American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States. Therefore, its literary tradition begins as linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, unique American characteristics and the breadth of its production usually now cause it to be considered a separate path and tradition.
Read more about American Literature: Colonial Literature, Post-independence, First American Novels, Unique American Style, Early American Poetry, Realism, Twain and James, Beginning of The 20th Century, The Rise of American Drama, Depression-era Literature, Contemporary American Literature, Minority Literatures, Nobel Prize in Literature Winners (American Authors), American Literary Awards, Literary Theory and Criticism
Famous quotes by american literature:
“It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between ‘ideas’ and ‘things,’ both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is ‘real’ or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction.”
—Charles, Jr. Feidelson, U.S. educator, critic. Symbolism and American Literature, ch. 1, University of Chicago Press (1953)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)