The Jazz Age in Modernism
Gangsters. Flappers. Speakeasies. Bathtub gin. Sexual freedom. Oh, yeah, and hot, hot jazz music: the 1920s was a time for pushing the envelope in all ways possible.
Jazz was considered the first truly American art form. It represented not just a form of music but an entire way of life: a diverse and freeing alternative to stuffy Edwardianism.
History time: jazz marks the merging of African-American culture into the mainstream of American culture. Because of vicious Jim Crow laws thousands of African Americans left the economically depressed American South for urban centers in the Northeast and Midwest. African Americans brought with them culture that prompted the rise of jazz music. Jazz clubs (like the Cotton Club in Harlem) allowed musicians like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and many others to gain fame.
But jazz itself was only part of the Jazz Age. There was also alcohol. Or, more specifically, there was no alcohol… no legal alcohol, that is. The 18th Amendment, passed in 1920, put a stop to legal distribution of the strong stuff, but opened the door to bathtub gin and smuggled Canadian whiskey.
People left the bars and headed into speakeasies, and private parties like those described in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby ruled the day. And here's the weird, awesome thing: this meant that women could play the drinking game as well. Bars had traditionally been men only, but illegal speakeasies couldn't be so choosy. That meant that women got to throw back a few with the menfolk, for the first time in history.
Chew On This
The Great Gatsby is considered the quintessential text on the Jazz Age. We've seen that Modernism for many of the writers and artists of the period aims to leave the past behind. Where does this novel stand on this issue?
The writers of the Harlem Renaissance are often considered separate to Modernism. But they're responding to some of the same cultural phenomena that inspired other writers of the period. What do the writers of the Harlem Renaissance have in common with Modernists? How are they different?