Accordig to Hubert Zapf, American Literature is divided into the following periods:
3. Romanticism and American Renaissance
4. Realism, Naturalism, and Pre-Modernism
5. Modernism
6. From Post-Modernism to Present
Though I refer to more authors than Zapf, I like his division of American Literature for its close relationship to social developments in this country. You can click on the links or use the menue in order to get to the essays I wrote.
Since I have not finished this project (by far!), I would like to recommend the following book on English and American Literature. It provides a concise overview as well as it shows the close relationship between literature and culture – or as I prefer to put it: Literature as a part of culture:
Peter Wagner (1988): A Short History of English and American Literature. Stuttgart.
You might say: „But this is an old book!“ And I would answer: „Yes.“ 🙂
You can find it on amazon and booklooker.