American literary modernism is usually characterized by a shift in American culture during the interwar period. While the movement is often reduced to a handful of authors and texts, as students in ENG 356 (American Literature 1914-1945) at the University of Portland, we attempt to challenge the traditional conception of modernism and recuperate instead a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of American culture during this period. We examine canonical texts, but through alternative lenses, while at the same time looking to new frameworks for understanding the movement, such as an exploration of urbanism, food studies, and identity. Based on extensive historical research and textual engagement with modernist literature, we have compiled sources appropriate for an expansive examination of this American literary era. The essays provided offer insight into American modernism based on close readings, historicist analysis, and literary criticism. With this site we hope to highlight the facets of American modernism needed to more fully represent the time period. We intend to contribute to the contemporary critical effort to expand the traditional canon of American literature.
Our illustrious site editors: ENG 356: American Literature 1914-1945, University of Portland, Fall 2014, Prof. Jen McDaneld
Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the hypercanonical faces of American modernism
Nella Larsen, author of the novels Passing and Quicksand
A representation of the Harlem Renaissance
An African-American soldier and two white soldiers pose for a photograph during World War I.
“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.” -Ezra Pound
themodernismproject 