His hero is negative, he becomes a murderer, but it is not the hero who is to blame but the society and the system. Jack London became very popular due to describing adventurous life at the time of the Gold rush. Martin Eden is a novel about a man who wants to be successful.
After the World War I a group of writers known as the "Lost Generation" entered literature. They were writers who were influenced by the war.
Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954 for its famous book The Old Man and the Sea, which is about human strength. Hemingway became journalist after war, he wrote for example A Farewell to Arms. Francis Scott Fitzgerald is connected with the Jazz Age of the 20s. He wrote many stories about wealthy people, for whom everything is so easy because of money. His best novel is Great Gatsby.Next important author is John Steinbeck. He won the Nobel Prize in 1962. He tried to uncover the reasons of social injustice. The Grapes of Wrath describes the Depression following after the crisis of 1929. His other famous works are Of mice and Men or Travels with Charley.
Norman Mailer is one of the best authors the World War II. The Naked and the Dead is based on his own experiences in the Pacific. It is about group of soldiers who survive the attack on a island occupied by the Japanese. Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22, an antiwar novel connecting absurd black humour and Yossarian's terrible experiences from World War II. Ray Bradbury is the outstanding author of warning science fiction literature. His best novels are Martian Chronicles or Fahrenheit 451.
20th century poetry is famous for a group of poets and artist who gathered around 1956 in San Francisco and are called the "Beat Group" They practiced new ways free life, behavior and new use of language. Among the best known poets of this era belong Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti or Jack Kerouac. 20th century is connected with development of drama too. The most famous author of drama is Tennessee Williams. His wrote Cat on a hot tin roof. In this play he critics relationship in classic American's families. .