American Literature Between the Wars 19141945

1
American Literature Between the Wars (1914-1945)

• An Overview

2
Changing Literature

• Major social changes going on during this time
  were mirrored in the literature. For instance,
  after WWI, two groups who had previously been
  disenfranchised became artistically and
  politically central to American life African
  Americans and white women.
• Some writers rejoiced in the change, others
  lamented it.
• Three major literary conflicts of this period
• The question of how engaged in social and
  political struggles a work of literature should
  be
• A conflict of the place of the popular in serious
  literature As popular culture gained momentum,
  one faction felt that it was crucial for
  literature that it embraced popular forms. The
  other faction felt that good literature should
  reject the commercialism of popular culture
• Conflict centered on tradition versus
  authenticity.

3
Other Influences on Literature

• Marxism and Communism
• Sacco-Vanzetti Case
• Prohibition and the entrance of the gangster into
  cultural life (a new villain)
• Changes in sexual mores
• Americanized Freudian ideas individual trapped
  in a repressive culture or an examination of the
  repressive culture itself
• Suffrage and the changing roles of women
• The Great Migration and widespread urbanization
• Harlem Renaissance
• New Technology, particularly electricity and
  automobiles
• The Great Depression
• The Rise of serious theatre in Europe and the
  American tours provided by these acting troupes