论文总字数：37975字

摘 要

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Research Purposes 2

2. Literature Review 4

2.1 Previous Study on Tales of the Jazz Age 4

2.2 Jazz Age and Youth Culture 5

2.2.1 Jazz Age 5

2.2.2 Youth Culture 6

3. Youth Culture in Tales of the Jazz Age and Contemporary Youth Culture in China 8

3.1 Youth Culture in Tales of the Jazz Age 8

3.1.1 The Phenomenon of “Fitzgerald” 8

3.1.2 Plots and Culture Epitomes of Tales of the Jazz Age 9

3.1.3 The Impact of Tales of the Jazz Age on Youth Culture 12

3.2 Contemporary Youth Culture in China 14

3.3 Similarities and Differences 16

3.4 Reasons 17

4 . Conclusion 19

4.1 Findings of the Study 19

4.2 Significance 19

References 21

Acknowledgments

I really want to thank those who have helped and supported me when I was writing this thesis from my heart.

First, I would love to give my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Zhang Zhifang, who has offered me constantguidance whether from the beginning of the topic selection or in the process of data collection. Her professional knowledge, rigorous academic attitude, and easy-going personality charm has far-reaching impact on me. Therefore, Ms. Zhang gave me precious instructions in my studies as well as positive influence on my thesis and thought.

Next, my gratitude should be given to the professors in the School of Foreign Languages and Literature in Nanjing Tech University. They have shared their academic knowledge, broaden horizon and profound thinkingwith us, which creates a great academic atmosphere for me, so that my paper could be more rigorous.

Then, I feel like giving my appreciation to my friends accompanying me when I was confronted with barriers in both thesis and life.I enjoy communicating with them and without their help, I couldn't successfully solve all kinds of difficulties in life.

Last but not least, I would like to express my profound love to my family, whose unwavering care and strong support in life contributed a lot to the successful completion of the present paper.

Abstract

Tales of the Jazz Age is a collection of short stories by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. The concept of the era of jazz is derived from this collection of novels published in 1922. It not only defines the late 1920s, from the end of the World War to the economic crisis, but also shows readers the changes in people's lives, behaviors, and values in this era. To some extent, American society regards Fitzgerald as a characteristic manifestation of the 1920s, which is the "Fitzgerald phenomenon."

The purpose of this article is to analyze the book and the plot of Tales of the Jazz Age, and to sum up the young people's extravagant life, indulgence, and idealism in the context of the era. By summarizing the Chinese youth culture, we found some features, such as pragmatism, internationalism, and digital survival. The study found that young people in both eras are in an environment of social upheaval. The rapid economy introduces many changes to our daily life. Therefore, the youths are extremely confused. They are eager to find an idol or tutor to help them find the right direction. Therefore, the society has a responsibility to establish a positive idol for them and help them build correct values.

Key words: Fitzgerald；Jazz Age；Youth Culture；Cultural Comparison

中文摘要

《爵士乐时代的故事》是弗朗西斯·斯科特·基·菲茨杰拉德的一部短篇小说集。爵士乐时代的概念源于1922年出版的这部小说集。它不仅定义了从第一次世界大战结束至二十年代末经济危机爆发之间这十年的称呼，也为读者展示了在这样的时代背景下，人们的生活、行为、价值观的转变。在某种程度上，美国社会将菲茨杰拉德视为二十世纪二十年代的特征体现，即“菲茨杰拉德现象”。

本文旨在对《爵士乐时代的故事》一书及情节进行分析，归纳出该时代背景下，年轻人生活奢靡、纵情享乐以及充满理想主义。同时对中国当代青年文化做总结，可以发现：当代中国青年具有务实主义、国际化主义和网络生存化的特点。研究表明，两个时代的青年都处于一个社会剧变的环境下，经济快速发展导致他们的生活方式发生了转变，他们对此都感到无比的迷茫。此时，他们都急于寻找一个偶像或导师，帮助他们寻找到正确的人生方向。所以，社会有责任为他们树立一个积极正面的偶像，帮助他们形成正确的价值观。

关键词：菲茨杰拉德；爵士乐时代；青年文化；文化对比

Introduction

Research background

The twentieth century is the golden age of American novels, and it also witnessed a special historical period in American history. At that time, the World War I was over, and history began to take a turn. The stable society provides the economy with a environment to develop. It is also in such a phenomenal environment that the "Jazz Age" emerged at the historic moment. History regards the decade ---- from easing the workers’ riots on May 1, 1919 to the stock market crash in October 1929 as the “Jazz Age”(Li, 2009).

