Aids to Comprehension

"The Sad Young Men" and "the Lost Generation" refer to the same group of people. The first name was created by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book All the Sad Young Men and the second by Gertrude Stein. These names?names were applied to the disillusioned intellectuals and aesthetes of the years following World War I, who rebelled against former ideals and values, but could replace them only by despair or a cynical hedonism. The remark of Gertrude Stein, "you are all a lost generation, addressed to Hemingway, was used as a preface to the latters novel, The Sun Also Rises, which brilliantly describes an expatriate group typical of the"Lost Generation.

The essay "The Sad Young Men"is a piece of expository writing by two American writers explaining a certain period in American literary and social history. It focuses especially on the attitudes and revolt of the young people who returned from World War I, disappointed and disillusioned. In this revolt the young intellectuals, writers and artists, stood in the van and were the most vocal group. Many of these intellectuals lived abroad, especially in Paris, as expatriates, but most of them later returned to the United States voluntarily. These intellectuals were called"Sad Young Men, "or"the Lost Generation, "because they were critical and rebellious. However, they were never lost because they were also very creative and productive and as this essay says: "gave the nation the liveliest, freshest, most stimulating writing in its literary experience.

The structural organization of this essay is clear and simple. The essay divides logically into paragraphs with particular functions: to introduce the subject (introduction) in Paragraph 1, to support and develop the thesis (the body or the middle)in Paragraphs 2 through 9, to bring the discussion to an end(conclusion)in Paragraphs 10 and 11.

In "The Sad Young Men, "Horton and Edwards state their thesis in the last paragraph of the essay: "The intellectuals of the Twenties, the sad young men, as F. Scott Fitzgerald called them, cursed their luck but did not die: escaped but voluntarily returned: flayed?the Babbitts but loved their country, and in so doing gave the nation the liveliest?freshest, most stimulating writing in its literary experience.

They support their thesis by providing historical material concerning the revolt of the younger generation of the Twenties in a series of paragraphs and paragraph units between the introduction and the conclusion. Each paragraph or paragraph unit develops a new but related aspect of the thought stated in the thesis. Frequently the first sentence of these middle paragraphs states clearly the main idea of the material that follows and indicates a new but related stage of the developing thought. For example:

The rejection of Victorian gentility was, in any case, inevitable (Paragraph 3)

The rebellion started with World War 1.(Paragraph 5)

Greenwich Village set the pattern (Paragraph 7)

Meanwhile the true intellectuals were far from flattered. (Paragraph 9)

In "The Sad Young Men, "the first paragraph is introductory. Horton and Edwards begin by mentioning the interest in the twenties by young people today. In addition,they discuss the questions that present-day students are asking their parents and teachers: Was there really a Younger Generation problem? Were young people really so wild? Their answers are yes and no.

Rod W. Horton: Rod W(William)Horton was born in 1910 in White Plains, N. Y. He taught in New York University, N. Y, as instructor(1937-1945), assistant professor (1945-1949), and associate professor of general literature (1947-1957). He worked for United States Information Service, in Brazil and Portugal as cultural affairs officer(1957-1964). He was a professor of English at Temple Buell College (formerly Colorado Women's College), Denver, Colorado from 1964 and a visiting professor at University of Brazil (1954-1956)and University of Coimbra(1961-1964). Publications include (with Herbert W. Edwards )Backgrounds of American Literary Thought(1952),(with Vincent F Hopper)Backgrounds of European Literature(1954).

Herbert W. Edwards: Co-author of Backgrounds of American Literary Thought.

No aspect of life in the Twenties has been more commented upon and

sensationally romanticized than the so-called Revolt of the Younger Generation.

The slightest mention of the decade brings nostalgic recollections to the

middle-aged and curious questionings by the young: memories of the deliciously

illicit thrill of the first visit to a speakeasy, of the brave denunciation of

Puritan morality, and of the fashionable experimentations in amour in the

parked sedan on a country road; questions about the naughty, jazzy parties, the

flask-toting "sheik," and the moral and stylistic vagaries of the

"flapper" and the "drug-store cowboy." "Were young

people really so wild?" present-day students ask their parents and teachers.

