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Introduction to American Literature

Introduction to American Literature. The World at the Beginning of the American Era. Geography--the Europeans were discovering new territories, including North America Religion 1456--Gutenberg printed his first Bible (education almost always leads to the undermining of authority)

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Introduction to American Literature

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  1. Introduction to American Literature

  2. The World at the Beginning of the American Era • Geography--the Europeans were discovering new territories, including North America • Religion • 1456--Gutenberg printed his first Bible (education almost always leads to the undermining of authority) • October 31, 1517--Luther posts 95 theses against indulgences • 1534--Act of Supremacy

  3. Astronomy Copernicus publishes On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, suggesting that the earth rotates around the sun.

  4. Government In 1513, Machiavelli publishes The Prince, in which he depicts the lying, cheating, and stealing of successful rulers.

  5. The effect of all this was that Euopeans began to see the world’s instability. Humans began to see themselves as small beings in a big world. Traditional assumptions were broken down.

  6. Traits of the American Character • Sense of the endless frontier. • America was a high-risk society. • Naivete • Capitalist Ethos • Calvinistic Influence • Diverse Cultural Influences • Bill Murray: “Americans are people kicked out of every respectable county in the world.” • Practical versus Artistic • Independent Temperament

  7. What is American Literature? • Literature that is distinctly American? • This is no help. • Literature written by Americans? • Aren’t Canadians or Mexicans Americans? • Does American literature include literature in other languages than English? • A literary inheritance? • “American Literature and I have a bond.” • Henry James said that American writers must deal with being American.

  8. The Canon What works should we study? Should we expand the canon to include more works by minorities and women?

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