The history of American literature dates back to 17th century appearing through the essays by William Bradford, Jonathan Edwards and John Smith. America was known as New England during those years because of the exodus of thousands of English people as well as people of some more European countries who migrated from their motherland in quest of liberty, peace and equity to the landscape discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, a deliberate diaspora that drove them forward to seek out a congenial territory for placid living. Religious factionalism in different European countries worked as a catalyst that triggered off this diaspora. Diaspora refers to the migration of people from their motherland to other countries for political, religious, economic or other reasons. The European immigrants who were the first to arrive on the soil of New England (present day America) had a strong determination to build up a theocratic state there. They wanted to hold together all the immigrants on a consolidated ground bolstered by the principles of Christian theology and moreover, the European theologians began to preach Christianity to the native dwellers of America, generally known as Red Indians, which is how colonial era on the American vistas kicked off. For this reason, the messages found in poems and essays by Edward Taylor and Jonathan Edwards sound like sermons and bear an echo of conspicuous theological precepts.
A paradigm shift in American literature happened through the advent of Transcendental Movement in America during 19th century when Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Thomas Paine and Mark Twain wrote about the value of social equity and denigrated racism and slavery. The American Civil War was fought in the same spirit under the behest of Abraham Lincoln. The tears and tribulations of black slaves in America were touchingly narrated by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her masterpiece Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Alice Walker in her best-known novel The Color Purple, by Toni Morrison in Beloved and there have been many more phenomenal books on the history of serfdom in America. Emily Dickinson, on the other hand, recalled the norms and principles her Puritan ancestors advocated for through her poems and developed a theme of transmigration in most of her verses-the cyclical and ethereal trips between life and death.
The litterateurs of the Transcendental Movement underscored the blooming of individualism in the minds of American people and intended to embolden the Americans to stick with their own values, to explore their own potentialities under all circumstances and this sounds very close to the idea of self-actualization. Most of the Americans still believe in the ideologies heralded by the authors and poets of the transcendental period. A few words by Mark Twain may be borrowed, "The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself." Gautam Buddha once said about self-actualization that, "You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." These quoted words show that the value of self-actualization has been emphasized by the exalted figures of history. So, people's inherent potentialities are their most precious resources.
However, the outset of the settlement by the European immigrants in New England was a very hard nut to crack. They confronted climatic hazards like blizzards and intense winters, animosity posed by the Red Indians, various sorts of ailments and so on. But it was the immigrants' firm faith in the Bible and in God that kept their spirits high amid all the adversities. Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol gives evidential descriptions how George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and other founding fathers of America worked hard to establish American statecraft on the basis of Biblical commandments. "The Lost Symbol", according to Dan Brown, is the symbol of God that people have lost and which needs to be found back to sustain humanitarian values. The European settlers robustly believed that it was heavenly powers that kept them alive in the inhospitable wilderness of New England during the initial days. They made the church the hub of all social and administrative functions. Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter and American Civilization, a non-fictional book by Charles Jones offer a categorical and trustworthy look into the socio-political circumstances of America during the incipient years.
The vicissitudes that the European settlers had to deal with as part of their daily life during 17th and 18th centuries have been breathtakingly illustrated by James Fenimore Cooper, John Smith, William Penn and some other authors in their books and memoirs. The details of most of these books include the gruesome battles that took place between the European immigrants and the indigenous tribes of America, factional conflicts among immigrants from different countries, arguments about the authority of church over state etc. The American Independence War was also picked up as a blazing theme in a number of books by celebrated authors of previous and current times. The American Revolution by Robert Allison, The Swamp Fox by David Higgins, and A Few Lawless Vagabonds by David Bennett may be cited as examples for this stream.
The journey of American literature from the creation of New England back in 17th century up to the present time is dotted with lots of ups and downs. However, making references to colonial history is still a noteworthy trend among American poets and authors. Glancing back at history always presents us a lucid reflection of the provenance wherefrom we have emerged.
The writer is a columnist of The Asian Age.
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