Modernism in American Literature

MODERNISM: historical background

American Modernism is dated between 1914-1945, between the first and second World Wars.

US joined the war in 1917.

John Dos Passos, Three Soldiers

“…civilization was a vast edifice of sham, and the war, instead of its crumbling, was its fullest and most ultimate expression."

The post-war economic policies ushered in an era of progress. Urbanization reached a pinnacle.

Other Historical events

- 18th and 19th Amendment, 1920- Harlem Renaissance, 1920s-1930s- The Great Depression of the 1930s

Influence of Historical Events to American

Literature The rise of the “lost generation”. World War

I and its aftermath undermined the following:

• the secure, supportive family life• the familiar, settled community• the natural and eternal rhythms of nature

that guide the planting and harvesting on a farm

• the sustaining sense of patriotism• moral values inculcated by religious beliefs

and observations

The Lost Generation

Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Their works evoke the extravagance and disillusionment of their generation. Other writers include T.S. Elliot and Ezra Pound.

Characteristics of Modernist Literature

• Modernism is marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views.

• Does not subscribe to absolute truth. All things are relative.

• Feels no connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair.

• Champions the individual and celebrates inner strength.

• Believes that life is unordered.• Believes that the world is created in the act of

perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.

Robert Frost

Robert Frost• March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963• Born in San Francisco, California• Went to Dartmouth College for two months

and Harvard University for two years. He never finished school.

• Was an English teacher at Pinkerton Academy from 1905 to 1911.

• Sailed with his family to England in 1912. He made important acquaintances with literary figures there.

• Frost returned to America in WWI and settled in his farm in New Hampshire.

Robert Frost• For forty-two years, he taught at Bread

Loaf School of English in Middlebury College. The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference gained renown while Frost was there.

• He also taught at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

• Although he never graduated college, Frost received over 40 honorary degrees including Princeton, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and Dartmouth.

The Road Not TakenTwo roads diverged in a yellow

wood,And sorry I could not travel

bothAnd be one traveler, long I

stoodAnd looked down one as far as

I couldTo where it bent in the

undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted

Wear,hough as for that the passing

thereHad worn them really about

the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the

difference. 

Acquainted with the Night

I have been one acquainted with the

night.I have walked out in rain -- and

back inrain.I have outwalked the furthest

city light.

I have looked down the saddest city

lane.I have passed by the watchman

on hisbeatAnd dropped my eyes, unwilling

toexplain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound

of feetWhen far away an interrupted

cryCame over houses from another

street,

But not to call me back or say goodbye;

And further still at an unearthly height,

A luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong

nor right.I have been one acquainted

with thenight. 

Fire and IceSome say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice.From what I've tasted of desireI hold with those who favor fire.But if it had to perish twice,I think I know enough of hateTo say that for destruction iceIs also greatAnd would suffice.