American Renaissance & American Romanticism:
terms & themes from objectives

classic, popular, and representative literature

link to outstanding student exam on classic, popular, and representative

classic, popular, and representative literature

popular--appeals to people where they are; confirms attitudes, values; "pushes buttons"

stereotypical characters--e. g., contemporary action movies: quiet decent humble but heavily armed American (or representative); Mexican men as banditos; Arab men as sniveling or hysterical; black men as noble sacrifice; European men as cold masterminds; women of various races as whole different set of stereotypes, but if the action guy likes her, she's usually just a kinder gentler version of himself who doesn't pick up her gun until her cubs are threatened.

humor / comedy: essentially conservative mode or narrative of literature--"all's well that ends well"

formulas and genres are used more or less unconsciously--

"If this is an action movie, when does the helicopter explode?"

"If this is a gothic thriller, when's the first scream in the night? When's the first turn-around-and-gasp?"

classic--

pop lit tends to throw a lot of such junk as above into a miscellaneous mix--every page has something that soothes or excites, but classic lit often involves "deferred gratification" and long attention spans, plus "compositional integrity" (parts aren't just thrown together but fit carefully into larger patterns of meaning)

classic lit doesn't just use formulas and genres like the gothic but extends and develops them in new ways, so that a familiar vehicle evokes new meaning

popular writer repeats formula

classic writer varies formula, extends range

Cooper both a popular and a classic writer

popular: sold well--great action scenes and somewhat stereotypical characters; wrote fast, and sometimes his plotting and characterization are clumsy and cumbersome

classic: explored sensitive issues, plus historical knowledge and depth