2010美国文学史 Lecture 13Fitzgerald.ppt

Lecture 13 Lost Generation Writers Modern Fiction No longer certain that art had a didactic function, writers questioned the moral and artistic purposes of literature. Culture no longer provided a set of shared beliefs but instead was fragmented and individualized. Language itself was seen as an unreliable medium, with an uncertain relationship to reality; the very notion of clear, straightforward communication between people was brought into question. Some characteristics to look for in Modernist works include: Alienation from society and loneliness Procrastination/an inability to act Agonized recollection of the past/constant flashbacks to the past Fear of death and the appearance of death Inability to feel or express love World as a wasteland/poor environmental portrayal Man creating his own myths within his mind to fall back upon Major themes emerging in Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and others of the period include: Violence and alienation Historical discontinuity Decadence and decay Loss and decay Rejection of history Race relations Unavoidable change Sense of place, local color The Roaring Twenties Americans of the Roaring Twenties fell in love with other modern entertainments. Most people went to the movies once a week. Although Prohibition -- began in 1919, underground speakeasies and nightclubs proliferated, featuring jazz music, cocktails, and daring modes of dress and dance. Also called The Jazz Age The Jazz Age Jazz Age is coined by the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald retrospectively to refer to the decade after World War I and before the stock market crash in 1929, during which Americans embarked upon what he called the gaudiest spree in history. The Jazz Age is inextricably associated with the wealthy white flappers and socialites immortalized in Fitzgeralds fiction. However, the eras soundtrack was largely African American, facilitating what Ann Douglas has described as a racially mixed social scene without precedent in the United States. Postwa