* Realists:
* Mark Twain: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
* Henry James: "The Portrait of a Lady," "The Ambassadors"
* William Dean Howells: "The Rise of Silas Lapham"
* Edith Wharton: "The House of Mirth," "The Age of Innocence"
* Naturalists:
* Stephen Crane: "The Red Badge of Courage," "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets"
* Jack London: "The Call of the Wild," "White Fang"
* Theodore Dreiser: "Sister Carrie," "An American Tragedy"
* Frank Norris: "The Octopus," "McTeague"
These authors often focused on:
* Representing social realities: Exploring themes of class, race, gender, and social injustice.
* Psychological realism: Delving into the inner lives and motivations of characters.
* Regionalism: Capturing the unique character and culture of specific geographical locations in the US.
* Objectivity: Aiming for an impartial and detached presentation of events, avoiding overt authorial commentary.
Other prominent figures in the pre-postmodern canon:
* Transcendentalists: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau
* Romantics: Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville
* Early American writers: Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper
Shifting the Canon:
It's important to remember that the literary canon is constantly evolving and being challenged. While realism and naturalism dominated the pre-postmodern period, other voices and perspectives were also present.
The rise of postmodernism in the mid-20th century brought with it a new emphasis on experimentation, subjectivity, and the breakdown of traditional narrative structures. This led to the inclusion of authors like:
* Postmodernists:
* Kurt Vonnegut
* Thomas Pynchon
* Don DeLillo
* Toni Morrison
* Gabriel García Márquez
While the pre-postmodern canon is still relevant and important to study, it is no longer the sole defining force in American literature. The canon has become more diverse and inclusive, reflecting the rich and complex tapestry of American literary expression.