Romantiscism & Socio- Cultural Change Flashcards
(12 cards)
1823
Monroe doctrine:
No European intervention in the Americas
1830
Indian Removal
Act: Natives forced west to make room for whites
1845
Manifest Destiny:
US “right” to expansion into Latin America
1846 - 1848
US - Mexican War;
US when’s territories of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Canada
Western travel writing
- recorded government or commercial expeditions and Settlers journeys to Midwest and West
- forms and contests of texts depended on purpose of journey and author
The Frontier Novel
- emerged since 1820s in context of the territorial expansion: informed by western travelogues
- addressed (White and occasionally also native) Life on the frontier and the conflicts arising from expansion
The short story
- Emerged since 1820s out of text forms of essay, tale & sketch; originally called “short prose tale”
- popularized through growing periodicals and newspaper market and broadening leadership
- is narrative, functional text and prose, Shorter than novel
- “narrative economy” on three levels:
- Selection of material(Focus on few incidences)
- Reduction of complexity (few characters and plot lines)
- Narrative technique (compression of time, change of consciousness, little character development)
Gothic fiction
- emerged in the late 18th. C UK in response to rationalism
- emphasizes the irrational, Supernatural, Compulsive, Unconscious, perverse and the horrors they create
- voices fears of being helplessly exposed to external or internal evils beyond one’s Control and explanation
- name refers to typical setting in feudal &/or catholic countries & come in settings in (ruins of) Medieval castles and monasteries
American Gothic
Texts articulate threats to individuals or US culture, e.g. Powerlessness vis-à-vis forces of nature or society
Edgar Allan Poe
- 1809 - 1849
* American poet, Writer, literary critic and theorist
Harman Melville
- 1819 - 1891
* American sailor and writer
American literature in this era
- Western travel writing
- The frontier novel
- The short story
- gothic fiction