1920. Literature

Literature

"A Dill Pickle." Katherine Mansfield. New Zealand. 1920. Story. Reunited lovers. At first charmed, she is reminded of his faults and leaves him again. Pickle symbolizes the experience.

Age of Innocence. Edith Wharton. American. 1920. Novel. Satirical picture of social life in New York during the 1870s. "Tribal code" keeps lovers apart.

Beyond the Horizon. Eugene O'Neill. American. 1920. Play. Adventurous and prosaic brothers reverse attitudes toward life.

Bliss. Katherine Mansfield. New Zealand. 1920. Stories. Title story: perfect afternoon and life for a young wife. Then she discovers that her husband has been unfaithful.

"Dulce et Decorum Est." Wilfred Owen. British. 1920. Poetry. Ironic condemnation of war. It is not "sweet and fitting to die for one's country."

The Emperor Jones. Eugene O'Neill. American. 1920. Play. West Indies. Former Pullman porter sets himself up as emperor. Flees native revolution. Aboriginal fears.

Few Figs from Thistles. Edna St. Vincent Millay. American. 1920. Poetry. Sophisticated flippancy; youthful Bohemianism.

"Hugh Selwyn Mauberley." Ezra Pound. American. 1920. Poetry. Denunciation of civilization marked by war, commercialization of the arts and sexual sterility.

Main Street. Sinclair Lewis. American. 1920. Novel. Gopher Prairie. Heroine chafes at dullness, sterility of existence as the wife of a local doctor. Tries t make townspeople conscious of culture, refinement. Leaves, but returns to make peace.

Smoke and Steel. Carl Sandburg. American. 1920. Poetry. Attempt to find some kind of beauty in modern industrialism.

This Side of Paradise. F. Scott Fitzgerald. American. 1920. Novel. Honest and detailed description of the Jazz Age. Shallow, purposeless Princeton student. Fights in WWI, begins career in advertising--cynical, war weary, regretful. Not yet 30 years old. Record of "Lost Generation" in its college days.

Women in Love. D.H. Lawrence. British. 1920. Novel. Sequel to The Rainbow. Gudrun and husband = possessive, destructive relationship. Ursula and husband = ideal sensual union. Husband spokesman for Lawrence. Says the modern man allows passionate true self to be imprisoned by intellect. Need good, passionate marriage in which lovers recognize each other's true separateness. Minimum of plot and great deal of philosophical discussion.

Youth and the Bright Medusa. Willa Cather. American. 1920. Stories. Theme of artistic sensibility and talent. Includes "Paul's Case."

Kristin Lavransdatter (Trilogy). Sigrid Undset. Norwegian. 1920/22. Novels. Devout woman's life in Catholic Norway in 13th and 14th centuries.