Topic 55: The Lost Generation: S. Fitzgerald, J. Steinbeck & E. Hemingway. The Narrative of W. Faulkner

“Lost Generation”: origin, traits

• “Lost Generation” refers to a group of American writers who came of age during WWI and became popular in the 1920-30s. Term coined by Gertrude Stein

  • The name comes from the disillusionment they felt upon the brutality of the war and the societal changes it wrought, struggling to find meaning in the post-war world

• Known for exploring themes such as

  • Disillusionment

  • Distancing from their homeland

  • Futile search for purpose

Historical and literary background of The Lost Generation

• WWI

• Wall Street Market Crash of 1929

• Roosevelt’s New Deal

WWI and how it affected The Lost Generation

The outbreak of WWI in 1914 marks a turning point. After its initial neutrality, America enters the conflict in 1917, resulting in a lifechanging impact in its society brought by the unprecedented scale of destruction and death, leading also to a questioning of traditional moral values and beliefs (influenced Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms)

The Wall Street Crash and how it affected The Lost Generation

• The Wall Street Crash led to the Great Depression, a decade-long economic crisis that left millions of Americans unemployed and poor

  • This influenced writers such as Steinbeck and Wright, who depicted the harsh realities of this era

The New Deal and how it affected The Lost Generation

• In response to the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt implemented the New Deal, a series of programs and reforms aimed at providing relief, recovery and reform. This marked a shift in the government’s involvement with its citizens, taking a greater responsibility

  • Writers of this era were influenced by the New Deal’s focus on social justice and the common good, seen in themes of solidarity and collective action in the works of authors like Steinbeck

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (Life)

• Born in Minnesota in a middle-class family (1896)

• In 1915 he enrolled in Princeton University, but left in 1917 to join the army. He was never deployed overseas, to his disappointment

• He was briefly engaged to Zelda Sayre, but she cancelled it due to Fitzgerald’s lack of financial stability and success as a writer

• Life greatly defined by his tumultuous marriage to Zelda (marked by alcoholism, mental issues)

• In 1937 Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood to work as a scriptwriter, where he began a new romantic relationship.

• He started his last novel, The Last Tycoon, inspired by his experiences in Hollywood, but died of a heart attack in 1940, leaving it unfinished

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (Themes)

• Deeply intertwined with his personal experiences and the historical context of the Jazz Age

  • Premonitions of disaster (believing that this era of pleasure would end in tragedy)

  • Hedonistic excesses of the 1920s

• This Side of Paradise

  • Essence of the Lost Generation: young people disillusioned by the Great War, left with no more heroes or guiding principles

• The Great Gatsby

  • Poignant exploration of the American Dream’s failure

  • Gatsby as a tragic hero, embodies misguided idealism and self-made success myth

  • Dramatic social dynamics of prohibition, gangsterism and a sense of being uprooted

• Tender is the Night

  • Autobiographical elements

  • The protagonist’s promise is destroyed by dissipation and his wife suffers a series of nervous breakdowns

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (Themes)

• Integration of symbolism (to convey multiple truths and as an agent of delusion) and psychological realism

• A subtly complex language, with calculated use of colour, verbal patterns and repetitions to add depth to his characters

John Steinbeck (Life)

• Born in California to a modest household, completed his education locally

• Attended Stanford University, but he did not complete his degree, choosing instead to work odd jobs, which enriched his understanding of the working-class American life he would later portray in his novels

• His initial attempts at getting published failed.

• He wrote his first novel, Cup of Gold (1929) during this period. Unfortunately, the coincidence with the Wall Street crash made it hard for newer authors to gain traction

• However, Steinbeck kept writing. He won significant respecta and accolades through his fourth novel, Tortilla Flat (1935)

• During his flourishing career, Steinbeck wrote compelling narratives that explored themes of social injustice, poverty and the human condition, many of which were successfully adapted to the big screen, including The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and East of Eden (1962)

• During WWII he served as a writer for the United States Air Force. He was also stationed in London, where he worked as a journalist

• In 1962 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

John Steinbeck (Themes)

• Deeply influenced by his naturalist perspective and his empathy for the marginalised members of society

• Often explored forces beyond human control, such as nature, fate and social injustice, which shaped his characters’ lives and destinies

• Fear, sex, natural disasters and the evils of capitalism driving the actions of his characters and highlighting their helplessness in the face of them

• Exploration of the beast within man, highlighting primal and darker aspects of human nature (seen in novels such as Of Mice and Men (1937))

• In The Grapes of Wrath (1938) Steinbeck criticises the triumph of urbanisation over agrarian life. It expresses a populist faith in the common people and deep sympathy for the plight of farm workers, serving as powerful commentary on the exploitation brought by the Great Depression

• Fascination with the diverse ethnic groups in America, particularly those in his home region of California (Mexican farmworkers, Italian fishermen, etc.)

