1. Modernism / Harlem Renaissance

2. Modernism Historical Context
Overwhelming technological changes
WWI – first war of mass distruction
Grief over loss of past
Fear of eroding traditions
Rise of youth culture

3. Genre / Style Dominant mood: alienation/disconnection
Writing highly experimental
Use of fragments, stream of conciousness, interior dialogue
Writers seek to create a unique style

4. Modernist Writers Earnest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald
William Faulkner
John Steinbeck
Robert Frost
Etc.

5. Harlem Renaissance Historical Context
Offshoot of Modernism
Took place during the 1920’s
Time after WWI – mood of terrible anxiety and despair
Called High Modernism, The Jazz Age, The Roaring 20’s, and the time of Prohibition of Alcohol
At the time was called the New Negro Renaissance

6. HR – Historical Cont. 1920’s Aftermath of WWI (1914 – 1918)
Called the Red Scare of 1919
Prohibition
Terrified of anarchists, socialists, communists, etc. because there were serious bombings in New York.
Spread of Socialism in Europe
Summer of 1919 violence began to be transferred to the African Amer. population.

7. HR – Historical Cont. There were many lynchings
But African Americans were fighting back this time
Resurrection of the KKK
Many African Americans lost their jobs when whites came back from war.
Many militant and pragmatic peoples

8. HR - Style
Did not want to express anxiety and despair like the modernists
Felt more optimistic and hopeful
Trying to establish respect for the African American race
Literature, music, and art flourished during this time

9. Harlem Ren. Writers Langston Hughes – most successful
Countee Cullen – the “black Keats”
Zora Neal Hurston – rediscovered by the women’s movement in the 70’s
Jean Toomer – “Cane” regarded as one of the most influential works of the era
Claude McKay – poetry evokes the heritage of his native Jamaica