H-N Famous American Literature
Ernest Hemingway, Washington Irving, Henry James, Harper Lee…
Mar 26, 2009
Picking up from A-G Famous American Literature, there are some writers and works which have either been historically influential or become embedded into common consciousness. Working through the alphabet from H-N, these writers or their works have influenced the formation of a nation’s ideals, dreams, and attitudes.
H – Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) exhibited a distinctive and generally depressed writing style. He wrote works such as The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell To Arms (1929), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) until his suicide.
I – Washington Irving
Sometimes considered to be the first writer to create a distinctively American writing style, Washington Irving (1783-1859) wrote short stories such as Rip Van Winkle (1819) and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820).
J – Henry James
Henry James (1843-1916) was a nineteenth century author, often praised for his mastery of the novel and literary realism. Many of his major novels depict the idea of the innocent American encountering the more jaded cynicism of Europe. His body of work includes, The Europeans (1878), Washington Square (1880), The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Wings of the Dove (1902), and The Golden Bowl (1904).
K – Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter
Another of the Tin Pan Alley songwriters to compose both lyrics and music, Cole Porter (1891-1964) is well known for his “sophisticated” lyrics involving complex rhymes. His is exhibited in songs such as Anything Goes, You’re The Top, and Well, Did You Evah! He wrote a number of successful Broadway Musicals, but Kiss Me, Kate (1948), which is a roundabout play within a play based upon Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (c.1590), returned him to the former success his musicals enjoyed during the 1920s and 1930s.
L – Harper Lee
Although Harper Lee (b. 1926) has only published one novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) has become a staple of American literature, winning the Pulitzer Prize and remaining widely read. It brilliantly combines the childhood experience of learning about the world with observations about prejudice in many forms.
M – Herman Melville
Herman Melville (1819-1891) is most remembered for his adventure novels such as Moby-Dick (1851). Many of his earlier sea novels were founded in his own naval experiences. Following initial success, his popularity permanently declined in his lifetime, but his works have experienced a renaissance of literary appreciation.
N – No Thanks by E.E. Cummings
No Thanks (1935) was a collection of poems, self published by Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962). Cummings wrote almost 3,000 poems, and autobiographical novel, four plays, and many assays. The unconventional orthography of his poetry has sometimes been echoed in the writing of his name without capitalization, “e.e. cummings.”
O-T Guide to Famous American Literature
The guide of writers and their works continues with O-T Famous American Literature. Playwrights such as Eugene O’Neill, poets such as Edgar Allan Poe, novelists such as Mark Twain shaped and molded the developing psyche and style of Americans.
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