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American Literature
American Literature: Drama, literature intended for performance,
written by Americans in the English language. American drama begins in the
American colonies in the 17th century and continues to the present.
Most American plays of the 18th and 19th centuries strongly reflected
British influence. In fact, no New York City theater season presented more
American plays than British plays until 1910. The reasons behind this
phenomenon are complex, but a common language and the ready availability of
British plays and British actors offer the most obvious explanation.
Although the British repertory dominated the American stage for so
long, American drama had begun to diverge from British drama by the time of
Andrew Jackson's presidency, from 1828 to 1836. British plays, which
typically reflected the attitudes and manners of the upper classes, were by
then in conflict with more egalitarian American values. Despite this
growing divergence, British actors, theater managers, and plays continued
to cross the Atlantic Ocean with regularity, and most American plays copied
British models until the early 20th century. For this reason some critics
claim that American drama was not born until the end of World War I (1914-
1918).
By the end of the 19th century American drama was moving steadily
toward realism, illuminating the rough or seamy side of life and creating
more believable characters. Realism remained the dominant trend of the 20th
century in both comedies and tragedies. American drama achieved
international recognition with the psychological realism of plays by Eugene
O'Neill and their searing investigation of characters' inner lives. As the
century advanced, the number of topics considered suitable for drama
broadened to encompass race, gender, sexuality, and death.
Beginnings: 1600s AND 1700s
Because settlement was sparse and living conditions were arduous in
the American colonies, little theatrical activity took place before the mid-
18th century. The first-known English-language play from the colonies, Ye
Bare and Ye Cubb (1665), is lost. The play's existence is known as a result
of the controversy it aroused in the Virginia Colony, where a lawsuit was
filed to prevent the play from opening. Several colonies had passed
antitheater laws based on a Puritan belief that the seventh of the Ten
Commandments prohibited dancing and stage plays.
The oldest surviving American play is Androborus by Robert Hunter
(1714). Hunter, the New York Colony's governor, published the cartoonish
play as an attack on his political enemies, despite New York's antitheater
law. Intended for a reading public rather than a viewing audience, it
established a tradition of political satire that became common fare in
American drama of the 1700s.
Before more American p |