LITERARY HISTORY

The 19th centuryPart 2

19th century literature

TIMELINE 19th CENTURY AUTHORS

EnglandJane Austen: 1775-1817Mary Shelley: 1797-1851Charlotte Brontë: 1816-1855Emily Brontë: 1818-1848Anne Brontë: 1820-1849

USANathaniel Hawthorne: 1804-1864Mark Twain: 1835-1910

19th century literature

TIMELINE 19th CENTURY (American Literature)

Transcendentalism: 1840-1860 Age of Realism: 1865-1900

19th century literature

American Literature in the 19th century

It was in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that the nation’s first novels were published. With the Anglo-American War (1812-1815) and an increasing desire to produce uniquely American literature and culture, a number of key new literary figures emerged, perhaps most prominently Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe. In America there was NO Victorian Age.

Check out this timeline

19th century literature

Nathaniel Hawthorne: 1804-1864

Born in Salem, Mass. Family of Salem Witch trial judge: John Hathorne TranscendentalistTranscendentalism was a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England area of the USA. Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both man and nature. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions - particularly organized religion and political parties - ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual.

19th century literature

19th century literature

The SALEM witch trials: 1692

An episode in American history of mass hysteria, during which people were (unfairly) accused of witchcraft An excess of 19 people were unjustly hanged for witchcraft, 5 more people died in prison (jail fees) “Naming names” (also communist hunt, USA, 1950s) Salem, Massachussetts – Puritan community – fire & brimstone, devil-obsessed

19th century literature

Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter

Published in 1850 Boston, 1640’s Hester Prynne – an adulteress (hence the letter A) Pearl – Hester’s illegitimate daughter Arthur Dimmesdale - Hester’s lover, also the minister Roger Chillingworth – Hester’s husband, believed dead

19th century literature

Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter

Themes in The Scarlet Letter:

Open vs. Overt Guilt / Honesty Hate Jealousy Loyalty Religion Nature vs. Man-made communities

Watch the SparkNotes summary

19th century literature

Mark Twain: 1835-1910

Mark Twain (the pen name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was the first major American writer to be born away from the East Coast – in Hannibal, in the border state of Missouri. His regional masterpieces were the memoir Life on the Mississippi and the novels Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (seen as the first “Great American Novel”).

He was a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. ‘Mark Twain’ was the call made when a boat was in safe water (two fathoms = 3.7 m).

19th century literature

Mark Twain: 1835-1910

Twain's style – influenced by journalism, wedded to the vernacular, direct and unadorned but also highly evocative and irreverently humorous – changed the way Americans write their language. His characters speak like real people and sound distinctively American, using local dialects, newly invented words, and regional accents.

Example: “Yo' ole father doan' know yit what he's a-gwyne to do. (from Huckleberry Finn)

19th century literature

Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finn

Published in 1884/5 Age of Realism: 1865-1900 Mark Twain believed that humanity's freedom of choice was limited by the power of outside forces. Realistic writers like Twain often set their stories in specific American regions, rushing to capture the “local colour” before it was lost. Watch the SparkNotes summary

19th century literature

Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finn

Themes in Huckleberry Finn:

Racism Slavery Loyalty/Friendship Adventure Religion Regionality (Missisippi region)

19th century literature

Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finn

Huck is an Unreliable Narrator. Because he is innocent (a child) it leads him to make overly charitable judgments about the characters in the novel. His credibility therefore is seriously compromised.

Watch part 3 of the Huckleberry Finn film to see how Huck’s journey on the Mississippi begins.