|
If you are seeing this message, you may be experiencing temporary network problems. Please wait a few minutes and refresh the page. If the problem persists, you may wish to report it to your local Network Manager.
It is also possible that your web browser is not configured or not able to display style sheets. In this case, although the visual presentation will be degraded, the site should continue to be functional. We recommend using the latest version of Microsoft or Mozilla web browser to help minimise these problems.
Wiley InterScience | |||
 Literature CompassVolume 6 Issue 2, Pages 253 - 273 Published Online: 4 Feb 2009 © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 202K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking  Modern Maturity: Middle-Aged Anxiety in Modern American Fiction Copyright © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd ABSTRACT'Modern Maturity' examines American fiction from the 1920s and 30s in light of the social and psychological difficulties attributed to middle age, specifically the anxieties attending the recognition of oneself as belonging to a supposedly mature generation. While the era saw the rise of youth culture, shifting generational demographics resulted in pointedly new roles for the middle aged, roles that appeared both amorphous and unappealing. While the category 'middle age' was widely applied to those in their 30s through their 50s, it consistently alluded to physical as well as psychological dissatisfaction. Detailing a series of personal and professional discontents, the idealization of youth, and a profound redefinition of familial and romantic roles, writing by Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anzia Yezierska, Tillie Olsen, William Faulkner, Nella Larsen, Eugene O'Neill, Floyd Dell, Sinclair Lewis, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Atherton, and Anita Loos pinpoints the considerable generational anxieties encircling the middle-aged moderns. Literature Compass 6/2 (2009): 253–273, 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2008.00591.x | 
|
