Early 20th Century Culture
1900s
Events
Max Planck invents quantum theory 1900
Wright brothers invent airplane 1903
Russo-Japanese War 1904-05
Albert Einstein invents theory of relativity 1905
John Fleming invents electronic tube (diode) 1905
Oklahoma joins US 1907
Texts
Binodini Rabindranath Tagore (India) 1902. Intricate, rich storytelling from Tagore.
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad (UK) 1902. Classic fable of colonialism.
The Iron Heel Jack London (US) 1902. Grim foreshadowing of fascism.
The Wings of the Dove Henry James (US) 1902. The first of James' great trilogy.
The Ambassadors Henry James (US) 1903. Americans abroad in Western Europe.
The Golden Bowl Henry James (US) 1904. James' epic peak.
Botchan Natsume Soseki (Japan) 1906. Delightful early comedy from Soseki.
The Jungle Upton Sinclair (US) 1906. Immigrants in industrial Chicago.
And Then Natsume Soseki (Japan) 1909. Soseki's tale of a student adrift in Meiji society.
Theater
The Three Sisters Anton Chekhov (Russia) 1900
A Dream Play August Strindberg (Sweden) 1901
To Damascus August Strindberg (Sweden) 1901
The Lower Depths Maxim Gorky (Russia) 1902. The lightning-bolt between Symbolism and Expressionism fifteen years ahead of its time.
The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov (Russia) 1903
Ghost Sonata August Strindberg (Sweden) 1907
Music
Tosca Puccini (Italy) 1900
Symphony No. 4 Mahler (Austria) 1901 (this was completed before Symphony 3)
Symphony No. 3 Mahler (Austria) 1902
Madame Butterfly Puccini (Italy) 1904
Symphony No. 5 Mahler (Austria) 1904
The Sea [La Mer] Claude Debussy (France) 1905
Symphony No. 6 Mahler (Austria) 1906. Mahler's bleakest work
The Unanswered Question, Charles Ives (US) 1907
Five Orchestra Pieces, Op. 16 Schoenberg (Austria) 1908
Symphony No. 8 Mahler (Austria) 1909
Expectation [Erwartung], Op. 17 Arnold Schoenberg (Austria) 1909
Symphony No. 7 Mahler (Austria) 1909 Completed after Symphony No. 8
Theory
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1901
Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1905
History of Standard Oil Ida Tarbell (US) 1904
1910s
Events
Japan occupies Korea 1910
Mexican Revolution 1911
US Supreme Court orders Standard Oil to divest subsidiaries 1911
Fall of Chinese Qing dynasty 1911
New Mexico and Arizona join US 1912
World War I 1914-1918
Russian Revolution 1917
Expressionism and surrealism
Texts
The Gate Natsume Soseki (Japan) 1910. Soseki's fiction turns towards the anti-hero.
Gitanjali Rabindranath Tagore (India) 1910. Classic lyric collection
To the Spring Equinox Natsume Soseki (Japan) 1912. The Nietzschean intellectual as anti-hero.
Remembrance of Things Past Marcel Proust (France) 1913-19. One of the monumental achievements of human history.
Kokoro Natsume Soseki (Japan) 1914. Students and teachers, confronting the mystery of the human heart.
The Trial Franz Kafka (Czechoslovakia) 1915. Kafka's first great novel.
Grass on the Wayside Natsume Soseki (Japan) 1915. A lighter, more reflective text from Soseki.
Prufrock T.S. Eliot (US) 1915
Light and Darkness Natsume Soseki (Japan) 1916. Unfinished novel, but also Soseki's most expansive critique of the Meiji period.
Ten Days That Shook the World Walter Reed (US) 1917. Classic account of the Russian Revolution.
Tarr Wyndham Lewis (UK) 1918.
