American Literature / Unit 6 AML 0501 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Call for a National Literature
Captions available
The idea
After the Revolution a first generation of professional writers set out to make an American culture, and the witness records the argument: whether it should differ from Europe's, and whether the country needed its own language. Political independence did not bring independence in books.
In practice
A political nation, looking for a literature.
Where people slip
The debate was about difference from England.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
- Nothing. This is a starting point.
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