1. What were the results of the Civil War and its impact on the development of American literature?

Done by: Usmanova M.
1. What were the results of the Civil War and its impact on the development of American literature?
2.  What trends in American literature of that period do you know?
3.  What is the most important collection of poems published by Walt Whitman?
4.  What is specific with Mark Twain’s humor and satire?
5.  What are the most popular topics raised by O. Henry in his stories?
6.  Who is the author of the “Octopus”?
7.  What are the problems raised by Jack London in his stories about sever North?

1. The Civil War brought the abolition of slavery. After the war various branches of industry began to develop by leaps and bounds. The incessant flow of emigrants is typical of that time, the extensive building of railroads and abolition of slavery. All these factors combined led to the rapid growth of the USA, American capitalism. At the end of the 18^th century the USA became a highly developed industrial country. Negroes were granted the right to vote but all the same they were under certain oppression and deprived of many rights.

The literature of that period reflects both the class struggle and the sharp ideological struggle within American society. The writers did their best to paint in bright colors the social life. They tried to create an illusion in the minds of people that every man in America stood his fair chance. It was so-called “apologetic” literature. Its motto was “Every shoeblack may become the President of the USA”.
2. There was another trend in American literature called “red-blood” literature. It justified the militarist expansion. Another group of writers called themselves “tender realists”. They did not reflect the sharp political issues and gave a softened picture of reality. Finally, there existed in literature the group of “Muckrackers”. They named the whites the superior race. Another group of writers called themselves “tender realists”. All those trends were opposed by the American critical realists such as Mark Twain, Frank Norris, O. Henry, Jack London, and Theodore Dreiser. 
3. “The Leaves of Grass”, “The Song of Myself”, “The Song of the Broad Axe”, “Poems of Joys” are the best of his poems. In these poems he shows that joys come to men only through labor and struggle.
4. His humorous stories, his humor were based on the Western folklore. His stories are written in the first person. It was a tradition. “The Gilded Age” – the first satirical story. 
5. The Four Million” (1906)
“The Trimmed Lamp” (1907)
“Heart of the West” (1907)
“The Voice of the City” (1908)
“The Last Leaf” is considered one of his best stories. 
6. FRANK NORRIS is the author of the “Octopus”.

7. In some of his books J. London has given very vivid pictures of the rough, hard life in the North, away from the great centers of civilization: “The Son of the Wolf”, “The Children of the Frost”, etc. His tales of animal life in Canada are very much liked by boys and girls all over the world (“White Fang”, “Jerry of the Islands”, “Michael Brother Jerry” and others).