america vs rest of world 1920-1939 literary rumble

[OzzyKP]

U S A! U S A! U S A!


..er, wait, we're talking about literature? Damn it.

*throws down giant foam finger*

I'm going home.

I shoulda known better when the beer man was selling tea....

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by molly bloom

And Langston Hughes and the other writers of the Harlem Renaissance.

Notably Zora Neale Hurston

Also active in this period is Richard Wright, though Native Son isnt published till 1940.

[lord of the mark]

Sinclair Lewis

John Dos Passos

Willa Cather

Nathaniel West

Raymond Chandler

Henry Roth

Eugene O'Neil

Edith Wharton (Age of Innocence is published in 1920)

Robert Frost

EE Cummings

[lord of the mark]

which side gets Ezra Pound and TS Elliot?

[lord of the mark]

Allan Tate and Robert Penn Warren, though Warrens major works were after WW2

[mrmitchell]

Does Upton Sinclair count? I think he was barely too early, although he was still in the spotlight in the 1920s and 30s although for politics instead of literature

[DerSchwarzfalke]

Sinclair Lewis -- Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith

Point for the Americans.

[Dr Strangelove]

Did Carl Sandberg write anything during that period?

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
F Scott Fitzgerald

The US had him, the rest of the world didn't

The rest of the world therefore wins.

[Agathon]

Shameful that only one person has mentioned Steinbeck. He is IMHO one of the finest writers of the 20th century when he's good (Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle).

[KrazyHorse]

Indeed.

Steinbeck and Hemingway are the two brightest US lights from the period...

[Sikander]

Next up the U.S. vs the rest of the world in cricket!

[Dr Strangelove]

Pass.

[lord of the mark]

lets add James Thurber and Ogden Nash

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Did Carl Sandberg write anything during that period?

Yes.


I think if Pound and Elliot are counted as Americans (and what else would we count Pound as? - Italian?) one could make a good case for America winning.

If we put Elliot on the other side, I suppose one could give the rest of the world the win - but certainly rest of the world doesnt "own" which is kind of extraordinary, seeing as this is BEFORE the period of post-1945 US cultural dominance.