American Literature History
...to study the 19thc in American Literature.
Before the 19thc, we have the colonial literature, in the 17thc and 18thc, under British Rule. People had their own reason to write. There are different Forms in colonial literature, but all them have in common there is not fiction.
There were two important zones in America:
-north: Virginia: they were noble people, from the Anglican Church, called gentlemen. They were looking for treasures and adventures.
-south: Massachusetts: puritans who want to expend their religion. They were non-
conformists from Britain
There were four groups:
a)Literature about exploration and development
The most important force that emerges in America. The explorers wrote the impressions and they described everything they saw in the new continent and the danger from the unknown territory. They also described the dangers, the mountains, geography and material things and the native population. They also had a very important reason for writing: to get more money to make more explorations, they needed sponsors. They said that everything was rich, beautiful, good...
They had biblical and mystical proposes, a good landscape, a kind of land of promises.
It was the American dream: they showed the possibilities to enjoy a better life.
Captain John Smith developed some of the meetings with the natives, the dangers with the natives, adventures...
The audience was English people. Colonisers usually were in love with their superiors (Pocahontas). Emphasis in love to people. The audience was English people. The crucial influence was Puritanism: it arrived and organised population in the 17thc. These colonies are going to be crucial also in the development of USA and of the literature. The puritans did not want...
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