Hello guys! This is the last week and we are talking about the
contemporary period. I found out these readings very interesting due to the
fact that I knew that there are a lot of immigrants in the USA and that every
year arrive more and more. However, I could not imagine that they were so many
as VanSpanckeren
(2001) points out “Some one million new immigrants arrive each year, many from Asia and
Latin America” (p. 136). It was surprising for me to realize this because it is
amazing to see how this country has influence on different people from
different parts of the world. I consider that thanks to many of those immigrants
the US literature was developed due to there are many non-native American
writers that are important figures because their works have made amazing
contributions to the American literature, and nowadays they are recognized over
the world even if they are not natives. Thus, it is said, “Literature in the
United States today is likewise dazzlingly diverse, exciting, and evolving” (p. 136).
I found out several new things that I did not know. For example, I did
not know that postmodernism was another important period for the American
literature, and that as the other periods that we have studied, it also has
important and significative figures that were a key for the genres and styles
that were created during this period due to in that time appeared new and great
genres or styles such as: creative nonfiction, short stories, and dramas. In
every genre, there were different and successful writers such as: the Irish
American Frank McCourt who wrote Angela's Ashes (1996) in
which he recalls his childhood of poverty, family alcoholism, and intolerance
in Ireland with a surprising warmth and humor (VanSpanckeren, 2001, p. 138). Raymond Carver who absorbed John Gardner's
passion, rose above alcoholism and harsh poverty to become the most influential
story writer in the United States. Some of his works are: Will You
Please Be Quiet, Please? (l976), What We Talk About When We
Talk About Love (l981), Cathedral (l983), and Where
I'm Calling From (l988) (p.138). And also, the younger dramatist
Suzan-Lori Parks, an African-American writer that build on the successes of
earlier women. She deals with political issues in experimental works, and her
best known work is The American Play (1991) (p. 140). As these figures, there
were several writers that not only contributed to the American literature but
also made it flourished with their works by empowering every genre or style.
Now, I know that not only there were figures that contributed with the
genres and styles but also that there were writers who set in specific parts or
regions of the USA in order to develop a literary life as they were inspired by
some region. Those regions were classified as: the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic,
the south, the Midwest, among other regions of the USA. In these regions settled
a lot of important figures of the American literature and among those figures
is Don DeLillo who set in the Mid-Atlantic. This region is dominated by New
York City. He set up in this region because he began as an advertising writer,
and his novels explored consumerism among their many themes, and this place was
perfectly for him due to that city “is the home of the publishing industry, as
well as prestigious art galleries and museums” (VanSpanckeren, 2001, p. 141). Don DeLillo is a very important figure of the
American literature because of his works had a big impact in literature’s
development due to his works are so impressive. For example, his most popular
success is Libra (1988), which is “a novel
about John F. Kennedy assassination that indiscriminately mixes fact with wild
conspiracy speculation, brought widespread attention to a writer who had already
won a devoted readership for eight previous novels” (Perkins and Perkins, 2002,
p.2011). Don DeLillo wrote more works like: his first novel Americana (1971), White Noise (1958), among others.
However, his work Libra is a
great piece of writing that enriched the American literary tradition.
I would like to know if those regions in which American writers set up are
still divided in the same way as it used to be in the contemporary period.
Hello my dear friend!!! Everything you mention is important, and I like how you have explained the different regions in which the writers have settled, however, now that you mention the short story style, I would like to throw in more information about it because that topic got my attention too. Reading the hand outs we can find two kinds of short stories: the normal short story and the short –short story. The normal short story had a decreasing by the late 1970s; nevertheless, it took some years and some authors to revitalize this writing style, and here we have Raymond Carver (1938-1988) (VanSpanckeren, Kathryn. 2001. Outline of American Literature. US Department of State, page 138). Carver arose above alcoholism and harsh poverty to become the most influential story writer in the USA, with stories like: “WILL YOU PELASE BE QUIET, PLEASE?” all these short stories are full of fiction and nonfiction personal histories. On the other hand, we have the short-short story style. These writings are very brief stories, often only one or two pages long. It is sometimes called “flash fiction” or “sudden fiction”. Here, we find no great characters, but the main element of the plot is central, for example; a crisis occurs, and a simple character has to react, as simple as that. To conclude, I think that these short stories writings are good for people who do not like to read or do not have time to read, but they can find a good story in one or two pages.