The “Jazz Age” is the first decade that America stepped into the “Modern Society”, as well as an era belonging to the youth. During that decade, with the accumulation of wealth and income, more and more Americans hunted for material enjoyment. However, the sign of the transition is not only reflected in the material level, but more importantly, the young generation’s substantial changes in ideas, attitudes and beliefs. In the age of the twentieth century, the war was over, and the original ideas of American youths were shaken. Growing in such cultural background, they manifested the conflicts and contradictions of American center and periphery and past and modern times. On the hand, they were taking the huge mental conflicts from the World War I; on the other, they were stimulated by “Modern Idea” in the novel era. They were confused by the excitement consulted from historical confusion and economic prosperity. At that time, the traditional Puritan started to collapse; on the contrary, “Hedonism” began to flourish. Facing such phenomenal social reform, the young generation had to concur an old question, namely the question of inquiring self-identification -- “Who are we?”, “Where are we from?”, and “Where we are going?”, while they were chasing love, wealth and career.

Literature has distinct era features under such special background. From objective regulation, when social economy is under the situation of rapid development, the relative literature creation in the superstructure is also blooming. With the translation to modernization of American economy, literature style also transferred from the tradition to the modern. Following Faulkner and Hemingway, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald ---- the third phenomenon in the history of American literature, created brilliant woks with his own experiences. His masterpieces,This Side of Paradise, Tender Is Night and The Great Gatsby, illuminate the distinct features in that period. The inspiration of Fitzgerald’s works was from his daily life. At the same time, his works affected the young reader. To some extent, America describes Fitzgerald as a reflection of the 1920s, in other words, “Fitzgerald Phenomenon”.

Under such circumstance, these works reveal features of American youth culture in 1920s, from the view of the history and society. This essay will analyze the features of youth culture in Tales of the Jazz Age via studying literature expression, especially, “Self-identification”, the core feature of youth culture.

Known as the "Jazz Age" in the United States in 1920s, the 20th century was an era in which material enjoyment was promoted under the influence of consumerist culture(Du, 2010). The reasons are multifaceted. It is mainly due to the upgrading of consumer demand brought about by economic development and the impact of consumerism. History is always similar. Perhaps Chinese youth are repeating the same experiences of the “Lost Generation” of American youth.

Research purposes

The present study aims to dig into Fitzgerald’s work, Tales of the Jazz Age, and summarize some main characteristics of American youth culture in 1920s. The study will also discuss the changes in American society in that age, such as clothing features, daily entertainment, world outlook, value, hedonism, consumerism, idealism, etc. At the same time, the study will analyze domestic youth culture, and makes a comparison between American and Chinese, to find out the similarities and differences between them. In other words, young people in China can learn from American youths’ experiences.

Literature Review

Previous study on Tales of the Jazz Age

Tales of the Jazz Age is a collection of short stories, and this book was to be remembered in the history of literature in that the title of this book later became the synonym of an era. The so-called “Jazz Age”, in the writer’s words, refers to the decade from the end of the First World War to the outbreak of economic crisis in 1920s.

At that time, Fitzgerald already enjoyed a high reputation. Therefore, as soon as this novel collection was published, it immediately attracted wide attention from the critics, and various review articles followed. However, due to the historical environment and social atmosphere at that time, most of these works were regarded as popular novels for entertainment and pastimes. Although they were very popular, they were not excellent works after all.

However, with time’s going, the value of this book has been discovered. The stories in this collection mostly have interesting plots, profound meaning, good writing and strong sense of art. They vividly record the true feelings of the young generation living in the Jazz Age, depicting their complex experiences which are filled with dreams, pursuits, love, pain, disappointment, hardships, and confusion, condensing, and reflecting the colorful characteristics of the times. Meanwhile, the destiny of a whole generation or even several generations is highly dramatic and shows a dramatic conflict between modern consciousness and traditional ideas. They are short stories of ideological depth Fitzgerald wrote during this period（Wu, 2017:309）.

