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(AMERICAN LITERATURE AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR) - Coggle Diagram
AMERICAN LITERATURE AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Fiction in the 50s
It reflected the tensions and contradiction of American society
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
Published in 1951
Tragi-comic fictional autobiography of an adolescent in the corrupted world of the grown-ups
Conversational style
Effective language to represent the rebellion of American teenagers
On the Road
by Jack Kerouac
Published in 1951
Myth of the journey
Episodic structure and spontaneous style
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
Published in 1952
The protagonist is an anti-hero, victim and rebel
It's a milestone in black literature
Unique portrait of American society in the 50s
Beat poetry and confessional poetry (1950s and 1960s)
Renewed interest in the exploration of the self
Subjective analysis
Experiments in style
These characteristics had their roots in Modernism and its emphasis on the inner mind, feelings, youth rebellion and civil rights struggles
Poetry as a means to express the mood of the new generation: anger, desperate revolt, reflective and denunciatory attitude
Beat poets:
Allen Ginsberg
Laurence Ferlinghetti
Gregory Corso
They rejected traditional poetry, broke down the distinction poetry/prose and experimented with graphic visual layout
Confessional poets:
Robert Lowell Jr
Sylvia Plath
Colloquial language and narrative forms
Themes:
Suffering
Madness
Family relationships
Exploration of female awareness
Fiction in the 60s and 70s
It questioned the values of society, history and literary form
Use of the double meanings, grotesque, surrealist techniques and of elements of the science fiction
Most popular writers:
Kurt Vonnegut
Harper Lee
Thomas Pynchon
They used humour and fantasy to depict men's alienation
Jewish writers
Isaac Bashevis Singer
He wrote about his Jewish life in Poland and the USA. The texts were written in Yiddish and then translated into English
Philip Roth
One of the leading authors of the 20th century
Fiction in the 1980s
It was influenced by minimalist painters and sculptures like Andy Warhol and George Segal
Neat, clear and dry style
Trivial elements to convey disturbing meaning
Themes: the crisis of the family, drugs, homosexuality, AIDS
Most important minimalist writers:
Raymond Carver
David Leavitt
*Jay McInerney
Afro-American novelists
A rich source of literature since the Harlem Renaissance (20s)
Most famous writers:
Richard Wright
James Baldwin
Axel Haley
Afro-American women writers:
Alice Walker
Toni Morrison
They combine feminist, ethnic and psychological issues and underline the power of literary voices of women and minorities
Contemporary drama
Use of America regional speech
Interplay between stage and film techniques
Production of musicals (
My Fair Lady
,
West Side Story
,
Hair
) that have become famous all over the world
Most important contemporary writers: Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams
Experimentation with language and staging techniques
The Living Theatre, founded in 1947: influential example of the alternative to conventional theatre
in the 60 Off-Broadway theatres were commercialised and new experimental theatres were founded (Off-Off-Broadway)
The authors of this movement dealt with:
Social contradictions
Crisis of the values
Political issues (eg. Vietnam War)