8-Mavzu.
The genre of adventure in American novel.
English literature as well as American one, is a part of world literature. It has passed great
and complicated way of development and reflects the history of the USA and people. The first
American literature was neither American nor really English. It was not
American because it was
the weak mainly as we know it in the form of poetry, essays, or fiction but rather and interesting
mixture of travel accounts and religious writing.
One can distinguish the following periods in the development of American literature:
1) Literature of the XVII- XVIII century;
2) XIX century literature;
3) Literature of the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX centuries (1873-1898; 1848-
1917);
4) XX century literature (1917-1945; 1945 till nowadays);
It’s known that American began to be colonized first by Spain at the turn of the 17
th
. It
occupied Gayety, Cuba and other island of West India, then some other parts of it were colonized
by Holland and France.
In the 17
th
English people also began to flow to colonize America. Virginia became the first
colony. Some of colonies
came into existence, all being colonized by the England puritan – there
appeared New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rod-Island which were named of New England. Later
there appeared the colony of Maryland in 1634, and that of Pennsylvania in 1681.
As a result of a long struggle England gained
victory over Spain, Holland, France and turned
America into it’s durable and flourishing colonies.
Negroes and Indians were subjected to the unprecedented exploitation. The life of the slaves
and the way they were treated by the enslavers were described in different manuals written mostly
by the colonizers. Apart from that nature, landscape, fauna and flora, climate and relief of the New
continent had also been represented in diaries and other sources.
To such sources belong: “A True relation of …” (1608)
By John Smith, a historian and memory-writer of Virginia, one of the colonizers of the place.
Later he finished his general works on the “New England”, “A description of New
England” (1616) and “The General History of Virginia” (1624).
Second chronicler of the early colonial period was William Bradford (1588-1657) a founder
and leader of the colony New Plymouth. He wrote the “History of Plymouth Plantation” (1630-
1650). This manual gives the leader the panorama of the life of the original population and the
arrival of the colonizers, the first king of humane relations between them and the native people (the
help of the latter when the newcomers were experiencing hunger and the help of the colonizers to
the native, when epidermises of small-pox broke out in the country.)
Next chronicler was John Winthrop (1588-1649) one of the
founders of the colony of
Massachusetts and the first governor of it. His diary “Journal” describes the hard life of the
colonists in the first years of their stay in America, when they were ceased by hunger, cold and
diseases.
The above mentioned manuals are so valuable for they give
a true picture of living
conditions of the time in the colonized America.
Soon there appeared some literature of poetry on the new continent.
The poetess of the 17
th
was Ann Bradstreet (1612-1672), who published in London her “The
tenth muse” (1650). In her works the reader can find the landscape of the place – the description of
nature. Her descriptions are true to and rather simple. Such are her poems. “To my husband”,
“Poems on fire, watch destroyed our house”.
“Several poems” (collection of poems) includes her best poems “Meditation”.
The Virginia life is depicted in William Byrd’s “History of the dividing bins (1641)” which
games the panorama of the harp contrasts between the free farmer squatters and the owners of
Plantations.
Later there appeared a group of publicists of the 17
th
in America. They were Thomas Hocker
(1586-1647), Reger Williams (1603-1683) and John Wise (1652-1725). They came out against the
theocratic rule (regime).Theocratic rule states that the ordinary people should be obedient and
always working and not disobedient and enduring that they should be governed by the selected
people white Europeans puritan colonizers. As opposed to the above
mentioned regime young
public cists could see the might and role of the people in governing the country.
As Europeans, American Enlighteners led an active struggle against the church. But the
main task of the Enlighteners of America was to agitate the Republican ideas, condemnation of
monarchy, securing of the peoples’ rights, sovereignty.
Unlike
the Europeans Enlighteners, American Enlighteners took an active part in the
Revolution, they being the leading ideologists and political leaders of it (bourgeois revolution of
1775- 1783. the war of Independence.)
American Enlighteners are: B. Franklin, Th.
Jefferson, Th. Paine, Ph. Freneau.
American Enlightenment is characterized by the 3 main genres: publicist writing, poetry and
novel writing.
The publicist Enlighteners were: B. Franklin, Th. Jefferson, Th. Paine.
Poet Enlighteners was Philip Freneau.
Novelist Enlighteners were: Henry Brackenridge and Charles Brockden Brown.
B. Franklin (1706-1790) is the first important representative of Enlightenment in American
Literature, a statesman, scientist, writer. Born in Boston, a son of a soap and candle maker (worked
as an American ambassador to France).
He wrote many essays on various subjects. In his “Poor Richard’s Alamance” (1733- 1758)
he tried to spread the Republican ideas and ideas of bourgeois Enlightenment.
In his work “Autobiography” he showed his own mistakes, weak points, gave an exemplary
behavior of man, who has the features such as truth, sincerity, honesty in the relations of people
stressing their importance in the development of a man’s personality. He was the supporter of the
interests of the poor whites, Negroes and Indians.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) is the second outstanding representative of Enlightenment.
Born
in Virginia, his love of farmers and village life. In 1769 he was selected deputed of the
Virginia Legislative meeting. The first Bill he moved at the Legislative meeting was the one,
demanding the freedom of slaves in the colonies. At the request of a special commission Th.
Jefferson made the draft of the declaration of Independence. It guaranteed rights to life freedom
and happiness. It condemned slavery. His main work is “Notes on Virginia” (1787).