This paper selects the version translated by Wu Jianguo, Chen Xin, Zhang Caiwei, GengQiang, Yao Xiaohui and Li Lei. In this version there are nine short stories, including Boneless Man, Camel’s Back, An Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Tarqui on Zipsey Street, “Oh, the Auburn Witch!”, Happy Misery, Psychologist, Hot Blood and Cold Blood, and Gretchen’s Fortith Blinks.

Jazz Age and Youth Culture

Jazz Age

Fitzgerald comments on Jazz Age like this, “It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.” (Fitzgerald, 1925) When it comes to Jazz Age, we will inevitably be involved in the “American Dream”. The American Dream is a belief that you can achieve a better life in the United States if you work hard, that is, people can step into the upper class through diligence, courage, creativity, and determination. In other words, it was the people at the bottom of the United States who believed that they can step into the upper class through their hard work. Just like China in 1980s and 1990s, the Chinese dream began to sprout everywhere.

However, the American dream slowly collapsed. The upper class plunder more resources and then builds a wall with their existing advantages of power and money. Relations and privileges are the only way for the poor to enter the wall. The poor achieves fewer chances. Meanwhile, while relying on personal struggle to lead a good life that is unrivaled, the American dream has turned into a bubble and a great irony. This will decrease the chance of the poor going to the upper class. When relying on personal struggle and acquired efforts to lead a rich life cannot be achieved, the American dream has turned into a bubble and turned into a great irony.

In the early 1920s, when American capitalism came to monopoly, giants gained huge profits. Together with different kinds of social problems after the World War, it’s not easy for one to get rich relying on character, hard work, and thrift. The young generation found that in this era, “All gold is dead, all wars are over, and all beliefs are shaken.” Many American youths who lived in the 1920s, on the one hand, enjoyed the prosperity of the Jazz Age, on the other hand, experienced a kind of deep disappointment and confusion. The abundant material and empty spirit made the young generation objected to all traditional ideas, indulged in enjoyment, and spend money as much as possible.

Youth Culture

What is Youth Culture? Youth Culture can be summarized as a subculture created by young people in order to be different from mainstream culture, with "treason" as the main color. This was a typical product of Western civilization. When they found that the power of this society was firmly held in the hands of adults, young people were full of energy and vitality, and they always erupted in some way. Therefore, youth culture was born with a kind of rebellion.

For most Americans, the 1920s means a lot for them because of quick economic progress. The economy provided the environment with many important changes in the day-to-day life of Americans. The 1920s, an exciting time, is call the “Roaring Twenties” by historians. It introduced freedom and independence to people, especially young Americans. Young soldier, who had seen a different world in Europe, introduced many new ideas. The war changed them a lot, because they experienced death and learned to enjoy the pleasures that each day offered. The traditions of their families and villages were not attracted to them. Instead, they preferred to try new lives. For example, some young ladies trended to dress themselves up with new kind of clothes. Some of them began to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol in bars. Meanwhile, a new kind of music: Jazz began to be popular. The growing independence of American women is the eminent force behind these changes. In 1890s, women achieved the right to vote and many women started to take jobs. The introduction of radio told them new ideas and experiments into their lives, leading to the social changes. Nonetheless, the most important driving force was strong economy. In addition to food, housing, and other basic needs, they had extra money to buy new products and experienced ways of living.

In other words, the youth itself is a social and cultural phenomenon. In different cultural environments, youths will obtain different cultural methods, lifestyles, and life pursuits, resulting in different youth cultures. As a result, youth culture can be concluded like this: “Youth creates unique thoughts, emotions and behavior patterns that are centered on unique values.”(Lu, 2008)

. Youth Culture in Tales of the Jazz Age and Contemporary Youth Culture in China

Youth Culture in Tales of the Jazz Age

The phenomenon of “Fitzgerald”

F. S. Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was a superstar who appeared in American literary history after World War I. Although his life was short, he was an epic. Although there were some flaws, he was still a hero of that era. Within his 20-years creative career, he left 4 classic novels and more than 160 short stories, making him a novelist. Because he vividly reproduced many features of American society, life, spiritual values, and cultural transformation in the 1920s and 1930s, and described the “American Dream” of the post-war generation in America, he was a representative writer of the “Lost Generation”, a “Laurel Poet” and an excellent “Chronicler”.

