Modern American Literature 1900 1950 Major Events The

Modern American Literature 1900 -1950

Major Events ► The following events helped to shape American literature in the early 20 th century § 1914 -1918 World War I § 1917 Russian revolution and the rise of Marxism § 1929 -1941 The Great Depression § 1939 -1945 The rise of Hitler and the arrival of World War II § Early 20 th Century – Sigmund Freud’s advent of psychoanalysis

Prevalent Conflicts ► Religion vs. Science ► Traditionalism vs. Exploration of novel concepts ► American idealism vs. the harsh reality of living for many Americans ► Optimism vs. Pessimism ► Intuition vs. Social Norms

Modern Literature’s Attributes ► Writers give ample attention to the internal world of the protagonists, reaching beyond the physical world and exploring the psychological one. § Plot, then, is sometimes “set aside. ” The steady beat of a standard chronological story can instead merge into one of stream of consciousness. ► The end result? Modern novels sometimes contain very little action, and the pace can feel “slow” ► “Single moments” can be spread out over pages and years can swing by in a sentence. Modern novels can, at times, be difficult to follow!

Disappearance of the Traditional Hero ► One end result of our democracy – one did not need to be ‘noble’ to be heroic ► Many protagonists are everyday figures, with no significant character qualities beyond what we would find in our friends/family. ► We are often ‘invited’ by the author, to see ourselves in that person, rather than to look at the protagonist as somehow better than us. § Readers, then, are often prompted to define or reevaluate the question: ‘what makes us human? ’