ResponderEliminarHello, Abi. At any moment I read your blog, I find it with very interesting information that you get from the reading material, and I really like the way how you explain each important event in your blog like for example I like the information that you have provided related to the immigrants. The number of emmigrants that arrive to this cosmopolitan and multiethnic country which is The United States. Due to this number of immigrants that happen each year in the United States for along time ago so because of that this country has a lot of writers that have been settled at any place or city of The United States. Furthemore, these settlers have helped a lot in the development of this country not only in new techlogical instruments but also in the development of literature. I agree when you state that you did not know that the postmodern period was very important in the development of literature in the United States. During this period, there were new writers with new ideas because of that nowadays there are fiction and non-fiction writings and they all with differents genres as you mentione that there were genres like creative, nonfiction, dramma, short short stories. I would like to talk a little bit more about short short stories as genres. As Gisselt said beforely, this sub-period was about to write short short stories with a amount of two pages the longer, and it was very appealing for those peole who do not have time to read long books or histories. Furthemore, something I would like to add to this, it is that during this sub-period of short short story, people could write about either theirs memoirs or biographies. To sum up, it is very interesting and helpful to know about American Literature writers because in that way we can realize how these writers have supported the development of many things in nowadays World. furthermore, the legacy that these writers have provided to the new generation writers.
ResponderEliminarHello Aby, I agree when you say “ it is amazing to see how this country has influence on different people from different parts of the world”, because this reading shows how writer with many different roots influenced American Literature. Also I would like to share one example of the contribution of that authors was “the list of best-selling books in the New York Times Book Review testifies to the extraordinary diversity of the current American literary scene” (page 136), because in that famous list were presented books of non Native American writers. Also you mention the genres that were created in this period: creative nonfiction, short stories and dramas. You mentioned Raymond Carver (l938-l988) he became famous because the short stories. He used this style in his collections “Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? (l976), What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (l981), Cathedral (l983), and Where I’m Calling From (l988)” (page 138).
ResponderEliminarOn the other hand you talked about how American Literature was divided in regions. You mention the important region of “The Mid-Atlantic”, this is a good economy area, and it is famous for its fashion, this area is dominated by New York. From this area we can mention Don DeLillo (1936) who began as an advertising writer and then he became a famous novels write. I agree when you say that his most famous novel was Libra (1988) that was a controversial novel because it talks about one of the most famous American “John F Kennedy”. Other novel that I want to mention is Americana (1971) concludes: “To consume in America is not to buy, it is to dream.” DeLillo’s protagonists seek identities based on images. (page 141).
Hi there,
ResponderEliminarYes, it is very nice how you have sum up the whole material we were expected to read this week about the comtemporary period. As you have mentioned above, there were many significant writers that contributed amazingly during this period to enable people claim for their rights. As we already know, there were many writers that came up with wonderful ideas to write about different types of genres, for instance: horror, politics, economy,love, society,etc. But more importantly, writers in this period have shared their points of views with other writers and they have written excellent books that are being very meaningful for people´s development. I'm completely convinced that one of the most famous authors or writers was Don DeLillo who gave a great contribution on the contemporary literature, it seems he was very brilliant at the moment of analizing something and he was able to put it on paper and share his thoughts in books. Luckily, all these writers have done an excellent job to have written amazing books about different types of genres. I'm sure, that American Literature is one of the most diverse one in the whole world because many people from different backgrounds have shared their ideas and point of views with the entire world.