MODERNISM 1914-1946

HISTORICAL CONTEXT WWI Roaring Twenties The Great Depression WWII modern weapons = loss of humane values & optimism Roaring Twenties economic boom & new technology and products Prohibition & rise of organized crime Gave way to self-indulgence The Great Depression economic recession WWII Ushered in the atomic age

LITERARY STYLES Experimented with new approaches & techniques - this produced a more diverse body of literature Form became fragmented Formal boundaries broken Themes became implied rather than directly stated Tone became more ironic Imagery more symbolic

WHO WERE THE MODERNISTS? T.S. Eliot Ernest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald E.E. Cummings Expatriates: writers who settled in Europe (mainly Paris) because of post-war disenchantment/ disillusionment – “The Lost Generation”

WHO WERE THE MODERNISTS? William Faulkner John Steinbeck Robert Frost Sinclair Lewis Eudora Welty Writers who described the more rural life

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE A time of artistic/ musical/ literary creativity for African Americans, centered in the Harlem district of NYC Produced great works of literature, the new musical forms of jazz and the blues, and opened the door for later African American Writers

Hemingway Wrote about people trying to maintain dignity in a hostile world Could not fight in the war (WW1) due to an eye defect, so he joined the Red Cross Ambulance corps & was sent to the Italian front Severely wounded in Italy Struggled to readjust to life in the U.S. after war Writing style was concise & concrete