The characters in his works are the reproduction of his own image, and his experience is the prototype of his series of works. He indulged himself in the wine and conquest of the “Jazz Age”. He was an exemplification of this era, and sacrifice of the Great Depression. However, while chasing fame and fortune, he was able to look on with cold eyes, examine changes in life and society, and measure everything that happened around him with a strict moral standard.

Fitzgerald’s contribution is not only limited in the novels he creates, but more importantly, he has promoted the development of the “Jazz Age”, and even the creator of the Jazz Age. After reading Fitzgerald’s works, young people would like to follow the footstep of characters in their daily lives.

The typical meaning of “Fitzgerald Phenomenon” is that it is formed and developed by reader’s interest and wide participation. It also further demonstrates the fact that market orientation tends to be more important than those of professional critics. This is a law that the market of literature or market-oriented literature will inevitably appear in the development process, because “Literature has always been the aesthetic reflection of life and era.”(Wu, 2006)

Plots and Culture epitomes of Tales of the Jazz Age

(1) Plots

Stories in Tales of the Jazz Age have wonderful ideas and climaxes. Novels or films adapted from his works have attracted lots of attentions from readers and audiences. In this book, “Camel’s back” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” have been adapted for films in succession because of their interesting plots and profound morals. The following is brief introduction of selected novels in Tales of the Jazz Age.

“Boneless Man” describes a playboy who idling his time all the day suffer from love, hesitation, and sorrow. Nancy Lamar, a pretty and charming southern girl, is a modern lady. She follows Diana Manners (1892 -1986), a famous beauty from Britain, and famous for her weird personality, as well as the main role of massive history drama, The Miracle. Nancy Lamar is a typical representative of many young ladies in Fitzgerald’s works, and a real miniature of American modern lady in 1920s. By describing Jim and Nancy, Fitzgerald vividly shows the real mentality of the post-war generation and society conditions in the southern America to readers with sad but stunning tone. The debut of this novel caused lots of criticism. Shortly thereafter, people found that this is a distinctive short story.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is an absurd but very interesting story. This fantastic story seems to tell readers that no matter how good beginnings are, they will eventually go to the opposite sides. What this story wants to indicate is the ridden crisis and disaster covered by prosperity. The world in front of the eyes is an illusion which cannot get rid of the fate: walking for destruction, no matter how beautiful world it is.

“Oh, the Auburn Witch!” tells a bizarre experience of a bookstore clerk in the New York City. He falls in love with a dancer unrequitedly. Its beautiful words but sad words describe the contradictions between traditional and conversational concepts and new ideas and fashions, showing two different value and outlook on life to readers. In the modern world dominated by traditional ethical standards and social customs, it is difficult for people to accept new lifestyles and values. This goal may last for the whole generation’s or, even several generations’ efforts.

“Hot Blood and Cold Blood” shows the contradictions between a couple, the “hot-heated” and generous husband and “cold-hearted” and snobbish wife. The writer sacrifices American society and mentality with elegant and humorous words.

“Gretchen’s Fortieth Blinks” describes the highly stressful living condition that people struggle to become rich in the highly competitive commodity economy. Roger Holci is typical hardworking doer. His young and attractive wife, Gretchen, has frequent affairs with George Thompson, an interior decorator, when she feels boring. One time, in order to prevent his wife from interfering with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a fortune at the last critical moment, he even took narcotic in his wife’s coffee. Fitzgerald shows reader a picture of “Jazz Age” with his humor.

“Psychologist” tells the story of a family on the verge of collapse, under the guidance of a psychologist, and finally leads a happy life. LuilaHemper is a woman with a modern consciousness. She yearns for a new life and pursues an independent personality, but eventually she becomes a woman who adheres to traditional moral principles. The novel reflects the author’s stern examination of people’s views on love and marriage in the transitional period of old and new.

