What impact did World War One have on the everyday person? Did they feel that they still had a place in society? Or did they become a 'Lost Generation'?
Lost Generation definition
The Lost Generation refers to a generation of Americans who entered early adulthood during World War One (1914-1918). In its literary context, the Lost Generation defines the writers who emerged from this social generation and expressed their disillusionment with post-war socio-economic constructs in their work. The term was coined by Gertrude Stein to categorise a group of American writers who moved to, and lived in, Paris during the 1920s. It was publicised to a broader audience by Ernest Hemingway who wrote in the epigraph of The Sun Also Rises (1926), 'You are all the lost generation'.
Gertrude Stein was an American writer who lived from 1874 to 1946 and moved to Paris in 1903. In Paris, Stein hosted a Salon in which artists including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis would meet.
Lost Generation background
The writers who make up the Lost Generation were born at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century. The world they grew up in was marked by industrialisation, following the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), and a rise in consumerism and media.
The industrial revolution was a period in which Great Britain, the United States and Europe transitioned to new automated manufacturing processes.
As the members of the Lost Generation entered early adulthood, World War One broke out. This conflict defined the lives of people across the globe, between fifteen and twenty-four million people died in this conflict, including nine to eleven million soldiers. In 1918 the Spanish Influenza pandemic broke out, causing further deaths and casualties. And, eleven years later in 1929, the Wall Street Crash occurred, triggering the Great Depression (1929-1939) and bringing an end to the 'Roaring Twenties'.
The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression which began in 1929 following a severe fall in stock prices in the USA.
The Roaring Twenties: A time of economic growth and prosperity following World War One, marked by dynamic art and culture.
Entering adulthood at this time of social, political, and economic turmoil led many to feel detached and disillusioned from the society they grew up in. The traditional life path they expected to follow as children had been torn apart by the horrors of World War One, and many writers began to look for a new lifestyle and perspective, some even leaving America.
How do you think the historical events experienced by the writers of the Lost Generation influenced their writing? Can you think of any specific examples?
Characteristics of the Lost Generation
The general sentiment of the writers who made up the Lost Generation was that the values and expectations of the older generations were no longer applicable in the post-war context. Within their works, these writers expressed such sentiment through the portrayal and critique of a number of themes that characterised their writing.
Rejection of American materialism
The decadent wealth of the 1920s was heavily critiqued and satirised by the Lost Generation. Following the loss of people and humanity, during World War One many could not reconcile with the celebratory extravagance of the 1920s. In response to this disillusionment, the writers of the Lost Generation presented American materialism with a critical eye, arguing that money and wealth could not buy happiness.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, the novel's narrator, provides a commentary on the actions and lives of the wealthy Tom and Daisy. In Chapter nine of the novel, Carraway notes:
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and... then retreated back into their money... and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
Highlighting how the upper-class privilege of these characters has led to a disregard for the feelings of others or their social responsibility to society.
The Great Gatsby (1925) presents the glamour of the 1920s with a critical eye.
Youthful idealism
In 1920, President Warren G. Harding ran for election under the slogan 'return to normalcy,' pushing forward the argument that the best response to the life-altering impact of World War One was to reset society to how it was before the war. Many of the writers who made up the Lost Generation found this mentality something that they could not identify with. After experiencing such a global catastrophe felt as though they could no longer follow the traditions and values instilled in them by their parents.
Youthful idealism features across the works of the Lost Generation as a result of this sentiment. The impossible idealism of characters often leads them down a destructive path, expressing how these writers felt that their idealism had allowed the world around them to tarnish their lives.
In The Great Gatsby (1925) the metaphor of the 'green light' is utilised to present Jay Gatsby's idealistic perception of Daisy. As noted in chapter nine, Gatsby 'believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us', and this belief led to his downfall.
Youthful Idealism in Of Mice and Men (1937)
In his 1937 novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays the character of Lennie as someone who holds an innocent youthful idealism. Lennie is coded as a character with a mental disability, leading to him relying on George to survive in a society that doesn't entirely understand him. The childlike nature of Lennie, as a result of his mental disability, emphasises the idealistic mentality he has when it comes to achieving his dream of owning a ranch with George.
Lennie and George's dream of owning a ranch pushes them to persevere and survive as the novella progresses. However, in the novella's close, this dream is taken away after Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife. At the novella's close, George is faced with the reality that the best option is for him to kill Lennie. Although the reader and George are aware of this, Lennie remains idealistic, asking George to 'tell how it's gonna be', he trusts George entirely when told to 'look across the river' as George tells him how they're 'gonna get a little place' while reaching into his pocket and drawing 'Carlson's Luger'.
The death of Lennie, and the death of his idealistic dream of the ranch, underpins the mentality held by many writers of the Lost Generation that youthful idealism would not protect a person, or lead to a better future.
