Literature for a New Nation -- pp. 467-475

 

Looking Backward, Looking Forward:

Asher Durand's Kindred Spirits on page 467 anticipates the change in American literature from "Neoclassicism" (reason, order, rules, etc.) to "Romanticism" (imagination, boundlessness, freedom, etc.)

In 1788, the year of the Constitution, we still relied heavily on British Literature:

"The characteristics of 'American' culture and the role of the literature and the arts in the new nation were consequently subjects of ongoing controversy during the decades of the early national period. A major forum for such discussion and debate was the periodical press, which was growing quickly and which itself became an increasingly important element of American culture" (468).

"The editors of the North American Review were far more interested in the development of a distinctly American literature" (468).

The NAR editors "[urged] writers to cultivate a national language and exploit the 'native peculiarities' of the United States" (468).

"Native peculiarities" was a harbinger for American literary Romanticism

So was Sir Walter Scott (470, 472, 478), Lord Byron (470), and William Wordsworth (474) -- all well-known figures in English/British literary Romanticism.

 

Poetry and Poets:

"Bryant was strongly influenced by British Romantic poets, especially William Wordsworth. With its emphasis on the dignity of the individual, the literary value of common speech, and the vital role of nature in human life, Romanticism exerted an increasingly strong pull on American writers, whose new, democratic country was far more noted for the grandeur of its natural scenery than for the richness of its cultural traditions" (474).

 

Novels and Novelists:

"The novel itself was frequently condemned by critics in the United States, where many believed the excessive reading of fiction would encourage unrealistic expectations about life, stir violent emotions, and undermine morality" (470). See also p. 331.

Gothic Romances: "tales of mystery and psychological terror that originated in England" (471) -- C. B. Brown "claimed originality in his use of an American setting and indigenous materials" (471). See also p. 331.

"Scott's historical romances were an astounding success, both in England and the United States . . . Scott offered [American writers] crucial lessons about how to exploit the native materials of their own country. In fact, some of the crucial elements that distinguished his historical fiction -- his powerful sense of place, his equally commanding sense of the past, and his keen interest in oral traditions -- strongly influenced a number of writers who gained success during the 1820s" (472).

"Indeed, regionalism became an increasingly important element in American novels, stories, and sketches" (474).

"At the same time, the prose writers who emerged in the 1820s experimented with genres that later assumed a prominent place in American literature, including the sketch and short story, the potential of which would be more fully developed by writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe" (475).

 

Drama:

"From time to time, the performance of plays had been banned in the colonies, mainly because of the objections of various religious groups, especially the Puritans and the Quakers" (477).

 

Finally:

"In retrospect, literature from the Revolution to 1830 may appear to be simply a prelude to the 'American Renaissance,' the term frequently used to describe the period from 1830 to 1865" (475).