What's the difference between English literature and American literature?

English literature has a long history and has gone through a long and complicated process of development and evolution. Since 449 AD, three Germanic tribes ── Angles, Saxons and Jutes ── who originally lived in northern Europe have invaded Britain one after another, and their epic Beowulf has been handed down.

American Literature: When Europeans discovered the New World, the native Indians in North America were at various stages of the primitive commune system. Indians created their own culture in the struggle with nature, mainly oral and folk creations, including myths and legends and the legend of heroes. Because there were no words, these legends were later compiled and published, which inspired later American writers.

2. The stages of experience are different.

English literature has gone through different historical stages, such as Anglo-Saxon, Renaissance, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism and Modernism.

American literature, colonial period, revolutionary independence, pre-World War I, pre-World War II, post-World War II and other historical stages.

3. Postwar styles and ideas are different.

The focus of English literature is not to show people's psychological darkness and fearlessness, but to expose the ugliness of human nature, the longing for a better life, and even the intrigue among people from all walks of life in Britain.

American literature, American society has become very complicated, and values are chaotic. They generally feel that they don't know how to explain this reality, so they reproduce the chaos, terror and madness in their lives through grotesque, fantastic and exaggerated ways. They showed a nightmare world without goals and directions. They tell fragmented stories and write "anti-heroes" or even incomplete images.

Baidu Encyclopedia-American Literature

Baidu encyclopedia-English literature