Ancillary Topic Literature of the 1920s
     Literature took a giant leap during the 1920s. There were many new authors experimenting with literary forms that gave a new value to American literature. Their literature is sometimes called the literature of alienation,and the young authors are often called the "Lost Generation." Authors started to write more about the hard life and tended to move away from all of the old values. Literature of the 1920s is reflected in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby has a huge library filled with hundreds of books and everyone who enters Gatsby's library is impressed by this collection. Here are some well known authors of the 1920s and their literary works:
Ernest Hemingway      Hemingway was a novelist and short-story writer and many of his works are considered classics. He served as a correspondent for the Toronto Star and was encouraged to write by authors like Gertrude Stein.
He worked to define the twentieth century American hero. He argued that violence was the essence of life and that the correct approach to life was a stoic attitude. Some of his most noted novels of the 1920s are The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms. The heroes in his novels were all disillusioned with the optimism of the world around them and were admirable for their physical struggle with their problems.

Gertrude Stein
     Gertrude Stein had a major impact during the 1920s. Stein used unconventional narrative form that was marked by plot fragmentation. She had an abstract style and made radical innovations in punctuation to bring about feeling. Flowing, rhythmic repetition was often used in her writing as well. Some of her works include The Making of Americans and Lucy Church Amiably.

Sinclair Lewis
     Sinclair Lewis used a naturalistic style and replaced the traditionally romantic conception of American life with one that was much more realistic. He wrote about half a dozen novels that touched Americans' lives. In his first novel, Main Street, which was a big success, he first developed this realistic theme. It was about the frustration and values of the American middle class. He also wrote Babbit where he portrayed a businessman as a typical hero. These two novels were satirical symbols of American life.

Thomas Wolfe
     Thomas Wolfe was an autobiographical author who had a literary and sentimental style. His first novel, written in 1928, gave him success and popularity and it is called Look Homeward, Angel.

William Faulkner
     William Faulkner is considered to be one of America's most original novelists and he wrote with much energy. His first novel was Soldiers Pay which is a story about the lost generation. Probably his most noted novel is The Sound in the Fury which set a milestone in American literature. In the novel he used adventurous prose to show tensions between self and society.

Willa Cather
     Willa Cather is also one of America's greatest novelists. She recorded the lives of the hard-working farmers of the Midwest with whom she grew up. She concentrated on portraying their contribution of a hearty love of life and hard work to American society. She wrote most of her novels about the American rural life and one of her best works was Death Comes for the Archbishop, which she wrote in 1927. Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours in 1921 although most people believed her other novels superior to this one.

Edith Wharton
     Edith Wharton wrote many critically acclaimed novels such as Ethan Frome and her most famous, The Age of Innocence. Her work usually contained themes about the Victorian era and social codes.

Dashiell Hammett
     Dashiell Hammett began his career in the 1920s when he began to write detective stories for pulp fiction magazines. He demonstrated his sharp style in his first novel, Red Harvest, in 1929.

Thornton Wilder
     Thornton Wilder wrote many Pulitzer Prize winners during his lifetime. His novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
     Fitzgerald used a carefree style and he coined the "flapper" and "the jazz age." His first novel was This Side of Paradise, a popular success. He also wrote many popular short stories and then his masterpiece, The Great Gatsby.



Dorothy Parker      Dorothy Parker was well known not just for her writings but for her personality as well. She had a sharp tongue and was very bitter. She started off writing fashion captions and wrote many short stories like "Such a Pretty Little Picture" and "Big Blonde."

Other Links:

William Faulkner The World of Willa Cather Gertrude Stein The Thomas Wolfe Web Site Dashiell Hammett The Thornton Wilder Centennial F. Scott Fitzgerald

Page created on May 3, 1999.
Curator: Sarah Kelbaugh