American Literature

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was connected with Jazz Age of the 20s. He wrote many stories about wealthy people, for whom everything is so easy because of money. “The Great Gatsby”, “Tales of Jazz Era”, “The Curios Case of Benjamin Button”, “Tender is the Night”

John Dos Passos – “Three Soldiers” (psychological analysis), “U.S.A” – trilogy, “The Garbage Men”

John Steinbeck tried to uncover the reasons of social injustice; “The Grapes of Wrath”, “Of Mice and Men”

Ernest Hemingway was one of the best known Am. writers. His native city is Illinois. He did not stay there all his life, however. Cuba and Paris became his adopted homes. Of course he lived in the USA as well. Apart from this he undertook many expeditions to Africa where he hunted wild game. E.H. worked as a newspaper reporter. That is also why he was interested in public affairs. During the WWI he served in hospital unit. During the Spanish Civil War he remained in Spain as a war correspondent. His life was interesting and full of adventure. His work includes a social critique and the atmosphere of public life. He tended to naturalism.

He used a language that was concise, understandable as well as literary. His whole life was an inspiration for his work. “For Whom The Bell Tolls” - Spanish Civil War; “A Farewell to Arms” - military theme; “The Green Hills of Africa”; “Nick Stories”; “The Old Man and the Sea” - the setting of this novel is Cuba, the city of Havana and later on the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The action covers a very short period of time. The idea was the abidingness of human life and its timeless calling: man can be destroyed but not defeated. The author pointed out the human dependence on nature and the mutual permanent struggle between the two. According to E.H. it is not possible to gain mastery over nature. All this is symbolised by the positions of the little boy and the old man, the gap between generations, the search and discovery for something new. Man carries victory hidden inside him. In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

William Styron – “Sophie’s Choice” –about problems of Nazis concentration camps and conditions of human life in peace influenced by the bitter war experience

William Saroyan wrote short stories, novels, drama full of humanity, love of children, human relations; “Papa you are Crazy”

Joseph Heller – “Catch-22”
Ken Kessey- “One flew over the cuckoo´s nest”

John Irving – “The World According to Garp”; “The Cider House Rules”; “Widow for One Year”

Mario Puzzo – “The Godfather”

Toni Morrison – “Beloved”

Beat Generation

20th century poetry is famous for a group of poets and artists who gathered around 1956 in San Francisco and are called Beat Generation. The promoted new ways of free life, behaviour and new use of language. All of them used a lot of drugs, alcohol…

Allan Ginsberg - “The Howl”

Jack Kerouac –“On the Road”