Annotated Bibliography: American Literary Modernism

European Modernism and American Modernism, while sharing broadly similar characteristics, engage in different projects. In Europe, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound found potential solutions in Conservatism (involving Eliot’s concern with tradition) and new modes of organic social organization (represented by Pound’s acceptance of Fascism). The Dadaists and Italian Futurists adopted a subversive and negative eye towards the present in desire for the future. Abstract artists and atonal composers were examining ways to represent a search for truth in a way that overcame the bourgeois art and music of the past. In America, life was dominated by an explosion of wealth and prosperity in the wake of World War I. In some instances, soldiers and citizens became expatriates. Hemingway and Fitzgerald stand out as representatives of two parts of American Modernism. Fitzgerald focuses on life in the United States in all of its excess and search for deeper connection amid vapidity. Hemingway shows the life of the post-war American who is aware of the change in the world and strives for enjoyment and direction in activities like bull fighting, hunting, love, and drinking.

American literature has been evolving since the dawn of the Puritan exploration and colonization in the early 1600s. From John Smith's books and descriptions of Native American life to the revolutionary ideas of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, literature has had many forms and has taken many ideas across time to interpreted by scholars of today. The early Americans were very successful in creating a style of literature that has a complete web of genres to be examined, as well as some genres being sourced more than others. These distinctions only help to prove the diversity of American literature from 1607 to the present day.

Kuiper, Kathleen. “Modernism.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 02 DEC 15.

The dawning of the 1920’s in America left a need in the citizens’ hearts to return to a state of normalcy after the devastating effects of the Great War. However, the new era of isolationism spawned a cultural revolution that can only be described as anything but “normal”. Heavy losses over seas left Americans turned off to problems occurring outside of United States borders. As the citizens’ averted their eyes from the problems of the world, they were left to focus their attention of forming the spectacular sense of moral freedom of the decade. The economy flourished as well.Wall Street became an enormous success as the introduction of credit dazzled the American people. The colossal factories which had supplied weapons and war machinery now churned out the automobiles, radios, and abundant excitement which would go on to define the era. The isolationist attitude also led away from the idea of the “whole” and people found themselves focusing on their own needs and wants, which emphasized the adolescent nature of the United States. The post-war, isolationist minds of Americans in the roaring twenties focused on the dream of total freedom as they strove towards liberation in their daily lives, and were represented by the authors of the modernist fiction era.

Foeller, E et al. Innovative Fiction Between the Two World Wars. American Literature. Zbigniew Lewicki (ed). Cultural Section, US Embassy, Warsaw, pp. 60.

The turn of events in the American modernism led to revolutions like the American civil war, the emancipation of the people from hands of oppression like slavery and slave trade as well as the incorporation of the present day forms of education unlike the informal type of training that happened in America way back in 18th century. People no longer embraced education neither did any education take place in the early

In the early years of America’s foundation, a powerful air of uncapped potential, the desire for expansion and individual identification enamored the American people. Progress was inevitable as was cultural definition. But as time progressed, the feeling of unlimited strength, time and space transformed into something that, for better or worse, was no longer shared by later poets. Those of the “New World” came to realize that their world never really managed to leave behind the faults of the “Old.” Societal tension rose as different poets and authors struggled to pin down the direction of American culture and its ideals. When no solid idea was able to capture American culture adequately, the concept of an ever-evolving American identity

American Novelists, 1910-1915. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Ed. James J. Martine. Saint Bonaventure University. Gale Research 1981. 413-68

A common theme throughout American literature was the loneliness and alienation of people in society. Discrimination and hatred of others ways played a major role in the way people treated one another. The realism time period displayed an obvious separation of men and women. During the realism period, war and the cruelties of it played a major role in society, while the modernism time period displayed a major separation of whites and blacks. These feelings of alienation and loneliness are expressed into American literature today.

The development of American Literature, much like the development of the nation, began in earnest, springing from a Romantic ideology that honored individualism and visionary idealism. As the nation broke away from the traditions of European Romanticism, America forged its own unique romantic style that would resonate through future generations of literary works. Through periods of momentous change, the fundamentally Romantic nature of American literature held fast, a fact clearly demonstrated in the fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In an era of post-war disillusionment, when idealism succumbed to hedonistic materialism, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantically charged novel,

The American Romantic period of American literature propagated itself throughout the United States and multiple artistic medium from 1800 to 1850. Despite possible confusion caused by the name’s Western implications, this particular literary style originated in Germany with the publication of Goethe’s “Sorrows of Young Werther”. (11. http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/american%20ROMANTICISM%20OVERVIEW.html) Stories originating from this period were typically about improbable feats of adventure which provided readers with euphoric experiences not typically common in everyday life. (11. http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/american%20ROMANTICISM%20OVERVIEW.html) Eventually spreading throughout English culture, romanticism soon infected the colossal talents

Dawes, James. The Language of War: Literature and Culture in the U.S. from the Civil War Through World War II. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002. Google books.com. Web. 30 May 2014.

literature has meaning and a sturdy purpose. Three words with important meaning in society appear in

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, changes in the dynamics of society caused intellectuals to question the traditions of everyday life. From religious views to the arts of literature, traditional values and forms were rejected, thus defining a line between the two time periods, which can be considered as the start of the Modern era. Also known as Modernism, the modern era used literature as an outlet for expressing the thoughts and feelings of the time. Modern texts use city life, industrialization and globalization, and ironic and satirical themes to showcase their bleak outlook on life post both world wars. The nature of these events are aspects of society