"Was there really a Younger Generation problem?" The answers to such

inquiries must of necessity be "yes" and "no" "Yes" because the business of growing up is always accompanied by a Younger Generation Problem; "no" because what seemed so wild, irresponsible, and immoral in social behavior at the time can now be seen in perspective as being something considerably less sensational than the degenerau on of our jazz mad youth.

Actually, the revolt of the young people was a logical outcome of conditions in

the age: First of all, it must be remembered that the rebellion was not

confined to the Unit- ed States, but affected the entire Western world as a

result of the aftermath of the first serious war in a century. Second, in the

United States it was reluctantly realized by some- subconsciously if not openly that our country was no longer isolated in either politics or tradition and that we had reached an international stature that would forever prevent us from retreating behind the artificial walls of aprovincial morality or the geographical protection of our two bordering oceans.

The rejection of Victorian gentility was, in any case, inevitable. The booming of American industry, with its gigantic, roaring factories, its corporate impersonality, and its largescale aggressiveness, no longer left any room for the code of polite behavior and well-bred morality fashioned in a quieter and less competitive age. War or no war, as the generations passed, it became increasingly difficult for our young people to accept standards of behavior that bore no relationship to the bustling business medium in which they were expected to battle for success. The war acted merely as a catalytic agent in this breakdown of the Victorian social structure, and by precipitating our young people into a pattern of mass murder it released their inhibited violent energies which, after the shooting was over, were turned in both Europe and America to the destruction of an obsolescent nineteenth-century society.

Thus in a changing world youth was faced with the challenge of bringing our

mores up to date. But at the same time it was tempted, in America at least, to

escape its responsibilities and retreat behind an air of naughty alcoholic

sophistication and a pose of Bohemian immorality. The faddishness , the wild

spending of money on transitory pleasures and momentary novelties , the hectic

air of gaiety, the experimentation in sensation? sex,

drugs, alcohol, perversions were all part of the pattern of escape, an escape made possible by a general prosperity and a post-war fatigue with politics, economic restrictions, and international responsibilities. Prohibition afforded the young the additional opportunity of making their pleasures illicit , and the much-publicized orgies and defiant manifestoes of the intellectuals crowding into Greenwich Village gave them a pattern and a philosophic defense for their escapism. And like most escapistsprees, this one lasted until the money ran out, until the crash of the world economic structure at the end of the decade called the party to a halt and forced the revelers to sober up and face the problems of the new age.

The rebellion started with World War I. The prolonged stalemate of 1915? 1916, the increasing insolence of Germany toward the United States,

and our official reluctance to declare our status as a belligerent were

intolerable to many of our idealistic citizens, and with typical American

adventurousness enhanced somewhat by the strenuousjingoism of Theodore Roosevelt, our young men began to enlist under foreign

flags. In the words of Joe Williams, in John Dos Passos' U. S. A., they

"wanted to get into the fun before the whole thing turned belly up."

For military service, in 1916 1917, was still a

romantic occupation. The young men of college age in 1917 knew nothing of

modern warfare. The strife of 1861 1865 had popularly become, in motion picture and story, a magnolia-scented soap opera, while the one hundred-days' fracas with Spain in 1898 had dissolved into a one-sided victory at Manila and a cinematic charge up San Juan Hill. Furthermore, there were enough high school assembly orators proclaiming the character-forming force of the strenuous life to convince more than enough otherwise sensible boys that service in the European conflict would be of great personal value, in addition to being idealistic and exciting. Accordingly, they began to join the various armies in increasing numbers, the "intellectuals" in the ambulance corps, others in the infantry, merchant marine, or wherever else they could find a place. Those who were reluctant to serve in a foreign army talked excitedly about Preparedness, occasionally considered joining the National Guard, and rushed to enlist when we finally did enter the conflict. Sotremendous was the storming of recruitment centers that harassed sergeant sactually pleaded with volunteers to "go home and wait for the draft, "but since no self-respecting person wanted to suffer the disgrace of being drafted, the enlistment craze continued unabated.

