Fitzgerald and Hemingway: The Lost Generation of American Writers and what They Lost

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Following World War I, American society enjoyed high levels of prosperity during the "roaring" 1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition made bootleggers rich and led to an increase in organized crime. During the 1920s a group of American writers were able to be recognized as the lost generation. The term "Lost Generation" was originally coined in a conversation by Gertrude Stein, a member of the expatriate circle in 1920's Paris. These men went off to fight in World War One, and returned home to find that things have changed. World War I seemed to have destroyed the idea that if you acted virtuously, good things would happen. Many good, young men went to war and died, or returned home either physically or mentally wounded. These writers were so discontent with the changes that many of them left America and went to Paris, France. In Paris, the Lost Generation writers expected to find freedom in literary and a multi-ethnic way of life. Due to the fact that France was the hotspot for such an environment, the Lost Generation writers went there. For a brief per...

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