American Literature – Core Vocabulary Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering major movements, theories, authors, and terms from the American Literature study guide to aid exam preparation.

Liberal Democracy (in literature)

A political and cultural context emphasizing individual rights and moral questions, often reflected symbolically in American fiction.

Romance (Hawthorne’s sense)

A prose narrative using symbolism and moral exploration rather than strict realism, e.g., The Scarlet Letter.

Transcendentalism

A 19th-century American Romantic movement stressing self-reliance, intuition, and the spiritual unity of nature and humankind (Emerson, Thoreau).

Self-Reliance

Emerson’s idea that individuals should trust their inner voice over social conformity.

Modernism

Early-20th-century artistic movement breaking with tradition through fragmentation, irony, and subjective reality.

Avant-Garde

Radical, experimental art that challenges accepted norms; the “advance guard” of Modernism.

Expressionism

Modernist style distorting external reality to convey inner emotions.

Dadaism

Anti-art Modernist movement using nonsense and absurdity to protest war and convention.

Surrealism

Modernist art aiming to merge dream and reality through unexpected imagery.

Symbolism (literary)

Use of concrete images to represent abstract ideas, common in Modernist poetry.

Fragmentation

Modernist technique presenting broken timelines, plots, or perspectives to mirror chaos.

Stream of Consciousness

Narrative method reproducing a character’s continuous flow of thoughts (e.g., Faulkner, Woolf).

Iceberg Theory

Hemingway’s principle that surface simplicity hides deeper meaning readers must infer.

Lost Generation

Post-WWI writers disillusioned with traditional values, often expatriates (Hemingway, Stein).

Gestalt Psychology

Theory that the whole is greater than the sum of parts; influenced Faulkner’s narrative structure.

Realism

Literary movement portraying everyday life accurately, without idealization.

Naturalism

Gritty offshoot of Realism showing humans shaped by heredity, environment, and social forces.

Social Darwinism

Misapplication of “survival of the fittest” to societies, influencing Naturalist themes.

Existentialism

Philosophy emphasizing individual freedom, alienation, and the search for meaning after the “death of God.”

High Modernism

Branch of Modernism seeking order and universal meaning through complex form (e.g., T. S. Eliot).

Radical Modernism

Experimental branch focusing on the present moment and plain surfaces without hidden depth (Williams, Stein).

Imagism

Pound-led poetic movement valuing clear, precise images and concise language.

Vorticism

Pound’s fusion of Imagism with visual-art energy, capturing modern motion and force.

Concrete Poem / Calligram

Verse in which word arrangement creates a visual shape contributing to meaning.

Confessional Poetry

Post-WWII style revealing intimate, taboo personal experiences (Plath, Lowell).

New York School

1950s–60s poets mixing painting aesthetics with conversational, urbane verse (Frank O’Hara).

Beat Generation

1950s writers rejecting materialism through free-form, street-language poetry (Ginsberg’s Howl).

Harlem Renaissance

1920s cultural flowering celebrating Black art, music, and literature in Harlem.

New Negro Movement

Early-20th-century push for Black self-expression and racial pride; synonymous with Harlem Renaissance.

Double Consciousness

Du Bois’s term for the dual identity of being Black and American simultaneously.

Africanism (Toni Morrison’s sense)

The pervasive presence of Blackness structuring white American literature and thought.

Black Arts Movement (BAM)

1960s–70s militant Black aesthetic promoting art by and for African Americans (Amiri Baraka).

Poly-Consciousness

Toni Morrison’s idea of multiple overlapping identities beyond simple duality.

Magic Realism

Narrative blending realistic detail with supernatural elements (Song of Solomon).

Trickster

Shape-shifting Native figure who uses humor and deception to teach or disrupt.

Homing Desire

Literary longing for a spiritual or cultural home rather than a physical place.

Diaspora

Community living outside its ancestral homeland, often retaining cultural ties.

In-Betweenness

Feeling of existing between cultures or identities, common in immigrant literature.

