Nathaniel Hawthorne Believed that evil was a dominant force in the world—his work is dark, gloomy and pessimistic. Born in Salem, Mass., descended from a prominent Puritan family. One ancestor was a judge at the Salem Witch Trials, another was known for his persecution of Quakers. For twelve years secluded himself in his mother’s house…
Most scholars call him the greatest American writer of the 20th century. Some even go as far as saying that he was the greatest American writer ever. What do we really know about him? We know that he was a philandering, macho drunk with a temper, whose new kind of direct prose set him apart…
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born three years following the Civil War, on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His paternal side was French, settling in America in 1674 and, the Burghardts’, his maternal side, were descendants of slaves who fought in the Civil War. William’ father died when he was a child…
Kate Chopin was an American author who lived during the nineteenth century, but because of The Awakening, a novel which was considered scandalous at the time, she has just recently been “…accepted into the canon of major American writers”(Trosky 105). Through Kate Chopin’s main character of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, she is able to portray…
Born September 30, 1928, Eliezer Wiesel led a life representative of many Jewish children. Growing up in a small village in Romania, his world revolved around family, religious study, community and God. Yet his family, community and his innocent faith were destroyed upon the deportation of his village in 1944. Arguably the most powerful and…
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is known as one of the most important American writers of his time. He wrote about the troubling time period in which he lived known as the Jazz Age. During this era people were either rich or dreamt of great wealth. On September 24, 1896, he was born in St. Paul,…
Harriet Beecher Stowe was a high class women, reformer, and writer in the 1800’s. She wrote many anti-slavery documents that helped reform society. You may know her as the writer of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the best-selling book in the 1800’s about how bad slavery was. Because of the encouragement if her husband, Calvin E. Stowe,…
Throughout American history, very few authors have earned the right to be called “great.” Herman Melville is one of these few. His novels and poems have been enjoyed world wide for over a century, and he has earned his reputation as one of the finest American writers of all time. A man of towering talent,…
Mary Flannery O’Connor is one of the most preeminent and more unique short story authors in American Literature (O’Connor 1). While growing up she lived in the Bible-belt South during the post World War II era of the United States. O’Connor was part of a strict Roman Catholic family, but she depicts her characters as…
Mary Shelley, author of the most notable gothic novel of all times, inspires authors who read her work. Mary Shelley’s professional life as her husband’s editor, a novelist, and a poet began in 1816, in Scotland when she began her first novel. First of all, while Mary Shelley visited her family in England, Shelley became…
Zora Neale Hurston was a phenomenal woman. At the height of her success she was known as the “Queen of the Harlem Renaissance.” She came to overcome obstacles that were placed in front of her. Hurston rose from poverty to fame and lost it all at the time of her death. Zora had an unusual…
Maxine Kumin, who experienced many different views of the world through travel, feels the most comfortable in New Hampshire, her rural home. In any area that she travels, she always makes a similarity to her home, as expressed in her poems. In her poem, “The Long Approach”, she is driving in her Saab hatchback from…
Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783 in Tarrytown, New York. His father was a merchant and owned an import business. Irving had literary influences early in his life. He was friends with Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Charles Dickens. Washington Irving had no formal schooling. Instead, he taught himself by reading as…
Lewis, (Harry) Sinclair (1885-1951), American novelist, whose naturalistic style and choice of subject matter was much imitated by later writers. He replaced the traditionally romantic and complacent conception of American life with one that was realistic and even bitter. Lewis was born in Sauk Center, Minnesota, on February 7, 1885, and was educated at Yale…
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., was born November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana(Dictionary of Literary Biography). Kurt is often known for his science-fiction writing. He often uses space travel and technology within his novels (World Book Encyclopedia). Vonnegut attended Cornell University from 1940 to 1942. Next, he attended the University of Chicago from 1945 to 1947. He…
Born in 1876, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Gertrude was the fifth child, and youngest, to Daniel and Amelia Stein, German-Jewish immigrants. She was a bright girl, but was noted for “her lifelong indifference to rules” (Gombar 41), especially in school. The early death of her mother was the cause of this. Her father was the king…
John Winslow Irving stands out as one of the finest contemporary American authors. Born in Exeter, New Hampshire in July 1942, Irving attended an Exeter prep school at which his stepfather taught history. Although he excelled at English, he was discouraged by the fact that he was dyslexic, a condition which wasn’t recognized back then…
By consistently weaving the theme of motherhood into her literature, Maya Angelou creates both personal narratives and poems that the reader can relate to. Her exploration of this universal theme lends itself to a very large and diverse audience. Throughout Angelou’s works, she allows her followers to witness her metamorphosis through different aspects of motherhood.…
E.E Cummings was an unusual, yet highly acclaimed writer of the 20th century. His style of writing was much different than that of any other contemporary or even 18th and 19th century writers. Although difficult to understand at times, E.E Cummings is a very profound and inventive writer. E.E Cummings was born Edward Estlin Cummings…
David Guterson, a young American author, has written two major works regarding aspects of human nature and human emotions. His first publication, a collection of short stories, entitled The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind addresses some of the moral dilemmas that humans face throughout their lives. His first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars,…