Journal article 1287 views
“A ‘lost crowd’: Reconfiguring the Harlem Renaissance as a post-war “lost” generation”
Sarah Trott 
Comparative American Studies, Volume: 11, Issue: 4, Pages: 434 - 447
Swansea University Author:
Sarah Trott
Abstract
Traditionally, for black Americans the First World War did not signify the traumatic removal of traditional Victorian ideals, the end of any romantic notions of battle, or, as it would for white American literature, the disillusionment and alienation of a literary Lost Generation. Although experienc...
| Published in: | Comparative American Studies |
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| Published: |
2013
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa16519 |
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| Abstract: |
Traditionally, for black Americans the First World War did not signify the traumatic removal of traditional Victorian ideals, the end of any romantic notions of battle, or, as it would for white American literature, the disillusionment and alienation of a literary Lost Generation. Although experiencing continued racism upon their return, the recognition that black Americans had received in wartime France came to characterize a budding enthusiasm for the social prospects of the post-war era. Yet, many novels of the Harlem Renaissance certainly resonate with the disillusionment of the Lost Generation and similarly grapple with notions of war trauma and traumatic post-war (re)integration into a chaotic American society. This article therefore considers the endeavour to reconcile feelings of post-war national unity with the African American struggle for racial equality in the early twentieth century. By evaluating the analogous themes of alienation, masculinity and place represented by both the Lost Generation and Harlem Renaissance this paper seeks to highlight traumatic parallels between post-war literatures of two divergent “lost” generations. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Issue: |
4 |
| Start Page: |
434 |
| End Page: |
447 |