Most of stories in Tale of the Jazz Age are attractive, interesting and have a mature artistic expression. They are profound, ridiculous, impassioned, and humorous. They also reproduce the life and culture of American society in the 1920s to the world. Therefore, these stories are very popular among readers.

Under the guiding of youth culture, studying the youth culture in Tales of the Jazz Age equals to analyze the psychological and conductive performances of young people in Jazz Age. Because the Jazz Age has its special features, the youth culture of this era also showed its special features with the times.

(2) Culture Epitomes

• 1. Decadence

In the Jazz Age, the decadent life attracted many young people. Some of them took violence against others or gave up their own life easily due to their negative attitude toward life (Wei amp; Chong, 2017)．

The third chapter of “Boneless Man” describes a picture of gambling in details. All the young people are indulged in this carnival. Nancy, a drunken girl, cannot stop gambling though she has lost all her chips. “How about one more time,” she said like crazy, “This time bet all the money in hank ---- bet all your money in real names in banks everywhere.” They drink, they gamble and they chase sex. In the end of this short story, Nancy gets married with a guy she even hasn’t taken time to acquaint. “Wow,” Clark said vividly like a stage play, “Nobody knew where the four guys got a bottle of corn whisky. As a result, all of them were drunk and determined to do something that shock everyone in the city ---- therefore, at 7 o’clock this morning, Nancy married Merritt at Rockville.” (Wu, 2017: 36) After the lively gambling game, there is a regrettable ending, which is what frequently happened in that era.

b. Hedonism.

During my reading of this book, Tales of the Jazz Age, the word "party" appears frequently. In that era, it seems that everyone was going to a ball, and even born for the ball. Various themes, various purposes, what remains unchanged is the hustle of the ball and people's passion and fascination with the ball. Take an episode in “Camel’s Back” as an example, Perry dresses himself as a camel in order to attend a masquerade. The problem is that he has no idea about the address. Perry tries hard to recall, but the names of the people who hold the dance at this festival are all in a mess. "Let's head north towards that residential area," Perry instructed confidently. "Stop where you see a dance party."There were parties almost every day at that time, and young people could shuttle to various parties.

On most occasions, the party is for fun, such as the party held by Gatsby. However, in the short story, “The curious case of Benjamin Button”, an episode demonstrates that “party” has another significant role ---- social interaction. “In 1880, Benjamin Button is twenty years old. To celebrate his 20-year-old birthday, he went to work with his father's Roger Barton Hardware Wholesale Company. In the same year, he began to enter social world. His father insisted on taking him to a few parties only the upper class can participate.” (Wu, 2017: 105) Those parties turn to a bridge for young people to interact with others and be close to the upper class.

1. Idealism

Jim (“Boneless Man”) is a typical idealist in this collection. He hopes to receive love from Nancy; however, the reality makes this dream never come true. After Nancy marries Merritt, Jim, the boneless man, is very sad, but he has no other way but to return to a billiard room. In this billiard room, he believes that he will surely find a group of friends who would make all sorts of old jokes --- those jokes are familiar to him. His dream is doomed to be a failure due to the cruel reality.

The impact of Tales of the Jazz Age on Youth Culture

(1) Idol culture

There was no doubt that young people in Jazz Age emulated Fitzgerald. Dating back to the Jazz Age, the idol culture behaviors in the Jazz Age are manifested as follows:

First, reading Fitzgerald’s works. Every debut of Fitzgerald’s works could attract young people to buy and read crazily.

Second, stimulating the behaviors in his books. Confusion pervaded the crowds of young people in the Jazz Age. Fortunately, these works provided them some directions in the most suitable time.

These two typical phenomena have shown that Fitzgerald is an idol among young people, and this has made the Fitzgerald phenomenon an idol culture in the Jazz Age. The foundation of the idol culture, conversely, accelerate the development of youth culture, so that the youth culture in the Jazz Age took the pictures described by Fitzgerald as the prototype. Gradually, it created the inherent features in the Jazz Age.

