Critical Perspectives in American Literature

Book excerpt: Wherever There Are People There Will Be A Literature. A Literature Is The Record Of Human Experience, And People Have Always Been Impelled To Write Down Their Impressions Of Life. They Do So In Diaries And Letters, In Pamphlets And Books, And In Essays, Poems, Plays, And Fiction. In This Respect American Literature Is Like Any Other, Though It Displays Many Characteristics That Are Similar And Many That Are Dissimilar To The Literary Tradition Of Other Nations. American Literature Has Witnessed Several Trends And Movements:" Puritan/Colonial (1650 1750)" Revolutionary/Age Of Reason (1750 1800)" Romanticism (1800 1860)" American Renaissance/Transcen-Dentalism (1840 1860)" Realism (1855 1900) (Period Of Civil War And Post-War Period)" The Moderns (1900 1950)" Harlem Renaissance (Parallel To Modernism) (1920S)" Postmodernism (1950 To Present)The Present Volume Concentrates On The American Literature Of 19Th And 20Th Centuries And Includes Critical Papers On Authors Widely Prescribed In The Indian Universities. As We Are Aware, The Beauty Of Any Literary Work Is That It Leads To Fresh Interpretation Every Time When Viewed From A Different Angle. The Scholarly And Critical Analysis Presented On The Works Of Several American Literary Masters Such As Emerson, Hawthorn, Poe, Whitman, Hemingway, O Neill, Miller, Morrison, Walker, Etc., By Experts In The Field Of English Literature Would Unquestionably Enable The Readers Gain A New Insight Into The Interpretation Of Literary Works. While Serving As An Additional Resource To The Teachers Of American Literature, This Volume Is Expected To Assist The Students And Researchers In The Domain Of American Literature.