Literature of the “lost generation”. E. Hemingway. S. Fitzgerald.

Many historians call the 1920s the roaring 20s or the Jazz Age. On the one hand American people were recovering from the tragedy & trauma of World War I. Those, who had taken part in the war, had come back home crippled either physically or morally or both. They tried to adjust themselves to the post - war mode of life, but often failed to do that as the dramatic war experience had ruined their old set of ideals & values, & made them unable to adopt themselves to the changed conditions. These people as well as the writers who described such people got the name of the “lost generation”.

— Ernest (his real name was Miller) Hemingway (1 899 -1961);

—Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940);

—John Don Passes(1896- 1970) -"Three Soldiers" (1921);

—William Harrison Faulkner (1897 - 1962) - "Soldier's Pay" (1926) - his first novel based on the problem of "the lost generation", it was not very successful, especially in comparison with the two titans of American "lost generation" writers - Ernest Hemingway & Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

On the other hand the 20s with their industrial boost also saw the great upheaval of the moods of the people, their desire to compensate for the austerity & deprivations of the war years. Moreover World War I turned out to be quite profitable for America as it was, the only country which really profited from the war. So the Americans partied, partied & partied. Besides the 20s can be summed up as the age of prosperity, entertainment (jazz music gets enormous popularity) & fashion.

In the 30s the situation changed drastically because of the Great Depression (not only in America but in the whole world). The living standards dropped very low. There was a rise of proletariat movement in America The 30s are sometimes called the red 30s, as society was oriented on socialist ideas. So the Depression & the natural disasters which aggravated the economic disaster – all this was naturally reflected in literature (especially in realistic literature).

One of the best books on the 30s was John Ernest Steinbeck's (1902 - 1968) novel "The Grapes of Wrath (1939) a story a family in Oklahoma which is a victim of the natural disasters & the economic crisis. They have to move to California - a sort of "promised land". And the author depicts their sufferings very well. The writers of that day tried to reflect the everyday life of common people, they showed people's search for the "promised land" & showed that there was no such land. Steinbeck's personages also move from place to place to find a better life.