The Post-Modernist Movement In The United States Of America

The Modernist and the Post-Modernist eras were two very important time periods in the history of the United States of America. These two time periods were very defining periods in the United States and were very influential on the lives of many people and the affect the ideals expressed in these two movements had on the society of the country throughout the 20th century. Some artists that were under heavy influence of the modernist movement in the United States include: the writer, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, the painter, Frank Stella, and the musician Irving Berlin. On the other side of the spectra, some artists that reflect any of the ideals expressed in the post-modernist movement include: the writer, David Salinger, the painter, Franz

Two well-known musicians of the 20th century that reflected many of their respected time period’s ideals are Irving Berlin, during the Modernist era, and Frank Sinatra as a post-modernist. Irving Berlin was born in Russia, but came to America at a young age with his family and moved to a poor neighborhood in New York and his career in music grew from there. Frank Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, NJ and died on May 14, 1998, in West Hollywood, California. Irving Berlin encompassed many of the traits of a musician influenced by the modernist ideas and beliefs, through most of his works. Modernist music was very innovative and carved a new path for music with its challenges of the conventional music and the changing of the aesthetics of music worldwide. During the course of his career, Irving Berlin published 899 songs, most of which were hits, many enduring as classic "standards." “Berlin was one of the first songwriters to write for movie musicals, creating such rhythmic numbers as the title song for Puttin' on the Ritz” (Streissguth). This kind of “leap” forward shows the innovation of the new type of path that music was going toward during the modernist era and just how Berlin expresses these themes by challenging the social norm and being the first to create music for

D. Salinger. Salinger was a postmodernist writer and was a great example on how the postmodernist movement had a serious impact of the lives of the citizens in the United States, as well as and influence on society. “Salinger's best-known work, assigned in college and high school courses across America, the short novel or novella The Catcher in the Rye (1951), reveals a fascination with youth, a critical (some say cynical) view of the outside world, and a cultivated dislike for egotism and phoniness while debating how one fits into the world at large as an individual. Its protagonist, the precocious Holden Caulfield, blasts the adult world at large for breeding "phonies." He intensely distrusts everyone except his sister, Phoebe. Familial relationships figure heavily in Salinger's work” (Werlock). In this novel, one can definitely see the influences that postmodernism had on the life of Salinger and how it influenced his works of literature. The influence that Fitzgerald had on Salinger is also very apparent as he was vastly inspired by Fitzgerald’s works and almost followed in his footsteps to try to be most like