The American Dream
Since its founding, America, as a nation, has pushed the idea that opportunity is open and available to any American who works hard enough for it. This belief can be traced back to the Declaration of Independence which states that all men are equal, holding the right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.1
Following the hardships of the early 20th century, most notably the Great Depression, many Americans began to question whether this idea was a dream or a reality. This questioning of the American Dream featured heavily in the works of the Lost Generation, who presented characters either fruitlessly pursuing the dream, or endlessly unhappy despite achieving wealth and prosperity.
In his 1922 novel Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis provided a satirical take on America's consumerist environment, presenting a story in which the consumerist pursuit of the American Dream results in conformism. The novel follows George F. Babbitt as he pursues his 'American Dream' of social status and wealth, and as the novel progresses Babbitt becomes increasingly disillusioned with the mediocre reality of this dream.
Lost Generation writers
There are many writers who became known to be part of the Lost Generation. This literary 'group' of writers is not part of a specific school, nor do they follow set stylistic guidelines. However, all of the writers who made up the Lost Generation were influenced by global events such as World War One and took a critical approach to social norms and expectations in their works.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was an American writer who lived from 1899 to 1961. During his life, he published a total of seven novels and six short story collections, and in 1954 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Hemingway worked as a Red Cross ambulance driver during World War One, experiencing the war firsthand. In 1918, before the war's end, Hemingway returned home from Italy after receiving a serious injury. Hemingway's work was heavily influenced by World War One, and the impact it has on him personally, as highlighted by his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. This novel encapsulates the perception of war as something filled with senseless violence and destruction, as the character of Frederic becomes increasingly cynical and resentful of the war, eventually deserting the army.
In 1921, Hemingway moved to Paris, France, forming a key part of the community of writers who came to be known as the Lost Generation.
T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot was a writer and editor who lived from 1888 to 1965. At the age of thirty-nine he renounced his American citizenship and became a British citizen. In 1948, Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Eliot's works can be connected to the broader modernist literary movement, as he broke away from traditional literary conventions. For instance, 'The Waste Land' (1922) employed symbolic imagery and utilised both contemporary and traditional forms of verse.
Modernism: a literary movement that sought to move beyond the traditional expectations and constraints of literature.
He is also attached to the Lost Generation of writers, most notably in how across his poetry, Eliot captured the disillusioned sentiments of many of the younger generation impacted by the First World War.
In the final two lines of his poem 'The Hollow Men' (1925), Eliot writes;
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
The imagery of the world ending without a bang implies that it has not met the expectations of those who witnessed it. The
anticlimactic imagery (a disappointing conclusion to an exciting set of events), used to describe the end of the world, exemplifies the dissatisified expectations of grandeur held by many at the time of Eliot's writing.
T. S. Eliot featured on a U.S.A stamp.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American writer who lived from 1896 to 1940. Within his works, he captured the excessive and decadent nature of the 1920s and 1930s, termed the 'Jazz Age'.
Fitzgerald joined the United States Army in 1917 during World War One. He was discharged in February 1919 and moved to New York City. In 1924, Fitzgerald moved to Europe, living in France and Italy. While in Paris, France, he met other writers of the Lost Generation, such as Ernest Hemingway
During his lifetime, Fitzgerald wrote and published four novels:This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), The Great Gatsby (1925), and Tender Is the Night (1934). The themes of class and romance dominated Fitzgerald's works, with the impact of class divisions on individuals often being used to critique the concept of the American Dream. Commenting on The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald noted that the 'unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money' came up in his works 'again and again' because he lived it.2
Lost Generation literature
Here are some examples of literature by the Lost Generation:
Poetry from writers of the Lost Generation
- 'Advice to a Son' (1931), Ernest Hemingway
- 'All in green my love went riding' (1923), E. E. Cummings
- 'The Waste Land' (1922), T. S. Eliot
Novels from writers of the Lost Generation
- The Sun Also Rises (1926), Ernest Hemingway
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1928), Erich Maria Remarque
- This Side of Paradise (1920), F. Scott Fitzgerald
Impact of the Lost Generation
The Lost Generation captured a period of history with their writing. Through their works, the writers of the Lost Generation expressed the impact of World War One on the younger generation. They provided an insight into various social elements of the post-war world, critiquing the materialistic nature of the 1920s, and highlighting the disillusionment felt by many.
Today, many of the works of the Lost Generation of considered classics. Including, The Great Gatsby (1925) and Of Mice and Men (1937), which some of you may have studied in school.
Lost Generation - Key takeaways
- As a literary term, Lost Generation refers to a group of American writers and poets who entered adulthood during World War One and produced work that critiqued and rebelled against post-World War One socio-economic ideals and constructs.
- The writers of the Lost Generation were impacted by numerous global events including World War One, the Spanish Influenza, and the Great Depression.
- The defining characteristics of works by the Lost Generation are: a rejection of American materialism, a critical portrayal of youthful idealism, and a cynical presentation of the American Dream.
- Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Elliot, and F. Scott Fitzgerald are all influential writers of the Lost Generation.
References
- Tracy Fessenden, 'F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Catholic Closet.' in U.S. Catholic Historian, vol. 23, no. 3, 2005.
- National Archives, 'Declaration of Independence: A Transcription', 1776.
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