American Literature in 20th and 21st centuries
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An Outline of American Literature (20th and 21st centuries) p. 1
After the World War I a group of writers known as the “Lost Generation” entered literature. They were influenced by the
war, their experience resulted in disillusionment.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1898 – 1961)
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main representative of the Lost Generation
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worked as a reporter. In World War I, he went to Europe as a volunteer and worked as an ambulance driver in Italy. In
1918, he was badly wounded in the leg and had to undergo operations. During the Spanish Civil War he was a war
correspondent in Spain. He loved Spain. He himself was much interested in fishing, hunting, boxing and bullfighting and
often wrote about the national Spanish sport corrida. In 1961 Hemingway committed suicide.
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His style of writing is excellent. Hemingway used simple words, his sentences are short, but they are often full of
emotion. (He could express emotion with few words). He is called a master of the pause. We can feel how the story
continues even during the pauses.
Can you explain the iceberg technique?
• Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for his famous book The Old Man and the Sea.
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Is is an allegory of human life; it is about Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far
out in the Gulf Stream. The story opens by explaining that Santiago has gone 84 days without catching any fish at all.
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Every evening, Santiago is visited by his former young apprentice, Manolin. Santiago tells him confidently that the
following day his unlucky streak will definitely end and he will finally catch a big fish.
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On the 85th day Santiago sets out and at noon a big marlin takes his bait.
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Santiago is unable to pull in the marlin and the fish is trying to free itself for 3 days. On the 3rd day the fish gets too
exhausted. After a long and patient fight, Santiago stabs the fish with a harpoon, straps it to the side of his boat (skiff)
and heads for home.
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While returning, the blood of the marlin attracts sharks and eat the fish down to the bones. When Santiago reaches
the shore, tourists laugh at him, but he does not complain. This is a sign of true heroism. The old man showed courage
in the fight and stoicism in defeat.
Among his best novels belong A Farewell to Arms – it is set during World War I and tells a love story of a young American
man who served in the Italian Ambulance Service and an English nurse. They escape to Switzerland, where there is no war.
But their happiness is destroyed when Catherine dies in childbirth.
• Another famous novel is For Whom the Bell Tolls and it is a psychological picture from Spanish Civil War.
• Other novels are Fiesta and Death in the Afternoon.
• Beside novels, Hemingway wrote many excellent short stories.
JOHN STEINBECK (1902 –1968)
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captured the period of the Great Depression in the 1930s. He won a Nobel Prize in literature.
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He often wrote about poor working‑class people and their struggle to lead a decentlife during the Depression.