Jazz Age

The Jazz Age


The Jazz Age describes the period from 1918-1929, the years between the end of World War I and the start of the Roaring Twenties; ending with the rise of the Great Depression, the traditional values of this age saw great decline while the American stock market soared. The focus of the elements of this age, in some contrast with the Roaring Twenties, in historical and cultural studies, is somewhat different, with a greater emphasis on all Modernism.
The age takes its name from jazz music, which saw a tremendous surge in popularity among many segments of society. Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period are the public embrace of technological developments (typically seen as progress), cars, air travel and the telephone, as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture. Central developments included Art Deco design and architecture. In addition, many amateur artists began to aspire including Duke Ellington, Picasso, etc.
The Jazz Age in literature
Perhaps one of the most representative literary works of the Jazz age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), which highlighted what some describe as the corruption of the post-WW1 age, as well as new attitudes, and the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term, which he used in such books as his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), also deals with the era and its effect on a young married couple. Fitzgerald's last completed novel, Tender Is the Night (1934) takes place in the same decade but is set in France and Switzerland not New York, and consequently is not widely considered a Jazz Age novel.


The Jazz Age
Also in the Jazz Age, minorities were treated with more equality than they had been accustomed to previously. This was reflected in some of the films of the decade. Redskin (1929) and Son of the Gods (1929), for instance, deal...