Naturally, the spirit of carnival and the enthusiasm for high military adventure were soon dissipated once the eager young men had received a good taste of twentieth- century warfare. To their lasting glory, they fought with distinction, but it was a much altered group of soldiers who returned from the battlefields in 1919. Especially was this true of the college contingent, whose idealism had led them to enlist early and who had generally seen a considerable amount of action. To them, it was bitter to return to a home town virtually untouched by the conflict, where citizens still talked with the naive Fourth-of-duly bombast they themselves had been guilty of two or three years earlier. It was even more bitter to find that their old jobs had been taken by the stay-at-homes, that business was suffering a recession that prevented the opening up of new jobs, and that veterans were considered problem children and less desirable than non-veterans for whatever business opportunities that did exist. Their very homes were often uncomfortable to them; they had out growntown and families and had developed a sudden bewildering world-weariness which neither they nor their relatives could understand. Their energies had beenwhipped up and their naivete destroyed by the war and now, in sleepy Gopher Prairies all over the country, they were being asked to curb those energies and resume the pose of self-deceiving Victorian innocence that they now felt to beas outmoded as the notion that their fighting had "made the world safe for democracy." And, as if home town conditions were not enough, the returning veteran also had to face the sodden, Napoleonic cynicism of Versailles, the hypocritical do-goodism of Prohibition, and the smug patriotism of the war profiteers. Something in the tension-ridden youth of America had to "give" and, after a short period of bitter resentment, it "gave" in the form of a complete overthrow of genteel standards of behavior.

Greenwich Village set the pattern. Since the Seven-ties a dwelling place for artists and writers who settled there because living was cheap, the village had long enjoyed a dubious reputation for Bohemianism and eccentricity. It had also harbored enough major writers, especially in the decade before World War I, to support its claim to being the intellectual center of the nation. After the war, it was only natural that hopeful young writers, their minds and pensin flamed against war, Babbittry, and "Puritanical" gentility ,,should flock to the traditional artistic center (where living was still cheapin 1919) to pour out their new-found creative strength, to tear down the old world, to flout the morality of their grandfathers, and to give all to art, love, and sensation.

Soon they found their imitators among the non-intellectuals. As it became more

and more fashionable throughout the country for young persons to defy the law

and the conventions and to add their own little matchsticks to the

conflagration of "flaming youth", it was Greenwich Village that

fanned the flames. "Bohemian" living became a fad. Each town had its

"fast" set which prided itself on its unconventionality , although in

reality this self-conscious unconventionality was rapidly becoming a standard

feature of the country club class? and its less

affluent imitators throughout the nation. Before long the movement had be-come officially recognized by the pulpit (which denounced it), by the movies and magazines (which made it attractively naughty while pretending to denounce it), and by advertising (which obliquely encouraged it by 'selling everything from cigarettes to automobiles with the implied promise that their owners would be rendered sexually irresistible). Younger brothers and sisters of the war generation, who had been playing with marbles and dolls during the battles of Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry, and who had suffered no real disillusionment or sense of loss, now began to imitate the manners of their elders and play with the toys of vulgar rebellion. Their parents were shocked, but before long they found themselves and their friends adopting the new gaiety. By the middle of the decade, the "wild party" had become as commonplace a factor in American life as the flapper, the Model T, or the Dutch Colonial home in Floral Heights.

Meanwhile, the true intellectuals were far from flattered. What they had wanted was an America more sensitive to art and culture, less avid for material gain, and less susceptible to standardization. Instead, their ideas had been generally, ignored, , while their behavior had contributed to that standardization by furnishing a pattern of Bohemianism that had become as conventionalized as a Rotary luncheon. As a result, their dissatisfaction with their native country, already acute upon their return from the war, now became even more intolerable. Flaming diatribes poured from their pens denouncing the materialism and what they considered to be the cultural boobery of our society. An important book rather grandiosely entitled Civilization in the United States, written by, "thirty intellectuals" under the editorship of J. Harold Stearns, was the rallying point of sensitive persons disgusted with America. The burden of the volume was that the best minds in the country were being ignored, that art was unappreciated, and that big business had corrupted everything. Journalism was a mere adjunct to moneymaking, politics were corrupt and filled with incompetents and crooks, and American family life so devoted to making money and keeping up with the Joneses that it had become joyless, patterned, hypocritical, and sexually inadequate. These defects would disappear if only creative art were allowed to show the way to better things, but since the country was blind and deaf to everything save the glint and ring of the dollar, there was little remedy for the sensitive mind but to emigrate to Europe where "they do things better." By the time Civilization in the United States was published (1921), most of its contributors had taken their own advice and were Wing abroad, and many more of the artistic and would-be artistic had followed suit.

