OK besides this below and DEVO coming out of the Kent State massacre, what are other facts you have about the evolution of art / music /etc that wouldn't be obvious if you didn't know but, retroactively, explain and/or illuminate a LOT ?
Reminds me of how almost all the French dadaists and surrealists were WWI veterans of the trenches seriously exploring alternatives to conventional thought and language.
This isn’t a specific fact, but post-2020, I’ve noticed how virtually *every* work in the interwar period references and often wrestles with mass death, including both the 1918 flu and the huge death tolls of WWI. Everything! Sometimes it’s oblique, but often it’s just stated in there
In retrospect, of COURSE that shaped all the writing that came after! But I remember in HS English, we read The Sun Also Rises and were like “wtf is these people’s problem?!” and now… obviously! They are all traumatized!
That’s *my* whole point. As teens in the late 90s, we absolutely did not understand why that generation would be lost. We knew Stein called them that but just didn’t *get* it. I don’t know that we could have, at that age & w the (lack of) experiences we’d had, but now it’s so obvious.
Didn't your teachers tell you about World War I? I find that hard to imagine, although I guess if you were reading Hemingway in an American lit class it might make some sense. WWI's effect on the U.S. is vastly underestimated and under-taught.
You’re missing my point and I’ll assume it’s not willfully. Telling teens in 1990s suburban Ohio about context is one thing. Having them *GET* it, emotionally, is another. It’s like telling someone about the Depression vs. your grandma who still washes and reuses aluminum foil. Knowing vs. KNOWING.
I was assuming that your teachers didn't teach you the context. As a former teacher, it seems that you are saying that most understanding comes from direct experience and/or wisdom gained with time, which may be true, but makes me sad. It's a crucial question, though.
I think as teachers we lead our little horses to water, and even if they don’t drink then, they know the water is there and will drink then ready and able.
