Outline of American Literature by Kathryn Vanspanckeren - HTML preview

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Court, became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and

noble landed gentry made possible by slavery.

was friendly with some of the leading English

The institution released wealthy southern whites

writers of his day, particularly William Wycherley from manual labor, afforded them leisure, and

and William Congreve. His London diaries are the

made the dream of an aristocratic life in the

opposite of those of the New England Puritans,

American wilderness possible. The Puritan

full of fancy dinners, glittering parties, and wom-emphasis on hard work, education, and earnest-

anizing, with little introspective soul-searching.

12

Byrd is best known today for his lively History the author, an Englishman named Ebenezer

of the Dividing Line, a diary of a 1729 trip of some Cook, had unsuccessfully tried his hand as a

weeks and 960 kilometers into the interior to

tobacco merchant. Cook exposed the crude ways

survey the line dividing the neighboring colonies

of the colony with high-spirited humor, and

of Virginia and North Carolina. The quick impres-

accused the colonists of cheating him. The poem

sions that vast wilderness, Indians, half-savage

concludes with an exaggerated curse: “May

whites, wild beasts, and every sort of difficulty

wrath divine then lay those regions waste /

made on this civilized gentleman form a uniquely

Where no man’s faithful nor a woman chaste.”

American and very southern book. He ridicules

In general, the colonial South may fairly be

the first Virginia colonists, “about a hundred

linked with a light, worldly, informative, and real-men, most of them reprobates of good families,”

istic literary tradition. Imitative of English liter-and jokes that at Jamestown, “like true

ary fashions, the southerners attained imagina-

Englishmen, they built a church that cost no

tive heights in witty, precise observations of dis-more than fifty pounds, and a tavern that cost five tinctive New World conditions.

hundred.” Byrd’s writings are fine examples of

the keen interest southerners took in the mate-

Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa)

rial world: the land, Indians, plants, animals, and (c. 1745-c. 1797)

settlers.

Important black writers like Olaudah Equiano

and Jupiter Hammon emerged during the colo-

Robert Beverley (c. 1673-1722)

nial period. Equiano, an Ibo from Niger (West

obert Beverley, another wealthy planter

Africa), was the first black in America to write an and author of The History and Present

autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the R State of Virginia(1705, 1722) records Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the the history of the Virginia colony in a humane and African (1789). In the book — an early example vigorous style. Like Byrd, he admired the Indians of the slave narrative genre — Equiano gives an

and remarked on the strange European supersti-

account of his native land and the horrors and

tions about Virginia — for example, the belief

cruelties of his captivity and enslavement in

“that the country turns all people black who go

the West Indies. Equiano, who converted to

there.” He noted the great hospitality of south-

Christianity, movingly laments his cruel “un-

erners, a trait maintained today.

Christian” treatment by Christians — a senti-

Humorous satire — a literary work in which

ment many African-Americans would voice in

human vice or folly is attacked through irony,

centuries to come.

derision, or wit — appears frequently in the

colonial South. A group of irritated settlers lam-

Jupiter Hammon (c. 1720-c. 1800)

pooned Georgia’s philanthropic founder, General

The black American poet Jupiter Hammon, a

James Oglethorpe, in a tract entitled A True and slave on Long Island, New York, is remembered

Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia

for his religious poems as well as for An Address (1741). They pretended to praise him for keeping

to the Negroes of the State of New York (1787), in them so poor and overworked that they had to

which he advocated freeing children of slaves

develop “the valuable virtue of humility” and

instead of condemning them to hereditary

shun “the anxieties of any further ambition.”

slavery. His poem “An Evening Thought” was the

The rowdy, satirical poem “The Sotweed

first poem published by a black male in

Factor” satirizes the colony of Maryland, where

America.

13

Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar

Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson.

CHAPTER America’s literary independence was slowed by a lingering identification with England, an excessive imitation of English or classical literary models, and difficult economic and political condi-

2 tions that hampered publishing.