It was in their defiant, but generally short-lived, European expatriation that our leading writers of the Twenties learned to think of themselves, in the words of Gertrude Stein, as the "lost generation". In no sense a movement in itself, the "lost generation" attitude nevertheless acted as a common denominator of the writing of the times. The war and the cynical power politics of Versailles had convinced these young men and women that spirituality was dead; they felt as stunned as John Andrews, the defeated aesthete In Dos Passos' Three Soldiers, as rootless as Hemingway's wanderin galcoholics in The Sun Also Rises. Besides Stein, Dos Passos, and Hemingway, there were Lewis Mumford, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, Matthew Josephson, d. Harold Stearns, T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cumminss, Malcolm Cowley, and many other novelists, dramatists, poets, and critics who tried to find their souls in the Antibes and on the Left Bank, who directed sad and bitter blasts at their native land and who, almost to a man, drifted back within a few years out of sheer homesickness, to take up residence on coastal islands and in New England farmhouses and to produce works ripened by the tempering of an older, more sophisticated society.

For actually the "lost generation" was never lost. It was shocked,

uprooted for a time, bitter, critical, rebellious, iconoclastic, experimental,

often absurd, more often misdirected- but never "lost." A decade that

produced, in addition to the writers listed above, such fisures as Eugene

O'Neill, Edna St. Vincent Millay, F. Scott Fitzserald, William Faulkner,

Sinclair Lewis, Stephen Vincent Benét, Hart Crane,Thomas Wolfe, and innumerable others could never be written off as sterile ,evenby itself in a moment of self-pity. The intellectuals of the Twenties, the"sad young men," as F. Scot Fitzserald called them, cursed their luck but didn't die; escaped but voluntarily returned; flayed the Babbitts but loved their country, and in so doing gave the nation the Iiveliest, freshest, most stimulating writing in its literary experience.

(fromRhetoric and Literature by P. Joseph Canavan)

詞匯(Vocabulary)

　　nostalgic (adj.) :

looking for something far away or long ago or for former happy circumstance懷舊的

　　illicit (adj.) : not

allowed by law，custom，rule，etc．：unlawful；prohibited違法的，違禁的，非法的

　　thrill (n.) : tremor

of excitement(一陣)激動

　　speakeasy (n.) :

[slang]a place where alcoholic drinks are sold illegally，esp. such a place in the U．S．during Prohibition[俚](美國禁酒期的)非法的酒店

　　denunciation (n.) :

the act of denouncing控告；指責(zé)，斥責(zé)

　　amour (n.) : a love

affair，esp. of an illicit

or secret nature 戀情；(尤指)不正當(dāng)?shù)哪信P(guān)系

　　sedan (n.) : an

enclosed automobile with two or four doors．a(chǎn)nd two wide seats．front and rear(兩扇或四扇門、雙排座的)轎車

　　naughty (adj.) :

improper，obscene不得體的；猥褻的

　　jazzy (adj.) : (a

party)playing jazz music(舞會)放爵士音樂的

　　flask-toting (adj.)

:always carrying a small flask filled with whisky or other strong liquor身帶烈性酒的

　　sheik (n.) :

(Americanism)a masterful man to whom women are supposed to be irresistably

attracted[美國語](能使女子傾心的)美男子

　　vagary (n.) : an odd，eccentric，or unexpected action or bit of conduct古怪行徑；難以預(yù)測的行為

　　flapper (n.) :

[colloq．](in the 1920's)a

young woman considered bold and unconventional in actions and dress [口](在20世紀(jì)20年代被認(rèn)為)舉止與衣著不受傳統(tǒng)拘束的年輕女子，輕佻女郎

　　perspective (n.) : a

specific point of view in understanding or judging things or events，esp. one that shows them in their true

relations to one another正確理解或判斷事物相互關(guān)系的能力

　　jazzmad (adj.) :

blindly and foolishly fond of jazz music爵士樂狂

　　aftermath (n.) : a

result or consequence，esp. an unpleasant one結(jié)果，后果(尤指令人不愉快的后果)

　　provincial (adj.) :

narrow，limited like that of

rural provinces狹窄的；偏狹的；地方性的

　　gentility (n.) : he

quality of being genteel；now，specifically，excessive or affected refinement and

elegance有教養(yǎng)，斯文，溫文爾雅；(現(xiàn)尤指)假裝文雅，假裝斯文

　　aggressiveness (n.)

