CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE 1914- In the upper center a bomber overshadows the world of today. Beneath jt Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Wendell Willkie plead for “one world.” In the center bewildered humanity stands at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. At the bottom, right, sit Thomas Wolfe, William Faulk. ner, and John Steinbeck. Behind them, and farther to the right, Ernest Hem. ingway is sitting with Gertrude Stein at a table in a café in Paris. Above them are figures symbolizing various American sports and a movie screen. In the lower left-hand corner sits Van Wyck Brooks with Theodore Dreiser and Robert Frost on his left. Behind them, reading from left to right, are John Dos Passos, Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cather, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Above them is Carl Sandburg with his guitar. In the background are a printing press, a motion picture camera, and a streamlined locomotive. In the distance appear the towering buildings of modern American cities. ‘ &| CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE 1914-1948 Each age, it is found, » i tages itis found, must write its own books; o x succeeding, The books of an older period will 1 mgt ee ot fit this, Rain Warno Eawnsoy, The American Scholar.” ; more inception than there is now, oy more youth or age than there is now. eed a will never be any more perfection than there for any more heaven or hell than there is now Watt Wurratan, “Song of Myself" There was never any isnow, om the downfall of Napoleon in June, 1815, until August, 914, Europe enjoyed almost tury of comparative peace. In the late nineteenth century the vise of Germany as a great lustrial and military power threatened the dominance of Great Britain, whose navy con- led the seas. ‘There were ominous signs of approaching conflict, but few heeded them, en Austria attacked Serbia and Germany invaded Belgium, the universal feeling was one amazement, A new and strange era in world history had begun. As we look back, we now asa single epoch the two world wars and the uneasy years of peace that lay between them. final and complete defeat of Germany and Japan in 1945 marked the end of a historical iod and the beginning of another whose character is not yet fully revealed. This period the epoch of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars which lived through—or partway through—one of the great thinking, and writing bles in many red, It is evident now that we have lutions of history and that we cannot go back to old ways of living, ve would. Phe literature written during and be ges in literature do not occur as speed itably accompany or follow historical developmen ge part determined by social, economic, political, ily by the two great wars, the world-wide financial depres istori ‘ave given impetus and new direction to owers. Historical events have given impe' 1 endenci poder hat the literature of the period las had its part! dy under way. It is also true, however, ae ween the two world wars is coming into perspective. fly as clections or military campaigns, but they ts, The literature of our time has been ‘and military developments and par- sion, and the rise of the totali- literary tendencies fm fh Mh1 ee + social, economic, and political changes. Notable examples aTe the Wilson and Winston Churchill and—if we may call it Hterature jst ite ‘ bringing abou! of Woodrow Mein Kampf. 1 ntl the First World War actually broke out in the late summer of 1914, such a catayy, hhad seemed to the average American simply impossible. Optimistic and idealistic, yet rnd complacently ignorant of world affairs, Americans "8 te in the “law” of inevitable progress, a 0 forces of cvilization—education, religion, commerce, and treaties of supposed that the Jneck the armed forces would hold in cl of Europe. The resort to arms seemed like a reyen: to the Dark Ages. In time, as the issues became clearer, Americans found their sympayyja™ tre with England, France, and Belgium. Theodore Roosevelt, who had at first endorsed p.® ‘dent Wilson's plea for neutrality even in thought, began to clamor for war. Young Amer joined the French or British or Canadian armies Henry James, disgusted by Ameri ality, became a British subject. When the United Grates in April, 1917, dectared ae the great majority of Americans, true co their democratic heritage, hailed i Mt democracy, for the rights of small nations, and eyen 3. came in November, 1918, few Americans fel ge er weariness and disillusionment of Europeans who have been desperately fighting orn, believe that President Wilson would somehn, years. Most Americans were naive enough to be able to carry out in detail his fourteen-point program at Versailles. Men expected hi accomplish the impossible. Wilson himself made serious mistakes and succeeded only pany erican participation in the Leagy. in his aims, but the chief reason for his failure to secure Am of Nations was the ignorance and indifference of the American people. This country, vhig had momentarily departed from its traditional reluctance to become embroiled in Europea affats, quickly returned to its accustomed isolationism. In this mood of reaction, of wid Wilkon’s opponents took full advantage, a minority of Senators blocked our entry into League of Nations, for which Wilson had sacrificed much of his idealistic program. In theta of 1920 Warren G. Harding, a Republican, on a platform advocating a return to “normale” wwas elected President by a large majority. A period of intense and narrow nationalism had st in the world over. There was a widespread belief among American intellectuals that és mocracy had failed. After a period of prosperity and inflation, the Great Depression struck in October, 1989 Millions lost their savings in bank and stock market failures, and millions were thrown ot of work. President Herbert Hoover's measures failed to bring speedy relief. It was a fore conclusion that in 1932 the party in power would lose the election, and Governor Franklin) Roosevelt of New York won by an overwhelming majority. The new President took ofc March, nop few wees alter is eneny, AL ile, came to pover in Germany Rowe undertook a far-reaching program of , : p anal teing nan on frm Kwa ne oe Jeffersonian (and Emersonian) ideal of the les governmere ake, enn eee ae break of war, the national executive was entrusted by a willi a id Alexander Hamilton had never dreamed. Some of the meanest powers of were much-needed reforms; others were frankly cxpenireSttes sponsored by the New experimenter and something of an opportunist. Roosevelt’; sng ns nett President 1083 Germany, crusade for international order an: war to end war for all time, When the end better. Even before the 0 oe attitude of confidence and DF