Hybridity

Creation of a mixed cultural identity from blending two or more traditions (Bhabha).

Mimicry

Colonial subject’s partial imitation of the colonizer’s culture, both copying and subverting it.

Borderline Literature

Writing that embodies cultural border experiences, notably U.S.–Mexico frontier works.

Plantation Myth

Idealized narrative of benevolent slaveholders and loyal slaves, perpetuating racist nostalgia.

Southern Gothic

Genre exposing the South’s decay, eccentricity, and moral darkness through grotesque characters.

Southern Belle

Stereotype of genteel, submissive white Southern womanhood, often deconstructed in literature.

Rough South

Late-20th-century writing depicting working-class Southern hardship and violence.

Regionalism

Fiction emphasizing specific locales, dialects, and customs (American South, Midwest, etc.).

Little Theatre Movement

Early-1900s non-commercial U.S. theaters fostering experimental drama (Provincetown Players).

Roman-à-Clef

Novel portraying real people/events under fictional names; requires a “key” to decode.

Metafiction

Fiction that self-consciously highlights its own storytelling process (Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse).

Metalepsis

Narrative device where boundaries between story levels blur, mixing narrator and character roles.

Pastiche

Postmodern technique combining multiple styles or genres without clear hierarchy.

Simulacrum

Copy with no original reference, creating a hyperreal surface (e.g., Gatsby’s persona).

Bildungsroman

Novel tracing a protagonist’s growth from youth to maturity.

Künstlerroman

Subtype of Bildungsroman focusing on an artist’s development (e.g., Portrait of the Artist).

Initiation Story

Short narrative about a character’s formative rite of passage.

Vignette

Brief, impressionistic scene or sketch that builds a larger mosaic (House on Mango Street).

Gestalt (literary)

Concept that narrative meaning arises from total structure, not isolated parts.

Fabula

Chronological sequence of events in a story’s raw form.

Sujet

The artistic arrangement or telling of those events within the text.

Iceberg Principle (re-entry)

Reiteration: storytelling method where meaning lies beneath sparse surface detail.

Expressionistic Drama

Stage style presenting subjective emotions through stylized sets and dialogue (O’Neill).

Absurdism (theatre)

Post-war drama portraying human existence as illogical and purposeless (Beckett, influence on U.S. Off-Broadway).

American Dream (literary theme)

Belief that hard work yields success; deconstructed in Death of a Salesman.

Power Dynamics (Oleanna)

Examination of authority relations—gender, class, institutional—in Mamet’s play.

Ethics vs. Morality

Ethics: practiced behavior toward others; Morality: abstract principles of right and wrong.

Bad Faith

Sartre’s term for denying one’s freedom by hiding behind roles or excuses.

Alienation

Modernist and existential feeling of isolation from society, self, or meaning.

Iceberg Symbol (Faulkner)

Not literal; indicates submerged family secrets and social decay in Southern Gothic.

Gestural Language (Williams)

Use of stage directions, props, and light to reveal characters’ inner states (Streetcar).

Epiphany (modernist)

Sudden moment of insight or revelation experienced by a character.

Imagery

Descriptive language appealing to the senses; core of Imagism.

Concrete Detail

Specific, tangible element grounding abstract ideas in realistic description.

Ambiguity

Intentional multiple meanings, leaving interpretation open to readers.

Open Form Poetry

Verse lacking fixed meter or rhyme, favoring organic shape and free rhythm.

Collage (poetic)

Juxtaposition of disparate textual fragments, typical in post-1945 experimental poetry.

Trickster Discourse

Narrative mode using humor and subversion to challenge dominant stories (Vizenor).

Magical Flight (Morrison)

Recurring motif symbolizing liberation and ancestral connection in Song of Solomon.

Gestural Minimalism (Mamet-speak)

Sparse, rapid dialogue capturing everyday speech rhythms and power plays.

Social Protest Literature

Writing that exposes injustice to inspire change (Wright, Sinclair).

Alienated Cityscape

Modernist depiction of urban environments as isolating and chaotic.