20th-century American writers

What will you learn?

Are you passionate about literature? And especially American literature? Well, this 20th-century American writers was made for you. Join us and discover the characteristics of American literature as well as the most famous American writers of all time! American Literature is one of the most famous kind of literature whose the best writers of all time are a part of. This lesson contains contemporary American writers' works of art, so don't miss it!

Most known 20th-century American novels

Talking about 20th-century American writers and literature would be impossible without thinking immediatly about Ernest Heminguay and his works. Hemingway was an American journalist, novelist and short story writer from Illinois. Famous to have received some notable awards as Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize. Some of his well known works are The old man and the sea (1951), The Sun also rises (1926), and For Whom the Bell tolls (1940) which inspired Metallica, whose their music of the same name, and numerous movie makers. The most known 20th-century American work may be The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. This novel was notably adapted into movies five times but the most known adaptation was probably the 2013 one in which Jay Gatsby was played by Leonardo Di Caprio. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession with the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. Then, the second-most known 20th-century American work is probably To Kill a Mockingbird which is a 1960 novel written by Harper Lee. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was 10 years old. The primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence.

Check our 20th-century American writers list to find out your favorite novel!