: bold and energetic pursuit of one's end，enterprise有進取心，進取精神

　　bustle (v.) : hurry

busily or with much fuss and bother繁忙，奔忙

　　medium (n.) :

environment環(huán)境

　　catalytic (adj.) :

acting as the stimulus in bringing about or hastening a result起催化作用的；起刺激作用的

　　precipitate (v.) :

throw headlong；cause to happen

before expected，needed；bring on猛拋，猛投；突然發(fā)生；促使

　　obsolescent (adj.) :

in the process of becoming obsolete即將過時的；逐漸被廢棄的

　　mores (n.) : customs，esp. the fixed or traditional customs of a

society，often acquiring the

force of law習(xí)俗

　　sophistication (n.)

: the state of being artificial，worldly-wise，urbane，etc．老于世故

　　faddishness (n.) :

the following of fads趕時髦，趕時尚

　　hectic (adj.) :

characterized by excitement，rush，confusion，etc．興奮的；忙亂的；混亂的

　　gaiety (n.) :

cheerfulness；the state of being

gay高興，快樂

　　perversion (n.) : a

perverting or being perverted；corruption走入邪路；墮落；敗壞

　　Prohibition (n.) :

the forbidding by law of the manufacture，transportation，and sale of alcoholic liquors for beverage purposes；specifically in the U．S．，the period(1920-1933)of prohibition by Federal law(特指美國20~30年代的)禁酒法令

　　orgy (n.) : any wild

riotous licentious merry-making；debauchery縱酒飲樂；狂歡

　　spree (n.) : a

lively，noisy frolic狂歡，縱樂

　　reveler (n.) : a

person who makes merry or is noisily festive狂歡者，狂宴者

　　sober (v.) : make or

become serious，solemn變清醒；變嚴(yán)肅

　　prolong (v.) :

lengthen or extend in time or space延長；拖長；使持久

　　stalemate (n.) : any

unresolved situation in which further action is impossible or useless；deadlock僵持；困境

　　insolence (n.) :

being boldly disrespectful in speech-or behavior；impudence(言行)無禮，魯莽；傲慢

　　belligerent (adj.) :

at war；of war處于交戰(zhàn)狀態(tài)的；戰(zhàn)爭的

　　adventurousness (n.)

: being fond of adventure；willingness to take chances喜歡冒險；大膽

　　strenuous (adj.) : vigorous，arduous, zealous，etc．奮發(fā)的；使勁的

　　jingoism (n.) :

chauvinism characterized by an aggressive。threatening，warlike foreign policy侵略主義，沙文主義

　　fracas (n.) : a

noisy fight 0r loud quarrel；brawl大聲吵架；打鬧

　　infantry (n.) : foot

soldiers collectively；esp. that branch of an army consisting of soldiers trained and equipped

to fight chiefly on foot步兵；(尤指)步兵部隊

　　harass (v.) : trouble，worry．or torment，as with cares, debts，repeated questions，etc．使煩惱(或困憂)，折磨

　　sergeant (n.) : noncommissioned officer of the fifth grade．ranking above a corporal and below a staff

sergeant in the U．S．Army and Marine

Corps；generally. any of

the noncommissioned officers in the U．S．a(chǎn)rmed forces with

sergeant as part of the title of their rank中士；軍士

　　draft (n.) : the choosing or taking of an individual or individuals from

a group for some special purpose，esp. for compulsory military service征兵：挑選

　　carnival (n.) : a reveling or time of revelry；festivity； merrymaking狂歡，盡情作樂

　　contingent (n.) : a share, proportion，or quota，as of troops．ships。laborers，delegates，etc．小分隊，分遣部隊

