Unraveling the Ideal: The Great War's Suppression of American Authors
Open Access
Author:
Gow, Megan
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Sandra Spanier, Thesis Supervisor Christopher Gervais Reed, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
WWI Ernest Hemingway Ellen La Motte F. Scott Fitzgerald
Abstract:
This thesis examines the widespread effect of the Committee of Public Information, a governmental agency tasked with influencing public opinion on the war, and their World War I propaganda campaign on American authors. In particular, I focus on the propagated “soldier boy” trope and its contrast to the harsh realities of the war-front that authors such as Ellen La Motte, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald addressed in their written work. I explore each of these authors’ personal experience in the war and how their writing broke the conventions set in place by the CPI and continued to influence literary culture and marketplaces even after the CPI disbanded. Each of these authors was suppressed through different means, but they are connected in their divergence from the idealized image of the war. By comparing these authors, I highlight the CPI’s influence in the silencing of these authors who strayed from the idealized version of the war, challenged gender roles, and openly addressed misunderstood mental health issues.
