Carl Van Vechten and the Twenties: Literature, Society and the Arts

Author

Edward G. Lueders

Publication Date

4-1-1952

Abstract

It is seldom that a critical assessment of a writer's work can even attempt to be definitive during the writer's lifetime. It is even more rare when that writer continues as an active observer, participant and contributor in the humanities for two decades after publishing his last book and publicly announcing his retirement from writing. But such a writer is Carl Van Vechten. His first volume was published in 1915, his last in 1932. In those seventeen years he produced nineteen volumes, ten of them collections of essays on music and the arts, two devoted to the lore of the cat, and seven of them highly individualistic novels. Through them all, in addition to the genial personality of their author, runs the revolt and the search for release, the strength and the sickness of the unique American era that produced them.

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

American Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

American Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

George Warren Arms

Second Committee Member

Hugh Milton Miller

Third Committee Member

George Winston Smith

Fourth Committee Member

Thomas Matthews Pearce

Recommended Citation

Lueders, Edward G.. "Carl Van Vechten and the Twenties: Literature, Society and the Arts." (1952). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/amst_etds/71