American Literature Timeline

Enlightenment

Mar 11, 1750

The age is distinguished by an emphasis upon liberty, democracy, republicanism and religious tolerance – culminating in the drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Attempts to reconcile science and religion resulted in a rejection of prophecy, miracle and revealed religion.

Romanticism

Mar 11, 1800

Was a movement that started in the second half of the 18th century in Europe. It was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.

Transcendentalism

Mar 11, 1830

Transcendentalism happened in the 1830s-1840s and the main founders were Emerson and Thoreau. They believed you must not conform to an unjust society and you must be yourself. They also believed nature was very important and you must live in simplicity.

Nature Essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mar 11, 1836

Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Mar 11, 1849

American Civil War

Apr 12, 1861

Realism

Mar 11, 1865

(1865-1915) - Realism is the presentation in art of the details of actual life. Realism was also a literary movement that began during the nineteenth century and stressed the actual as opposed to the imagined or the fanciful

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Feb 18, 1885

Progressive Movement

Mar 11, 1912

World War 1

Jul 28, 1914

Modernism

Mar 11, 1920

Was influenced majorly by World War 1 and modernist authors asked such questions as "Why are we here", and "who decides what is art". Notable authors: E.e Cummings (1894-1962), Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), Walt Whitman (1819-1892).

Harlem Renaissance

Mar 11, 1920

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. Notable authors: Langston Hughes (1902-1967), Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), Claude Mckay(1889-1949).

I Too Sing America by Langston Hughes

Mar 11, 1925

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Apr 10, 1925

Great Depression

Mar 11, 1930

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Mar 11, 1937

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Mar 11, 1939

World War two

Jul 1, 1939

Post Modernism

Mar 11, 1941

1984 by George Orwell

Jun 8, 1949

Beat Generation

Mar 11, 1950

Major authors: Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), William S. Burroughs (1914-1997). Major beat generation Works: On the Road, Howl, Naked Lunch

Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger

Jul 16, 1951

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Mar 11, 1954

Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov

Mar 11, 1955

Howl by Allen Ginsberg

Mar 11, 1955

I carry your heart with me e.e cummings

Mar 11, 1958

Civil Rights Movements

Mar 11, 1960

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Mar 11, 1961

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Mar 11, 1962

Vietnam War

Mar 11, 1963