  • Steinbeck admired those who struggled against societal injustices, and so his novels (such as Of Mice and Men), feature marginalised characters deprived of their rights

• During WWII his work takes on a more overtly political tone, a seen in works like Bombs Away (1942). In them he reflects his bitterness towards the social elements that made the horrors of war possible, particularly focusing on the greed and corruption that led to conflict

John Steinbeck (Style)

• A prose with notable poetic quality, which sets him apart from other naturalist writers

• Synthetic folklore, mixing myth and reality to paint large, evocative portraits of the national spirit

• Rural and illiterate heroes imbued with nobility and depth

• Meticulous research and documentation to ensure faithfulness (but he also simplifies characters and idealises certain qualities)

• Scenes with great cruelty and passion

• Characters often use profanities and exhibit rough behaviour, but a sentimentalism is felt in his works, which some critics argue is a potential weakness that risks overshadowing the social content of his novels

Ernest Hemingway (Life)

• Born in Chicago, greatly influenced by his father, a doctor and sportsman, who instilled in Hemingway a love for the outdoors and sport. His formative years included hunting trips, a notable influence in his works

• He volunteered as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front during WWI, which profoundly impacted his worldview and writing, infusing his work with themes of courage and the futility of war

• He worked as a war journalist in the Near East and Europe, broadening his writing and cultural perspectives. When he settled in Paris he became part of the Lost Generation. This period became pivotal to his development as a writer, providing him with inspiration and connections that fuelled his career

• Hemingway’s international acclaim came with the publication of three novels: Fiesta (aka The Sun Also Rises) (1926), Men Without Women (1927) and A Farewell to Arms (1929). These works, characterised by their spare prose and exploration of disillusionment, solidified his reputation as a masterful storyteller

• His life mirrored his art, as he engaged in adventurous pursuits such as bullfighting, big-game hunting and deep-sea fishing

• He visited Spain during the Civil War, an experience that informed his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), a narrative about sacrifice against the backdrop of the war

• In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his mastery of narrative art, exemplified in works such as The Old Man and the Sea (1952), the struggle between an old fisherman and a giant marlin

Ernest Hemingway (Themes)

• Hemingway was a key voice for the Lost Generation.

• He frequently explored war’s devastating impact, treating it as a profound disaster

• In The Sun Also Rises (1926) he examines the moral collapse of a group of expatriated Americans and Englishmen shattered by the war. These characters seek escape through violent diversions, reflecting their inner turmoil and the war’s lingering psychological scars

• Another prominent theme is the Spanish Civil War, as seen in For Whom the Bell Tolls. In it he explores the loss of liberty in one place as a universal threat to freedom

• Hemingway was more interested in the authenticity of defeat rather than victory. He believed that, inevitably, all men face defeat and the ultimate test of character is how one confronts death. This perspective is explored in Death in the Afternoon, where he explores bullfighting not as a sport, but as a ritualistic encounter with mortality

Ernest Hemingway (Style)

• Prose characterised by economy and understatement, often referred to as the Iceberg Theory or Theory of Omission. That is to say, that the deeper meaning of a story should not be evident on the surface, but should shine through implicitly

• Critics sometimes argue that Hemingway handicaps himself by focusing on violent action rather than intellectual depth, but his belief aligns with the raw, unspoken truths of human experience.

• His characters often say little but convey much through their actions and silence

• Hemingway excelled in dialogue creation, replicating authentic speech patterns and dialects, as seen in his ingenuous translations of Spanish speech into English

William Faulkner (life)

• Born in Mississippi to a family with a notable Southern heritage, which would later permeate Faulkner’s work. He was not particularly successful academically during his school years

• When the US entered WWI, he was rejected by the US Army due to his height and instead enlisted in the Canadian Flying Corps

• After the war he lived in New Orleans, where he started his writing career as he took a job in a newspaper

• He briefly lived in Europe, like many of his contemporaries

• In 1926 he returned to Mississippi and devoted himself entirely to writing, a prolific time in his life where he wrote some of his most significant works. He supplemented his income by working for film studios such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

• In 1949 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and a Pulitzer Prize in 1955

William Faulkner (Narrative)

• His style is renowned for its complexity and depth, setting him apart as one of the most innovative writers of his time

• Multi-layered narrative approach, multiple perspectives, fragmented storytelling and interplay of time and memory

• One of his hallmark techniques is the use of multiple narrators, as seen in Absalom!, Absalom!, featuring various perspective across time, challenging the reader to piece together the story much like solving a jigsaw puzzle

• Another is the manipulation of time, intertwining present action with retrospective accounts, as seen in Light in August (1932). This creates a dynamic tension between the past and the present, emphasising the influence of history on present actions

• He also employed a stream of consciousness technique, presenting the feelings and thoughts of characters in a fragmented and non-linear fashion. This is seen in As I Lay Dying (1939), featuring 59 sections with each a first-person account from one of 15 characters, allowing for a diverse range of perspectives and psychological depth to the narrative

Relevance of the topic in the classroom

Curriculum Element	Topic 55 Contribution
Specific Competences	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Key Competences	CCL, CP, CPSAA, CC, CD, CCEC (especially CCEC)
Operating Descriptors	Comprehension strategies, literary production, turn-taking, mediation, plurilingual awareness
End-of-Stage Profile	Effective communication in diverse contexts; cultural appreciation; critical thinking
Basic Knowledge	Conceptual (Lost Generation, Jazz Age, Great Depression, New Deal), Procedural (analysis, interpretation), Attitudinal (respect for cultural diversity)
21st Century Challenges	Globalisation, Digital Transformation, Education, Inequalities, Migration, Sustainability
SDGs	4, 8, 10, 16