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Post world war 2 american literature
Education system in usa in 1800
Education system in usa in 1800
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Post-Civil War American Literature saw a transition from the prominence of romance to the development of realism. In the late 1800's, the United States was experiencing swift growth and change as a result of a changing economy, society, and culture because of an influx in the number of immigrants into America. (Spiller 35) Whereas authors previously sought to "idealize human beings, fall in love with a dream, and then, reject the real man or woman who had inspired the dream", they now worked to accurately portray life and people as they really were. (Wagenknecht 68) Realists such as Henry James and William Dean Howells, two of the most prolific writers of the nineteenth-century, used typical realistic methods to create an accurate depiction of changing American life
	Henry James was one of five children of affulent, eccentric parents. While his birth in 1843 was in New York City, his parents were purposly rootless, and by the age of eighteen he had already crossed the Atlantic six times. He avoided participation in the Civil War because of a poor back and began a role which he would maintain throughout his life and writings, one of a detached observer rather than participant in the American social scene. (Matthiessen 14)
	The first phase of James' writing begins when he is twenty-one, in 1864 and continues until 1881. He was extremely popular during this time, especially during after publication of a short story Daisy Miller, which is concerned with the destruction of a naive American girl by European mores. James continues the theme of placing Americans without sufficient social experience into
the complex society and culture of Europe with The American, which chronicles a man whose finds himself unable to buy his way into French society. (Matthiessen 14)
	For Henry James, the years of 1882 to 1895 brought less success. His novels now took on a more political tone. (Matthiessen 15) In 1886, he published The Bostonians, regarding the feminist movement in New England. Here, "he complained that women who wanted to become just like men were disregarding their own uniqueness." (Norton 616) The Tragic Muse, published in 1890, continues this trend as it contrasts art with politics. After these works failed commerically , James turned to the British stage; he found no greater success there. (Matthiessen 15)
	The period of James' life recognized as the final phase, the one which Matthiessen calls the "Major Phase", revolves around three novels with which James assured himself a place in American Literature.
Americans throughout history often pride themselves on the unique and insular nature of their culture. Acting as if their New World is entirely free from influence by the Old World. In her book, Becoming Americans in Europe, Blower provides specific instances that seemingly contradicts that view. The thesis in Blower’s book is that Paris was a large factor in how Americans crafted their national identity. Interwoven with that thesis Blower also promotes an idea of a cycle of Americans influencing Parisians and Parisians therefore reacting differently to Americans forcing them to change.
The American Civil War caused a dramatic shift in style, form, and thematic discourse in American literature because it affected the people in the way they saw morality and reality. The works after the Civil War were mainly focused on how they experienced the war and its effects. It also caused some antiwar works and more on
On April 23, 1791, a great man was born; fifteenth president of the United States, James Buchanan.He was born near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. His father, James Buchanan, and his mother Elizabeth Speer Buchanan, raised their son a Presbyterian. He grew up in a well to do home, being the eldest of eleven other siblings. His parents cared for them all in their mansion in Pennsylvania. They sent him to Dickinson College.
Henry James confronted the Old World-New World huddle by writing directly about it. Although born in New York City, he spent most of his adult years in England. Many of his novels center on Americans who live in or travel to Europe. With its intricate, highly qualified sentences and dissection of emotional and psychological nuance, James's fiction can be daunting. Among his more accessible works are the novellas Daisy Miller, about an enchanting American girl in Europe, and The Turn of the Screw, an enigmatic ghost story.
Americans in the 1920s were fresh off of World War I and freshly into the Prohibition Era. The American Dream was well defined- a life of wealth, comfort, and exuberance. After a World War I victory, the Dream was thought to be in the near future for every American. The country was seen as a world superpower, wealthy after the devastation of a war fought entirely overseas and brimming with hope and possibility- at least on the surface. Despite the highs experienced by much of the country, it wasn't without its problems. Crime violence was benevolently running the streets and the Speakeasies beyond the reach of full Prohibition, the world was being set-up for The Great Depression, and America was brimming with members of the "Lost Generation." This generation and the hypocrisies and idiosyncracies of the "American Dream" inspired a rising and influential set of artists, poets and writers, and a list of best-selling books that both reflected and inspired the generation that devoured them. Authors such as Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, Anita Loos, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis were some of the popular fiction authors of the 1920s who both entertained and delighted their readers, while also offering an intelligent reality check about the limits and realities of the American Dream.
