The Lost Generation (2 Parts)

Stein. Hemingway. Fitzgerald. Joyce. These are the names of some of the twentieth century's greatest literary artists. They are the American men and women living as expatriates in Paris in the 1920s. Influenced by modernity and devastated by the carnage of World War I, this "Lost Generation" produced the literary masterpieces that have become staples of American fiction. From The Great Gatsby to A Farewell to Arms, these works have are part of the flurry of activity centered around the cafes and boulevards of Paris in the post-war era. The Lost Generation would be useful for classes on American History, Literature, Poetry and Art. It is appropriate for high school and college.

Objectives
Students will learn about the period of artistic creativity that flourished among American expatriates in 1920s Paris. They will explore the classics of the era, as well as the personalities and larger-than-life figures of their authors.

• bohemia
• carnage
• cataclysm
• cohesive
• emulate
• enamored
• epicenter
• expatriate
• illicit
• irascible
• morass
• pinnacle
• polymorphous
• pompous
• venerable
• vernacular
• vignette

1. In the 1920s', dozens of American literary personalities flocked to Paris. Why did they leave the US?

2. Of all the places to go, the expatriates chose Paris. Why? What was the allure of the city?

3. Gertrude Stein labeled the writers and artists that came to Paris as the" Lost Generation." Why did she call them this?

4. What was the Lost Generation's claim to fame? What did they produce?

5. The members of the Lost Generation were trained in the European literary classics. How did these classics influence their writing?

6. Many of the expatriates had volunteered during World War I. What was the lure of the war for these Americans?

7. World War I was a war of terrific destruction and carnage. How did the Lost Generation react to the horrors of the war?

8. After World War I, the United States did not join the League of Nations, even though it was proposed by then-president Woodrow Wilson. Why did the US fail to join?

9. What was the reaction of the members of the Lost Generation to the failure of the US to join the League of Nations?

10. Because foreigners were not allowed to work in Paris, the expatriates depended on American money to finance their sojourn. Discuss the economics of the American economy that enabled them to remain in Paris for so long?

11. Describe the Artists' Ball. How did this ball define the lifestyles of the expatriates?

12. Salons have been a part of Parisian life for generations. Describe the concept of the Parisian salon and its role in art and literature.

13. The Lost Generation was part of the Parisian avant garde. What is the avant garde?

14. Discuss the role of Sylvia Beach and her bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, in the literary careers of the Lost Generation.

15. How did Ernest Hemingway become a major literary figure?

16. Discuss the differences between F. Scott Fitzgerald and the rest of the members of the Lost Generation.

17. What happened to the Lost Generation?

18. What is the legacy of the Lost Generation?

1. Create a collage highlighting the major literary and artistic works of the Lost Generation.

2. What was Paris like in the 1920's? Using the medium of your choice, create an artistic rendering of Paris in the 1920s.

3. Design a poster or broadside advertising the Artists' Ball.

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Primary Sources

• ERNEST HEMINGWEAY’S NOBEL PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH: Members of the Swedish Academy, Ladies and Gentlemen: Having no facility for speech-making and no command of oratory nor any domination of rhetoric, I wish to thank the administrators of the generosity of Alfred Nobel for this prize. No writer who knows the great writers who did not receive the prize can accept it other than with humility. There is no need to list these writers. Everyone here may make his own list according to his knowledge and his conscience. It would be impossible for me to ask the Ambassador of my country to read a speech in which a writer said all of the things which are in his heart. Things may not be immediately discernible in what a man writes, and in this sometimes he is fortunate; but eventually they are quite clear and by these and the degree of alchemy that he possesses he will endure or be forgotten. Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the of it, each day. For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with luck, he will succeed. How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help him. I have spoken too long for a writer. A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it. Again I thank you.

Air Dates

• August 16, 2004
• August 17, 2004
• January 20, 2005
• January 21, 2005