Unpacking the Lost Generation

Helen Li

Professor Francine Masiello

Comparative Literature 60AC

September 14, 2016

Unpacking the Lost Generation

            When Gertrude Stein said to poet Ernest Hemingway, “You are all a lost generation,” she unknowingly coined a phrase that would come to define an entire subculture within the modernism movement. While more specifically pointing to the group of disillusioned, scarred writers that emerged from the trenches of World War I, the term “Lost Generation” more generally refers to the change in perspective in regards to war, heroism, and life overall.

            Like Ernest Hemingway and Wilfred Owen, almost all Lost Generation writers were veterans of the 1914 Great War. While some were not necessarily American themselves, their abilities to use the premature destruction of youthful soldiers to communicate themes of dehumanization, disillusionment, and existentialism struck a resounding chord in American culture.

            Upon returning from the trenches, many Lost Generation writers were familiar with not only the gore of World War I, but also the stigma surrounding affected soldiers. However, while the horrors of the front had slapped these writers with blunt reality, many civilians remained idealistic in their views of battle with romantic images of young men proudly striding into battle. The supposed glory and decorum of war rendered those at home oblivious the true harshness of the battlefront. Thus, veterans who returned with “war neurosis” and “shell shock” (now known as PTSD) were ostracized for being weak and disabled, leading to further feelings of disgrace and alienation.

A propaganda poster from World War 1 promoting the obligation to enlist (firstworldwar)

World War 1 soldiers waiting in the trenches. Do these men look glorious to you? (kinja)

            Consequently, ex-soldiers turned to writing as an outlet for the trauma they experienced on the battlefield, including Wilfred Owen in his poem “Dulce et Decorum Est.” Like most Lost Generation works, Owen’s use of commonly ugly, awkward, or depressing literary techniques starkly contrasts the public’s initial attitude of extreme veneration towards war. He opens the people’s eyes to the true battlefront, where soldiers are “trudg[ing]” rather than triumphing (Owen, 4), deaths are “guttering” rather than glorifying (Owen, 16), and memories are “smothering” rather than scintillating (Owen, 17). He ultimately declares that the expression “Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori,” a phrase with a sanctified attitude toward war, is nothing but a lie (Owen, 27-28).

With such drastic language and ideas, the Lost Generation went from describing several supposedly weak soldiers to encompassing a cultural movement composed of realism, candor, and brutal honesty. The emergence of more eye-opening poems like that of Owen’s drew further attention towards veterans and the psychological issues they faced upon return. The works of the Lost Generation served to connect marginalized ex-soldiers with their families and friends, catalyzing a desire to understand and even empathize. Although the term “post-traumatic stress disorder” would not be coined until after World War II, the Lost Generation and its works engendered a conversation about the psychological effects of war trauma.

            In a broader viewpoint, the efforts and struggles of the Lost Generation reflect those surrounding issues today. Much like how 21^st century minorities are dealing with the stereotypes surrounding race, gender, and class, the veterans of World War I had to tackle the various stigmas surrounding soldiers incapable of relinquishing the past. However, the Lost Generation and its works opened up a platform for these ex-soldiers to both explain and justify their disillusionments. Today’s actions taken to address societal problems through social media and protests mirror those of artists from the 1920’s. Ultimately, the Lost Generation still resonates in the 21^st century not just for its impact on society during the modern era of the 1920’s, but for its similarities to the struggles faced by the marginalized today as well. And even more so, the Lost Generation proved and still proves that motivation, words, and empathy work for in terms of creating conversation.

Dulce et Decorum Est

By Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Works Cited

Friedman, Matthew J. "History of PTSD in Veterans: Civil War to DSM-5." PTSD: National Center for PTSD. US Department of Veteran Affairs, 13 Aug. 2015. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.

Owen, Wilfred “Dulce et Decorum Est” The War Poetry Website. The War Poetry Website, n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.

Showalter, Dennis, ed. "Lost Generation: Did the Great War Create a “Lost Generation”?" US History in Context History in Dispute (2002): n. pag. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.

"World War I." History of PTSD. Wordpress, n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.

Photographs

http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/uk/slides/p_0006.jpg

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/n3mzmahboqu4lhmtgqkp.jpg