‘
Literature is essentially what a man does with his
solitude.’ Thus
Spake Whitehead, a great American philosopher. Critics say writing is a
sense of protest and tension which is also an idealistic reaction against what
is evil and unjust. American
literature is a product of both
solitude and
tension. The transcendent writers were writers of solitude who did not write
about social values or material conditions but because of the procreations
of soul. The best example of this type of writing is Emerson. Man must
march from the body to the soul is the essence of Emerson’s message.
“Over Soul” and “Self Reliance” are best examples.
Thoreau’s experiment to lead the life of a recluse far away from the
civilization has been immortalised in ‘Walden’ – the book that influenced
Mahatma Gandhi. This famous literary work exemplifies the love of
solitude and protest against overbearing national values.
Mark Twain’s characters of Tom Sawyer and Huckle Berry Finn are
conceived in protest against moral notions.
The opulence of American society has sowed its own seeds of
discontentment and restlessness in common man. The racial discrimination
of blacks is another very unhappy aspect of American society. The American literature is a blend of solitude and tension.
Notes compiled by: J.Prabha