era; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , a celebrated poet; Emily Dickinson , a woman who wrote poetry at a time when the field was largely dominated by men; Mark Twain , a master of humour and realism; Ernest Hemingway , a novelist who articulated the disillusionment of the Lost Generation ; and Toni Morrison , a writer who centred her works on the experiences of Black Americans and received a Nobel Prize in 1993.

Q: What are the periods of American literature?

American literature is often divided into six major periods :

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When did American literature begin?

Who are some important authors of American literature?

What are the periods of American literature?

American literature, the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States.

Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it. For almost a century and a half, America was merely a group of colonies scattered along the eastern seaboard of the North American continent—colonies from which a few hardy souls tentatively ventured westward. After a successful rebellion against the motherland, America became the United States, a nation. By the end of the 19th century this nation extended southward to the Gulf of Mexico, northward to the 49th parallel, and westward to the Pacific. By the end of the 19th century, too, it had taken its place among the powers of the world—its fortunes so interrelated with those of other nations that inevitably it became involved in two world wars and, following these conflicts, with the problems of Europe and East Asia. Meanwhile, the rise of science and industry, as well as changes in ways of thinking and feeling, wrought many modifications in people’s lives. All these factors in the development of the United States molded the literature of the country.

This article traces the history of American poetry, drama, fiction, and social and literary criticism from the early 17th century through the turn of the 21st century. For a description of the oral and written literatures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, see Native American literature. Though the contributions of African Americans to American literature are discussed in this article, see African American literature for in-depth treatment. For information about literary traditions related to, and at times overlapping with, American literature in English, see English literature and Canadian literature: Canadian literature in English.