A Concise Breakdown of American Literature

October 18, 2009 5:48 AM

I'm looking for a list of American Literary Time Periods along with the essential works for each time period (all genres)? Define the time period, if possible, with a list of qualities which embody the literary essence of that time period, both in content and style. Extra credit for other source to accompany your answers. Thanks all.
posted by boots77 to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Best answer: I'm not an Americanist (but my partner is and should be along shortly to answer your question), but if you could find comprehensive exam lists from university English departments (also called qualifying exams or field exams, sometimes field studies), you might be able to find a representative lists of what experts in the field should know well.
posted by pised at 7:00 AM on October 18, 2009

Best answer: I recommend finding the Norton Anthology of American Literature (or another press's). Any decent university library should have it. They divide the literature up historically and include a brief essay at the beginning of each "period" that includes an introduction to the historical and literary contexts. They will never capture the whole picture but will be a decent enough point to start from. I used these while studying for my qualifying exams in American literature as a way to set up what I was reading and found it quite helpful as a quick primer on some of the things I should be reading for. They are absolutely not the be-all and end-all but for more than what the anthologies provide you'll probably have to delve into criticism specific to certain periods or authors.
posted by synecdoche at 7:13 AM on October 18, 2009

Best answer: The Norton Anthology is a good resource. Here's an interesting website with a pretty thorough timeline and a list of literary movements, although it stops at 1920. This list is also pretty thorough, but the links to authors' works on the web are often broken; still, it would be useful for reference. In general, it's easy to find a lot of decent sources online about this topic. Any college course outline would be an acceptable start.
posted by katie at 7:36 AM on October 18, 2009

Best answer: I haven't read it yet, but I am looking forward to reading A New Literary History of America. Not sure 1000 pages meets your "concise" criterion, either.
posted by not that girl at 8:37 AM on October 18, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for the help everyone! It seems that when I was in high school, AmLit seemed so simple and concise. Maybe my good teacher. Maybe they just have mastered how to capture the essence of content. Who knows, but I will check out all of your advice.
posted by boots77 at 4:00 PM on October 18, 2009