English 3349F/G Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Henry David Thoreau, American Literary History
4 Jan 2021
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Focused on narrow date range (1850-1855) and canon (five authors) Blend of stylistic mastery and philosophical weight established the five authors as the heart of american lit. Refused to treat douglass as literary author, and mentioned stowe"s book but not her as a literary contemporary. Conception of american renaissance served to obscure women, minorities, radical stances on abolition in their literature. Led to a lot of critical discussion and led authors to suggest other works uncle tom, Douglass, etc and bringing african-american literary scholarship into recognition. Growing interest in african-american writers mae voices of slaves and free lack people more central to the period. Some people saw mattheisen"s view as regional rather than american. Hemispheric turn proved helpful in challenging new england focus of antebellum literary studies.
