MOD - The Lost Generation Lesson
The Lost Generation Lesson
As you learned in the first lesson of this module, the "Lost Generation" was a term applied to the generation of men and women who came of age during World War I. Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were both part of the Lost Generation, and both primarily wrote fiction rather than poetry. We will study Fitzgerald and his great American novel, The Great Gatsby, next, but for now, it's time to turn to the short fiction of Ernest Hemingway.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Ernest Hemingway began his writing career as a newspaper journalist in Kansas City, right after high school. This early training in short sentences, concise prose, and precise words would influence his fiction writing for the rest of his life. During World War I he served as a volunteer ambulance driver and was wounded, leading to a familiarity with hospitals that he would later use in his fiction. During the twenties, Hemingway became an expatriate, which he describes in his first book, The Sun Also Rises. His other works were equally as successful: A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea.
Please view the Discovery Education video about Hemingway, which is linked below. Pay attention to the information about how his time in the war affected his later writings. Hemingway was a sportsman himself, and most of the protagonists he created are tough men: soldiers, hunters, bullfighters: with a lot of courage and honesty but who feel lost in modern society and are driven to despair and a loss of faith.
Hemmingway Video Link Links to an external site. (see instructor for current Discovery Ed password)
Reading Assignment: "In Another Country"
It is now time to read one of Hemingway's short stories, "In Another Country." As you read, look for Modernist themes and situations. Use the reading guide, also linked below, to check your comprehension.
"In Another Country" Text Link Links to an external site.
"In Another Country" Reading Guide Link Download "In Another Country" Reading Guide Link
RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.