Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2021

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Deborah Barker

Second Advisor

Jay Watson

Third Advisor

Carline Wigginton

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to explore the ways in which Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald define the 1920s and, in particular, the American expatriate culture in Europe. Each author describes the culture of the “Lost Generation” in large part through alcohol consumption and dissipation. In their literary works, alcohol is portrayed as glamorous as well as destructive, as both curing and exacerbating post-WWI anomie. Through their chronicling of this era in fiction and nonfiction, each author memorializes their own participation in the culture along with their legendary consumption of alcohol. This study will concentrate upon selected short stories and nonfiction written about the 1920s, providing analysis regarding the conceptualizations of the dissipating effects of alcohol consumption. It will also explore the contrasting remedies Hemingway and Fitzgerald present for personal waste in their most highly regarded works written about and during this period: The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby. Hemingway illustrates reprieve from dissipation in individual subscription to the hero code, whereas Fitzgerald identifies a remedy in idealism and abstinence. Finally, in the nonfiction work A Moveable Feast, Hemingway presents Fitzgerald as a foil to his remedial code of heroic conduct.

Accessibility Status

Searchable text

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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