Medailonky autorů
Rice, Elmer. (1892 - 1967).
W o r k
On Trial (1914):
- an early murder play
- a device of the flashback to tell the story and reveal the murderer
The Adding Machine (1923):
- an expressionistic experimental play
- concern: dehumanization...
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Roth, Henry. (1906 - 1995).
W o r k
- wrote a single novel, had it received poorly, and stopped writing
Call It Sleep (1934):
= a masterpiece of Jewish-American literature
- the breakdown of the American dream for a poor Jewish...
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Sandburg, Carl. (1878 - 1967).
W o r k
< influenced by W. Whitman:
(a) rejected the genteel tradition in favour of free verse and a long open line
(b) the poet of the people: celebrated the vigorous, even violent common working-class...
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Sinclair, Upton. (1878 - 1968).
L i f e
- born in a family destroyed by his father’s drinking x but: of rich relatives
- his own experience of both the poor x the rich > a desire for social justice and improvement
W o r k
- earned for his...
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Smith, John. (1580 - 1631).
L i f e
- typified the new American hero = tough, self-reliant, experienced, and struggling for the survival in the wilderness
- sailed from London to Jamestown: explored the surrounding territory,...
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Stein, Gertrude. (1874 - 1946).
L i f e
- born in a cultured and sophisticated family of German-Jewish origin
- travelled Europe, received university education (Radcliffe College), studied medicine and psychology x but: abandoned these for...
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Steinbeck, John. (1902 - 1968).
L i f e
- born in California > portrayed the California paisanos in his writing
- left university without degree, underwent a series of odd jobs
- consistently wrote stories and novels x but: rejected for...
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Stevens, Wallace. (1879 - 1955).
W o r k
< influenced by British aestheticism > his earliest poetry
- a new way for American poetry: no regionalism, no patriotism, no use of vernacular x but: an adaptation of English...
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Stowe, Harriet Beecher. (1811 - 1896).
L i f e
- daughter of a pastor, grew up in an atmosphere of New England piety, and early developed an interest in theology and schemes for improving humanity
- lived in Cincinnati (Ohio), a border city, at the...
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Taylor, Edward. (ca 1642 - 1729).
L i f e
>> colonist in Massachusetts, New England
- received university education (Harvard), studied ministry
- as a minister provided leadership during the crises of King Philip’s War
- served as a...
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Thoreau, Henry David. (1817 - 1862).
L i f e
- received uniersity education (Harvard) x but: most appreciated self-education
- acquainted with R. W. Emerson, shortly lived with his family as a handyman
- claimed he never needed to leave the...
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Toomer, Jean. (1894 - 1967).
L i f e
- of mixed racial origin > preoccupied with his ‘racial composition and position’
- married twice, in both cases to white women, and in the first to a descendant of A. Bradstreet
- thought of...
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Trumbull, John. (1750 - 1831).
L i f e
- born in Connectitut
- received university education (Yale)
- became a tutor at Yale >> later a lawyer in Hartford
- his cousin of the same name was a painter famous for his paintings from...
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Twain, Mark. (1835 - 1910).
L i f e
- born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Hannibal, a frontier town by Mississippi = the cross-section of all the directions and of the Western wilderness x Eastern civilisation, Southern slavery x Northern...
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Warren, Robert Penn. (1905 - 1989).
L i f e
- spent his boyhood in the South, on his grandfather’s tobacco farm, and with his memories of the Civil War (fought for the Confederate cause) > a sense of history of the American South
- met John...
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