13/09/10 The beginning of American Literature

Before the 4th of July 1776, America was a British colony. Most of the books were English.

1787 : Adoption of the Constitution

Early National literature :

The question of the language for the colonised. What language use ? British English, the language of the colonisers, was more official.
So, how were they going to find an American literature different from the British but using the same language ?
American writers have the idea to create a special language in order to reinforce the feeling of Americanness and to say what America was : A country of immigrants, from all over the world, with different traditions, and different type of literature.

History : · Immigrants came in USA because nobody lived there so they can have a new start. USA is a new paradise, a second chance given by God to recreate a new sort of society. A new country where they could do what they want.
· But, it was not true. There were people living in America : the Indians. -> 2/3 millions.
= Meeting of culture. Indians were all different and came from different parts of America. But, for the new comers, they were all the same.
· If the first colonisers survives in America, it is thanks to Indians. They helped them, shew them how to cultivate according to the land.
Thanksgiving : Americans of today give thanks to god because he helps them to survive to the first difficulties of colonisation.
· More and more people arrived and that had created tensions : The settlers wanted to impose their way of life, very different of the Indian’s. Indians were going to be eliminated so they turned into savages.
· The image of the Indians in American literature changed.

( Au début du 19 ème siècle un écrivain Américain à beaucoup de mal à se faire publier )
1807 -> Joel Barlow : «The Columbiad». The first national American poem.

1828-> Noah Webster : «An American Dictionary of the