Literature, The 20th Century

Whereas 19th-century French literature chronicled the country’s struggle to come to terms with the French Revolution, 20th-century French literature had to contend with the impact of two cataclysms: World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). The devastation of these wars and the unspeakable horrors that accompanied them have tested humanity’s belief in the existence of a God and the belief in the goodness of human nature. Confronted with these calamitous wars, the Cold War that followed them, and wars of independence fought in French colonies, French intellectuals were forced to acknowledge that previously held beliefs had failed to create a more humane world. Among the beliefs that came into question were the faith in human nature inherited from the Renaissance, the faith in material progress bequeathed by the Enlightenment, and, especially, the worship of technology passed on by the Industrial Revolution. French writers living in a new world of nuclear energy, computerization, and increased media influence sought to redefine their role in society and their concepts of literature.