introduction to american modernism

8/6/2019 Introduction to American Modernism

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" T H E G R E A T E S T S I N G L E F A C T A B O U T O U R M O D E R N A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G I S O U R W R I T E R S ' A B S O R P T I O N I N E V E R Y L A S T

D E T A I L O F T H E I R A M E R I C A N W O R L DT O G E T H E R W I T H T H E I R D E E P A N D S U B T L E

A L I E N A T IO N F R O M I T . " - A L F R E D K A Z I N

American Literary Modernism


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Literary Modernism: 1915-1945

- high degree of experimentation

- characters most often alienated people searchingunsuccessfully for meaning and love in their lives

- themes pulled from real life


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A B R I E F O V E R V I E W O F T H E I N T E L L E C T U A L

C U R R E N T S W H I C H I N F L U E N C E D M O D E R N I S M

Philosophy and Theory:


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Darwinism

y Charles Darwin

y Evolution

y Displacement of the human position of privilege

y Collapsing of boundaries between human and animal


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Existentialist Philosophy

y Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

y Economic and psychological determinism

y No divine patterns

y Search for meaning

y War and spiritual trauma


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Freudian Theory

y Sigmund Freud

y Psychoanalysis

y Psychological determinism

y Forces inside the self impact human behavior

y Sexuality and repression


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Marxism

y Karl Marx

y Economic determinism

y Forces outside the self impact human behavior

y Class struggle

y Relationship between labor and capitol


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Major Influences


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Major Influences

y WWI 32 countries and claimed the lives of over 20million people

new weapons b/c of technology

Signals an end to idealism and ushered in an era marked by hedonism*,political corruption, and ruthless business practices

y The Jazz Age / Roaring Twenties

the greatest, gaudiest spree in history (FSF)

Young people rebelling against past + tradition Experimentation with fashion


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Major Influences

y Prohibition (1920-1933) Alcohol was made illegal

Bootleggers= sold alcohol anyway

Speakeasies= where alcohol was served despite prohibition

y New Era for Women The right to vote (19th am.) Flapper= an emancipated young woman who embraced new fashions

and urban attitudes of the day

More women working


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Major Influences

y The Great Depression StockMarket crashed in 1929

Banks failed, businesses floundered, workers lost job; 25% unemployed

Farmers ruined and went West to find work. Tough times. Not many jobsand too many people.

y The New Deal (FDR) New Deal programs: relief for the hungry and homeless, recovery for

agriculture and business, and various economic reforms to prevent such a

severe depression from occurring again.


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Themes of Modern Literature

y Collectivism versus individualism

y Anxiety regarding the past

y Historical discontinuity

y Disillusionment with the American Dreamy Violence and alienation

y Decadence and decay

y Loss and despair

y Breakdown of social norms and cultural sureties

y Race and gender relations

y Sense of place, local color


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M A J O R A U T H O R S

American Literary Modernism:


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Djuna Barnes

Began her writing career

as a reporter

Poet and novelist

Expatriate writer

Major work:

Nightwood(1936)


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John Dos Passos

Critique of materialism

in early works

Literature includesfragments of pop songs,news headlines, stream-of-consciousnessmonologues, naturalistic

fragments from th

e livesof a horde of unrelatedcharacters

Major works:Manhattan Transfer(1925), U.S.A. (1938)


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T.S. Eliot

The most dominant

literary figure betweenthe two world wars.

Influential poet andliterary critic.

Conceives of the poem asan object demanding afusion and concentrationof intellect, feeling, andexperience.

Major Works: Prufrockand Other Observations(1917), The Waste Land

(1922)


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William Faulkner

Southern American

writer

Many works center onthe mythicalYoknapatawpha county

Experimental techniquesinclude stream-of-consciousness anddislocation of narrativetime

Focus on issues of sex,class, race relations

The Soundand the Fury(1929),As I Lay Dying(1930),Absalom,Absalom! (1936)


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Ernest Hemingway

Iceberg Theory of

literature (one-eighthabove water)

Spare, tight journalisticprose style

Objective, detachedpoint of view

Examination ofmasculinity, gender

Major works: The SunAlso Rises (1926),AFarewellto Arms

(1929),For Whom theBellTolls(1940)


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Gertrude Stein

Expatriate Author

Coined the term LostGeneration

Patron of authors andartists as well as artisticinnovator

Rose is a rose is a roseis a rose.

Major works: ThreeLives (1909), TheMaking ofAmericans(1925)


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F. Scott Fitzgerald

Focus on Jazz Age and

Great Depression

Examination ofAmerican materialism

Exploration of theAmerican dream

Major works: The GreatGatsby (1925), Tender isthe Night(1934)


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Born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota Named for ancestor Frances Scott Key Daydreamer and poor student

Wrote plays and sh

ort stories inh

is teens Went to Princeton University in 1913 Wrote for the Nassau Literary Magazine Entered World War One in 1917 Wrote The Romantic Egotist in military camp

While stationed in Camp Sheridan in Alabama he fell inlove with Zelda Sayre from Montgomery, Alabama

He courted her , but she turned down his marriageproposal because ofhis lack of money

About F. Scott Fitzgerald


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Rewrote his first novel and renamed it This Side ofParadiseand it was published in 1920

Zelda married him after the novel was published, and theylived the life of glitz and glamour in New York and Paris

Later they moved to St. Paul where their daughter Scottiewas bornIn 1925 Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby (a nearlyflawless novel according to critics)

Fitzgerald was known for his accurate description of theJazz Age.

His works reflect the key events ofhis own life.In 1930 Zelda suffered a mental breakdownIn 1940 he died while writing The Last Tycoon

About F. Scott Fitzgerald


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In F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel The Great Gatsby , the maincharacter, Jay Gatz is a self-made man from the sales of

bootlegged whiskey. It begs the question: What happened tothe American Dream?

The main characters of the novel Jay Gatz and DaisyBuchannan are based on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife inreal life, Zelda.Daisy the main characterfrom The Great Gatsby,exemplifies the traits of aflapper woman from theroaring twenties Jazz Age.

The Great Gatsby


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Represents Failure of the American Dream

y Failures Poverty

Discrimination

Exploitation

Hypocrisy Corruption

Suppression

y Developed through the 5 central characters

dominant images and symbols diction, tone, mood

setting

plot and conflict

introduction to american modernism

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