Chicago Renaissance: Literature and Art in the Midwest Metropolis

ISBN: 0300203683

Author: Olson, Liesl

Condition: New

A fascinating history of Chicagos innovative and invaluable contributions to American literature and art from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuryThis remarkable cultural history celebrates the great Midwestern city of Chicago for its centrality to the modernist movement. Author Liesl Olson traces Chicagos cultural development from the 1893 Worlds Fair through mid-century, illuminating how Chicago writers revolutionized literary forms during the first half of the twentieth century, a period of sweeping aesthetic transformations all over the world. From Harriet Monroe, Carl Sandburg, and Ernest Hemingway to Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks, Olsons enthralling study bridges the gap between two distinct and equally vital Chicago-based artistic renaissance moments: the primarily white renaissance of the early teens, and the creative ferment of Bronzeville. Stories of the famous and iconoclastic are interwoven with accounts of lesser-known yet influential figures in Chicago, many of whom were women. Olson argues for the importance of Chicagos editors, bookstore owners, tastemakers, and ordinary citizens who helped nurture Chicagos unique culture of artistic experimentation.Cover art by Lincoln Schatz