An Introduction to the Moderns: 1900-1950

Agenda Welcome back! Grammar packets! Intro to Modernism Ppt. Outlook for the rest of the year. Grammar packets! Intro to Modernism Ppt. Take Notes! Calendar & Study Guide Gatsby Anticipation Guide Reading?

The “Great War” World War I (1914-1918) was one of the events that changed the American voice in fiction. The war was fought under bright banners of humanity and democratic righteousness, but became a bloodbath. In 1916, more than a half-million soldiers were killed in a single, month-long battle near the town of Verdun in northeastern France.

The Effects of the War Although America emerged from the war as a victor, something was beginning to change. The country seemed to have lost its innocence. Idealism was turning into cynicism American writers began to question the authority and tradition that had seemed to be America’s bedrock America’s sense of a connection to the past seemed to be deteriorating.

A Second Cause of Change: The Great Depression The Great Depression that followed the stock market crash in 1929 brought suffering to millions of Americans The same hard working people who had put their faith in the boundless capacity of America to provide them with jobs and their children with brighter futures.

A Third Cause of Change: The Modernist Movement American writers like their European counterparts, were being profoundly affected by the modernist movement. This movement in literature, painting, music, etc. was swept along by disillusionment with the traditions that seemed to have become spiritually empty. The modernists called for bold experimentation and a wholesale rejection of traditional themes and styles.

World War I World War I was a turning point in American Life, marking a loss of innocence and a strong disillusionment with tradition. American writers were profoundly affected by the ideas of modernism, which called for a break with traditional themes and styles.

The American Dream: Pursuit of Promise THREE CENTRAL IDEAS

1) A land of beauty, bounty and unlimited promise . . . Both the promise and the disappointment of this idea are reflected in works like The Great Gatsby. For many, great wealth and the pursuit of pleasure had become ends in themselves. For some, the belief in the promise of America has disappeared under the degradations of modern life.

2) A Land of Optimism The expectation of ever-expanding opportunity and abundance. For the most part, Americans have believed in progress-that life keeps getting better and that we are moving toward an era of prosperity, justice and joy that always seems just around the corner.

3) The ultimate triumph of the individual The independent, self-reliant person. This idea was championed by R.W. Emerson Trust the universe and trust yourself-Emerson wrote “If the single man plant himself indomitable on his instincts and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.”

The Illusory American Dream Bountiful America Faith in Progress Individual Triumph

The Jazz Age In 1919, The Constitution was amended to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcohol which was singled out as a social evil. What happened: prohibition ushered in an age characterized by the bootlegger, the speakeasy, the cocktail, the short-skirted flapper, the new rhythms of jazz, and the dangerous but lucrative profession of the gangster. In 1920 women had finally won the right to vote and women began to be more socially and intellectually active.

How literature was affected Postwar writers became skeptical of the New England Puritan tradition and the gentility that had been central to the literary ideal. In fact many of the modernist writers came from the South, the Midwest or the West (not New England) Two new intellectual trends or movements combined to increase the pressure on traditional beliefs and values Marxism (socialistic beliefs in direct opposition to the American system of capitalism and free enterprise) Psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud’s ideas about unconscious thought) For if our actions are influenced by our subconscious, there is little room left for “free will”

The New Hero Disillusionment was a major theme in the fiction of the time. Hemingway introduced a new kind of hero to American fiction—the Hemingway hero. He is a man of action a warrior, and a tough competitor; he has a code of honor, courage, and endurance. He shows “grace under pressure”. But the most important trait is that he is thoroughly disillusioned, a quality that reflected Hemingway’s own outlook. His character, though disillusioned shows faith in a belief in the self and in qualities like decency, bravery, competence, and skill. He clung to this conviction in spite of what he saw as the absolutely unbeatable odds ranged against us all. Also, he knew the importance of recognizing and snatching up the rare, good, rich movements that life (rarely) offers

“Stream of Consciousness” One literary result of this interest in the psyche was the narrative technique called stream of consciousness. This writing style abandoned chronology and attempted to imitate the moment-by-moment flow of a character’s perceptions and memories.

Characteristics of Literary Modernism Reflects the need to “break from the past” Demands “new ways of saying” Unconventional literary appearances—no punctuation, no capital letters, endless sentences, obscure phrasing. New or alternating Points of View New subject matter: race, class, sex, revolution, economics, the lives and perspectives of the disillusioned, the outcast, the dispossessed, the maverick, the minority ethnic.

Characteristics of Literary Modernism, cont. Emphasis on the Self (“ as a unified external world disappeared and private, internal reality became more important, modern literature emphasized the individual perception.) Pluralism: the existence of many distinctive groups in contemporary literature, bringing the minority experience into the forefront of literature. “A literature of many perspectives” The attempt to express the separateness of the self and the modern sense of isolation and alienation. “A diverse and truly national literature”—like the kind that Ralph Waldo Emerson called for.

The Roaring 20s Crash Course More on the 1920s The Roaring 20s Crash Course

On Gatsby and Fitzgerald Although Gatsby is an earlier modernist text, it contains numerous elements of disillusionment, doubt, self-reflection, and modern subject matters. Fitzgerald wrote it in 1925, four years before the stock market crash There are a number of elements from Gatsby that parallel Fitzgerald’s own life and experiences. (take notes!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvIXvD3AXz0