American Contemporary Literature

DEFINITION OF COMTEMPORARY WRITING

American Literature - In the World of Literature

Contemporary literature is a huge group of written works produced from a specific time in history through the current age. This literary era defines a time period, but it also describes a particular style and quality of writing. Some consider this period as an extension of postmodern literature, but most refer to it as a literary era of its own.

Most agree that the era of contemporary writing began in the 1940s. A few scholars claim this period started at the end of World War II, and this is where the era's pairing with postmodern literature comes in. The postmodern era began after WWII, in the 1940s, and lasted through the 1960s however the contemporary period extends to the current day.

Although there are a few disagreements about the beginning of this literary period, the biggest dispute surrounds what qualifies a written work as literature. The word refers to both poetry and prose, where prose includes works of fiction such as novels and novellas, essays, and dramatic works. This term also refers to the quality of writing. In order to be considered literature, a written work must contain the highest writing standards and contain a particular beauty and style. Many literary works become socially relevant and have the power to generate a huge impact in the public.

Here is a video you can watch to know a little bit more about the literature in this period:

CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS PERIOD

Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture (MA) - Postgraduate ...

Contemporary literature began in the 1940s. There are some characteristics for this period:

Reality-based stories with strong characters and a believable story.
Well-defined, realistic, highly developed characters in realistic, sometimes harsh environments.
Often the stories are character driven.
The literature is ironic and reflects current political, social and personal issues;
May reflect a personal cynicism, disillusionment and frustration.
Facts are questioned as are historical perspectives.
Often presents two contradictory arguments.
The literature may reflect a growing skepticism in the existence of God as well as distrust or lack of faith in traditional institutions.

LITERARY PIECES PRODUCED

THE PURPLE COLOR

The Color Purple: Alice Walker: 8601418292227: Amazon.com: Books

Review of the book:

The Color Purple, novel by Alice Walker, published in 1982. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983. A feminist work about an abused and uneducated African American woman’s struggle for empowerment, The Color Purple was praised for the depth of its female characters and for its eloquent use of Black English Vernacular.

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED

Review of the book:

Everything is illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Everything Is Illuminated is based on his journey to the Ukraine to meet a woman. This woman’s family is the reason Jonathan’s grandfather survived World War II. While he never actually finds the woman he is seeking, his other experiences lead him on a journey of self-discovery. In the Ukraine, he meets a young man named Alex, whose interests are cars, America, and women. Alex’s father, a travel agent, hires Alex to act as interpreter for a visiting American client. Alex’s father hires his own dad to drive the American around, despite the fact that he has claimed to suffer blindness since his wife died. The American client is Jonathan.

MIDDLESEX

Review of the book:

Middlesex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides published in 2002. The book is a bestseller, with more than four million copies sold since its publication. Its characters and events are loosely based on aspects of Eugenides' life and observations of his Greek heritage. It is not an autobiography; unlike the protagonist, Eugenides is not intersex. The author decided to write Middlesex after he read the 1980 memoir Herculine Barbin and was dissatisfied with its discussion of intersex anatomy and emotions.

EMPIRE FALLS

Review of the book:

Empire Falls is a 2001 novel by Richard Russo. In 2002, the book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel tells the story of Miles Roby who lives in a blue-collar town in Maine. As the narrative unfolds, the reader comes to understand more about Miles and his past, as well as the other characters that come in and out of his life as he manages the Empire Grill.

THE CORRECTIONS

Review of the book:

The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-20th century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium. The novel was awarded the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002. The Corrections was published to wide acclaim from literary critics. The sense of anxiety and apprehension found in its characters has been compared with those of Americans following the September 11 terrorist attacks, despite the novel's release having preceded that event by ten days. Many have interpreted The Corrections as having prescient insight into the major concerns of post-9/11 American life, and it has been listed in multiple publications as one of the greatest novels of the 21st century.

FAMOUS WRITERS FROM THIS PERIOD AND THEIR PIECES OF WRITING

ALICE WALKER

Pieces of work:

The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970)
In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973)
Meridian (1976)
The Color Purple (1982)
The Temple of My Familiar (1989)
Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992)
Once (1968)
Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems (1973)
Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning (1979)
Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful (1985)
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983)
Living by the Word (1988)
Warrior Marks (1993)
Overcoming Speechlessness (2010)
Chicken Chronicles, A Memoir (2011)

JONATHAN FRANZEN

Pieces of work:

"How He Came to Be Nowhere." (1996)
"Chez Lambert." The Paris Review 139 (1996)
"On the Nordic Pleasure Lines Fall Color Cruise" (Spring 1998)
"The Failure," The New Yorker (5 July 1999).
"At the Party for the Artists with No Last Name." (1999)
"The Fall," folio in Harper's (April 2000)
How to Be Alone 2002 (Essays)
The Discomfort Zone (2000)
Farther Away 2012 (Essays)

TIM O'BRIEN

Pieces of work:

If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (1973)
Northern Lights (1975)
"Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?" (1975)
Going After Cacciato (1978)
The Nuclear Age (1985
The Things They Carried (1990)
In the Lake of the Woods (1994)
Tomcat in Love (1998)
July, July (2002)
Dad's Maybe Book (2019)

PHILIP ROTH

Pieces of work:

Zuckerman Bound (1979–1985)
The Ghost Writer (1979)
Zuckerman Unbound (1981)
The Anatomy Lesson (1983)
The Prague Orgy (1985)
The Counterlife (1986)
American Pastoral (1997)
I Married a Communist (1998)
The Human Stain (2000)
Exit Ghost (2007)

JEFFREY EUGENIDES

Pieces of work:

The Virgin Suicides New York : Hachette Book Group, 1993.
Middlesex New York, New York : Random House, 2002.
The Marriage Plot London : Fourth Estate, 2011
"Complainers" (2017)
"Air Mail" (1996)
"Baster" (The New Yorker, 1996)
"Early Music" (The New Yorker, 2005)
"Timeshare"
"Find the Bad Guy" (The New Yorker, 2013)
"The Oracular Vulva" (1999)
"Capricious Gardens" (The Gettysburg Review, 1988)
"Great Experiment" (The New Yorker, 2008)
"Fresh Complaint" (2017)