LITERATURE1920’s

Write the main idea of each slide on your notes.

Post WWI

Following WWI (the war to end all wars), talented young authors, some expatriates in France, wrote about their feelings of disillusionment and alienation. A sense of rebellion developed and the Victorian idea of decency was considered hypocritical.  Writers began to write frankly about sexuality.

Three important groups during this period were:

The Round Table

The Algonquin Round Table, also called THE ROUND TABLE, informal group of American literary men and women who met daily for lunch on weekdays at a large round table in the Algonquin Hotel in New York City during the 1920s and '30s. Many of the best-known writers, journalists, and artists in New York City were in this group. Among them   were Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott (author of the quote "All the things I really like are immoral, illegal, or fattening", Heywood Broun, Robert Benchley, Robert Sherwood, George S. Kaufman, Franklin P. Adams, Marc Connelly, Harold Ross, Harpo Marx, and Russell Crouse.

     by Dorothy Parker

Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live.

What is Parker talking about? Based on what you know about WWI, what do you think made her want to write about this?       

Harlem Ranaissance

Harlem Renaissance is considered the first important movement of black artists and writers in the US.  Centered in Harlem, NY, and other urban areas during the 1920s, black writers published more than ever before.  Influential and lasting black authors, artists, and musicians received their first serious critical appraisal.  This group included Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, and Alain Locke , who was considered the chief interpreter for the Harlem movement.

Silhouette by Langston Hughes

Southern gentle lady, Do not swoon. They've just hung a black

man In the dark of the moon.They've hung a black man To the roadside tree In the dark of the moon For the world to see How Dixie protects Its white womanhood Southern gentle lady, Be good! Be good!

It is the 1920’s, a long way from when African –American people will have equality. How do you think authors speaking frankly about lynching affected Americans?

The Lost Generation

The Lost Generation, the self-exiled expatriates who lived and wrote in Paris between the wars.  These writers, looking for freedom of thought and action, changed the face of modern writing.  Realistic and rebellious, they wrote what they wanted and fought censorship for profanity and sexuality.  They incorporated Freudian ideas into their characters and styles.  This group included Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, John Dos Passos, Henry Miller, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Gertrude Stein-quote

I am very busy finding out what people mean by what they say. Quote by Gertrude Stein, who coined the phrase, Lost Generation

e. e. cummingsOthers who were important during this decade

include e. e. cummings, who experimented with language (and punctuation!),

i carry your heart with me(i carry it inmy heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling)

Click here for an audio reading of the full poem.What is your impression of the poem?