Literature of The 1940’s

     There are many authors from the 1940’s that have created many interesting tales about the time, or what the future would hold for everyone.  Some wrote to give hope during World War II, such as William Saroyan’s ‘Human Comedy’.  Others show the brutality of war, like Ernest Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’. William Saroyan was one of the greatest authors of his time. He chose to write about hope during the 1940’s to keep people’s spirits up.  Ernest Hemingway wrote about the brutality of war to show the truth of war. 

     William Saroyan was a great author, because he kept people’s hope up during World War II.  He was born on August 31, 1908 and he died May 18, 1981.  Saroyan was born in Fresno, California. When he was three years old, his father died and he was placed in an orphanage in Oakland, California' along with his brother and sister.  Five years after that he and his siblings were reunited with their mother, after she acquired a job at a cannery.  Saroyan made his big break in a magazine, with his story called ‘The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze’.  He served in the US Army during World War II, stationed in Astoria, Queens New York.  He almost received a court marshal, because of his novel The Adventures of Wesley Jackson, because it was seen as pacifism.  William Saroyan then made the novel The Human Comedy. It is about a boy called Homer MaCauley.  His is growing up in the fictional city of Ithaca, California.

     Ernest Hemingway was born July 21, 1899 and died July 2, 1961.  He was born in Oak Park, Illinois Chicago.  He was a veteran of World War I.  Hemingway excelled in both academics and athletics while attending Oak Park and River Forest High School.  After World War One, Hemingway returned to Oak Park, in 1920, and found a job with Toronto Star newspaper, as a freelancer.   In 1939, Hemingway went to Key West, Florida.  70% of the novels he would create would be created in writer's den in the upper floor of the converted garage, in back of this house.  Hemingway killed himself by self inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

     Many writers created inspirational novels, novels to show the brutality of war, and autobiographies. Saroyan wrote to keep peoples hopes up, during World War II.  Hemingway wrote to show the real brutality of war.  Both of these authors where great authors of their generation.  Their writings are still read today.

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