American Literary Realism has been bringing the social issues that had previously been dressed up and hidden by Romanticism into the spotlight since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this time of upheaval and change, realist writers were able to use their own experiences with suffering and misfortune to try and change society's perception of the problems the country was facing. The goal of realist writing was to express the way the world worked in a brutally honest way in an attempt to spark change. More specifically, two authors named Kate Chopin and Paul Laurence Dunbar both faced many trials and tribulations that they were able to incorporate into their passages in order to open the minds of their readers to new ideas and ways of living. With social issues like slavery, The Civil War, industrialization, reconstruction, and American "equality", realist writers led the realist movement by revealing the struggles and hardships of ordinary people. By implementing American regionalism, realistic points of view, and smiling/grim naturalism into their stories or poems the writers were able to enlighten the public on important topics of that time period, no matter how graphic or unpleasant.
He lived a life without parental guidance. His mother left him with his father when he was only 4 years old. James was often left alone while his father traveled to turpentine camps selling tar for a living. James recalls the times he spent alone walking around in the woods looking for doodlebugs, and playing a harmonica his father gave him. During this time alone, he never had anyone around to talk to but himself (Brenchley, 2003).
The early 1900s in the United States saw a continued polarization of class and race. While The Industrial Revolution had created opportunity for many, and extreme wealth for a privileged few, this prosperity was heavily distributed among White America; the majority of Black Americans were still mired in poverty in the southern states. The abolition of slavery did not bring the equal rights and boundless opportunity for Black Americans that they had hoped for; instead it brought disillusionment and struggle. Similarly, the end of World War II saw a parallel of disillusionment begin to emerge among the youth of White America. These parallels grew into two very distinctly different American Literary genres. The one“Finding that their elders
The colonial period in american literature is a time where the writings that came out weren’t a lot about emotions, but about how history, and the way things were in the past. Something that seemed very important was how persuasive the people became about separating themselves from the british. People wrote not only essays, but also used speeches to help get to a larger crowd of people.
Henry James, one of America¡¯s major novelists and critics, has produced many great works, such as Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowel and The Ambassadors. His method of characterization is ¡°a complete objectification of characters.¡±¢Ùand he focuses on the inner life of characters rather than external action and environment to explore the mind and inner activities of the characters through their dialogues, mental conflicts, thoughts on man and events instead of the complex plot. So his writings do not present readers a series of events as traditional novels do. Especially in his final and ¡°major phase¡±, the very subtlety and complexity of characterization is almost to deliberately depicting degree. Thus people call him a psychological realist and consider him as the founder of psychological realism. James believes that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator, and not in any facts of which the spectator is unaware. So by making the conscious part of the artist the final measure of experience, James shifts the ground of realistic art from the outer to the inner world. His short story Paste is one of typical examples reflecting his such writing techniques and theories on literary creation.
“American Crisis.” The American Tradition in Literature, 12th ed. New York: McGraw Hill 2009. Print
American Literary Realism, 1870-1910. Vol. 8, Issue 1 - "The 'Standard' University of Texas, 1975. http://www.ut Gilman, Charlotte.
Baym, Nina et al. Ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 8th ed. New York:
James was an authoritarian parent. He was controlling, in-charge and no one questioned him. He would play the role of the doting father. When his children made mistakes, he made a point to criticize them. He often compared them to other kids that he felt were “more perfect.” When his often unspoken expectations were not met he would yell and scream striking fear into his entire family. “He’s not a warm, fuzzy kind of guy, and he’s not going to inspire feelings of intimacy. But when his system works, he can boast about one thing: His recruits tend to obey” (Dewar).
Between the years of 1865 and 1914, American literature was mainly comprised of three writing styles: realism, regionalism, and naturalism. Realism aims to portray life realistically. Though realism...