DEMOCRATIC ORIGINS

Revolutionary writers, despite their genuine

AND REVOLUTIONARY

patriotism, were of necessity self-conscious, and

WRITERS, 1776-1820

they could never find roots in their American

sensibilities. Colonial writers of the revolution-

he hard-fought American Revolution

ary generation had been born English, had grown

against Britain (1775-1783) was the first

to maturity as English citizens, and had cultivated Tmodern war of liberation against a colonial English modes of thought and English fashions in power. The triumph of American independence

dress and behavior. Their parents and grandpar-

seemed to many at the time a divine sign that

ents were English (or European), as were all

America and her people were destined for great-

their friends. Added to this, American awareness

ness. Military victory fanned nationalistic hopes

of literary fashion still lagged behind the English, for a great new literature. Yet with the excep-and this time lag intensified American imitation.

tion of outstanding political writing, few works Fifty years after their fame in England, English of note appeared during or soon after the

neoclassic writers such as Joseph Addison,

Revolution.

Richard Steele, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope,

American books were harshly reviewed in

Oliver Goldsmith, and Samuel Johnson were still

England. Americans were painfully aware of their

eagerly imitated in America.

excessive dependence on English literary mod-

Moreover, the heady challenges of building a

els. The search for a native literature became a

new nation attracted talented and educated peo-

national obsession. As one American magazine

ple to politics, law, and diplomacy. These pursuits editor wrote, around 1816, “Dependence is a

brought honor, glory, and financial security.

state of degradation fraught with disgrace, and to Writing, on the other hand, did not pay. Early

be dependent on a foreign mind for what we can

American writers, now separated from England,

ourselves produce is to add to the crime of indo-

effectively had no modern publishers, no audi-

lence the weakness of stupidity.”

ence, and no adequate legal protection. Edito-

Cultural revolutions, unlike military revolu-

rial assistance, distribution, and publicity were

tions, cannot be successfully imposed but must

rudimentary.

grow from the soil of shared experience.

Until 1825, most American authors paid print-

Revolutions are expressions of the heart of the

ers to publish their work. Obviously only the

people; they grow gradually out of new sensibili-

leisured and independently wealthy, like Wash-

ties and wealth of experience. It would take 50

ington Irving and the New York Knickerbocker

years of accumulated history for America to earn

group, or the group of Connecticut poets knows

its cultural independence and to produce the

as the Hartford Wits, could afford to indulge

first great generation of American writers:

their interest in writing. The exception, Benjamin Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper,

Franklin, though from a poor family, was a print-

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,

er by trade and could publish his own work.

14

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Charles Brockden Brown was

Carey, an important American pub-

more typical. The author of sever-

lisher, paid a London agent — a

al interesting Gothic romances,

sort of literary spy — to send

Brown was the first American

copies of unbound pages, or even

author to attempt to live from his

proofs, to him in fast ships that

writing. But his short life ended in

could sail to America in a month.

poverty.

Carey’s men would sail out to meet

The lack of an audience was

the incoming ships in the harbor

another problem. The small culti-

and speed the pirated books into

vated audience in America wanted

print using typesetters who divided

well-known European authors,

the book into sections and worked

partly out of the exaggerated

in shifts around the clock. Such a

respect with which former colonies

pirated English book could be re-

regarded their previous rulers.

printed in a day and placed on the

This preference for English works

shelves for sale in American book-

was not entirely unreasonable, con-

stores almost as fast as in England.

sidering the inferiority of American

Because imported authorized

output, but it worsened the situa-

editions were more expensive and

tion by depriving American authors

could not compete with pirated

of an audience. Only journalism

ones, the copyright situation dam-

offered financial remuneration, but

aged foreign authors such as Sir

the mass audience wanted light,

Walter Scott and Charles Dickens,

undemanding verse and short topi-

along with American authors. But

cal essays — not long or experi-

at least the foreign authors had

mental work.

already been paid by their original

The absence of adequate copy-

publishers and were already well

right laws was perhaps the clearest

known. Americans such as James

cause of literary stagnation. Am-

Fenimore Cooper not only failed to

erican printers pirating English

receive adequate payment, but they

best-sellers understandably were

had to suffer seeing their works

unwilling to pay an American author

pirated under their noses. Coo-

for unknown material. The unau-

NOAH WEBSTER

per’s first successful book, The Spy

thorized reprinting of foreign

(1821), was pirated by four differ-

books was originally seen as a ser-

ent printers within a month of its

vice to the colonies as well as a

appearance.

source of profit for printers like

Ironically, the copyright law of

Franklin, who reprinted works of

1790, which allowed pirating, was

the classics and great European

nationalistic in intent. Drafted by

books to educate the American

Noah Webster, the great lexicogra-

public.

