The Modern Age: Disillusion, Defiance and Discontent

1. The Modern Age: Disillusion, Defiance and Discontent

2. Entering the 20th Century • U.S. = nation achieving world dominance • America begins losing its youthful innocence and confidence. • Caused a period of artistic experimentation (including literature)

3. Preceding World War I • Period characterized by optimism • Technological advances • Reforms for serious social issues

4. WWI • U.S. forced to join after German submarine sank the Lusitania • Germany continued unrestricted submarine warfare • Cheerful and unconcerned attitudes soon vanished

5. Following WWI • November 1918 – WWI ends • Not a peaceful era for America after the war • Prohibition leads to bootlegging, speakeasies, law breaking and gang warfare. • Brief recession in 1920-21, then economy boomed • Cities grew • Radio, jazz, movies, fashion

6. The Great Depression • October 1929 – Stock market crashes • Mid-1932: 12 million people jobless (1/4 of work force) • Roosevelt initiates New Deal to bring America out of Depression.

7. WWII • Most Americans wanted to remain neutral • Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, forcing U.S. to enter the war • U.S. declares war on the Axis Powers (Japan, Germany and Italy) • Germany surrenders • U.S. drops atomic bomb • Peace & Atomic Age arrive

8. Literature of the Period • Devastation of WWI = decrease of optimism • Uncertainty and disillusionment – no longer trusting the ideas and values of the world • Seeking new ideas, a new direction = birth of Modernism, a new literary movement.

9. Modernism • Experimented with new approaches and techniques – DIVERSE • Common purpose: sought to capture the essence of modern life in both form AND content of their work. • Fragmentation • Abandonment of traditional forms in poetry • Implied themes = uncertainty in reader • Demands more from the reader

10. Imagism • Poetic movement • 1909 – 1917 • Rebelled against sentimentality • Clear expression and concrete images • Hilda Doolittle and Ezra Pound

11. Expatriates • Left the U.S. and became exiles (lost faith in postwar America) • Coined the term “lost generation” • Most famous: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway • Others: Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot

12. Literature Between Wars • Explored new literary territory • Influence by developments in modern psychology • Stream-of-consciousness • Wordplay in poetry

13. The Harlem Renaissance • Renaissance of African American influence • Harlem, NY • Began in 1921 • Burst of creative activity by African American writers and artists • Publicly recognized in March 1924 • Continued throughout the 1920s • More on that later…

14. Activity • You will see two photographs. Choose ONE and complete the following: • Give the picture a title. • Write down three adjectives to describe the emotion in the photograph. • Compose one paragraph, using the knowledge of this time period, from the perspective of the person in the picture. Explain who you are, what you’re experiencing, why you feel the way you do, etc.

15. #1

16. #2