In general terms, the entire literary production of American and United Kingdom writers of the first half of the 20th century is thus included under the Modernist term.
Despite being a heterogeneous group, it can be said that modernist writers have in common, on the one hand, the rejection of their immediate inheritance and, on the other, of realistic representation. They are characterized by the willingness to play with the reader's expectations, the tendency to "psychoanalyze" their characters through the use of techniques such as the inner monologue, or the love of mixing street slang with a more elaborate language, sometimes dotted with cultisms and latinisms. In poetry, the modernists almost always experiment with the free verse and add to the lyricism heterogeneous, sometimes dark and equivocal cultural allusions, and disjointed images; There is also a marked tendency to link poetry with image and visual arts. Because of the difficulty that this type of literature entails, especially in poetry, since for many readers it was not possible to read and understand modernist texts, it is often affirmed that poetry of the early twentieth century shows a certain elitist character.
The American writers of modernism are those belonging to what has come to be called "Lost Generation," which reflected the climate of pessimism and bewilderment that followed the First World War. The writers of this generation considered that the cultural landscape of their country was unsatisfactory, that it was dominated by a materialistic culture, and lacked a cosmopolitan culture.
The war and the great depression also strongly affected these writers. They described the futility and cruelty of war, the materialism of the happy twenties, the era of jazz, the economic depression and the decline of the American dream.
