Chicago Renaissance

A fascinating history of Chicago’s innovative and invaluable contributions to American literature and art from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century

This remarkable cultural history celebrates the great Midwestern city of Chicago for its centrality to the modernist movement. Author Liesl Olson traces Chicago’s cultural development from the 1893 World’s 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, Olson’s 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 Chicago’s editors, bookstore owners, tastemakers, and ordinary citizens who helped nurture Chicago’s unique culture of artistic experimentation.

Cover art by Lincoln Schatz

O istorie fascinanta a contributiilor inovatoare si nepretuite ale Chicagoului la literatura si arta americana de la sfarsitul secolului al XIX-lea pana la mijlocul secolului al XX-lea Aceasta istorie culturala remarcabila celebreaza marele oras din Chicago, din Midwest, pentru centralitatea sa in miscarea modernista. Autorul Liesl Olson urmareste dezvoltarea culturala a Chicagoului de la Targul Mondial din 1893 pana la mijlocul secolului, ilustrand modul in care scriitorii din Chicago au revolutionat formele literare in prima jumatate a secolului al XX-lea, o perioada de transformari estetice radicale in intreaga lume.