The Lofty American Dream And The Gloomy Nightmarish Reality In Pre-War American Fiction
Abstract
Litterateurs and literature express Zeitgeist which is the quintessential accretion of all the political, economic ,social ,cultural and religious characteristics of a particular Age. American literature has revealed a tremendous influence of such contemporary factors and contemporary American fiction is considered to be ‘inseparable’ from the American Culture. The two have greatly shaped and influenced each other. The fiction of 20s and 30s portrays the splendid American dream -threatened and blasted by the overwhelming contemporary reality and challenging conditions of existence in America. This paper dwells on the pre-war ethos and scenario of America as reflected in these novels .It also explores the distinctive concerns and vision of the pre-war novelists as presented through their narratives and protagonists.
References
2. Brooks Wyck Van. On Literature Today . Dutton,1941,pp 14-15
3. Cowley, Malcolm. Exile’ s Return. Penguin Classics , 1994.
4.Faulkner,William. “ On Privacy.” Harper’s Magazine , July 1955, p 38.
5.Fitzgerald , Scott .F. This Side of Paradise. Charles Scribner’s Son, 1948 ,p. 287.
6.Gutwilling,Robert. “Dim Views Through Fog.” The New York Times Book Review, 13 November, 1960, p. 68.
7.Hassan, Ihab. Contemporary American Literature: 1945 -1972 . Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.,1973, pp.2-3.
-----------. Radical Innocence . Princeton University Press ,1971,p.75.
8. Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewll to Arms. Panther Books ,1977 , p.173.
9. Hoffman ,Frederick J. The Twenties: American Writing in the Postwar Decade. Callier Books, 1962. p.446.
10. Morris, Wright. The Territory Ahead. Harcourt Brace and Co.,1958.
11. Orwell,George. “ Inside the Whale. ” The Modern American Novel ,p.21.
------------------. Nineteen Eighty Four . Secker &Warburg. 1949, p.268.
12.Spengler, Oswald. The Decline of the West .Vol. 1,Vol 2. Abridged Edition .OUP,1991.
13.Toynbee, Arnold.J. A Study of History , OUP,1934.