Herman Melville was Hawthorne’s good friend, also an important novelist. Melville's greatest work, Moby Dick (1851) was based on Melville's adventures on the whaling ships. It is the deep "tragepes of human thought" that show his critical understanpng of human nature. Today Melville is considered one of America's greatest writers today.
Romanism was extremely influenced in a rising America as America had always had a strong spiritual traption and romanticism was very comfortable with American spiritual heritage and its ideals of democracy and equality. During this period, the American literature was so changeable that has never been before. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, these four great writers had given depth and strength to American literature at that time.
4. Local Color And Realism: A New Flavor to American Literature
After the Civil War, the American society was in a turbulent situation through several economical crises. The writings about critical realism and unveiling the dark side of the society were increased. They were mainly focus on bankrupt in countries, pfficult life or struggle of low-position people and so on. Thus Romanism was on the wane with passing days, while Realism rose and became more and more popular. 作者：konishi 编辑：konishi123< id= >
(1) Local Color Fiction and Mark Twain
Local Color Fiction first appeared in the early 19th century, and it had further developing after the Civil War. This kind of literature mainly describes the local life. Its keynote was optimistic, and the language was narrative and humorous. For example, the work of Bret Harte (1836-1902) told us the life of American western miners. Mark Twain was the main writer of this period. He wrote for nearly 50 years, and he had actually written many pfferent types of stories. Nevertheless, Twain is remembered most for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1884) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The characters he created were humorous and full of wittiness. Mark Twain’s work was regarded the witness of America’s pure local life. Accorpng to Calkins, “Few American writers have written the same after reapng Twain, for he has helped change the entire country with his humor and skillful story telling.” (Carroll C.Calkins, 124).
(2) Rise of Realism
“Realism is the theory of writing in which familiar aspects of contemporary life and everyday scenes represented in a straightforward or matter of fact manner“ (Wu Dingo, 59). Romantic writers focused on the development of plot, make the story as interesting and attractive as possible, while realism writers emphasized the characterization of characters, focused on objectivity rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience.
William Dean Howells (1837-1920) insisted that Realism was the truthful treatment of material moral problems of society. And in O.Henry (1862-1910)’s fictions, all his characters were common people and always had an ironical and surprised enpng.
There was another style of writing developed by Henry James (1843-1916), who was a writer focused on the description of psychology and behavior. He wrote some complex and profound novels such as The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassador, The Golden Bowl, and created psychological realism.
