A New Historical Identification Of The Influence Of National Political Situation On American Literature

Abstract

American literature manifests the experience of being a part of America and the current political scenario of every period makes the most part of this experience. The influence of the prevalent political, social, economic conditions can be recognized and traced throughout the history of American literature. Through the lens of New Historicism which advocates a close scrutiny of the historical and cultural background of every piece of literature, the current research provides a comprehensive outline of significant literary works of every era. The research-based profiling of literature starts from the early seventeenth century, the period of colonization in America recorded to be, “The Colonial and Early National Period.”The research moves ahead and covers the period of increased nationalism, its criticism and then the advent of transcendentalism that concerned itself with nascent political debates greatly. From there the genre of social reform writing is covered that emerged in the antebellum period and the literary criticism on political corruption, immigration and slavery. Moving forward the greatest economic crisis in the history of America, The Great Depression’s influence on the production of naturalistic novels is studied. The 1900s witnessed the advent of modernism in American literature and it featured harsh commentary on political discourse of state-backed racism, political terrorism and the ‘melting pot’ America. The postmodern American literature mostly has prompts of politically fueled literary movements and incorporates criticism of governmental policies around ending social stigmas and failures of the American government.