LITR 4232 American Renaissance 2012 final exam—Answers to Question B4 "Classic, Popular, & Representative Literature" final exam assignment

Valerie Mead

ClassiReprePop Literature: Shades of Grey in Categorizing Works from the American Renaissance

          There are multitudes of existing classifications for American Renaissance Literature, the most popular of which are the categorizations that are based on linguistic or writing styles, literary appeals, moralistic values that are being presented, as well as the intended audience for which the work is written. As the people of the American Renaissance had lived through two very significant literary movements in order to have gotten to that particular period in time—the Enlightenment, which our society is based on, and the Romantic movement, which greatly influenced and overlapped with the American Renaissance—we must take this into consideration as to why these three distinct classification groups came about. The three most common of these categories for literature at that time (and still in use today) were classical, representative, and popular types of literature. In the American Renaissance, virtually all written works could be categorized into one, if not more, of these categories, and the works that could not be placed into one was few and far between. Though these individual categories are specific and exhaustive for their designated purposes, they are not mutually exclusive, and there is often a great deal of overlapping with other literary works or categories because these types of things are hard to define concretely. However, all three separate categories of literature have their own distinct and somewhat differing purposes for existing—there are different audiences being targeted, vales being instilled, and appeals for newcomers that are important and should be discussed.

          Classic literature, from any era, is typically the focus for any academically inspired reading list or class, which is why it is so important to keep in mind and study. This are the types of written works that highly educated and extremely elite individuals deemed worthy of being added to the literary canon for its time period. The fact that it is deemed so important and worthy of reading by this elite group of people is what makes the work seem so interesting, and it helps to make people wants to study it. Though classic literature is only actually interesting to a smaller subset of individuals, it does have a long lifespan, as is proven by the fact that modern readers have still heard of classic American Renaissance novels like Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Walt Whitman’s poetry anthology, Leave of Grass. These texts were underexposed, in a sense, because of the category they had been placed in. Classic literature, though low in actual numbers, is usually highly respected in its field because it is known for redeveloping the genre it came from and its educated and refined writing style, which the target audience—libraries, anthologies, and highly educated academia/individuals—typically appreciates. Classic literature is usually ahead of its time, so it is not often appreciated at the time in which it is published, though the authors themselves usually have a respectful, almost reverent, approach to literary tradition. This may be because the majority of classic authors were dead, white, European males who could afford to respect tradition instead of tromping on it because they were already socially and academically accepted anyway and did not need to make a name for themselves based simply on the shock value associated with deviating from designated societal norms. In other words, why rock the boat? These works focused on classical and even mythological issues instead of modern day worries, like popular or representative literature does. The traditional aspect these authors attempt to preserve seems to correlate with the fact that they distance themselves from organized religion, or only include it in revitalized manners, like Emerson or Whitman have done. The one, overall mark of a classic is the fact that it is able to be reread multiple times with the person continuing to gain from each reading.

          Classic literature seems to be very cut and dry as far as its categorization goes. It is written to expand on the genre and build from it, to be an integral and living work of art that educates and entertains the intended audience. These works are harder to read, especially for modern readers, because they are not written for the general public nor for people of our time period; these readings take more work and effort, and thus, the reward of finishing and gaining something from its completion is twofold. Often, classic literature is not seen as anything worthy of study or even reading when it is first published, as is seen with many of the works by Dickinson and Poe, who were not popular until after death. Prestige and “classic” status usually come later on down the line to a book, and very few are hardly ever dubbed living classics. If one were to read classic literature, one would learn a great deal about the expansion of literary genres and writing technique, not to mention character development and general storylines. However, one must keep in mind that this format can and does overlap with both representative and popular literature. This is seen by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Susan B. Warner, and the Bronte sisters, who are considered to be both classic and popular authors, meaning they somehow managed to become financially successful off of a work that has the sustainability and importance to become a classic. Classic literature also overlaps with representative, which can be seen in the works produced by authors such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and the like, which means that these significant works are historically and culturally relevant as well.

          Representative literature is more similar to classic literature than popular. It is read by a very small, very dedicated group of individuals who genuinely are interested in the work being presented and want to learn more about it. This is more of an educational tool than the other two categories, and there is not nearly as much entertainment value, but the audience it is designated for is not reading it for entertainment purposes. It is a hard group to categorize, unlike its two counterparts, as there is such a wide variety of underrepresented gender, race, and ethnicity minority groups that contributed towards this category. These works were typically written by a person who belong to a minority group, and because of this, these individuals were usually not well educated (certainly not academia), so they used their voices as a representation of what exactly they wanted to be heard. This is simply not the case for popular or classic literature, as their main goal was to entertain and then inform. There are no frills or bells or whistles with representative literature—it is stoic and straight to the point because it’s an educational tool and it wants to make sure that the reader arrives at the designated conclusion. Without the educational background needed for classic literature, representative literature is simply ambivalent towards literary tradition; they show a strong desire for acceptance yet they insist upon the fact that they are indeed different. Representative literature’s reference is realistic and average, but the mainstream population may have struggled to understand why the information they were receiving was relevant, which is not the case for classic literature, and is not even an issue for popular literature. While classic literature shies away from religion and popular relies mainly on sentimentality, religion in representative literature is often the source of the person’s new identity and/or claims for equality. All in all, the point of modern students reading representative literature would simply be to expose the student to a first-hand account of a by-gone world, one that we may never fully understand. It benefits from multiple readings, as does classic literature, as it helps the student learn how to read the new culture.

