The Impact of Literature in the Late 1940s

Literature was an important element of life in America following World War II. People were hungry to read books—the war years were so busy that many people were unable to read books published during those times. The works of many modern and postmodern writers were revered and sought after. It was a common occurrence for many literary intellects who inhabited the liberal community of Greenwich Village during those times to become so obsessed with authors and the characters they created that they would literally become the writer or his characters, taking on their personalities and characteristics.

Books, to these literary elitists, were everything. Books opened up new worlds and showed these intellects that there was life beyond their smug, relatively small world. Books served to ground some of these young people who were adrift without purpose or substance. Some...