An American Literature

With the creation and development of America as a new nation, a new national literature needed to be found and built. While many were content with receiving their culture and books from Europe, it was necessary for an indendent American literature to be established, just as the country itself broke political ties from Great Britain. Important men and authors within American history such as Edward Channing, James Cooper, and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in depth of this necessary national literary development. Now that America has existed for over two hundred years and is well-established within both its own borders and the world stage, it is interesting to complete how this call for American writers and books was fulfilled in the following centuries.



As I was wondering about this question, I was left thinking about my own experience so far with American literature, which led to wondering about how what I have read and studied with what others my age have. I then asked a few friends who went to high school in different states than I did to look through a list* containing hundreds of "American Classics" and simply count how many they were assigned and read in middle and high school. While this was by no means a scientific or flawless study, I simply wanted to gain a general idea of the American books and stories being taught at this time to students in the United States, and in this respect I succeeded. I went through school in suburban Minnesota, and read 15 on the list (while there were also many works on the list I had never even heard of), and others from schools in very different geographical locations gave results that did not vary much from my own experience. The results I received were...

Massachusetts (private school): 15 New York (state): 15 Connecticut: 10

New Jersey: 15 New York (Long Island): 14



While of course every student's experience in school is different, I found it reassuring that American books are being taught heavily within the education system. After generations of establishing a uniquely American, national literature, students are discovering through the words of those who created their culture, how to interpret their own world with the help of the past.



*here is the list I used http://www.readliterature.com/american.htm