pher who later compiled an Am-

Printers everywhere in America

erican dictionary, the law protected

followed his lead. There are notori-

only the work of American authors;

Engraving © The Bettmann

ous examples of pirating. Matthew

Archive

it was felt that English writers

15

should look out for themselves.

ual. Self-educated but well-read in John Locke,

Bad as the law was, none of the early publish-

Lord Shaftesbury, Joseph Addison, and other

ers were willing to have it changed because it

Enlightenment writers, Franklin learned from

proved profitable for them. Piracy starved the

them to apply reason to his own life and to break

first generation of revolutionary American writ-

with tradition — in particular the old-fashioned

ers; not surprisingly, the generation after them

Puritan tradition — when it threatened to

produced even less work of merit. The high point

smother his ideals.

of piracy, in 1815, corresponds with the low point While a youth, Franklin taught himself lan-of American writing. Nevertheless, the cheap and

guages, read widely, and practiced writing for the plentiful supply of pirated foreign books and

public. When he moved from Boston to

classics in the first 50 years of the new country

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Franklin already had

did educate Americans, including the first great

the kind of education associated with the upper

writers, who began to make their appearance

classes. He also had the Puritan capacity for

around 1825.

hard, careful work, constant self-scrutiny, and

the desire to better himself. These qualities

THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT

steadily propelled him to wealth, respectability,

he 18th-century American Enlightenment

and honor. Never selfish, Franklin tried to help

was a movement marked by an emphasis on

other ordinary people become successful by

Trationality rather than tradition, scientif- sharing his insights and initiating a characteristi-ic inquiry instead of unquestioning religious

cally American genre — the self-help book.

dogma, and representative government in place

Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, begun in of monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers and writers

1732 and published for many years, made

were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and Franklin prosperous and well-known throughout

equality as the natural rights of man.

the colonies. In this annual book of useful

encouragement, advice, and factual information,

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

amusing characters such as old Father Abraham

Benjamin Franklin, whom the Scottish philoso-

and Poor Richard exhort the reader in pithy,

pher David Hume called America’s “first great

memorable sayings. In “The Way to Wealth,”

man of letters,” embodied the Enlightenment

which originally appeared in the Almanack, ideal of humane rationality. Practical yet idealis-Father Abraham, “a plain clean old Man, with

tic, hard-working and enormously successful,

white Locks,” quotes Poor Richard at length. “A

Franklin recorded his early life in his famous

Word to the Wise is enough,” he says. “God helps

Autobiography. Writer, printer, publisher, scien-them that help themselves.” “Early to Bed, and

tist, philanthropist, and diplomat, he was the

early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and

most famous and respected private figure of his

wise.” Poor Richard is a psychologist (“Industry

time. He was the first great self-made man in

pays Debts, while Despair encreaseth them”),

America, a poor democrat born in an aristocratic

and he always counsels hard work (“Diligence is

age that his fine example helped to liberalize.

the Mother of Good Luck”). Do not be lazy, he

Franklin was a second-generation immigrant.

advises, for “One To-day is worth two tomorrow.”

His Puritan father, a chandler (candle-maker),

Sometimes he creates anecdotes to illustrate his

came to Boston, Massachusetts, from England in

points: “A little Neglect may breed great Mis-

1683. In many ways Franklin’s life illustrates the chief....For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for impact of the Enlightenment on a gifted individ-want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for want

16

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Engraving courtesy Library of Congress

17

of a Horse the Rider was lost, being overtaken

which the U.S. Constitution was drafted. In his

and slain by the Enemy, all for want of Care about later years, he was president of an antislavery

a Horse-shoe Nail.” Franklin was a genius at

association. One of his last efforts was to pro-

compressing a moral point: “What maintains one

mote universal public education.

Vice, would bring up two Children.” “A small leak

will sink a great Ship.” “Fools make Feasts, and

Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813)

wise Men eat them.”

Another Enlightenment figure is Hector St.