(2) Pop culture

Pop culture is the dominant culture of a typical era. It has cultural characteristics characteristic of the time and showed a clear tendency to development at a given time. The most typical feature of Jazz Age is the pursuance of the upper classes’ lives. It has formulated a trend, and the youth craze about it with days go on. The pop culture affected the whole generation of young people in the Jazz Age. Their pursuit of upper-class social life had reached a state of obsession. Nothing could stop them until the end of life. If they could realize their dreams, it did not matter how much they would pay. It was the advent of tragedy that that they suddenly realized that they should not have gone in this direction.

• 1. Behavior culture

Behavior culture is the manifestation of putting trends in popular culture into action. When the popular culture of the "Jazz Age" was formed, the young people began to imitate the characters in Fitzgerald's novels. They imitated the dress, behavior and even preferences of the characters in the books. Overnight, it seemed that all the boys had become playboys, and all the girls flappers. They began to attend parties and were indulged into drinks. Though they got tired of such life, they continued to repeat the same games and lived day by day.

• 1. Value culture

Value is the most important for youth culture. Because of the guidance of value, it will make young people show various behaviors and form characteristics of youth culture. In the Jazz Age, people started chasing money frantically, worshiping money just like worshiping religion, and everyone was eager to step into the upper classes. They enjoyed everything that money brought them, wealth, fame, and luxury. Money had become deeply entrenched in the values of youth in the Jazz Age, and pursuing money had become commonfor most young people in the works, like Roger Holci in “Gretchen’s Fortieth Blinks”. However, in such social environment, there were still touching love stories. "Happy Misery" praises this traditional virtue and true feelings of the human being that are rare in modern society.

Contemporary Youth Culture in China

The reform and opening-up lead to the development of the socialist market economy, economic globalization, and scientific and technological informatization and become the background for the growth of contemporary youth. Under such environment, contemporary youth culture in China shows different features from that of the Jazz Age.

1. Pragmatism

From very young age, the new generation witnessed the fierce competition in market economy, and pragmatism became the basic feature of this generation.On the one, pragmatism led to a rapid economic development; on the other, it also brought about a generation gap between the youth and the older generation, especially concentrated on the relationship between material and spirit.Compared with their fathers, they are not idealistic, instead material orientated and having a strong sense of competition.

1. Internationalism

International survival is becoming a way of life for more and more young people, which is the second characteristic of contemporary youth.

They have gone through the historical process of economic globalization, with broad international horizons and more active thinking. In the past, elders only had the opportunity to study abroad after college; now, some people in the youth group live and receive education abroad in elementary school and even earlier.

In metropolises and economically developed regions, most young people have the experience of studying abroad, traveling, and shopping. International marriage and love are no longer new. More and more young people prefer to go outside for further development.

1. Individualism

In modern society, personalized consumption is more and more valued by people. The identity difference between people is not only influenced by family origin, but the style and grade of goods consumption distinguishes the identity of people. In fact, different social classes have different choices of consumption methods to distinguish their identities.Young consumers are particularly concerned about new things related to trends and fashions, and are easily influenced by cutting-edge consumption in other markets.

1. Digital survival

Internet leads to a direct impact on the contemporary youth. Internet has given to revolution to their lifestyles. The smartphones play a very strong role in daily life. They search information, share their life, learning and working with them. The smartphones help people in understanding the world, interpersonal communication, conducting business activities, daily life, etc., so that young people have a broader perspective.

At present, the most popular shopping method is Taobao. According to the survey, people who are keen on online shopping are mainly concentrated in the 20-35 age group, and this age group belongs to the middle class who are about to enter the society or are already in the middle class. We believe that the growth of China's middle class is of great significance to the development of Internet consumption.

Similarities and differences

1. Similarities

The youth in Jazz Age and contemporary China both are experiencing an era of transformation. The rapid social development changes their life greatly. Various innovations bring about more possibilities. People can get rid of massive errands and have more time to enjoy life. Abundant entertainments are easily available. Some people in Jazz Age were addicted to alcohols and parties, and some Chinese adolescents indulge themselves in Internet, especially computer games and webcast. The story of an adolescent spends lots of money on an influencer is not new.

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