American literature

American literature is poetry, fiction, drama, or essays written by Americans. It also includes literature written by people living in the United States (who are not American citizens).

19th Century

The 19th century was a fertile era for the American novel and American poetry. The most popular American novelists of the 19th Century were women. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin about slavery in America. Luisa May Alcott wrote the popular novel Little Women about the dreams and hardships of sisters growing up in rural America.

Herman Melville wrote the famous novel Moby Dick, about a whaling in America. Moby Dick is often called the greatest American novels. Emily Dickinson is one of the greatest American poets. Dickinson wrote many lyrical, religious, philosophical poems. Walt Whitman wrote the epic poem Leaves of Grass. Masterpieces of Gothic fiction include Nathaniel Hawthorn's Fall of the House of Usher and The Scarlet Letter). Charlotte Perkins Gilman's feminist classic "The Yellow Wallpaper" is also Gothic fiction. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau wrote philosophical essays. Their philosophical school of thought is called Transcendentalism.

20th Century

The 20th Century is often called The American Century in art. Novelists of the modern era include William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, and Pearl Buck.

Toni Morrison, Eugene O'Neill, Saul Bellow, Joseph Brodsky and Isaac Bashevis Singer won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

21st Century

Contemporary fiction writers of include Don Delillo, Paul Auster, Jennifer Egan, Colson Whitehead, Giannina Braschi, David Foster Wallace, and Jonathan Frazen. These writers are often called Postmodern authors.

There are many popular literary genres. Humorist David Sedaris writes funny short stories about his personal life and odd things about strangers. Shel Silverstein and Dr.Seuss wrote rhyming poems for children’s books. Judy Bloom writes emotional stories about young girls for young readers. R.L.Stine writes scary stories (Goosebump Series) about monsters and ghosts for boys and girls. Stephen King writes horror novels for adults about murder, monsters, and kidnapping.

American Literature Media

• LOC Main Reading Room Highsmith.jpg

  Main reading room at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

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  Letters from an American Farmer is one of the first in the canon of American literature, and has influenced a diverse range of subsequent works.

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  The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1793)

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  The opening of the original printing of the Declaration, printed on July 4, 1776, under Jefferson's supervision.

• Washington Irving and his Literary Friends at Sunnyside.jpg

  Washington Irving and his friends at Sunnyside

• John Neal by Sarah Miriam Peale 1823 Portland Museum of Art.jpg

  JohnNealbySarahMiriamPealePortlandMuseumofArt

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  • Ralph Waldo Emerson
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  NathanielHawthorneNARAcr

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  Photograph of Willa Cather by Van Vechten; smiling; looking toward the camera