Franklin’s Autobiography is, in part, another John de Crèvecoeur, whose Letters from an

self-help book. Written to advise his son, it cov-American Farmer (1782) gave Europeans a glowers only the early years. The most famous sec-

ing idea of opportunities for peace, wealth, and

tion describes his scientific scheme of self-

pride in America. Neither an American nor a

improvement. Franklin lists 13 virtues: temper-

farmer, but a French aristocrat who owned a

ance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, indusplantation outside New York City before the

try, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness,

Revolution, Crèvecoeur enthusiastically praised

tranquility, chastity, and humility. He elaborates the colonies for their industry, tolerance, and

on each with a maxim; for example, the temper-

growing prosperity in 12 letters that depict

ance maxim is “Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to

America as an agrarian paradise — a vision

Elevation.” A pragmatic scientist, Franklin put

that would inspire Thomas Jefferson, Ralph

the idea of perfectibility to the test, using him-

Waldo Emerson, and many other writers up to

self as the experimental subject.

the present.

To establish good habits, Franklin invented a

Crèvecoeur was the earliest European to

reusable calendrical record book in which he

develop a considered view of America and the

worked on one virtue each week, recording each

new American character. The first to exploit the

lapse with a black spot. His theory prefigures

“melting pot” image of America, in a famous pas-

psychological behaviorism, while his systematic

sage he asks:

method of notation anticipates modern behavior

modification. The project of self-improvement

What then is the American, this new man?

blends the Enlightenment belief in perfectibility

He is either a European, or the descendant

with the Puritan habit of moral self-scrutiny.

of a European, hence that strange mixture

ranklin saw early that writing could best

of blood, which you will find in no other

advance his ideas, and he therefore delib-

country. I could point out to you a family

Ferately perfected his supple prose style, whose grandfather was an Englishman, not as an end in itself but as a tool. “Write with whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a

the learned. Pronounce with the vulgar,” he

French woman, and whose present four

advised. A scientist, he followed the Royal (sci-

sons have now four wives of different

entific) Society’s 1667 advice to use “a close,

nations....Here individuals of all nations are

naked, natural way of speaking; positive expres-

melted into a new race of men, whose labors

sions, clear senses, a native easiness, bringing

and posterity will one day cause changes in

all things as near the mathematical plainness as

the world.

they can.”

Despite his prosperity and fame, Franklin

never lost his democratic sensibility, and he was

an important figure at the 1787 convention at

18

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THE POLITICAL PAMPHLET:

English might be a second lan-

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

guage. Thomas Jefferson’s original

The passion of Revolutionary lit-

draft of the Declaration of In-

erature is found in pamphlets, the

dependence is clear and logical,

most popular form of political liter-

but his committee’s modifications

ature of the day. Over 2,000 pam-

made it even simpler. The Fed-

phlets were published during the

eralist Papers, written in support of

Revolution. The pamphlets thrilled

the Constitution, are also lucid,

patriots and threatened loyalists;

logical arguments, suitable for

they filled the role of drama, as they

debate in a democratic nation.

were often read aloud in public to

excite audiences. American sol-

NEOCLASSISM: EPIC, MOCK

diers read them aloud in their

EPIC, AND SATIRE

camps; British Loyalists threw them

Unfortunately, “literary” writing

into public bonfires.

was not as simple and direct as

homas Paine’s pamphlet

political writing. When trying to

Common Sense sold over

write poetry, most educated au-

T100,000 copies in the first

thors stumbled into the pitfall of

three months of its publication. It is

elegant neoclassicism. The epic, in

still rousing today. “The cause of

particular, exercised a fatal attrac-

America is in a great measure the

tion. American literary patriots felt

cause of all mankind,” Paine wrote,

sure that the great American Rev-

voicing the idea of American excep-

olution naturally would find ex-

tionalism still strong in the United

pression in the epic — a long, dra-

States — that in some fundamental

matic narrative poem in elevated

sense, since America is a democra-

language, celebrating the feats of a

tic experiment and a country theo-

legendary hero.

retically open to all immigrants, the

Many writers tried but none suc-

fate of America foreshadows the

ceeded. Timothy Dwight, (1752-

fate of humanity at large.

1817), one of the group of writers

Political writings in a democracy

known as the Hartford Wits, is an

THOMAS PAINE

had to be clear to appeal to the vot-

example. Dwight, who eventually

ers. And to have informed voters,

became the president of Yale

universal education was promoted

University, based his epic, The

by many of the founding fathers.

Conquest of Canaan (1785), on the

One indication of