Literary Voices of the Lost Generation and Beyond

Introduction In his acceptance speech of the Nobel prize in literature in 1962, John Steinbeck stated, “Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it, and it has not changed except to become more needed”. Recognising the crucial role played by literature, in this unit we will explore the lives and works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway prominent members of the Lost Generation, a term that reflected the sense of disillusionment in the aftermath of World War I. We will also delve into John Steinbeck’s and William Faulkner’s contribution to world literature, the former being renowned for his realistic portrayal of labourers’ struggles and the latter for his experimental narrative techniques. 1 The Lost Generation 1.1 Historical background As noted by VanSpanckeren (2009), many historians have characterised the period between the two world wars as the United States’ traumatic “coming of age”, with the young US generation holding its predecessors responsible for the catastrophic and inhuman effects of war while also taking advantage of the economic boom that followed the conflict, which allowed many to travel the world and live abroad lavishly on very little money. Among these expatriates was a group of writers who came to be known as the Lost Generation, a term coined by Gertrude Stein, a US born author who lived most of her adult life in Paris, where she became a central figure in the thriving literary scene. In fact, she mentored and influenced several of the writers associated with the Lost Generation, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. 1.2 F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) 1.2.1 Life and works Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, F. Scott Fitzgerald attended Princeton before joining the Army in 1917. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, whom he married in 1920. That same year, he published This Side of Paradise, a popularly acclaimed novel that captured the spirit of American youth at the time. The success he enjoyed as an author allowed Fitzgerald to become part of high society during the 1920s, a period he dubbed the “Jazz Age”. In fact, he wrote several magazine stories depicting his lavish lifestyle which were compiled in collections such as Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) and All the Sad Young Men (1926). During a two-year trip to Europe, Fitzgerald completed his most renowned work, The Great Gatsby (1925). Nearly a decade later, he published Tender Is the Night (1934), a novel inspired by his life struggles, including his financial troubles, alcoholism and Zelda’s mental illness. 1.2.2 Gatsby and the Roaring Twenties Although WWI had left Europe devastated, the end of the conflict marked the emergence of the United States as the preeminent power in the world and, from 1920 to 1929, a time that came to be known as the Roaring Twenties, the nation enjoyed an economic boom that led to a steady rise in income levels, business growth and hectic trading on the stock market. It is against this backdrop that Fitzgerald set The Great Gatsby, a story about the American dream of the self-made man told by Nick Carraway, who reflects on the life of his enigmatic neighbour, Jay Gatsby, and his extravagant world of wealth and excess. As Weinstein (1997) notes, The Great Gatsby is certain to remain a key American document, being one of the nation’s finest representations of the lure of money and fortune in the early 20th century. It also stands as the embodiment of what we know as the American dream: the possibility of truly becoming a self-made man, a feat of freedom that is at the core of American democratic ideology. However, Fitzgerald—like other writers of the Lost Generation—wondered whether America had lost its moral compass by embracing post-war materialism and consumer culture. Thus, while capturing the exuberance of the 1920s, The Great Gatsby also critiques the emptiness and moral decay beneath the surface, with Nick Carraway realising that Gatsby’s fortune has been paid for with great misery. 1.3 Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961): Life and works Born in Illinois, Hemingway was only 18 years old when he volunteered to join an ambulance unit in France during WWI. After the war, while based in Paris, he entered the circle of expatriate American writers composed, among others, of Sherwood Anderson, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. Hemingway gained recognition with his first novel, The Sun Also Rises (1926), which captures the post-war disillusionment of the Lost Generation. He eventually became one of the leading writers of his time with works like Men without Women (1927), A Farewell to Arms (1929), Death in the Afternoon (1932), The Green Hills of Africa (1935) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), set during the Spanish Civil War. As Weinstein (1997) notes, Hemingway, a believer in the “cult of experience”, often involved his characters in dangerous situations in order to reveal their inner nature. He did so by means of exact descriptions and a clean style devoid of unnecessary words, as evidenced in stories like The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, both published in 1936. In his later years, Hemingway lived mostly in Cuba, where he wrote The Old Man and the Sea (1952), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. A year later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to literature. In 1961, after struggling with family issues, illness and the belief that he was losing his gift for writing, Hemingway took his own life. 2 John Steinbeck (1902-1968) 2.1 Life and works Born in Salinas, California, John Steinbeck spent much of his youth working in fields and factories alongside migrant labourers. His first literary success came with Tortilla Flat (1935), a collection of humorous stories about Monterey paisanos. Soon after, he published In Dubious Battle (1936), which revolves around the strikes of migrant fruit pickers on California plantations; Of Mice and Men (1937), the story of two itinerant farm labourers who find work on a ranch in the Salinas Valley; and The Grapes of Wrath (1939), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. Steinbeck continued to write until his death, publishing works such as East of Eden (1952), The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) and Travels with Charley (1962). In 1962, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humour and a keen social perception”. 2.1.1 The Grapes of Wrath and The Great Depression Following the Roaring Twenties, a series of financial crises triggered by the stock market crash of 1929 led to the collapse of the commercial banking system. As a result, 25% of workers lost their jobs, factories shut down and farmers, unable to harvest, transport or sell their crops, lost their farms. The situation worsened as droughts, combined with strong winds, generated dust storms that transformed the Midwest into what came to be known as the Dust Bowl (1930-1936). This provoked the largest migration in US history, as nearly one-third of Oklahoma’s population travelled west in search of work. It is this reality that Steinbeck depicts in The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which follows the Joad family on their journey to California. To offer the reader a realistic portrayal of the situation lived by thousands of migrants, Steinbeck worked closely with the Farm Security Administration, which allowed him to access government reports and photographic documentation. Steinbeck further reinforced the novel’s authority by interspersing the protagonists’ journey with intercalary chapters that provided historical context and illustrated how thousands of families shared the Joads’ struggles. Labelled by some critics as a structural weakness if the novel, Steinbeck defended his choice: "With the rhythms and symbols of poetry one can get into a reader, open him up and, while he is open, introduce things on an intellectual level which he would not or could not receive unless he were opened up” (extracted from a 1953 personal letter). 3 William Faulkner’s narrative Modernism, which emerged in Europe and the United States in the early 20th century, saw authors such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and T. S. Eliot explore the complexities of human experience through innovative storytelling techniques, including fragmented narratives, stream of consciousness and non-linear structures. This approach to literature profoundly influenced William Faulkner (1897–1962), whose narrative style is characterised by his experimentation with the chronology of his stories. Furthermore, seeking to represent individual psychology, Faulkner employed multiple narrators, each offering their unique perspective on the unfolding events. In doing so, he captured the subjective nature of human consciousness which Modernists sought to portray. The Sound and the Fury (1929), one of Faulkner’s most acclaimed novels, exemplifies his complex narrative style. Centred around the Compson family, genteel Southerners who have fallen into decline, the novel is structured around the perspectives of Benjy, Quentin and Jason Compson, each presenting their own version of events. Benjy’s narration, for example, is disjointed, slipping between past and present, while Quentin's account blurs the lines between fact and fantasy. Though often perplexing, Faulkner’s narrative technique immerses the reader in the characters’ psychological turmoil In his other major works, As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932) and Absalom, Absalom! (1936), Faulkner captures the tensions between tradition and change in the American South. His characters include former slaves, runaway slaves, their descendants, poor white agrarians, working-class Southerners and aristocratic Southern families. Through these figures, he explores themes such as trauma, decay in the Old South, and the complexities of race and social adaptation. In 1950, Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In his acceptance speech, he stated: “The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail”. Conclusion This overview of U.S. literature from the post-WWI era until the 1960s highlights the pivotal contributions of four key authors in shaping the American literary tradition: F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose works depict the excesses of the Roaring Twenties; Ernest Hemingway, who captured the disillusionment of the Lost Generation following World War I; John Steinbeck, who portrayed the hardships and resilience of the working class; and William Faulkner, whose intricate narrative style reflects the complexities of the American South.