Modernism in Literature1910-1945

Historical Context

The period from 1910 to 1945 was one of the most eventful, colorful, exhilarating, tragic, prosperous and poverty-stricken phases of the American experience

It was all these paradoxes because it was bracketed at either end by a devastating war that drastically changed people’s lives

Historical Context

The happy-go-lucky twenties brought quick wealth, rabid consumerism, and “flaming youth”

Historical Context, cont…

…until the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The Depression of the thirties brought poverty, social unrest, and despair.

The Modernist Temper

The events of these decades were so dramatic, the times so strange and complex, that they might have overwhelmed artistic imagination.

Instead, history informed an entirely new narrative, an explosion of creativity and a range of vision and voice that makes the cultural output both rich and difficult to define.

Many critics believe it is the most important era in American literature

The voices of Modernist writers grapple with such complex and ambiguous times with equally complex and uncertain narratives.

If Literary Nationalism was America’s obedient school boy, if Romanticism was it’s rebellious teenager, then Modernism was its restless, soul-searching young adult.