"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix

"Obstacles are those scary things you see when you take your eyes off the goal." - Henry Ford

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Cultural Liberation p.749 - 751

The Roaring 20's brought on the dawning of a new era in literature as older writers died and as new ideas burst onto the scene. The new writers brought energy, imagination, and artistic qualities to literature. One such author, H.L. Mencken, also known as the "Bad Boy of Baltimore" wrote in American Mercury which attacked marriage, patriotism, democracy, prohibition, Rotarians, and middle-class Americans. He also attacked Puritans and the South.





























F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise which gained popularity amongst the young and The Great Gatsby.












Theodore Dreiser wrote An American Tragedy which told the story of a preganant working girl murdered by her lover.









Ernest Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms which told the story of his war experience.












Sherwood Anderson wrote of small town life in Winesburg, Ohio.

Sinclair Lewis wrote of women's unsuccessful war against provincialism in Main Street and wrote of George F. Babbitt, a real estate broker in Babbitt.

William Faulkner wrote Soldier's Pay as well as the books The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying.

Ezra Pound, a poet who greatly influenced T.S. Eliot, ditched America for Europe.

T.S. Eliot wrote "The Wasteland" and, like Pound lived in England.

Robert Frost, a native of San Francisco wrote of his adopted home in New Englans. ("Fire and Ice.")

E.E. Cummings blazed trails with his unique use of diction and typesetting.

Eugene O'Neil discussed Freud's concepts regarding sex in Strange Interlude. He also wrote more than a dozen productions and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1936.

The idea of "New Negro" (one who had full citizenship and social equality with whites) was manifested in the exultation of black culture by writers like Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Zora Neale Hurston and and by the jazz musicians Louis Armstrong and Eubie Blake.
For a video of Louis Armstrong performing When the Saints Go Marching In...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laPu34ndYVs&NR=1

American architecture took a change towards the new materialism and functionaility. City planning became common and Frank Lloyd Wright pioneered the concept that buildings should not imitate those of the Romans and the Greeks.

In 1931, the Empire State Building was built at the unfathomable height of 102 stories.

14 comments:

Hitchhiker007 said...

Really tall building. I love Jazz Music. Interesting and informative post

Matthew Riggle said...

Thank you for this section...as a scholars' bowler, I'm sure that a majority of these authors and works will be asked about at some point, and your blog post will help me to cement them in my mind. Personally, I think the 1920's literature might be pretty darn interesting, and hopefully (when I have ample free time...) I'll be able to read some of this stuff.

Brenna said...

This will make memorizing the authors and their repsective works easier, and thanks for the video :)

Andrew Viegas said...

The Empire State building is an impressive building and the buildings that emerged from the roaring twenties were inspiring. Also, the New Negro movements in jazz and literature were also inspiring. Though you had to do the most tedious section in the chapter, it was a nice post.

Nico Conforti said...

I, unlike Matthew, do not find this literature riveting or exciting in any way possible. However, you did get all the good authors in there, so nice job! The only part I actually liked was about the rising Empire State Building. Well done!

Nick! Tourville said...

Cool video! You did a good job of making a section that was basically a giant list more memorable.

BlackHawk said...

Zac, thanks for organizing all those authors. Those notes took a while. Your pictures are nice.

Reine said...

C'es Super! This section was terribly boring. I wish I had just gone on your blog BUT that would be cheating. So I didnt. Anyway thanks for consolidating all this information. I liked the Will Smith photo :) .

Reine said...

*C'est

Shane said...

This section contains a LOT of people, many of which I was familiar with only by name. Thanks for helping me organize my thoughts!

Ann Lawson said...

The problem with covering a topic superficially -- cramming all these great authors into a short section, is that it can be tedious because we don't really get a chance to sample them all in any depth. But maybe you'll keep these names in mind -- not just for scholar's bowl, though that's an excellent idea, but for reading at a later date. I agree that Zac did a good job presenting the information, and I also liked the link you included.

Brendan said...

Good storage for scholars' bowl like Mrs Lawson said, and it was a bit less dry than the book made it.

Anna said...

Excellent! I saw this section and was daunted at the prospect of taking notes on it, but you've done a super job :) Thanks for the summary!

Brent DeS said...

I thought that the American Mercury author was actually kind of awesome. The way that you presented the information in this section was nicely done, especially the Bad Boys poster. You have turned bright my dreary day.

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