25/10 - Teaching the American Twenties

A source that may prove to be useful in my research is a section of the University of Texas website, the Harry Ransom Centre for the Humanities. A series of short articles entitled 'Teaching the American Twenties' is intended as a teaching resource, and includes information on Hemingway and his contemporaries (Stein, Pound, Elliot) and their war experience.

Contained in the sub chapter 'The Lost Generation' is a short explanation of the term and it's implications for both American literature and society after the war's conclusion. "In general, this generation was disillusioned by the large number of deaths in the War and rejected many of the previous generations' ideas of appropriate behaviour, morality, and gender roles." The concept of the emergence of alternate world-views and how they are expressed in Hemingway and his contemporaries's works is hinted at here. Furthermore, "The phrase 'Lost Generation,' . . . refers specifically to ex-patriot writers who left the United States to take part in the literary culture of cities such as Paris and London during the 1920s. This group, including [Gertrude] Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot, was skeptical about out-moded traditional forms of literary and artistic work, but optimistic about the potential of new forms.'

It is interesting to note that it is suggested in the article it was Stein herself who coined the phrase the 'Lost Generation,' and not Hemingway as it is widely held.

The piece also curiously suggests that Hemingway himself wanted to be a war hero (he was too young to enlist but volunteered as an ambulance driver in the American Red Cross), which may prove to be an interesting avenue to explore when commenting on Hemingway's personality and how it is reflected in his novels and letters.

The page can be found here and the relevant references here