1. Alienation of the Individual
Modernism By
Andrew C. Jackson, Esq.

2. World War I 1st large-scale modern war 10,000,000 soldiers killed
Nearly 10,000,000 civilians killed
U.S. did not enter until late (1917)

3. Disillusionment WWI showed end of idealism Positives included:
Economic growth
Technological advancement
New ways to have fun

4. Disillusionment, cont. Political corruption Organized crime flourished
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929)
Distrust of foreigners/intolerant of political differences

5. “Make it new!”—Ezra Pound
Characteristics of Modernism
Individuals increasingly threatened and isolated.
Experimentation
Stream of consciousness
Leaving it out
Reader is more independent.

6. Impact on Today Playwrights Poets Arthur Miller Tennessee Williams
Sylvia Plath
Anne Sexton

7. Voices from the Times
“The further you go in writing, the more alone you are.”—Ernest Hemingway
“You are all a lost generation.”—Gertrude Stein

8. Robert Frost Highlights
Work filled with much thought about society
Younger life
Baseball player
Moved from California to New Hampshire as a boy
Attended Dartmouth and Harvard, but never finished.

9. Early life, cont. Derry, NH Taught School Moved to England
1924—won Pulitzer Prize (1/4)

10. Tragedy and world affairs
Series of family deaths
Politics and World affairs
John F. Kennedy