Paris in the 1920’s – “The Lost Generation” Essay

The Rape of Europa is a documentary that highlights the effects that World War II had on the art of Europe. Through the turmoil of the war, there are some glimpses of the human race exhibiting greatness, such as the story of the American monuments men preserving art. The art of Europe during the war played a key role in many aspects of the war, including Hitler’s attempt to eliminate what he considered “degenerate art”. Art defines the cultures they come from, and their destruction is a deep personal wound to their culture and humanity in general.

At the dawn of the 1920’s America was entering a new era defined by a vast and complicated urban culture that would dominate the rest of the 20th century. New York was where the modern age was born. The very architecture spoke of America’s new ascendancy and aspirations. In New York, Broadway represented the latest in entertainment, Madison Avenue would come to stand for the bustling new business in advertising, and Wall Street represented the decade’s expanding economic activities. Harlem was where the unique American music of jazz began. Harlem was also contributing more than music to the American culture; it was a hot bed for political and cultural activity called the Harlem Renaissance. New York’s lower East side was for European Immigration;

In the modern Paris, society is divided into different classes of people, different jobs, and different features of modern life. The Belly of Paris, written by, Émile Zola is about a man named Florent who was wrongly put in prison from Louis-Napoleon’s coup-d’etat. He escapes from prison and returns from the countryside to find an unrecognizable Paris. The Belly of Paris describes the class differences in the 1870s - there is the bourgeoisie, which is defined as the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes; the capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of production contrasted with the lower working class. By portraying and describing characters as the food

The writer, Ernest Hemingway in his book, The Sun Also Rises, gives us an understanding of the "Lost Generation's" actions and thoughts in order or us to see a different times perspective of

Since the early morning of 25 June 1940, France was under the control of Nazi Germany. Although some of the French people attempted to resist, either secretly or publicly, liberation would not arrive until 23 August 1944. These brave men and women certainly helped to liberate their homeland, but what ultimately allowed the Allied forces to rescue the “City of Lights”?

I would rather been a member of urban poor in 18th-century Paris instead of a serf on a 13th-century French manor. First all all, although the serfs were not the slaves, they still have limited freedom. “Agricultural labor was traditionally carried out by serfs, who were bound by tradition to fulfill their obligations to their lords” (McKay et al, 171). If I were a poor people, however, I can do things or find jobs as what I want instead of being controlled by the landlords.

Marshall Berman’s take on modernity is presented in his book All That Is Solid Melts into Air whereby he focuses on its issues and the cultural attitudes and philosophies towards the modern condition. In doing so he shares his experiences of modernity post WWII in New York in the height of an economic boom and then more specifically of his childhood neighbourhood, the Bronx. In addition to expanded austerity, industrial and architectural development, the end of WWII proved to be a key period in world history and by extension the history of art. A talented group of artists emerged in result that had been influenced by an influx of established European artist who had fled to New York to escape fascist regimes in their homelands. More importantly these artists produced art that was at the heart of maelstrom Berman describes in regards to his experience of modernity. I aim to highlight the correlation between Berman’s experience of modernity and the emergence of a new American modernism. Modernity throughout this period was broken into two different compartments, hermetically sealed off from one another: "modernisation" in economics and politics, "modernism" in art, culture and sensibility. It’s through the lens of this dualism in which we recognise that both Berman and these artists try to make sense of the world around them by making their individual expressions that would re-conceptualise what it is to be modern in the twentieth century.

The Roaring Twenties was a time of fun and delight the stock market was booming and America was thriving while other countries were experiencing turmoil in aftermath of the First World War. Returning from the horrors of war, writers were inspired by romance and the riches America had. Using their unique creative expression, many of the writings from the Twenties were a commentary on social life, the good and bad. Each story holds a different theme, different message, and different romance, however, each piece of work was individualistic to the writer, and to his experiences. America was entering a new era, and literature was at the forefront to change. In the Twenties literature was booming with authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, William Falkner, Langston Hughes, and Ernest Hemmingway all found their spotlight each with an original work of literature that got the human race not only entertained but aware.

Ernest Hemingway’s first novel The Sun Also Rises is regarded as the quintessential novel of the Lost Generation. Published in 1926, within the decade after the First World War, The Sun Also Rises embodies exactly what the Lost Generation is. The term “Lost Generation” was created by Gertrude Stein and is referred to today as a vast amount of American intellectuals, writers, poets, and artiest, who were born around the beginning of the 20th Century and served in World War One, this generation pursued different lifestyles and rejected the values of American materialism (Bolton 78). The lost generation, including Hemingway, created some of the most renowned American literature to this date. The Sun Also Rises follows Hemingway’s Characters from

The "lost generation" wasn't just a phrase that was brought up, it was coined by both Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. The term refers to the generation

Paris is known for its beautiful attractions, the diversity from entertainment to people. Go there and what is seen is what was just said. Paris was one of the places to be for a variety of reasons depending on what an individual was going through, or what would be going over there at the time. A war had just ended and all of what was wanted was joy, happiness, and the freedom to express an individual and their values. This was the time to talk about things that went on in the past and the changes that were occuring. During the 1920s, Paris was a huge inspirational and forever changing place to be in that created many artists and attractions of its time.

The first piece of literature I will talk about take place during The Lost Generation. The Lost Generation was a time after World War I a group of writers believed that a generation was “lost” in the sense that traditional beliefs was not important in the postwar world making many people seemed physiologically and morally empty. The term originated from Ernest Hemingway who wrote The Sun Also Rises (1926). This book is about a World War I veteran name Jake Barnes who meets Brett Ashley, who he met during the war was a nurse during the war that Jake and his friend, Robert Cohn, fall in love with. But they can’t be together because the war caused Jake to become impotent. She leaves for San Sebastian with her fiancé, Mike Campbell. While Brett, Cohn, and Mike are both traveling outside of Paris, one of Jake’s friends, Bill Gorton, arrive in Paris. He devises a plan

I had a pretty normal childhood. Growing up in Paris, I thought I was an only child because I was spoiled. In reality, I wasn’t. My older brother, Michael, was killed when he was 16 in the Great War. My parents mourned and stayed out of social circles for a long time. Six years later, in 1923, it almost forced them to come out and enjoy life. I grew up in Paris’ most elite social circles, which meant that my parents were rich, but also that I attended lots of balls. Lots of thought was put into my education and my parents finally hired two tutors for me. One to teach me basic reading, writing, math, and history, while the other was hired to teach me social graces, like dancing, manners, and all that stuff. I had lots of suitors from when I

In the years following the Great War, the world underwent one of the largest cultural shifts it had ever experienced. Feelings of discontent were especially high amongst Americans, as the nation had been dragged into a brutal European war. Bitter emotions led to the Lost Generation’s writings, which include the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Within his novel, Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald focuses on a group of Americans in France during the 1920s. The idea of failure of the American Dream can be observed throughout the novel.

The people of 19th century France experienced unprecedented change in many aspects of day-to-day life. The emergence of new technologies, industrialisation and agricultural mechanisation created new economic opportunities, with the effects of this change most notably felt in the capital Paris. However, the city was struggling to accommodate the rapid growth, and many felt that the squalor and overcrowding was in direct opposition to this new way of life. The renovation of Paris by Georges Haussmann in the latter part of the century saw radical changes to both the visual aspect of the city but also to the Parisian way of life. These changes brought a new sense of modernity to Paris, and consequently the artists of the day became detached observers