I wonder why Theodore Dreiser, another close friend of Mencken’s, isn’t part of the picture here. There’s no question that his prose is often blunt and extremely inelegant. But the force of SISTER CARRIE, JENNY GERHARDT, THE FINANCIER and AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY is undeniable. Howells, Norris and Sinclair also built the tradition of American realism but Dreiser was its driving force.
Willa Cather is also pretty important, and another great writer. Like Fitzgerald and Dreiser, she came out of the midwest.
The later chapters of "Sister Carrie", namely the degradation and downfall of Hurstwood, are among the most tragic, most heart wrenching in American literature of the 20th century. I read the book only once many years ago, but those chapters have stayed with me. Realism at its absolute best, most stirring and insightful.
As a point of interest, I wonder if you’ve ever read A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES by Howells. It deals with the same transit strike that figured in Hurstwood’s downfall.
A word here (as I always think when the subject of Fitzgerald and the Romantics comes up) for Coleridge's 'Dejection: An Ode' - not, maybe, his very best stuff, but which does contain this very suggestive stanza:
My genial spirits fail;
And what can these avail
To lift the smothering weight from off my breast?
It were a vain endeavour,
Though I should gaze for ever
On that green light that lingers in the west:
I may not hope from outward forms to win
The passion and the life, whose fountains are within.
So rich this essay! I need to stew on it. One thing I found that was interesting in this era was the simultaneous publication of "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" by Anita Loos. It outperformed The Great Gatsby by leaps and bounds. And yet, it faded. But Lorelei Lee's wide-eyed ditziness is nothing less than a joy forever.--Michael Dirda Edith Wharton declared it "The great American novel." Just a surprising find.
This is great. What a work of art that novel is.
I wonder why Theodore Dreiser, another close friend of Mencken’s, isn’t part of the picture here. There’s no question that his prose is often blunt and extremely inelegant. But the force of SISTER CARRIE, JENNY GERHARDT, THE FINANCIER and AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY is undeniable. Howells, Norris and Sinclair also built the tradition of American realism but Dreiser was its driving force.
Willa Cather is also pretty important, and another great writer. Like Fitzgerald and Dreiser, she came out of the midwest.
The later chapters of "Sister Carrie", namely the degradation and downfall of Hurstwood, are among the most tragic, most heart wrenching in American literature of the 20th century. I read the book only once many years ago, but those chapters have stayed with me. Realism at its absolute best, most stirring and insightful.
As a point of interest, I wonder if you’ve ever read A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES by Howells. It deals with the same transit strike that figured in Hurstwood’s downfall.
I haven't. The only Howells I've read so far is "The Rise of Silas Lapham." So, so much great literature to read!
Thanks for this essay. Now I want to read Gatsby again.
Gorgeous, thank you
A word here (as I always think when the subject of Fitzgerald and the Romantics comes up) for Coleridge's 'Dejection: An Ode' - not, maybe, his very best stuff, but which does contain this very suggestive stanza:
My genial spirits fail;
And what can these avail
To lift the smothering weight from off my breast?
It were a vain endeavour,
Though I should gaze for ever
On that green light that lingers in the west:
I may not hope from outward forms to win
The passion and the life, whose fountains are within.
So rich this essay! I need to stew on it. One thing I found that was interesting in this era was the simultaneous publication of "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" by Anita Loos. It outperformed The Great Gatsby by leaps and bounds. And yet, it faded. But Lorelei Lee's wide-eyed ditziness is nothing less than a joy forever.--Michael Dirda Edith Wharton declared it "The great American novel." Just a surprising find.
Thanks for this essay. Now I want to read it again.
Glenway Wescott came out of the Midwest too, and William Maxwell, though he may be a bit later.