Age of Anxiety in the West The Time Between Two Wars:

Philosophy and Science Friedrich Nietzsche Rejection of Common Morality “God is Dead.”--If Human existence is meaningless then how should we live our lives? Existentialists: “Man is Condemned to be Free”-- J.P. Sartre Albert Einstein--New theory of Special Relativism Potential energy in universe around us.

Psychology Shell shock shows new vulnerable mentality of modern mind. Freud’s theories, (known as psycho-analysis) which used dream theory and the unconscious mind to define human behavior, became popular during this era. Freud stresses irrationality of human mind. Freud and followers’ theories become accepted and undermine the traditional optimism of human nature and mind.

World Depression Massive global economic recession (or "depression") that ran from 1929 to approximately Numerous bank failures, high unemployment, as well as dramatic drops in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), industrial production, stock market share prices. The Wall Street crash of 1929 is widely considered to be the foremost event which marked the start of the world-wide financial crisis. In fact, in the United States unemployment soared from approximately 3% to over 25%.

Art: Expressionists, Cubism, and Surrealism Paul Gauguin ( ) Expressionism Pablo Picasso ( ) Cubism Salavdor Dali ( ) Surrealism

Paul Gauguin Haystacks in Brittany, 1890 Originating in Germany, Expressionism encompasses all art in which the artist is free to move beyond the limitations of objective subject matter and to concentrate on the feeling and impact derived from the artist’s inspiration. Expressionist sought to reveal inner, spiritual and emotional foundations of human existence, rather than the external, surface appearances depicted by the Impressionists.

Man in a Café, Picasso The key concept of Cubism is that the essence of objects can only be captured by showing it from multiple points of view simultaneously.

Guernica, Picasso, 1937

Surrealism Surrealism : movement in visual art and literature, flourishing in Europe between World Wars I and II. Surrealism grew principally out of the earlier Dada movement, which before World War I produced works of anti-art that deliberately defied reason; but Surrealism's emphasis was not on negation but on positive expression

Literature Modern novel Stream of consciousness V. Woolf, Faulkner, J. Joyce Modern hopelessness T. S. Eliot Post WWI Poetry We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar Shape without form, shade without color, Paralyzed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men.