          Works of representative literature are often the most challenging for modern readers to read because they are often written in extremely formal wording and concern little known issues from a long ago time. However, this obscurity may be why it is so appealing to some people, and that’s why those who love history or are fascinated by other cultures, among other things, choose to read it. Learning about the way people handle themselves against extreme adversity, under terrible conditions, and against un-defendable injustices, not to mention a long forgotten culture, is in itself the greatest reward gained from reading this type of literature. Representative literature is, like classical, more for education purposes, while popular literature is more geared towards entertainment. Some of the better known examples of representative literature are Frederick Douglass’ A Narrative of the Life, Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Declaration of Sentiments. These works are representative because they were written by a minority group for a small intended audience for the purpose of educating or informing them of their plights. They are more humble and down the earth, but the authors make sure to get their point across. Though there are strong examples of representative literature, one must not incorrectly assume that this category does not overlap with the other two. The works of Frederick Douglass, Margaret Fuller, and Toni Morrison (though much more recent) are both representative and classic literature. Popular and representative works exist as well, though in much less numbers than the other two categories.

          Popular literature is the drivel for the masses, published in great quantity for the general public. There is little or no esteem associated with popular literature, they have very little rereading potential, are usually formulaic in genre, and write about current or more popular issues. Every single aspect of this differs drastically from the standard characteristics of representative and classic literature. Popular literature’s attitude toward literary tradition is mostly oblivious, which is somewhat similar to representative literature’s ambivalent attitude towards it, but drastically different from classic’s reverence for it. Popular and representative literature are similar in so much as they both support the written works of women. In popular literature, female authors were well represented and there was a large female audience for this type of literature, neither of which can be said of classic literature. While classic literature stays away from religion and representative literature uses it to exalt the writer, popular literature mainly focuses on sentimentality and the cloyingly comforting aura it exudes. These works of popular literature are easy to read and process and are mainly for entertainment, not for academic study, as classic and representative literature are.

          Out of all three categories, popular literature is the easiest to read because of its simpler plot and use of stylistic and linguistic elements. However, because there is so little effort put in, there is very little gain. These works give the reader no type of advantage except for simply entertaining them, which is as easily done then as it was now. This is extremely different from the other two, whose primary goal is to educate the reader. The readers attracted to popular literature in the American Renaissance were largely female, though there were a great number of males who partook as well. Those who read popular literature are interested in an escape from reality, something to take their mind off of the dreariness of their own lives; this is the same now as it was then. Some examples of popular literature in this period are Susan B. Warner’s novel Wide, Wide World and Susanna Maria Cummins’ novel The Lamplighter. These two can be considered popular novels because they sold well, were high in sentimentality, they were not well regarded by critics, and their primary purpose was to entertain the person reading it. This category blurs the lines between the others as well. Classic works that also got popular include Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the works of Washington Irving, and James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales, especially The Last of the Mohicans. Examples of authors of representative literature that was also popular are Margaret Fuller and Frederick Douglass.

          With explanation, it is quite simple to see exactly how and where the lines blur, but at first glance, all literature just seems like a cornucopia of knowledge, information, and entertainment. However, one can and does categorize these into three distinct groups: representative literature, popular literature, and classic literature. One can learn a great deal by reading from all three groups. If you limit yourself to one type of literature, you are shutting out other things that you can learn from, not to mention being closed-minded and just plain silly (yes, this is the proper educational term for it). By reading all three types, you can see where and how they differ, thus learning more about them in general. More specifically, you learn more about each individual type of literature, including their style, tone, genre, and purpose for being written. I strongly believe that well rounded literary individual should read from each of these groups, though with a little more focus on classic and representative than on popular. Therefore, I think such a balance would be the most appropriate for our class, which is what was given. I think the same would serve other literature classes, no matter what the overall theme of the course is.

          The three most common classifications of literature are into classic, representative, and popular literature. These three are very different in what they want to convey, the tone in which they say it, the audience to whom they say it, as well as many other things. However, they are not mutually exclusive categories, and these groups can and do overlap on several important aspects. Classic literature is more respected, aimed at the intellectually elite, and has a longer shelf life than the other two. Representative literature is for a very small target audience, is based around minority issues and authors, and is socially important. Popular literature is heavy on sentimental issues and writing, and though it sells a great deal of copies, it is not well regarded by critics, nor does it last long in the future, as there is little or no reason to reread the work. These three categories, though different, do intermingle and even rely on each other, making the differences more grey than black and white.