Theater
The Post Office Rabindranath Tagore (India) 1912
Baal Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1919
Film
Birth of a Nation D.W. Griffiths (US) 1915
The Tramp Charlie Chaplin (US) 1915
One A.M. Charlie Chaplin (US) 1916
The Pawnshop Charlie Chaplin (US) 1916
Intolerance D.W. Griffiths (US) 1916
Easy Street Charlie Chaplin (US) 1917
Shoulder Arms Charlie Chaplin (US) 1918
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Ernst Lubitsch (Germany) 1919
Painting
Paul Klee
Kandinsky
Picasso
Chagall
Music
Symphony No. 9 Mahler (Austria) 1910
Symphony No. 10 Mahler (Austria) 1911 Mahler's unfinished symphony
Firebird Igor Stravinsky (Russia) 1910
Song of the Earth Mahler (Austria) 1911
Pierrot Lunaire Arnold Schoenberg (Austria) 1912
Die glueckliche Hand Arnold Schoenberg (Austria) 1913
A Symphony: New England Holidays Charles Ives (US) 1913
Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 Alban Berg (Austria) 1913
Anton Webern
Images Claude Debussy (France) 1912
Rite of Spring Igor Stravinsky (Russia) 1912
Story of a Soldier Igor Stravinsky (Russia) 1918
Theory
Totem and Taboo Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1913
1920s
Events
Expressionism and Surrealism
Age of the Automobile
Roaring Twenties
Texts
Ulysses James Joyce (Ireland) 1922
The Castle Franz Kafka (Czechoslovakia) 1922
The Wasteland T.S. Eliot (US) 1922
Cane Jean Toomer (US) 1923
Magic Mountain Thomas Mann (Germany) 1924
Lu Xun (China), collected short stories
Red Cavalry Isaac Babel (USSR) 1925
Moscow Diary Walter Benjamin (Germany) 1927
Sophie's Diary Ding Ling (China) 1927
Chevengur Andrei Platonov (USSR) 1928
The Childermass Wyndham Lewis (UK) 1928
Langston Hughes (US), selected poems
Films
The Idle Class Charlie Chaplin (US) 1921
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Carl Mayer (Germany) 1921
The Playhouse Buster Keaton (US) 1921
Pay Day Charlie Chaplin (US) 1922
The Love Nest Buster Keaton (US) 1923
Our Hospitality Buster Keaton (US) 1923
Greed Erich von Stroheim (US) 1924
Sherlock Jr. Buster Keaton (US) 1924
The Navigator Buster Keaton (US) 1924
Strike Sergei Eisenstein (USSR) 1924
Battleship Potemkin Sergei Eisenstein (USSR) 1925
The Gold Rush Charlie Chaplin (US) 1925
Go West Buster Keaton (US) 1925
The General Buster Keaton (US) 1926
Metropolis Fritz Lang (Germany) 1927
Napoleon Abel Gance (France) 1927
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City Carl Mayer (Germany) 1927
A Dog of Andalusia [Un Chien Andalou] Luis Buñuel (Spain) 1928
The Circus Charlie Chaplin (US) 1928
The Passion of Joan of Arc Carl-Theodor Dreyer (France) 1928
Steamboat Bill Jr. Buster Keaton (US) 1928
Cocaonauts Robert Florey and Joseph Santley (US) 1929
Man with a Movie Camera Dziga Vertov (USSR) 1929
Theater
Drums in the Night Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1922
In the Jungle of the Cities Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1923
Red Oleanders Rabindranath Tagore (India) 1924
A Man's a Man Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1926
Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1928
Bedbug, Vladimir Mayakovsky (USSR) 1928
The Bathhouse Vladimir Mayakovsky (USSR) 1928
Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1928
The Baden Cantata of Consent Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1929
Saint Joan of the Stockyards Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1929
Antonin Artaud (France)
Painting
Paul Klee (Switzerland)
Kandinsky
Pablo Picasso (Spain)
Marc Chagall
Music
Wozzeck Alban Berg (Austria) 1921
Chamber Concerto Alban Berg (Austria) 1925
Lyric Suite for String Quartet Alban Berg (Austria) 1926
Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31, Arnold Schoenberg (Austria) 1928
Symphony, Op. 21, Anton Webern (Austria) 1927
Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, Louis Armstrong (US) 1925-28 (RealAudio files available at http://www.redhotjazz.com/louie.html)
Wine Alban Berg (Austria) 1929
Theory
Beyond the Pleasure Principle Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1920
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber (Germany) 1920
Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1921
The Ego and the Id Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1923
History and Class Consciousness Gyorgy Lukacs (Hungary) 1923
Goethe's Elective Affinities Walter Benjamin (Germany) 1925
On Dostoevsky's Poetics Mikhail Bakhtin (USSR) 1925
The Future of an Illusion Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1927
Origins of the German Tragedy-Play Walter Benjamin (Germany) 1928
1930s
Events
Great Depression
Fascism in Italy, Germany, Japan, Spain
Stalinism and the Purges
FDR and the New Deal
Long March of the Chinese Revolution
WW II 1939-1945
Texts
The Apes of God Wyndham Lewis (UK) 1930. Scathing satire of the English art-aristos.
