6 stages.
1. The first stage: the colonial period (about 1607-1765)
This period started from about 1607 when Captain John Smith led the first group of immigrants to establish the first British colony in North America. Colonial Jamestown to 1765 Colonial people angrily protest against the Stamp Act enacted by the British government.
2. The second stage: the Enlightenment Period and the War of Independence (1765-the end of the 18th century)
This is the period when the North American people fought for independence and established the United States and China. In the 1830s, under the influence of European Enlightenment and Deism and other philosophical trends, the role of God was greatly weakened, and the Puritans launched a "Great Awakening" movement.
At the end of the 18th century, the political situation in the North American continent developed rapidly. From 1765, when the British colonists first opposed the British government's stamp duty, to 1789, when the U.S. federal government was established, literary works mainly focused on the need for revolution. nature, the future and direction of revolution, the form and nature of government, and other issues.
3. Romanticism Period (1800-1865)
At the beginning of the 19th century, the United States completely got rid of its dependence on Britain and entered the world political arena as an independent country. National literature began to flourish in an all-round way, gradually breaking the monopoly of British literature in the United States.
Writers during this period, like the British Romantic writers, emphasized the imagination and emotional color of literature, opposed classical forms and viewpoints, praised nature, advocated individuals and ordinary people's thoughts and feelings, and searched for their roots. Ask about the ancestors and feel the nostalgia of the ancient times. In particular, the advocacy of Transcendentalism represented by Emerson, these writers advocated that people can transcend feelings and reason and directly know the truth, abandoning the God-centered Puritan doctrine.
4. Realism Period (1865-1918)
After the Civil War (1861-1865) and the outbreak of World War I, the United States completed the transformation from an agricultural society to an industrial society. Transformation, social outlook and economic life began to undergo drastic changes. Industrialization has brought about vigorous development, but it has also brought about increasingly corrupt politics, and political scandals are common. It has made people re-recognize new lives and newly developed lands. As a result, local literature has developed greatly.
5. Modernism Period (1918-1945)
Since the beginning of the 20th century, American literature has entered a new era. World War I had a profound impact on the American mind and spirit. People's faith in liberal democracy has begun to waver, and people generally feel confused and even desperate. They no longer place their hopes on the future, but emphasize "seizing the day" and "carpe diem".
This stage is the second Renaissance of American literature. During the great prosperity, a large number of works emerged, and writers were bent on seeking techniques that could reflect the disintegration of society and moral decay. There was also a great breakthrough in poetry.
6. Contemporary Literature (1945-)
After World War II, in the eyes of American writers, the “American Dream” that they had always longed for turned into a nightmare; democracy Ideals, personal pursuits, and religious beliefs no longer exist. Traditional moral concepts and value systems have lost their role; modern people have lost contact with history; they have no future and no future, and they cannot communicate with others about their thoughts and feelings. They can only live in the dilemma of loneliness and alienation forever.
All this was reflected in literature, giving rise to the "Beat Generation" writers who rejected all culture and values ??in the 1950s. After the 1960s, both novels and novels took human alienation as the theme, using exaggerated techniques and ridiculous plots to express human plight. Genres such as "Black Humor" and "Theatre of the Absurd" emerged one after another.
Baidu Encyclopedia-American Literature