A POINT OF VIEW

"Now, comrades, look at ourselves: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We ara born, we receive just enough to keep alive, and we are forced to work to the last atom of our strength. The life of an animal is misery and slavery - that is the plain truth.
"Why are we un this miserable condition? Because human beings steal nearly all products of our labor. That, comrades, is the cause of our problems: man. Man is the only real enemy we have.
"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plow by himself. He cannot run fast enought to catch rabbits. Yet, he is the lord of all animals. He puts other animals to work, and gives back to them the bare minimum to prevent starvation. The rest, he keeps for him self.
"For myself, I do not grumble. I am 12 years old. I will soon die. But I warn you: whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend..."


Adapted from Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

AROUND THE WORLD ON WINGS

In 1981 Richard G. Rutan talked to his brother Burt about his idea of a nonstop flight the world. "I have an idea", said Richard. "Now I need a plane. But it has to be light and strong."
"How light?" asked Burt. "And how strong?"
"It has to be light to save fuel, and strong enough to resist the turbulence caused by tropical sotrms."
Burt, an innovative aircraft designer, sketched a revolutionary design on the back of a paper napkin. For 5 years, Richard G. Rutan and Jeana Yeager worked to fund, build, and fly the dream plane they called the Voyager.
Fnally on the morning of December 4th, 1986, with Richard and Jeana in the cockpit, the strange plane took off from California. NASA's satellite and communication system provided information about weather conditions every 40 minutes. The journey was nice and smooth except for one occasion when storms forced them to fly 2,000 miles farther north than planned.
On December 23rd, 1986 at 8:06 A.M. the Voyager landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in the California Desert. The exact flight time for the 25,012-mile journey was 9 days 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

The Voyager
Building material: graphite composite
Wings: 100 feet
Average speed: 115 miles per hour
Fuel capacity: 1,000 gallons in 17 tanks
Cost of the project: US$ 2 million


MARTINS, Elisabeth Prescher. New graded english. 3ª ed. reform. São Paulo: Moderna, 1997.

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (1945 - 1972)

To a certain extent, what was said of American literature between 1914 - 1945 holds true for the period between 1945 - 1972: it is a period of great diversity in form but, on the whole, Realism, Naturalism, and psychological fiction still predominated.
It might prove extremely artificial to draw a line dividing literature into Modern and Contemporary Periods because most of the authors who in one period continued to produce in the next and, thereforem should be included in both.
However, one can detect new directions in the literary production of America in the areas of fiction, poetry, and drama after 1945.
For didactic purposes, we will consider contemporary prose, poetry, and drama separately.

By Marisis Aranha Camargo

THE MODERN PERIOD (1918 - 1945)

It was only in the twentieth century and particularly in the 20's that American Literature assumed a distinctive identity, finding its place among the other great literatures of the world.
The main characteristic of twentieth century American Literature is its diversity: never before had so many schools and movements co-existed in a given time. Despite this diversity, however, it is possible to distinguish in the Modern Period three major literary trends: Realism, Naturalism and Psychological Fiction.
Realism, as discussed in the previous chapter, started with authors like Howells and James but continued well into the twentieth century.
Naturalism is a late development of Realism. In its original form it was an attempt to apply to Literature the same methods of the physical and social sciences. This movement was initiated by the French author Emile Zola, who laid down its theoretical basis and wrote some of the most significant naturalist works. Naturalist literature tends to see man exclusively as biological creatures and its main purpose is to turn literature into a document of society. Because of its documentary naature, Naturalism often supresses poetic elements by adopting a style which is flat, objective and lacking in imagery. Naturalist literature also tends to be concerned with the least pleasant aspects of life, focusing most of the time the brutal, the sordid, the cruel and the degraded. In politics, Naturalist literature is sometimes, but not always, socialist and radical.
Psychological literature can be regarded as reaction to Naturalism. It focuses itself on the analysis of moral sentiments and the conflict between right and wrong in the personalities of the characters.
It would be inadequate to classify the authors of the Modern Period as belonging solely to any of these three tendencies because, in most authors, the characteristics of the three movements fuse and overlap. For this reason, the authors will be considered individually rather than grouped according to literary tendencies as done in the previous chapters.
For didatic purposes, we are going to consider modern prose, theatre and poetry separately.

By Marisis Aranha Camargo

THE REALIST PERIOD (1865 - 1914)

The industrialization of the United States coincided with the decline of Romanticism and the beginning of Realism. American Literature at the time became national in point of view, rather than provincial. New England was more the only center of literary activity. Now the wide frontier was being considered.
In its social Realism had its support in the principles of Liberalism and it also put deep faith in science, strongly rejecting romantic sentimentalism. In content, Realist literature was concerned with middle and lower class problems, criticising social issues and taking up technical subjects such as agriculture and industry in addition to the more traditional literary themes of love and suffering.
In the area of style Realist literature rejects the artificial poetic diction of the previous period and adopts everyday language, as it is spoken by ordinary people. A to form, Realism brought about the novel as as definitely established genre.
One may say that American Realism had its beginning in what is commonly called "local color literature", a mixture of romanticism and realism which was probably influenced by the frontier tradition of tall tales or humourously exaggerated anecdotes and the works of Sir Walter Scott. Local color fiction is concerned'with common scenes of everyday life and the typical characteristics of a particular region. Much os this its effects comes from the accurate use of dialect, and the presentation of interesting human types as well as regional interests and occupations. Local color fiction may be considered a predecessor of Regionalism.
Among the local color writers, Francis Brett Harte, generally known as Bret Harte and Joel Chandler Harris are the most representative.

By Marisis Aranha Camargo

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1790 - 1864)

It was during the Romantic Period that American Literature finally came into being. Whereas the religious writings of the Colonial Period and the political writings of the Revolutionary Period may be considered literature only in the broadest sense of the term, the literature of the Romantic Period may be defined as verbal art.
During this period, Romanticism was the dominant strain, giving emphasis to individualism, emotionalism, the use of the past, and a new focus on nature.
For the purpose os studying the American Romantic Movement, one may divide it into four distinct moments: Early Romanticism, Transcendentalism, The New England Tradition, and the Ideal of Democracy.

By Marisis Aranha Camargo

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD (1764 - 1789)

The same concept of literature discussed in Chapter I also applies to the literary production of the Revolutionary Period in the sense that the literary production of both periods cannot be taken as verbal art. Whereas the literature of the Colonial Period is essentially religious, the literature of the Revolutionary Period is politicaly minded.
In America the period which preceded the War of Independence was one of political turmoil. This in part was due to the new philosophical and scientific ideas of two men, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Isaac Newton.
Rousseau contended that man is instinctively good, which was quite against the Puritan creed which considered man naturally depraved. Newton and other contemporary scientists appealed to simple reason as a way of explaining natural phenomena. This is why this period is also referred to as The Age of Reason.
Under these circunstances, it is understandable that most of the literary production of the Revolutionary Period carry political and philosophical overtones. Many political writings can be considered as literary pieces, not excluding the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States itself.
Although prose still remained utilitarian in purpose, a new style appeared in which simple sentences and less latinate diction contributed to a more natural and scientific way of communicating.

By Marisis Aranha Camargo

THE COLONIAL PERIOD (1607 - 1763)

The word literature is, no doubt, subject to many definitions. However, for the purpose of studying Colonial American Literature, one should take the word literature in its broadest sense: "All the writing of a country or a period."
In this sense, we can say that the earliest Colonial American Literature was written by adventurers, merchants, Puritans, and Quakers, who emmigrated mostly from England in search of wealth and religious, settling the east coast of America.

By Marisis Aranha Camargo