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Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Lost Generation

Following the war, a change swept across America and altered every field of study and thought. World War One was a new kind of war for all those involved- one that brought unprecedented loss and destruction with new weaponry and tactics. The development of chemical weapons starting with mustard gas was horrific in it's effectiveness. Poetry exploded during the war as many struggled to grasp the enormity of loss; Wilfred Owen is one the well-known solider poets immortalized in his poem, Dulce et Decorum Est.

With the end of the war in 1918, there lingered a bad taste in everyone's mouth (and not just because of the mustard gas) from the devastation. Furthermore, the influenza of 1918 was sweeping across the world and would eventually kill over 100 million people. From these bleak times, modernism emerged as an ideology and method of attempting to deal with the loss of traditions and values as well as the death and maiming of many. Specifically in literature, this is called the Lost Generation.

The Lost Generation typically refers to post-WWI American writers that moved to Paris to write and wander aimlessly in a place considered morally ambiguous from the start. Some of the best known Lost writers include Ernest Hemingway (blah), F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and John Dos Passos. Stein is considered the one who coined the phrase "lost generation", but Hemingway is the epitome of the group. He threw out florid Victorian prose and instead turned to straight journalistic writing. His novel, The Sun Also Rises, is a trademark of the era in it's treatment of the war and soliders. Many of the works of the time exlpored exile, loneliness, spiritual alienation, and indulgence. With Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the sad loneliness is masked by an illusion of carefree living.

It was one of those times- the times you have to admit you're scared and hurt and angry, and then work through it. When the world tells us that happiness and positivism is the only acceptable public emotion, they are in effect cutting off our ability to cope with the hard losses and frustrating times. So, bravo to the Lost Generation for exploring exactly what scared them and working through it- many times through writing. May we all be as brave.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the succinct and thoughtful post on modernism. Are you aware that some are terming our generation the "New Lost Generation?" Do think that this is an accurate comparison?

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  2. My first thought was, No! But after thinking about it, I can see where the comparisons are drawn. We are the post-9/11 generation, dealing with issues in the Middle East, nuclear warfare, and increasing social politics. Times are tough and I see many people turning to spiritual alienation and/or indulgence. We are, just as they were, working through hard times. But I believe we will come to different conclusions and solutions. Thanks for the comment!

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