World War Consequences in The Sun Also Rises
The Modern Literary Period, which began in the 1900s and ended through the 1950s, was greatly influenced by the First World War and The Great Depression that followed it. These events influenced writers’ outlook on things, it filled them with feelings of disillusionment and emptiness which are ultimately reflected on their works. Modern Literature often uses elements that represent the problems of their society during those troubling times.
In Modern Literature, authors tried to steer away from traditional ideas and styles, and mainly tried to focus on bold and experimental styles of writing. Literature in this period had a sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American Dream. Literature now expressed more interest in the workings of the human mind. During the Postwar Period, writers developed two new writing trends, Marxism and psychoanalysis. Through psychoanalysis, writers also developed a new style of writing called stream of consciousness. This style’s purpose is to “abandon chronology and attempted to imitate the moment-by-moment flow of a character’s perceptions and memories” (ed. Thomas F. Hisrch, 2000, 530)
Because of the war, many old ideas of an “Edenic Land”, optimism for the future and faith in being an individual weren’t as relevant and used as they were before. Post War Writers were more skeptical than they had been before and drifted from New England which had been the center of American literary life. Disillusionment was a major theme seen in many of the novels written in this time.
During the 1920s, a group called Writers of the Lost Generation started getting abundant attention. The term, “the Lost Generation”, was created by Gertrude Stein who used ...
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...ism. ed. Carolyn Riley, Vol. 3 Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1975. 231-243.
“Ernest Hemingway.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. ed. Carolyn Riley, Vol. 8 Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1975. 282-293.
Gerogiannis, Nicholas. “Ernest Hemingway.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Writers in Paris 1920-1939. ed. Karen Lane Wood, Vol. 4 Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1980. 187-211.
“Ernest Hemingway.” Magill’s Survey of American Literature: Third Printing. ed. Frank Magill, Vol.3 New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1991. 897-904.
Thomas F. Hirsch, ed. “The Moderns: 1900-1950.” Elements of Literature Fifth Course: Literature of the United States. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2000. 523-536, 650-651.
“The Lost Generation: American Writers of the 1920s.” Montgomery College, March 27, 2010. http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/hpolscrv/jbolhofer.html
2.Flora, Joseph M. Ernest Hemingway: A Study of the Short Fiction. G.K. Hall & Co., 1989.
One observation that can be made on Hemingway’s narrative technique as shown in his short stories is his clipped, spare style, which aims to produce a sense of objectivity through highly selected details. Hemingway refuses to romanticize his characters. Being “tough” people, such as boxers, bullfighters, gangsters, and soldiers, they are depicted as leading a life more or less without thought. The world is full of s...
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print.
Meter, M. An Analysis of the Writing Style of Ernest Hemingway. Texas: Texas College of Arts and Industries, 2003.
In The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume II. Edited by Paul Lauter et al. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1991: 1208-1209. Hemingway, Ernest. A.
Throughout the 20th century there were many influential pieces of literature that would not only tell a story or teach a lesson, but also let the reader into the author’s world. Allowing the reader to view both the positives and negatives in an author. Ernest Hemingway was one of these influential authors. Suffering through most of his life due to a disturbingly scarring childhood, he expresses his intense mental and emotional insecurities through subtle metaphors that bluntly show problems with commitment to women and proving his masculinity to others.
Magill, Frank. Survey of American Literature. Vol. 6 Ste-Z 1885-2224. Marshall Cavendish Co. New York. Copyright 1991. Edited by Frank Magill.
When a writer picks up their pen and paper, begins one of the most personal and cathartic experiences in their lives, and forms this creation, this seemingly incoherent sets of words and phrases that, read without any critical thinking, any form of analysis or reflexion, can be easily misconstrued as worthless or empty. When one reads an author’s work, in any shape or form, what floats off of the ink of the paper and implants itself in our minds is the author’s personality, their style. Reading any of the greats, many would be able to spot the minute details that separates each author from another; whether it be their use of dialogue, their complex descriptions, their syntax, or their tone. When reading an excerpt of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast one could easily dissect the work, pick apart each significant moment from Hemingway’s life and analyze it in order to form their own idea of the author’s voice, of his identity. Ernest Hemingway’s writing immediately comes across as rather familiar in one sense. His vocabulary is not all that complicated, his layout is rather straightforward, and it is presented in a simplistic form. While he may meander into seemingly unnecessary detail, his work can be easily read. It is when one looks deeper into the work, examines the techniques Hemingway uses to create this comfortable aura surrounding his body of work, that one begins to lift much more complex thoughts and ideas. Hemingway’s tone is stark, unsympathetic, his details are precise and explored in depth, and he organizes his thoughts with clarity and focus. All of this is presented in A Moveable Feast with expertise every writer dreams to achieve. While Hemingway’s style may seem simplistic on the surface, what lies below is a layered...
" The Hemingway Review. 15.1 (Fall 1995): p. 27. Literature Resource Center -.
One attribute of Modernist writing is Experimentation. This called for using new techniques and disregarding the old. Previous writing was often even considered "stereotyped and inadequate" (Holcombe and Torres). Modern writers thrived on originality and honesty to themselves and their tenets. They wrote of things that had never been advanced before and their subjects were far from those of the past eras. It could be observed that the Modernist writing completely contradicted its predecessors. The past was rejected with vigor and...
Perkins, George, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia of American Literature. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. Print.
Works Cited “American Literature 1865-1914.” Baym 1271. Baym, Nina et al. Ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
In the 1950s, authors tended to follow common themes, these themes were summed up in an art called postmodernism. Postmodernism took place after the Cold War, themes changed drastically, and boundaries were broken down. Postmodern authors defined themselves by “avoiding traditional closure of themes or situations” (Postmodernism). Postmodernism tends to play with the mind, and give a new meaning to things, “Postmodern art often makes it a point of demonstrating in an obvious way the instability of meaning (Clayton)”. What makes postmodernism most unique is its unpredictable nature and “think o...
An article published in 1913 titled, “Chronicle and Comment” from The Bookman highlights some of the negative criticism that Ernest Hemingway received. In this article, criticism is given towards Hemingway’s work based on support of another review titled, “What is Dirt?” by Robert Herrick. Here, the authors feel that Hemingway’s work is merely a picture of contemporary life rather than a contribution to literature. When looking at the love story between Catherine and Frederick, the article cheapens the love story by claiming that it is “the story of a Scotch nurse made irresponsible by heartbreak and an American...
History, current events, and social events have really influenced American Literature. Authors have been influenced by the world around them and that has reflected in their works. This can be seen throughout the many eras studied in this class. It can also be seen in all types of literature such as playwrights, fiction, non-fiction, and poems. It can also be seen in all of the different writing styles such as, realism, modernism, and post modernism. It is important that American Literature has been influenced this way because Authors have shown us their personal views and insight to situations one would not get out of a history textbook.