English & American Literature (17th–20th Century)

English & American Literature (17th–20th Century)

Mid 20th Century – Postcolonial Writing: African, Caribbean, and Indian Writers

Mid 20th Century – In Between Wars: British Catholic Writers & American Laureates

19th Century – The Victorian Period and the First American Authors

17th Century – The Elizabethan Period

Early 20th Century – Modernist Literature: The Bloomsbury Group & The Lost Generation

Mid 20th Century – Rise of Social Movements: Second Wave of Feminism

Late 20th Century – Postmodernism and the Challenge of Large Narratives

18th Century – Neoclassicism and Romanticism

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Neoclassicism emphasized reason, order, and morality, imitating classical models. By the late 18th century, Romanticism reacted against this rationalism, valuing emotion, imagination, and nature. Main Authors and Works Alexander Pope — An Essay on Man, The Rape of the Lock. Samuel Johnson — A Dictionary of the English Language. William Wordsworth & Samuel T. Coleridge — Lyrical Ballads. Socio-historical Framework The Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution transformed society. Romantic poets responded to these upheavals by defending individual creativity and a return to nature.

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In Britain, the novel became the dominant form, focusing on realism, morality, and social critique. In the United States, national literary voices emerged, addressing themes of identity, morality, and freedom. Main Authors and Works} Charles Dickens — Great Expectations, Oliver Twist. George Eliot — Middlemarch. Nathaniel Hawthorne — The Scarlet Letter.} Herman Melville — Moby-Dick. Socio-historical Framework The British Empire reached its peak, while the Industrial Revolution reshaped social life and class structures. In the U.S., tensions over slavery and independence deeply influenced literature.

British Catholic novelists explored themes of faith, guilt, and redemption. In the U.S., major writers gained international recognition, often focusing on history, family, and social fragmentation. Main Authors and Works Graham Greene — The Power and the Glory. Evelyn Waugh — Brideshead Revisited. William Faulkner — The Sound and the Fury (Nobel Prize, 1949). Socio-historical Framework The Second World War, totalitarian regimes, and moral crises shaped literature. Writers used religious and ethical frameworks to confront questions of human responsibility.

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Feminist literature highlighted women’s experiences, questioned patriarchy, and explored identity, sexuality, and social roles. Both fiction and non-fiction works became central to the movement. Main Authors and Works Doris Lessing — The Golden Notebook. Sylvia Plath — The Bell Jar. Simone de Beauvoir — The Second Sex (influence). Socio-historical Framework The Civil Rights Movement and Second Wave Feminism (1960s–70s) created a space for women’s voices in literature, inspiring debates on equality, gender roles, and liberation.

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The Elizabethan age is considered a golden era of English literature. Drama flourished, using blank verse, complex metaphors, and lyrical sonnets. Tragedy, comedy, and history plays explored themes of power, ambition, and the human condition.

• Main Authors and Works

William Shakespeare — Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet. Christopher Marlowe — Doctor Faustus. Ben Jonson — Volpone. Socio-historical Framework Under Elizabeth I and James I, England enjoyed relative stability, overseas expansion, and the growth of public theaters such as the Globe. Literature reflected both courtly culture and popular entertainment.

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Postcolonial writers gave voice to formerly colonized nations, focusing on identity, hybridity, independence, and cultural memory. They challenged Western dominance and reclaimed native perspectives. Main Authors and Works Chinua Achebe — Things Fall Apart. Derek Walcott — Omeros. Salman Rushdie — Midnight’s Children. Socio-historical Framework The decolonization period after 1945 saw independence movements across Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia. Literature reflected the struggle to redefine cultural and national identity.

Modernism rejected linear narrative and embraced stream of consciousness, fragmentation, and experimental styles. Writers captured the disillusionment after World War I. Main Authors and Works Virginia Woolf — Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse. T. S. Eliot — The Waste Land. Ernest Hemingway — The Sun Also Rises. F. Scott Fitzgerald — The Great Gatsby. Socio-historical Framework The trauma of the First World War and rapid social change inspired new literary forms. American expatriates in Paris, known as the Lost Generation, expressed disillusionment and the search for meaning.

Postmodernism questioned universal truths and “grand narratives” (Lyotard). Literature used irony, metafiction, intertextuality, and fragmentation, mixing high and popular culture. Main Authors and Works Thomas Pynchon — Gravity’s Rainbow. Don DeLillo — White Noise. Margaret Atwood — The Handmaid’s Tale. Socio-historical Framework Amid the Cold War, globalization, and mass media culture, postmodern writers challenged authority, historical objectivity, and traditional literary conventions.

Postmodernism questioned universal truths and “grand narratives” (Lyotard). Literature used irony, metafiction, intertextuality, and fragmentation, mixing high and popular culture. Main Authors and Works Thomas Pynchon — Gravity’s Rainbow. Don DeLillo — White Noise. Margaret Atwood — The Handmaid’s Tale. Socio-historical Framework Amid the Cold War, globalization, and mass media culture, postmodern writers challenged authority, historical objectivity, and traditional literary conventions.

Eastern Oregon University. (n.d.). A look at the American literary movements. Eastern Oregon University Online. https://online.eou.edu/resources/article/a-look-at-the-american-literary-movements/ ThoughtCo. (2019, July 2). An overview of British literary periods. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/british-literary-periods-739034 McHenry County College Library. (n.d.). English literature: Literary periods & genres. MCC Library Guides. https://mc.libguides.com/eng/literaryperiods Washington University in St. Louis Libraries. (n.d.). Literary periods and movements – Research guides. WUSTL Libraries. https://libguides.wustl.edu/lit-periods-and-movements Cambridge University Press. (2010). Romanticism and modernism. In Literary criticism from Plato to postmodernism (pp. 321–335). Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/literary-criticism-from-plato-to-postmodernism/romanticism-and-modernism/EA030463970823392628ED167E867368 Mellor, A. K. (2010). Romanticism and modernity. European Romantic Review, 21(3), 301–309. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10509585.2010.484623 Landow, G. P. (Ed.). (n.d.). The Victorian Web. http://victorianweb.org/