Unit 5-- Disillusion, Defiance, and Discontent 1914-1946

A New Century The America that entered the 20th century was a nation achieving world dominance while losing some of its youthful innocence and confidence. The new century was full of wars, a new age in literature, and many upheavals.

War In Europe World War I Allies- Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Japan, and Russia Central Powers- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey Involved trench warfare; invention of the machine gun proved deadly.

American Involvement in WWI President Wilson wished to remain neutral. 1915-German submarine sank the British ship the Lusitania (killing 1,200; 128 of them Americans) Two years later, Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, so the United States joined the Allies against them.

False Sense of Security Americans were confident and carefree as troops went overseas, the reality of war had not set in. But that mood soon passed. Famous American writers E.E. Cummings, Ernest Hemingway, and John Dos Passos saw the war firsthand and learned of its horrors.

Post WWI Attempt to join the League of Nations failed. In the big cities of America, from 1920-1933 Prohibition had made the sale of liquor illegal which led to bootlegging, speakeasies, gang wars, and widespread law-breaking. 1920- Women get right to vote, doubling the number of eligible voters.

Post WWI Economy 1920’s economy boomed. New buildings rose everywhere, creating downtown sections in many cities. Radio and jazz arrived. Movies became big and movie palaces sprang up across the country. Fads- raccoon coats, flagpole sitting, Charleston dance

Great Depression October 1929- stock market crashed; beginning of the Depression By mid-1932, 12 million people, about ¼ of the work force, were out of work. Unemployment grew, bread lines formed 1932- FDR elected The New Deal - package of major economic reforms; helped bring an end to the Depression.

WWII 1939- German invasion of Poland America once again wished to remain neutral but became involved after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th 1941. War ended in 1945 with the U.S. dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese cities.

Literature Birth of Modernism Experimented with wide variety of new approaches and techniques, producing a diverse body of literature Common purpose- to capture the essence of modern life in both the form and content of their work. Writers omitted the expositions, transitions, resolutions, and explanations used in traditional literature. Free verse was popular to poets. Themes were often implied, forcing readers to draw own conclusions, demanding more of readers.

Imagism Poetic movement from 1909-1917. Used hard, clear expression, concrete images, and language of everyday speech instead of sentimental works of 19th cent. Modeled after Greek and Roman classics, Chinese and Japanese poetry, and the free verse of French poets. Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell

Expatriates (Exiles) “Lost generation,” those disillusioned by WWI Most settled in Paris F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot. Writings often expressed the chaos and hopelessness of those years.

New Approaches Influences came from modern psychology, with the stream-of-consciousness technique (series of thoughts, memories, and insights, connected only by a character’s natural associations). James Joyce, William Faulkner, Katherine Anne Porter, John Dos Passos, E.E. Cummings, and Marianne Moore

Internationally Renowned Writers Nobel Prize for Literature: Sinclair Lewis 1930 (first winner) Main Street Eugene O’Neill 1936 playwright Pearl S. Buck 1938 The Good Earth T. S. Eliot 1948 (won as British subject) William Faulkner 1949 The Sound and the Fury Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck also won A Farewell to Arms Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath

Harlem Renaissance African American writers, mostly newcomers from the South. Began in 1921 with Countee Cullen’s “I Have a Rendezvous With Life (with apologies to Alan Seeger).” Most writers moved to Harlem during the Renaissance. Publicly recognized in 1924. Continued throughout the 20’s and into the 30’s.

Harlem Renaissance cont. Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Arna Bontemps One editor noted that black writers, long “oppressed and handicapped…have gathered stores of emotion and are ready to burst forth with a new eloquence.” Writers belonged to no single school of literature but did form a group Opened the door for African American writers who followed them.