Literature of the 1920s—Writers Among the Ruins

Provides a fresh and comprehensive study of the variety of writing in the 1920's. By all accounts, the 1920s was a fascinating literary period, yet these accounts often differ widely in emphasis, and rarely do full justice to the variety of the period's writing or the complexity of its culture. Within this study, movements and individuals are examined against an era of rapid social and cultural change - brought on by factors such as the emancipation of women; the rise of mass culture; the advance of technology; conflicts of youth and experience; and the general sense of exhaustion and cultural collapse lingering since the Great War. Chris Baldick's volume offers a fresh historical focus, locating both significant works and general trends in their wider cultural and social contexts.

Chris Baldick is Professor of English at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has written several works of literary history including The Modern Movement (Oxford, 2004), along with the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (2008), and co-edited with Jane Desmarais Decadence: An Annotated Anthology (Manchester, 2012).