WWI's Impact on American and World Literature

Introduction: WWI as a Literary Catalyst

World War I was one of the most productive periods in literary history, with thousands of poets and authors emerging on the scene and each contributing tremendously to the growth of world literature. It is remarkable that while WWI was a deeply disturbing and largely horrifying experience for most countries, it inspired writers and poets around the globe, resulting in a significant expansion of literary output.

In England alone, more than 2,000 poets emerged during this period. As Harvey (1993) elaborates: "From the very first week, the 1914–18 war inspired enormous quantities of poetry and fiction. The claim that three million war poems were written in Germany in the first six months of hostilities is difficult to substantiate, but Catherine W. Reilly has counted 2,225 English poets of the First World War, of whom 1,808 were civilians. For example, William Watson (then an esteemed poet, today virtually forgotten) quickly decided that his war poems should be 'so much in evidence that people [would] be saying that W.W. is the real national poet in this crisis', and had sixteen different war poems printed in various newspapers in the first six weeks."

While WWI produced a vast number of poets and writers in every part of the world, most of these literary figures lived in anonymity after the war ended, with the exception of a few such as Ernest Hemingway and Edith Wharton. No single reason can be given for this dramatic reversal of fortune, but it is generally believed that the quality of their work contributed to their post-war obscurity.

The First World War had a profound impact on literature, giving birth to common literary characteristics in the fiction and poetry of the time. In the initial stages of the Great War, literature was particularly known for its patriotic themes, as writers and poets felt a sudden urge to protect and support their respective countries. With the passage of time, however, this feeling wore off as literary figures came to recognize the horrors, absurdity, and futility of war. The result was the growth of realist literature, as cynicism and disillusionment replaced patriotism. Poetry and fiction depicted horrific scenes of battle and of men dying without purpose. Some of the best work emerging from this period revealed the psychological impact of war on writers and poets, and WWI ultimately became the most influential literary event of the twentieth century.

The Pattern of American War Literature

In America, literature followed the same general pattern during these years, mirroring shifts in society and public opinion. Writers who had once urged the government to enter the Great War became aware of the blunder they had committed and turned staunchly against the conflict. Their work, in other words, was a fair reflection of society's changing opinion of war. It is notable that while previous American conflicts had not produced a comparable literary revolution, things changed dramatically during the Great War, as numerous authors and poets took on the task of voicing society's views and exposing the utter senselessness surrounding the conflict.

Granville Hicks (1967) discusses the pattern that American literature followed during this period in his book The Great Tradition: An Interpretation of American Literature since the Civil War:

"Just as the movement of revolt was the most vital political force in the first decade of the twentieth century, so the novel of revolt was the most important literary phenomenon. There were, to be sure, authors enough to satisfy the vanity of the successful, and authors enough to entertain all those who wanted to forget their troubles; but their books have served their purpose and rotted away. The work of the critical observers of American life, however, has remained, at least as an influence on our literature. For nearly fifty years novelists had failed to come to grips with the great economic and political movements, and suddenly a whole generation of authors appeared who accepted the challenge. Their attitudes, as diverse as those of their political counterparts, ran the gamut from mild reformism to revolutionary ardor. And as these various attitudes expressed themselves, it became possible to judge the value of each for the author who was trying to understand and re-create the life of his country and his era." (167–168)

Frank Norris's writings serve as an important example of how the Great War affected literature in America. His work highlights the central motif of Great War American literature: "the intensification of realism and the closer identification of realism with social purpose" (Hicks, 168). Realism thus became the most pronounced feature of Great War literature in America, as writers like Ernest Hemingway produced fiction focused on the horrors of war.

Realism and Social Purpose in Great War Fiction

Even the romantic novels of this period showed a marked influence of the war, capturing the agony of the conflict and the loneliness of those left behind when loved ones answered the call of duty. The broader shift toward realism and social critique reflected both the literary ambitions of individual authors and the collective trauma of a generation shaped by unprecedented industrial warfare.

Most women writers in America took up romance and memoir writing during this period. As Potter (1997) writes: "ROMANCE and memoir are by far the most common forms used by women writers during the First World War. Most of the authors are unknown to us now. The works themselves are not 'great literature', but they are of literary and historical interest for what they say about the place of women in, and their attitudes towards, the Great War." A typical WWI romance novel might read as follows: "He answered the Call to Arms at the beginning of the War; gained his commission and lost his leg at Ypres." She looks at him "and her heart swells with pride for him. It sinks with shame for herself. And she had thought herself so much wiser, so much better than the infatuated boy at whom she laughed." (Raitt and Tate, 1997)

Romance aside, World War I had a deep impact on all genres of fiction produced during and immediately after the conflict. The same holds true for poetry. Paul Fussell maintains that WWI profoundly influenced postwar poetry and cites T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land as an example, noting its dull landscape and the prevailing theme of death as signs of the war's influence. In American literature, even when a story was not directly concerned with war events, background imagery, symbolism, and other literary devices bore the imprint of the Great War.