The First World War and the Rise of Modern American Novel: A Survey of the Critical Heritage of American WWI Writing in the 20th Century

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to analyze the relationship between the First World War and the rise of modern American novel. The long-lasting impact of WWI has brought about a paradigm shift in people's belief system. For the young writers during and after WWI, the War has not only provided them with a change in their notion of war as a literary subject but also helped them realize the powerfulness of language. The skillful integration of a suitable subject and a useful tool results in the rise of modern American novel. This analysis is followed by a comprehensive survey of the critical heritage of American WWI writing in the 20th century, which shows the importance of WWI novels in the entire American literature of the 20th century. The eighty years from the end of the War to the end of the 20th century will be divided into four periods - each consists of approximately twenty years, with each period having its own critical focuses. While in the first two periods, criticism of war novels was mainly concentrated on either the political debates of war novels' truthfulness or the representativeness of the war writers, the third period is characterized by the thematic criticism and transnational studies, and the last period by linguistic-turning and gender-oriented critique.