Life and Times

Contemporary Era by Renato Motta

Characteristics of Contemporary Literature was the writers wrote writing expressing individuality, censorship and repression of ideas were planted, unpleasant subject matter (no blinders), not escapist, no pretending there is a hierarchy or order, chaos (lack of order as the cultural norm), technical variety, endurance and humor/ the ideal of writing, bases largely on male themes (natural world or war, self for self in business), recognition of absurdity, the “Illness story”, “Beat” poetry – sexual misfits, illicit writers, shock culture, literature complex current “melting the cultural ice of Cold War and conformity.

As civil war erupted in Vietnam in 1960 between the Communist-supported Ho Chi Min of North Vietnam and the French-supported government of Ngo Dinh Diem, President Kennedy feared if Vietnam fell to Communism then many other small countries would also fall to Communism, creating a "Domino Effect." France, unwilling to support a war effort in Vietnam, turned responsibility for Vietnam over to the United States. If the United States failed to assume responsibility, the Diem Government would not be able to withstand the assault from the North.

The Vietnam War (1957-1975) was one of the longest and most controversial wars in America's history. Many people in the United States opposed the war and voiced their opinions by marching in rallies; others showed their discontent in poetry and song.

Also in the contemporary era was Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was a famous leader of the American civil rights movement, a political activist, and a Baptist minister. In 1964, King became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (for his work as a peacemaker, promoting nonviolence and equal treatment for different races). On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1977, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter. In 1986, Martin Luther King Day was established as a United States holiday. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. He was known as a great public speaker.

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The History of the Harlem Renaissance by Renato Motta

After the World War I, in Harlem, New York City, an African American community led the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the basics of African American art, literature, music and culture.

No one knows for sure when the Harlem Renaissance period began and ended. Some say that it begun in the 1919 and ended during the early 1930s, but this is not official. Although no one knows for sure the time it began and ended its ideas lived much longer. When the stock market crashed in 1929 resulting in the great depression magazines were hosting parties for black writers. James Weldon Johnson preferred to call the flowering of Negro culture as Harlem Renaissance.

The participants of this movement were mostly descendants of parents that suffered slavery and the American Civil War. Many of their parents were part of the great Migration out the south. Seeking relief from prejudices and racism, also seeking for a better living.

The Harlem Renaissance was an African American involvement and an interpersonal support system of black patrons, black owned businesses and publications. This movement was supported by some white Americans who would help them publish their work. This “help” was called a patron. Then, there were those whites interested in so-called “primitive” cultures, as many whites viewed black American culture at that time and wanted to see this “primitivism” in the work coming out of the Harlem Renaissance. Other interpersonal dealings between whites and blacks can be categorized as exploitive because of the desire to capitalize on the “fad,” and “fascination” of the African American being in “vogue.” This vogue of the African American would extend to Broadway, as in Porgy and Bess, and into music where in many instances white band leaders would defy racist attitude to include the best and the brightest African American stars of music and song. For blacks, their art was a way to prove their humanity and demand for equality. For a number of whites, preconceived prejudices were challenged and overcome.

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Realism Era by Renato Motta

Literary history tells us that realism and naturalism were aesthetic movements that emerged in American fiction at the turn of the nineteenth century. Cultural histories of the era tell us that social ideals about what constituted the "real" and the "natural" were fiercely debated by Americans as they coped with the revolutionary changes that turned their worlds upside down between the Civil and First World Wars.

The industrial revolution in the 19^th century led people to leave their homes in rural areas to seek new opportunities in the cities. Because of the development of new machinery the economy became more focused on factory production and Americans no longer need to rely on farming to support their families. Immigrants from all over the world wanted to take advantage of the urban opportunities. All of these factors economic, social, and political changes that took place in post-war life allowed American Realism to prevail.

During the time of the Industrial Revolution, the Naturalism movement was taking root in American literature. Naturalism was a literary movement of the late 19^th century that yielded influence on the twentieth. It was an extension of realism, a reaction against the restrictions inherent in the realistic emphasis on the ordinary, as naturalists insisted that the extraordinary is real, too.