American Literature

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Naturalism

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Style of fiction that originated in late 19th in Europe, particularly France, A style and theory of representation based on the accurate depiction of detail. Belief that everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are excluded. Emile Zola is generally regarded as the father of naturalism. Norris (example).

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Modernism

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Is a philosophical movement in the arts that aims to depart significantly from classical and traditional forms. A movement towards modifying traditional beliefs in accordance with modern ideas.

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Primitvism

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a belief in the value of what is simple and unsophisticated, expressed as a philosophy of life through art or literature. The notion, that the value of primitive cultures is superior to the value of the modern world.

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Southern Gothic

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Is a subgenre of Gothic fiction inAmerican literature that takes place in the American South. Common themes inSouthern Gothic literature include deeply flawed, disturbing or eccentriccharacters who may or may not dabble in hoodoo, ambivalent gender roles, decayedor derelict settings, grotesque situations, and other sinister events relatingto crime, or violence. BothMcCullers and O’Connor are examples of this style.

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New journalism

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It features the author's subjective responses to people and events. Used novelistic techniques to report on real-life stories. Didion, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem"

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Metafiction

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It is metafiction is fiction that is about fiction. In otherwords, fiction that thinks, and even talks, about itself. Metafiction posesquestions about the relationship between fiction and reality. It forces readersto be aware that they are reading a fictional work. Vonnegut- example of a“metafictional” writer. -family:"

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Beat Movement

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It is a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. Central elements of Beat culture are rejection of standard narrative values, spiritual quest, and exploration of American and Eastern religions, rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration. Jack Kerouac -pioneer of Beat Generation.

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Confessional Poetry

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'Confessionalism' is a style of poetry that emerged in the United States around 1960s and 70s. It has been described as poetry "of the personal", focusing on extreme moments of individual experience, the psyche, and personal trauma, including previously and occasionally still taboo matters such as mental illness, sexuality, and suicide, often set in relation to broader social themes. It is sometimes also classified as Postmodernism. Associated with female poets (Plath, Sexton, Rich, Olds)

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Slippery Slope Argument

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This argument is a consequentialistlogical device in which a party asserts that a relatively small first stepleads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant (usuallynegative) effect, much like an object given a small push over the edge of aslope sliding all the way to the bottom. As such, the core of the slipperyslope argument is that a specific decision under debate is likely to result inunintended consequencesPlath, Sexton

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Social Dawinism

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is as advocate of “survival of the fittest” mentality—interpreted this as a lesson that it’s a harsh world, only the strongest individuals should survive, there didn’t need to be a social safety net for the others.

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The Harlem Renaissance

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It was a cultural, social, andartistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York, spanning the 1920s. TheMovement included the new African-American cultural expressions across theurban areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States affected by theAfrican-American Great Migration. The Harlem Renaissance was considered to be a rebirth of African-American arts. “HarlemDancer”

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Stream of Consciousness

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In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts to depicts the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind. The term refers to a style of narration in which a character's thoughts are thrown at us, one after the other, as if we were thinking those thoughts right along with them.

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Free Indirect Discourse

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Describes a special type of third-person narrationthat slips in and out of characters' consciousness. In other words, characters'thoughts, feelings, and words are filtered through the third-person narrator infree indirect discourse.

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Postmodernism

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It describes a broad movement that developed in the mid to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture and criticism which marked a departure from modernism. Movement after modernism and the avant-garde. Fear that there’s nothing new that can be said. More about recycling the old than producing something entirely new.

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Systems Fiction

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Style of fiction that’s currently very trendy, looking more at larger systems (e.g. global capitalism, technology) that influence people, rather than focusing on individual, subjective experience. Examples—Breakfast of Champions, Naturalist fiction (Norris), many of David Foster Wallace’s novels .

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Concrete Poetry

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Is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own. “Constantly Risking Absurdity” is an example of concrete poetry.

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Minimalism

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It began in post–World War II Western art,most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Itderives from the reductive aspects of modernism and is often interpreted as areaction against abstract expressionism and a bridge to post-minimal artpractices. “Looking for Johnny” is an example of minimalism—Simple vocabularyand sentence structure. Raymond Carver was an American short story writer whowas the most famous minimalist

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Circular Reasoning

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This is a logical fallacy in which the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with. The components of a circular argument are often logically valid because if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.