A Re—examination on the writers of the “Roaring 20s”and their significance in the history of American Literature

吉冰冰

Ⅰ.Introduction

Two disasters， the World WarⅠwhich ended in 1919 and the Great Depression began in 1929， distinguish the 1920s from the rest of the American history. These 10 years， called “the Roaring 20s”， is a period of peaceful development， flourishing and encouraging， and a period of shapely changes， disturbing and annoying （Tao， 1）. Many famous writers appeared in this critical period and they had great significance in the history of American Literature.

Ⅱ.A General review of the “Roaring 20s”

The 1920s have been given many nick names， among which the “roaring 20s” and the “Jazz Age” are the most frequently used ones， describing the 1920s respectively. During the 1920s， American laissez-faire capitalism had been well developed. Meanwhile， seen from the rapidly changed social values and cultural sense， “the Jazz Age” vividly describes the features of the 1920s， breaking away from the traditional values， setting up new principles， and seeking for reformation. However， under the scene of peacefulness and prosperity are various contradictions. For instance， the contradiction between religion and science， which can be represented by the trail of the young teachers who taught Darwins theory of evolution in class； the contradiction between ethics and culture， which can be represented by the Prohibition； the contradiction between politics and the law， which can be represented by the death of an Italian worker named Sack Vanzetti.

Ⅲ.The Major writers in the 1920s

The writers in that period used their power to record the important 10 years. This paper just focuses on some of them.

1.The Major Poets

Ezra Pound was identified as the father of modern American poetry and the most influential leader of the Imagist Movement. He had an enormous influence on the modernist writers in Britain and America after WWⅡ. His famous poets are In a station of the Metro and A Pact.

Robert Lee Frost was the most popular poet of the 20th century. He combined traditional verse forms with a clear American local speech rhythm， forming his own characters. Profound ideas are conveyed under the disguise of the plain language. If America had a national poet in the 20th century， it is certainly Robert Frost.

Wallace Stevens was sharply opposed to Eliots earlier pessimism and later religious attitude. He was probably the most consistent， self-assured spokesman for the rationalist humanist tradition.

T.S.Eliot is a great modernist poet， an important verse dramatist and a great prose writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948. His poetry conveys his pessimistic view that the modern world is chaotic and its life is futile and fragmentary. Man lives a frustrated and disillusioned life. The modern world is a spiritual “wasteland”.

2. The Major Novelists

Sinclair Lewis is noted for his novels that mock and satire the American middle class and bourgeois life in the villages and towns of the Middle West. He was the first American writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1930.

Scott Fitzgerald is generally acclaimed as the literary spokesman of the Jazz Age or the Roaring 20S. He is the mirror and embodiment of this exciting age in almost every way.

Ernest Hemingway was regarded as the most important spokesman for the Lost Generation. He was famous for his novels and stories written in his spare， laconic， terse， clear， telegraph-like， yet intense prose with short sentences and very specific details. This style is his famous “Iceberg Principle” that emphasizes simplicity and economy of expression. Almost all his stories reveal mans impotence and despairing courage to assert himself against overwhelming odds. These heroes are called “The Hemingway Code Hero”.

William Faulkner was the foremost southern writer of the 20th century. His theme is essentially an analysis of the underlying-cause for the failure and decay of the South. His fiction carries a sense of fragmentation in the social community and within the individual himself due to loss of love and lack of emotional response. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1950 （ Gong， 44）

Ⅳ.Their Significance in the history of American Literature

First， the 1920s is a transitional period between the progressivism and the 1930sradicalism. The writers saw everything with suspicion， examined everything in an experimental attitude and wrote down in a new style what they thought about and what they had done. They experiences represented the lives of and cultural attitudes towards the transitional generation. Their works recorded the precious features of the 1920s.

Secondly， the new varied experience of the period demanded a new varied expression. Thinking minds in the field of the art and literature began to feel that the old forms of representation were no longer adequate enough to represent the reality and that newer ways must be found. Impressionism appeared along with Dadaism and Expressionism. Symbolism and surrealism became stylish and popular. Hence Modernism began to dominate the world of literature and art （Chang， 157）. The most active， presiding spirit was probably Ezra Pound whose sense of urgency about revolutionizing literature led him from one movement to another.

Thirdly， Sinclair Lewis， though “Edwardian” in form， wrote to pave his way for the first Nobel Prize in literature that an American ever won. Long pent-up emotion lava， stirred up by a new intellectual energy， now found an outlet and erupted into what has come to known as the Harlem Renaissance. This outburst of African American creative energy was historically important not just because it marked the further awakening literary as well as racial， of the African American people， but also because it heralded an era of multiethnic and multiracial literary expression in American that would eventually result in possible redefining of American literary history and re-canonizing of American literature.

Fourthly， American writers no longer followed the Europe blindly， got rid of narcissism， and entered into a state of hesitation and wander， which signified that American literature finally cast off the invisible fetters of colonial culture， and had stood in the world literature with a completely new attitude （Yu， 27）.

Ⅴ.Conclusion

The 1920s was a peculiar period in which postwar economic boom and the sense of spiritual disorientation to produce a peculiar mood of the age. The greatness of the literature of the decade lies in the fact that it managed to capture that mood and keep it on record for posterity.

References：

[1]Chang Yaoxin ， A survey of American Literature，Tianjin：Nankai University Press，2003.

[2]Gong Yubo，British Literature and American Literature， Shanghai：World Book Press，2006.

[3]陶潔.20世纪美国文学选读[M].北京：北京大徐出版社，2006.

[4]虞建华等.美国文学的第二次繁荣[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2004.