Hello all!! Talking about the Realism and Experimentation period, there are a lot of things which are new for me, so
I would like to share with you some of them. For example, I did not know that this
period was an era of many and different writers due to in this era flourished a
new contingent of writers that included poet-novelist-essayist Robert Penn
Warren, dramatists Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman, and Tennessee Williams, and short
story writers Katherine Anne Porter and Eudora Welty (VanSpanckeren,
97).
Also, many of these writers were from the South and others were not, but
their vision and works were focused on people from the South. As these writers,
there were many others who also made great contributions to the American
literature because they even though at that time there were wars and they were
immigrants from different countries, they made an effort which nowadays is
recognized in the American literature and around the world because of their
great literary works. One of those figures was Saul Bellow, who studied
anthropology and sociology which influenced his writings. His works were well
done, so he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976. Some of his works
are: Dangling Man (1944), The Victim (1947), The Adventures of Augie March (1953), Henderson the Rain King (1959),
etc. (104). As
this guy, there were so many important writers whose works are famous and well
known over the world.
Now, I know that Ralph Ellison was a very important figure at that time because
of his novel “Invisible Man” was selected as the most distinguished work of
fiction to appear in the post-world war II period (Perkins and Perkins, 1804).
Ellison’s interest in writing started because of the influence of music,
especially jazz and blues. His first works were short stories and essays, but
then, he wrote this novel by which he got success because it helped him to
continue his literary reputation. It was diverse in its structure due to it was
a folk novel, strong in the rhythm of jazz and blues, powerful in its
protection of the dual consciousness of the American black, it is highly
literary, literate, novel, and a lot of things that are very appealing for a
very good literary work (1805).
I would like to know why the works of so many non-native American writers
belong to the American literature even though their authors are not native Americans??
Hi, Abi. While I was reading you post, I could notice that you did read the three chpaters we had to read for this week. Furthermore, I have noticed that you have mentioned very important things in you blog for example. When you say that during this period flourished new and different contigent of writers that included poets, novelists, ensayists, dramatists etc. And it is very interesting to see that writers from this period, they didn not care the wars that existed during their period. Furthermore, as you say that most of them were immigrants that came from anywhere and settled in United States. Hence, they are recognized because of their great works that many people are able to read nowadays. As matter of that, I had the chance of reading some of these famous works for example. I had the chance of reading "The Catcher in the Rye" which belogns to J.D Salinger who belonged to this modern period.
ResponderEliminarHI Abi :) I agree when you said that "in this era flourished a new contingent of writers that included poet-novelist-essayist Robert Penn Warren, dramatists Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman, and Tennessee Williams, and short story writers Katherine Anne Porter and Eudora Welty" because they were authors that wrote about realism and naturalism. Also I want to add some information about Arthur Miller that was a writer that caught my attention because he wrote Death of a Salesman”, this was a novel about a man´s life, also it talks about the realization in his life and the relationship between father and son, husband and wife. And he was involved in political issues because he was accused to have information about some people that had communist sympathies. So I think that he is a good example of the realism because he wrote about family´s problems and he also wrote about the war as in his novel All My Sons (1947).
ResponderEliminarOn the other hand, you mentioned Ralph Ellison, I think this writer is a good example of the writers that talked about racial problems that were very common in that period, and we can appreciate this in his novel "The Invisible Man". It embodies a powerful racial theme because the “invisible man” is invisible not in himself but because others, blinded by prejudice, cannot see him for who he is. (page 102)
hi abigail=)
ResponderEliminarIt is true what you say about the new generation of writers that come with the realism and American drama. Here, in this period we see a variety of writers who struggled with their own limitations when writing because by that time, limitations for writers to develop their creativeness were many such as: racism, poorness, gender, etc. However, even under so many boundaries regarding the literary world; there were several people who tried to stamp their prints so that they could last forever in the American literature history like in the case of Tennessee Williams as you mentioned (1911-1983) (VanSpanckeren, Kathryn. 2001. Outline of American Literature. US Department of State, page 99). He is a native of Mississippi. His works were based on family issues and emotions. He was very influential in his era and was one of the first American writers to live freely as a homosexual. One of his best works is “The Glass of Menagerie” (1940). So, with this example, we can see that life was not as easy as it might be for us now, and writers had to deal with a bunch of prejudices that society had in those years, and some of them are still present in today’s society.
Finally I would like to add the fact that all these writers of the realism and experimentation period had not only to struggle against society prejudices, but also with technology. Authors of writings had to compete with movies and television, situation or comfort that makes people do not want to read.
Hi Abi.!
ResponderEliminarI found so interesting your blog because you mentioned many important things about the writers of that period. I agree when you say that eventhough some writers were not native americans they are count in the US literature and now we that this happen because they made so many contributions to the literature. Another important fact is about Ralph, now we now that he was an important writer of the post-war era that also he was against racism, because as we now know, he was a 'black man' that in those years, most of them were not taken into account in the society but he could demonstrate with his writings the capacity that they have as well. In his novel, Invisible Man, he made a demonstration of that capacity, ability that also was influenced by music as you mentioned before...
Hello Abi!
ResponderEliminarWell, I guess you have done a great job to summarize the significant points found on the article we are reading. I do agree when you say these wruters have made a great contribution on the American Literature. Besides,thanks to their work discrimination and racism was reduced considerably. Also, it is important to mention the work that was performed by Ralph that even though he suffered a lot from discrimination and racism, he was very determined on whet he wanted that he always fought to promote the human rights. I guess that during this period a lot of people had to face many unfortunate situations, women were not the exception either. Nevertheless, step by step, this world has been changing to provide every single person the opportunity to live in an equeal and fair society, no matter what their conditions are.These writers have inspired the modern writers to continue promoting the peace and equality in the whole world.