The History of American

Language and Literature

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The Mingling of Tongues

• American Literature is rich and diverse

• Difficult to generalizie about the pattern

• The departure from the old country to the new country ignite the series of diaries and letters

• The reading class of each national group soon had its own monthly, weekly, or daily paper

Cont.

• Early attempts at journalism is Clumsy and Crude

• Literary pattern changed after 1870

• The new immigrant writers began to critize their environment through their novel'

• Immigrant Act of 1924

The Reading Class of National Group

German American

Italian

Scandanavian

French

Jewish American

German American

• The Most Considerable body of non-English writing

• The line of the patterns are clearly and easily discernible

• Stream of travel literature began in the second and third decade of the 19th Century.

Cont

• Charles Sealsfield• Devote himself to

fiction• He has a high degree

of patriotism• Cloaked his trye

identity• Claimed to be

"America's Most Famous Author"

Cont.• Friedrich Arman

Strubberg• He was a Hunter,

Soldier, Rancher, Merchant, Physician and Enterpreneur

• Produced some hundreds and fifty books of travel and adventure after he across the America

Cont.

• After 1870, the use of german in speech and writing declined

• By 1900 the german theater had almost dissapeared

• Lyric Poetry grew weak thin.

French Literature

• French Literature blossom in Louisiana

• After 1829 the number of French Writers in Louisiana is large

• The ability to write Prose or verse was a necessary accomplishment for a creole gentlement

• From 1840, the most significant French works appeared

Cont.

• Charles Etienne Arthur Gayarre

• Educated in New Orleans and educated at law in Philadelphia

• has ambition to become Louisiana's Walter Scott

Italian Literature

• The Number of Italian immigrants was small

• The literary men of Italian use other language rather than Italian for their works

• After 1800 there was a huge number of Italian Immigrants

Scandanavian Literature

• The earliest writer were either journalists or ministers

• At the end of 19th century, professional literary class developed

• They were using English in their works

Jewish-American Literature

• One of the richest product of the mingling tongues

• In 1825, Jews immigrants were 16.000, a Century later that number were grow to more than 4.000.000

• The literature of Jews began with Hebrew writings of a religious nature

Cont.

• Yiddish writer found that in America they can develop their talent

- The early desire to cast the old world into a mythical melting pot has given place to convict the immigrant

American Language

• The Great movement to the west that fixed the American language

• American preserved the elizabethan era of boldness of speech

• At later stages American English recieved many loans from the languages of non-english Immigrants

Cont.

• American spelling and pronounciation have departed from English Standards

• The simplified spelling movement was launched by Francis A. March, W. D. Whitney, F.J. Child and other

Puritanism as A Literary Force

• Most of "Puritanism as a Literary Force" interprets American literature in relation to the new england puritans of old.

Colonial Literary Culture

• Benjamin Franklin once noted that the business of making a nation restricted literary activity in Colonial America. Franklin seemed to think that people needed a stable government and economy before they could make great advances in cultural pursuits such as literature, music, and painting.

Cont.

• Some central themes emerge from this literature. Because of the nature of their endeavor, for example, Captain John Smith and other chroniclers of settlement in the 17th century often addressed the subjects of will and work, the relationship between humans and nature, and the differences between European and Native American cultures.