　　bombast (n.) : talk or writing that sounds grand or important but has

little meaning；pompous language詞藻華麗而空洞無物的淡話(或文章)；夸大的語言

　　recession (n.) : a temporary falling off()f business activity during a

period when such activity has been generally increasing商業(yè)暫時衰退現(xiàn)象；蕭條

　　whip up : rouse，excite激起

　　outmoded (adj.) : no longer in fashion or accepted；obsoletc 舊式的；過時的；廢棄了的

　　sodden (adj.) : dull or stupefied，as from overindulgence in liquor(因沉迷于酒而變得)遲鈍的，麻木的

　　dubious (adj.) : rousing suspicion；feeling doubt；skeptical引起懷疑的；感到懷疑的；懷疑的

　　flout (n.) : be scornful；show contempt；jeer；scoff輕蔑，藐視；嘲弄；侮辱

　　conflagration (n.) : a big, destructive fire(毀滅性的)大火．大火災(zāi)

　　fast (adj.) : living in a reckless, wild, dissipated way放湯的，放縱的

　　pulpit (n.) : preachers collectively教士們

　　vulgar (adj.) : common to the great mass of people in general：common；popular普通的，一般的；流行的

　　avid (adj.) : having an intense desire or craving；greedy渴望的，熱望的；貪婪的

　　susceptible (adj.) : easily affected emotionally；having a sensitive nature of feelings易被感動的；易受影響的；敏感的

　　diatribe (n.) : a bitter，abusive criticism or denunciation 謾罵；諷刺；誹謗

　　grandiose (adj.) :having grandeur or magnificence imposing;impressive雄偉的;壯觀的;莊嚴(yán)的;給人深刻印象的

　　ally (v.) :come bark to normal strength；revive恢復(fù)；復(fù)元

　　burden (n.) : central idea；theme主題；重點，要點

　　adjunct (n.) :a thing added to something else; a person connected with

another as a helper or subordinate associate附屬物，附加物；幫手，助手

　　incompetent (n.) :a person who is completely incapable無能力者，不能勝任者

　　expatriate (v.) : withdraw (oneself) from one's nativeland or from

allegiance to it(使自己)移居國外，放棄原國籍

　　denominator (n.) :a shared characteristic共同特性，共性

　　iconoclastic (adj.) :opposing to the religious use of images or

advocating the destruction of such images反對崇拜偶像的

　　sterile (adj.) : barren；unfruitful貧瘠的，不長莊稼的；無成效的

　　flay (v.) :criticize or scold mercilessly嚴(yán)厲斥責(zé)；怒罵

短語 (Expressions)

　　drugstore cowboy :?? a young man who hangs around drugstores

and other public places trying to impress women在雜貨店和其他公共場所徘徊試圖打動女人的年輕男人

　　例： You don't see the old drugstore cowboys around this part of town

anymore．在這個鎮(zhèn)的這片地方你再也看不到以往那些雜貨店牛仔了。

　　see sth.in perspective :?? view or judge things in a way that

show their true relations to one another以聯(lián)系的觀點正確地看待或判斷事物

　　例：We should see these events in perspective．我們應(yīng)該注意這些事件間的本質(zhì)聯(lián)系以正確評價它們。

　　precipitate sb.／sth:into sth． :?? thrust violently into(a condition)使突然陷入某種狀態(tài)

　　例： precipitate the country into war使國家突然陷人戰(zhàn)爭

　　sober up :?? tfree from drunkenness；become not drunk變清醒

　　例： Put him t0 bed until he sobers up．送他上床等他清醒過來。

　　whip up :?? rouse；excite煽動，激起

　　例： whip up the mob煽動暴民／whip up enthusiasm激起熱情

　　keep up with the Joneses :?? compete with one's neighbors．etc．(in the purchase 0f articles，e．g．clothes，a car，indicating social

status)和瓊斯一家人比(在購買物品如衣物、汽車等方面與鄰人等相比以示社會地位)，與他人攀比

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common denominator :?? a commonly shared theme or trait共同點，共同特色

　　例： All these accidents have a comnlon denominator that they are related

with drunk driving．所有這些事故的共同點是它們都與酒后駕車有關(guān)。

　　write off :?? drop from consideration看不起，認(rèn)為無價值

　　例： We'Ve written the project ofr as a nonstarter．我們認(rèn)為這個項目毫無成功的希望，已經(jīng)對它不予以考慮了。