North American Literature of the 20th Century: A Literature of Alienation

North American literature of the twentieth century began as a predominantly white male-dominated literature, on the heels of 19th century romantic literary expression, such as within the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Stephen Crane, and others. Similarly, in the early decades of the 20th century, American literature was dominated by the likes of William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Theodore Dreiser, and other white male authors, whose works (understandably) reflected their own experiences and world views. In the latter half of the 20th century, however, subsequent to World War II, more diverse voices began to appear within North American literature. By the time authors like Maxine Hong Kingston; Toni Morrison; James Baldwin and others came on the scene, diverse literary viewpoints were beginning to be seen as integral to the American literary cannon. In my...
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