American literature - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia American literature From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search 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). Contents 1 19th Century 2 20th Century 3 21st Century 4 References 19th Century[change | change source] The 19th century was a fertile era for the American novel and American poetry.[1] The most popular American novelists of the 19th Century were women.[1] 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.[2] Emily Dickinson is one of the greatest American poets. Dickinson wrote many lyrical, religious, philosophical poems.[3] Walt Whitman wrote the epic poem Leaves of Grass.[4][5] 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[change | change source] 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[change | change source] 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. References[change | change source] This short article about the United States can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it. This short article about literature can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "19th-Century Novels". www.loa.org. Retrieved 2020-09-17. ↑ McCrum, Robert (2014-01-13). "The 100 best novels: No 17 – Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-17. ↑ Poets, Academy of American. "About Emily Dickinson | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2020-09-17. ↑ "The poets of the nineteenth century". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-09-17. ↑ Poets, Academy of American. "About Walt Whitman | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2020-09-17. Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_literature&oldid=7149068" Categories: American literature Literature Hidden categories: United States stubs Literature stubs Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Page Talk Variants Views Read Change Change source View history More Search Getting around Main page Simple start Simple talk New changes Show any page Help Contact us Give to Wikipedia About Wikipedia Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Make a book Download as PDF Page for printing In other projects Wikimedia Commons In other languages العربية Asturianu Azərbaycanca বাংলা Bân-lâm-gú Беларуская Български Bosanski Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti English Español فارسی Français 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano ქართული Kurdî Latina Magyar മലയാളം Nederlands 日本語 Norsk bokmål ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی Polski Português Русский සිංහල Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Winaray 中文 Change links This page was last changed on 16 October 2020, at 19:32. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License and the GFDL; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement