American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920

A proactive, in-depth investigation of essential themes, formats, and institutions in 1910s American literature and culture, counterpointing continuity and innovation.

This book considers the birth of modern American literature through fresh interpretations of authors including Frost, Cather, Stein, and Wharton. Yet the volume construes 'literature' variously, leading to explorations of jazz, film, and political writing. Topics such as the color line, eugenics, Indian country, revolution, and war facilitate exploration of both continuity and change.American Literature in Transition, 1910–1920 offers provocative new readings of authors whose innovations are recognized as inaugurating Modernism in US letters, including Robert Frost, Willa Cather, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, H. D., and Marianne Moore. Gathering the voices of both new and established scholars, the volume also reflects the diversity and contradictions of US literature of the 1910s. 'Literature' itself is construed variously, leading to explorations of jazz, the movies, and political writing as well as little magazines, lantern slides, and sports reportage. One section of thematic essays cuts across genre boundaries. Another section oriented to formats drills deeply into the workings of specific media, genres, or forms. Essays on institutions conclude the collection, although a critical mass of contributors throughout explore long-term literary and cultural trends - where political repression, race prejudice, war, and counterrevolution are no less prominent than experimentation, progress, and egalitarianism.