Defining Contemporary American Literature: A Study of Louise Gluck’s, The Seven Ages

Abstract

This paper defines contemporary American literature with specific references to Louise Gluck’s The Seven Ages. Although a handful of studies have been done on the subject yet, a satisfactory definition of contemporary American Literature has remained a task. The reason for this challenge is tied to the diverse lenses with which scholars have examined the subject matter with special attention to issues of language composition, authorship, setting, culture, characterization, and geographical experiences. More so, separating contemporary American literature from other American literary periods, especially modernism. The significance of this present paper is hinged on the fact that it has demonstrated sparkling differences between contemporary American literature and other epochs, with glaring shreds of evidence from Gluck’s collection. The essay identified, transformation, experimentation, coming of age, technology, cyber literature, history and memory, intertextuality, identity, literature of voice, family and beauty, spirit, nature, and wit as major themes that dominate contemporary American literature. Also, the literature of self, isolation, disillusionment, and the world as characteristics that characterize contemporary American literature. In terms of style, the work examined monologue, free versification, and simplified diction as core literary patterns. The qualitative research method was adopted, while historical criticism was applied for analysis. Findings show that contemporary American literature is different from other periods in American literature, even though, it shares proximity with modern American literature. In the same vein, not all literature weaved in the 1950s belongs to this period, but those produced in the last twenty-two years between (2000-2022). The submission of this study is that further studies be done on the area of defining the nature and characteristics of contemporary American literature, using texts weaved in the last twenty-two years. ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE | Dec. 28, 2023