The Lost Generation Defined by Defined by the
The Lost Generation
Defined by: Defined by the generation of young people who came of age during and shortly after World War I, also known as the WWI generation the feeling of disillusionment of American writers living in Europe (especially Paris) during WWI to WWII
“That is what you are. That's what you all are. . . All of young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation. ” — Gertrude Stein -In A Moveable Feast, Hemingway reveals that the phrase was actually originated by the garage owner who serviced Stein's car. When a young mechanic failed to repair the car in a way satisfactory to Stein, the owner shouted at her (in French): "You are all a generation perdu!” -Stein, in telling Hemingway the story, solidified the phrase in the quote above. This generation included distinguished artists such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, John Dos Passos, Waldo Peirce, Alan Seeger, and Erich Maria Remarque.
Modernism: All of the writers/artists among the “lost - Use of deceptive appearances to hide generation” have also become synonymous with difficult truths “Modernism” - Departure from frilly, ornamental Refers to the radical shift in aesthetic and cultural language to a more direct style sensibilities evident in the art and literature of the post-World War One period. Intellectuals and artists believed the previous generation’s way of doing things was culturally bankrupt, so one of the key characteristics of Modernist works was to completely break with tradition. Long-held conventions would be replaced by elements such as: Imagist: A contingent of modernist poets (Ezra Pound, TS Elliott, ee cummings) known for: -minimalist language -a lessening of structural rules -a direct, cold, almost mechanized - the “unreliable” narrator writing style - stream-of-consciousness -poems often short, unrhymed - the disruption of narrative coherence/plot -line between poetry and prose sequencing was often blurred - a preoccupation with the inner self -no more preoccupations with - alteration of what constitutes truth/reality beauty and nature; subject matter
F. Scott Fitzgerald Born September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Published This Side of Paradise on March 26, 1920, at 24 and became affluent almost overnight. A week later he married Zelda Sayre in New York. Coined the term the Jazz Age “It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire, ” In 1924 -1926, Paris: Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway, then unknown outside the expatriate literary circle. Novels This Side of Paradise (1920) The Beautiful and Damned (1922) The Great Gatsby (1925) Tender Is the Night (1934) Short Story Flappers and Philosophers (A Collectio 1920) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1921) Tales of the Jazz Age (A Collection, 19 All the Sad Young Men (A Collection, 1926)
-As a social historian, Fitzgerald became identified with the Jazz Age, a term he coined in “Echoes of the Jazz Age. ” -Literary critics were reluctant to recognize Fitzgerald as a serious craftsman. His reputation as a drinker inspired the myth that he was an irresponsible writer; yet he was a painstaking reviser whose fiction went through layers of drafts. -Fitzgerald’s clear, lyrical, colorful, witty style evoked the emotions associated with time and place. When critics objected to Fitzgerald’s concern with love and success, his response was: “But, my God! it was my material, and it was all I had to deal with. ” -The chief theme of Fitzgerald’s work is aspiration - the
Ernest Hemingway • born on July 21, 1899 in Illinois. • Hemingway first went to Paris in WWI as an ambulance driver at age 18 • November 1921, Hemingway went to Paris as a reporter where the whole of literature was being changed by the likes of Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Ford Maddox Ford. • distinctive writing style had an enormous influence on 20 th-century fiction. As a Modernist, he denounced ornamental ( (1926) The Sun Also Rises language and was known for his sparse, (1929) A Farewell to Arms blunt, utterly straight-forward writing style. (1936) The Snows of Kilamanjaro (1940) For Whom the Bell Tolls He uses this ironically, however, as his ( (1952) The Old Man and the Sea characters often have hidden agendas. • 1954 won the Nobel Prize in Literature,
Stream of Consciousness Writers… Gertrude Stein In 1903, Stein moved to Paris with her brother Leo and her partner Alice B. Toklas and stayed for 30 years 27 rue de Fleurus, soon became gathering spot for many young artists and writers including Henri Matisse, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso, Max Jacob, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Was a passionate advocate for the "new" in art, her literary friendships grew to include writers as diverse as William Carlos Williams, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway. Along with Joyce, known for her use of “stream-of-consciousness” writing technique. By 1913, Stein's support of cubist painters
IMPACT As American customs became more defined, European and other countries recognized America as a distinctive culture and nation. Beyond this, the works of the Lost Generation give insight into the American life during the 1920 s. They unmask the general depression behind the forced exuberance of the Jazz Age.
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