D1, Section 6: Major Traditions

• (American Literature)

  3 Distinct Stages of the Colonial Period:

  1. Era of Pilgrims
  2. Puritans
  3. "Age of Reason"
• First Colonial Stage - Era of Pilgrims

  • Founding and pioneering of the colonies
  • Much of colonial literature was propaganda to entice settlers to the new world
  • Theme of pilgrims writings: issues of security in the wilderness
• 2nd Colonial Stage - Puritans

  • Shift in purpose in colonies after full establishment
  • Began a major shift in theology
  • Believed that the universe is divinely controlled by God and that all human beings are equal to God
  • Themes center around Puritan beliefs: original sin, limited atonement, irresistible Grace, etc.
• 3rd Colonial Stage - "Age of Reason"

  • End of the colonial time period
  • American independence
  • Criticizes institutionalized religion
  • Challenges legitimacy of the Bible
  • Exposes Catholic church and its need to control politics
• (American Literature): Realism and Modernity

  • combines elements of picaresque (rough and dishonest but appealing hero) and bildungsroman (favorite years of spiritual education)
  • combined wit and dry humor (ex. Mark Twain)
• (American Literature): Post Modernism

  • rise in various genres of criticism
  • difficult to define
  • established the "New Theatre" of realism, which acknowledged that America is a "melting pot" and have different valuable experiences... from minorities and ethnicities
• (Indian Lit.): Vedic Literature

  1. earliest works of Indian lit. were orally transmitted; Sanskrit literature begins with the Rig Veda
  2. Bhagavat Geeta: influenced the American Transcendentalists
• (Indian Lit.): Vedic Literature

  Key Terms

  1. Rig Veda: a collection of sacred hymns
  2. Sanskrit lit.: broadly consists of all lit. in Sanskrit lang.
  3. Sanskrit: ancient Indo-Euro. lang. in which Hindu scriptures and classical Indian epic poems were written in
  4. American Trans.: philosophy that promotes individuality, experiencing divinity through nature/simple things in life, etc.
• (Indian Literature): Epic Sanskrit Literature

  1. Indian Epic Poetry

  • Mahabharata: civil wars among Aryan clans in northern India
  • Ramayana: The adventures of Prince Ruma of Kosala; written in Epic Sanskrit, one of the more popular ones
• (Chinese Literature): Maoist Era

  1. Was known for the secret works opposing Maoist government that influenced post-colonial lit. in Britain and US
  2. Communism controlled literature
  3. strict censorship was implemented
  4. conflict developed between writers and gov.’t; writers still produced works
  5. Cultural Revolution occurred

  Key Terms

  1. Cultural Revolution: stopped all cultural activity

  • forced acceptance of Communist ideals rather than traditional Chinese culture
• (Chinese Literature): Post Mao

  1. Known for rapid fixation on foreign-to-China lit.; lots of change
  2. literature discusses the abuses of power
  3. ”Literature of the Wounded:” wounded by gov.’t or by tradition and saved by gov.’t
  4. interest in foreign lit.; some believed the shift was too quick
  5. Writers used unconventional writing methods
• (Japanese Literature): Classical Era

  • Era of lit. that was epitome of Japan
  • Literature of the recent past: 1600-1867
  • Edo-period: heavy cultural influence of the Samurai
  • Outburst of creativity - (1644-1694) Haiku master Matsuo Basho, greatest Haiku poet
• (Japanese Literature): The Modern Period

  1. Japan’s standard to catch up to western culture; changed their lit. to modernize
  2. Meji lit. (1868-1912): steps Japan took to modernize

  • ”Essence of the Novel” - advocacy of psychological realism; “Drifting Cloud” - realistic character portrayal

  3. Jap. Naturalism Movement: gained prominence; movement that promoted depiction of character’s inner reality, a contrast to classical Jap. lit.
• (Arabic Literature): Qur’an and Islam

  1. Qu’ran’s impact on Arabic lit. is notable

  • Language - classical Arabic
  • most important work and greatest influenced globally
  • complicated structured writing
  • contained elements of prose and poetry
  • ”Divine Revelations”
• (Post Colonial Lit.): Focuses on how writers are affected by colonization, through liberation or restraint

  • refers to influence of the cultural, economic, or political dominance of the colonizer on the culture/society of the affected
  • refers to works during colonization and post-independence
  • Native writers, not “colonial writers;” some natives advocate for colonialism for betterment
  • ”Post Colonial Literature” label has limits
• Why “Post Colonial Literature” is complex:

  1. colonial/post independence: lit. written by natives on colonized land or where natives rebel against colonial occupation/already liberated
  2. some writers in this genre are colonists of dominant nation residing in colonized land