In the 1920s, with the rise of modernism at the beginning of the century, modernism flourished, and imagism, symbolism, abstract philosophy and other poems emerged in large numbers. Pound (1885~ 1973), Vachel Lindsay (1879~ 193 1), Karlsand Berg (1878 ~1). The Waste Land (1922) by Eliot (1888~ 1965) is a milestone in modernist poetry. O 'Neill's plays (1888~ 1953) contain elements of realism and symbolism. Emperor jones (1920) and Hairy Ape (1922) show the alienation of the capitalist world through expressionism and symbolism. Faulkner (1897~ 1962), a representative of southern literature, described the depravity of bourgeois families by means of stream of consciousness in The Sound and the Fury (1929).
American left-wing literature was produced under the influence of the Russian revolution. Ten Days that Shocked the World by john reid (1887~ 1920) created American proletarian literature. Giovanetti praised Lenin's poems, Hysmans's novel Adventure (1927) and Smedley's Daughter of the Earth (1929).
During the Red 1930s, left-wing cultural groups and magazines appeared one after another. Important left-wing writers are: Gauld (1894~ 1967), a worker. His autobiographical novel The Jew Without Money (1930) wrote about the life and struggle of the proletariat for the first time. It has a profound influence on later American writers, such as Brown, the author of Iron City, and Latin American writers.
In addition, Conroy's novel The Proletarian (1933), Cantwell's novel The Abundant Land (1934) and Ross's novel Call It Sleep (1935). John howard lawson's play "March" (1936), the black writer langston hughes's poem "New Song" (1937) and the reportage of Si Nuo, Strong and Smedley are all representative works of proletarian literature. Malc (1908~) successfully created the image of party member in his novel Undercurrent (1940), and his Cross and Arrow (1944) is an anti-fascist masterpiece. Native Son (1940) written by black writer Wright (1902~ 1967) shows the revolutionary desire of black people. In the "Red 1930s", some realistic novels describing the struggle of working people were also included in left-wing literature, such as The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck and Dos Pazos (1896 ~ 65438+) (1902~ 1968). 19 19 (1932), making a lot of money (1936), and Caldwell's short stories.
In the late 1930s, left-wing literature was divided, but some writers still wrote anti-fascist masterpieces, such as Lewis's Can't Happen Here (1936) and Hailmann's Look at the Rhine (194 1).
Between the two world wars, Hemingway was the most outstanding writer (1899~ 196 1), and his The Sun Also Rises (1926) is the representative work of the "lost generation". Fitzgerald (1896~ 1940)' s Paradise on Earth (1920) and The Great Gatsby (1925) also sang lamentations about the disillusionment of the "American Dream".
After World War II, American literature appeared a very complicated situation, and various modernist literature came into being. Mailer (1923~) wrote the war novel The Naked and the Dead (1848) and published the American Existentialism Manifesto in White Black (1959). From the late 1950s to the 1960s, there appeared an anti-traditional "beat generation" in the United States. Representative works include Ginsburg's long poem Howl (1956) and Kerouac's novel On the Road (1957).
In the 1960s, black humorous stories were also popular in the United States, writing tragic scenery with funny style and exposing the irrationality of the world. Catch-22 by Heller (1923~) and Slaughterhouse Five by vonnegut (19 1) both reveal the inhumanity of war. The representative of American absurd drama is Albee (1928~), whose stories of the zoo (1959), American Dream (19 1) and Seascape (1975).
After World War II, under the influence of existentialism, American realistic literature gradually rose and returned after a "silent decade", and at the same time competed and infiltrated with various modernist literature. Saul Bello (19 15~) is deeply influenced by modernism, but his Humboldt Gift (1975) is a masterpiece of modern literature.
Malamud (19 14~)' s novels Shop Assistant (1957), Tenant (197 1), Dubin Biography (1977) Updike who wrote Rabbit, Run, Walker who wrote Storm of War, Oates, a female writer who wrote Wonderland, and Ellison Baldwin, a black writer, also reflected the reality.
The Glass Zoo (1945), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and The Cat on the Hot Tin Roof (1955) by playwright Tennessee Williams.