Discussion Activity #1
Fifty thousand American soldiers died in what became known as “The Great War” and those who returned home shared the disillusionment of their European counterparts. Many wrote about the war in the years following. It seemed proof positive that the frightening trends of modernization, advances in science and technology in particular, had terrifying and unimaginably destructive consequences. T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land depicts the world as a place devoid of life or meaning, a waste land not unlike the stretches of ground that separated opposing armies, over which they meaninglessly fought and refought, moving a few yards forward, only to be driven back, move forward, and be driven back again. Reporting in Europe generally neglected to mention the carnage on the battlefields, and the public was largely unaware of the extent of the destruction and the comparatively small gains made in return for the thousands of lives lost in each battle. Both during and after World War I, European and American writers expressed disillusionment with the lofty ideals that had led them into battle. In Britain a number of young writers such as Wilfred Owen and Sigfried Sassoon wrote poetry in response to what they had seen on the battlefields of France. E. E. Cummings–who, like Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Anderson, served as an ambulance driver in France–wrote “next to of course god america i,” which questions the blind patriotism that young men like himself had been encouraged to feel. Their ideals shattered, young writers returning from war appeared to Gertrude Stein a “lost generation,” a generation whose worldview had been radically altered by the most horrifying and destructive war anyone had yet experienced. The work these writers produced demonstrates their belief in the world as an uncertain and often illogical place, and their fiction and poetry often employ a similarly disorienting structure. By breaking with traditions of narrative and poetic form, these authors attempted to capture in the very fabric of their writing the confusion and dislocation fostered by modernity. Consider how war is presently portrayed in our popular culture. What do you think influences societal beliefs about war? Compare and contrast the modernists’ reactions to WWI to how war is portrayed today
Discussion Activity #2
You are an editor at a large publishing house, and you have been asked to put together a book on Modernism for two age groups: ages 14-17 and ages 25-45. How will you present modernism to each of these groups? How will you use the modern poetry of Eliot and the fiction of Hemingway and Fitzgerald to explain the ideas behind modernism to them? How will you alter your presentation for different age groups? Use specific illustrations and examples to support your decisions.
Sample Solution
