American literature

American literature generally refers to English literature produced in the United States. The history of American literary tradition began initially as part of a broader English literature in the colonies along the East Coast of what is now the U.S.A. Since the late 18th century, the literary outcome of the former colonies gradually found its own unique 'American' voice and formed its own literary tradition.

Colonial literature

Some early forms of American literature like pamphlets and other texts were meant to glorify the colonies for European readers. Captain John Smith may be considered the first American author with his works: A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note As Hath Happened in Virginia,(1608) and The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624). Other similar writers were Daniel Denton (Brief Description of New York) - 1670, Thomas Asche (Carolina) - 1682, William Penn (Brief Account of the Province of Pennsylvania) - 1682, George Percy, William Strachey, John Hammond, Daniel Coxe, Gabriel Thomas and John Lawson.

Religious issues and disputes were frequent literary topics during the early years of colonization. John Winthrop's diary treated the religious foundations of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Edward Winslow also kept a diary in which he described the first years after the arrival of the Mayflower. An important cleric and writer of that period was Increase Mather. Governor William Bradford is best known for his book about the adventures of the Pilgrims, Of Plymouth Plantation, that he wrote between 1620 and 1647. Others like Roger Williams and Nathaniel Ward advocated a stricter separation of church and state.

There was also activity in all fields of poetry: with, among others,Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor. Another source of inspiration for literary writings were the encounters with Indians and the conflicts that they engendered: Daniel Gookin, Alexander Whitaker, John Mason, Benjamin Church and Mary Rowlandson wrote about this subject. The Puritan John Eliot even translated the Bible for the Indians in the Massachusett-language. In this revolutionary period the production of political writings flourished, including those of Samuel Adams, Josiah Quincy, John Dickinson, and the royalist Joseph Galloway.

18th century

Prominent literary figures from this period were Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. Politically influential were Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac and The Autobiography, and Paine's famous pamphlet Common Sense. The early 18th century in North America was dedicated to the First Great Awakening. The literature of this period consists mainly of written sermons. Important (mostly Puritan) clerics and writers of sermons are Thomas Hooker, Thomas Shepard, John Wise and Samuel Willard. Other contemporaries included judge Samuel Sewall who wrote the essay The Selling of Joseph, the teacher and businesswomanSarah Kemble Knight, whose diary became well-known, and the plantation owner and writer William Byrd II. During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) a total of 2000 political pamphlets was published, among them the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson and the Federalist Papers. The American poets of the time - such as John Trumbull, the satirist Francis Hopkinson and Philip Freneau, were primarily politically motivated, what can also be said of the novel Modern Chivalry by Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Shortly after the Declaration of Independence of the United States some nationalist novels were published, like The Conquest of Canaan by Timothy Dwight and The Vision of Columbus by Joel Barlow. William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy (1789) is sometimes called 'the first true American novel'. Gradually, American literature found its own voice and distinguished itself from European forms and styles. Of course there were still plenty of imitations; Susanna Rowson wrote her bestsellcer Charlotte Temple in 1791 in the tradition of Samuel Richardson, and Wieland and other novels of Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) were clearly inspired by the gothic novel in England. Many early critics judged 'Wieland' as a novel full of contradictions and ambiguities. The work was considered unsophisticated and too dependent on the conventions of gothic and sentimental novels. By more modern critics however these ambiguities are now often regarded as deliberate strategies of the author. During the 18th century the ideas of the Enlightenment reached North America. In this period the population in the colonies increased significantly and was around 1.6 million in 1760, and this would explain the increase of religious and political opinions stated. In American literature, the focus shifted from Puritan ideals to the power of the human mind and rational thought. Many intellectuals believed that man with the laws described by Isaac Newton was now able to understand the entire universe.

Sources and references

• The Norton Anthology of American Literature - Third edition Vol. I and II