The Moderns The Moderns

Event Timeline 1905: Einstein formulates his theory of relativity 1914: The Panama Canal Opens 1917: America enters WWI 1920: The Harlem Renaissance begins 1920: 19 th Amendment grants women the right to vote 1927: The Jazz Singer, one of the first sound films, opens

Events Timeline 1929: U.S. Stock Market crashes leading to the Great Depression : The Dust Bowl – recurrent dust storms wreak havoc on the Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas 1939: WWII begins in Europe 1941: US enters WWII 1945: United Nations established 1950: US populations reaches 1 million

Tenets of The American Dream Three Central Ideas behind The American Dream: ► America as the new “Eden”; a land of beauty, bounty and unlimited promise. ► Optimism justified by the ever-expanding opportunity and abundance that many people have come to expect. ► The importance and the triumph of the Individual

Traditional Beliefs are Questioned Americans had a growing interest in phycology Americans began to question just how much freedom we really had Marxism: The Socialist beliefs of Karl Marx help fuel the Russian Revolution

The Jazz Age Prohibition prohibited the manufacturing and sale of alcohol Prohibition ushered in the era of the bootlegger Speakeasies, Jazz clubs The short-skirted flapper (Oh, my!) The Gangster An era defined as “racy” and unconventional Fitzgerald publishes his book The Great Gatsby

The New American Hero Disillusionment becomes a major theme in the fiction of the time Sinclair Lewis publishes Main Street, a novel about the small-mindedness of small town life. Writer Ernest Hemingway introduces a new kind of hero: has a code of honor, is courageous, and totally disillusioned.

The Elements of Modernism in American Literature Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form, reflecting the fragmentation of society. Rejection of traditional themes and subjects Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American dream Rejection of the ideal of a hero as infallible in favor of a hero who is flawed and disillusioned but shows “grace under pressure.” Interest in the inner workings of the human mind, sometimes expressed through new narrative techniques such as stream of consciousness.

Poetry in New England and the Midwest Rejected the Modernist trends such as free verse and stream of consciousness Held on to traditional verse forms of poetry New England Poets: Edwin Arlington Robinson and Robert Frost Midwestern Poet: Edgar Lee Masters

The Harlem Renaissance Two different types of African American poetry during the Harlem Renaissance: Conventional poetry – metrically regular and rhymed verse (Paul Laurence Dunbar) Lyrical Poetry – based on spirituals and jazz (James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen) Introduced the language of the inner city into literature, gave voice to a group, African Americans, who had been ignored, marginalized and oppressed

Against the Grain Robert Jeffers – Carved out an isolated and hermitlike existence in California Sometimes wrote in meter and rhyme, but more often wrote in long lines of free verse Unorthodox views on progress, religion, and the nature of humanity Became an inspiration to the “Beat Generation” of the 1950’s John Crowe Ransom – Southern poet, stood for wit, gentility, subtle intellect, and the manners of an earlier century

The American Dream Revised American Modernists both echoed and challenged the American dream Modernists constituted a broader, more resonant voice than ever before Some of America’s best writers came out of this period Created a second American Renaissance