Unit 5: Harlem Renaissance & Modernism

1910-1940

Your notes - Quiz1. WWI lasted from what year to what year?2. What amendment gave women the right to

vote?3. What specific event brought the good times

of the roaring 20’s to an end?4. In what decade did the roaring 20’s take

place?5. Which president pledged to give the country

a “new deal.” BE SPECIFIC!6. Did you take notes for this quiz?7. What breed of puppies did I just adopt?

Questions of the Times1. What is MODERN? Why do we always want to

be “cutting edge”?2. Can ideals survive catastrophe?3. How can people honor their heritage?4. What drives human behavior? (Focus on

UNCONSCIOUS rather than impact from social/environmental factors like naturalism)

Modernism The Video The History of American Literature:

America's Wartime Literature and Post-war Reflections

This video discusses the writers of twentieth-century America, specifically the years before, during, and after World War I and II. The effects of the Depression sparked change throughout society, and by the end of World War II, the United States was the most powerful nation in the world. The program details the changes and struggles people had to face and how these challenges had an impact on literature.

Historical Context (Discovery Ed Video) A world at war

WWI = the “great” war 1914-1918 End of idealism, massive deaths, era of corruption,

hedonism, ruthless business practice The Jazz Age

Escape f/reality = jazz, drinking, dancing, entertainment! Youth voice, women more feminist, 1920 = 19th Am.,

flappers, Prohibition (1920-1933) The Great Depression

Crash of 1929, unemployment by 1933 = 25% The Dust Bowl, drought in 1930s The New Deal, FDR

North Carolina Unemployment

Michigan Unemployment

Depression Average rate of unemployment Great

Depressionin 1929: 3.2%in 1930: 8.9%in 1931: 16.3%in 1932: 24.1%in 1933: 24.9%in 1934: 21.7%in 1935: 20.1%in 1936: 16.9%in 1937: 14.3%in 1938: 19.0%in 1939: 17.2%3

Cultural Influences Mass media – how did this change

EVERYTHING? Mass production New ideas – stream of consciousness,

Marxism, Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Modern Lit & Harlem Ren. New Poetry

VERY vocal Voiced concerns of many different groups/people

Modernism direct response to the social and intellectual forces

shaping the 20th century. Experiment w/language Saw mass society as a threat to art & literature Experimentation was a distinguishing characteristic

of these writers

New Ideas in Writing Imagism: poetry is most profoundly expressed

through the “rendering of concrete objects.” Ezra Pound called this kind of poetry imagism because it sought to re-create an image—not comment on it, not interpret it, but just present it. Often academic, allusion.

More free verse (poetry without a predictable rhyme or metric s

In response to imagism’s complex ideas and academic references, new movement called objectivism, in which poets let the objects they rendered speak for themselves. Think of this like word art.

More… Modern Short Story

The Age of the Short Story, popular due to lack of interest in reading.

Growth of magazines Some went with short, fragmented stories,

multiple perspectives, etc. Negative sides of society

Harlem Renaissance Great Migration north for Af-Americans Black & white literary masters gathered together Some formal, some informal

Harlem Renaissance – 3 video segments Began in 1916, went thru the 20’s Great Migration Ethnic enclaves nurtured pro-heritage artistic

spirit Called “the New Negro,” sophisticated, well-

educated African American with strong racial pride and self-awareness.

Journalism Reporting, more to news than scandal Magazines on the rise