Welcome to My Site of American Literature

Delarivier Manley – Restoration Period Satirist and Political Novelist Early Life and Personal Struggles Delarivier Manley was born around 1670 into a tumultuous England. Her father, Sir Roger Manley, was a royalist army officer and writer. He provided his daughter with education and access to books, a rare privilege for girls. However, tragedy struck early. Her mother died while Delarivier was still young, and soon after, her father passed away too. Orphaned, she and her sister fell under the guardianship of a relative. According to Delarivier herself, this guardian seduced…

Early Life and Academic Brilliance David Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962. He grew up in Illinois. His father taught philosophy. His mother taught English. Their household encouraged debate, precision, and thought. Wallace excelled at school. He read Dostoevsky, Kafka, and math theory. He struggled with depression early on. But he masked it with brilliance. At Amherst College, he studied English and philosophy. He graduated with top honors. His senior thesis in logic later became a published book. He also wrote a creative thesis. That work…

Early Life and Formative Influences Paul Auster was born on February 3, 1947, in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family. From childhood, he read Kafka, Melville, and French existentialists. His father, a cold man, shaped his view of disconnection. His mother, emotional yet detached, taught distance. These themes echoed through Auster’s later fiction. He studied at Columbia University. He majored in English and comparative literature. He lived in Paris after graduation. There, he translated French poets and absorbed European modernism. He learned precision, ambiguity, and…

Early Life and New York Roots Kathy Acker was born on April 18, 1947, in New York City. Her childhood was unstable. Her father abandoned the family before birth. Her mother committed suicide when Acker was in her early twenties. Acker sought expression early. She read Rimbaud, Genet, and Burroughs. She studied classics, philosophy, and language. She absorbed New York’s underground energy. Later, she earned a degree from Brandeis University. But her education happened mostly in nightclubs, libraries, and performance spaces. From the beginning, she refused conformity. She rejected domestic…

Early Life and Cultural Roots Ishmael Reed was born on February 22, 1938, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He grew up in a working-class African American family. He absorbed jazz, African folklore, and political discussion. He also witnessed racial segregation daily. Later, his family moved to Buffalo, New York. That change exposed him to city life, activism, and black literary movements. He studied at the University at Buffalo and later at the University of California, Berkeley. From the start, Reed questioned dominant narratives. He embraced multicultural voices. He refused to silence Black…

Early Life, Academic Roots, and Intellectual Curiosity Robert Coover was born on February 4, 1932, in Charles City, Iowa. Raised in a middle-class family, he showed early interest in language, storytelling, and irony. His educational path shaped his future as a boundary-breaking novelist. He attended Southern Illinois University and then went on to Indiana University. Later, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. During his studies, Coover explored classic literature, modernist fiction, and media theory. These interests shaped his experimental vision. Coover didn’t pursue immediate fame. Instead,…