Foundation Pit Andrey Platonov (USSR) 1930
Journey to the End of the Night Celine (France) 1932
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller (US) 1934
Death on the Installment Plan Celine (France) 1936
Dumb Luck VÅ© Trong Phung (Vietnam) 1936. Uproarious satire of colonial-era Vietnam.
Happy Moscow Andrey Platonov (USSR) 1936
Days of Childhood Nguyen Hong (Vietnam) 1938. Powerful autobiography.
Tropic of Capricorn Henry Miller (US) 1938
Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second-stage Lensman E.E. Doc Smith (US) 1937-1940
Langston Hughes (US), selected poetry
Svendborger Elegies Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1939
Film
City Lights Charlie Chaplin (US) 1931
Frankenstein James Whale (US) 1931. Gods and monsters, oh my!
M Fritz Lang (Germany) 1931. Classic thriller which was both the capstone and tombstone -- of German Expressionism.
Liberty for Us René Clair (France) 1931
The Million René Clair (France) 1931
Monkey Business Norman McLeod (US) 1931. Madcap Marx brothers.
Duck Soup Leo McCarey (US) 1932. The greatest Marx brothers film of them all. Stinging surrealistic fun.
It Happened One Night Frank Capra (US) 1934. Capra's breakthrough screwball comedy.
Bride of Frankenstein James Whale (US) 1935. Not quite as compelling as the first Franken-film, but plenty of fine moments.
A Night at the Opera Sam Wood (US) 1935. Marx brothers
Let's Go With Pancho Villa Fernando de Fuentes (Mexico) 1935. Epic film about six farmers who join Villa's revolutionary army.
Triumph of the Will Leni Riefenstahl (Germany) 1935. Scarily effective.
Modern Times Charlie Chaplin (US) 1936. Chaplin's working-class epic.
Showboat James Whale (US) 1936. Though a derivative work, the film contains an astounding sequence of Paul Robeson singing "Old Man River," which has to be seen -- and heard -- to be believed.
A Day at the Races Sam Wood (US) 1937. More Marx brothers mayhem.
Grand Illusion Jean Renoir (France) 1937
Alexander Nevsky Eisenstein (USSR) 1938. The Stalin-era classic.
Destry Rides Again George Marshall (US) 1939. Hilarious comedy Western.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Frank Capra (US) 1939. The classic political film of the New Deal.
Stagecoach John Ford (US) 1939
Theater
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1930
Mother Courage Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1939
Visual
Krazy Kat George Herriman. The greatest comic strip of the modernist era.
Paul Klee (various works)
Pablo Picasso (various works)
Music
Mood Indigo Duke Ellington (US) 1930
It Don't Mean a Thing, Creole Rhapsody Duke Ellington (US) 1930
Moses und Aaron Arnold Schoenberg (Austria) 1932
Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24 Anton Webern (Austria) 1933
Lulu Alban Berg (Austria) 1935
Chamber Concerto Alban Berg (Austria) 1935
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Bela Bartok (Hungary) 1935
String Quarter IV, Op. 37 Arnold Schoenberg (Austria) 1936
Count Basie (various works)
Louis Armstrong (various works)
First Cantata, Op. 29 Anton Webern (Austria)
Theory
Civilization and its Discontents Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1930
In Search of Wagner Theodor Adorno (Germany) 1937
Moses and Monotheism Sigmund Freud (Austria) 1938
The Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire Walter Benjamin (Germany) 1939
1940s
Events
World War II 1940-45
Yalta and partition of Europe
Great Famines of India (1944) and Vietnam (1945)
Independence of India and Indonesia 1947
Partition of Pakistan and India 1947
Invention of transistor 1947
Vietnamese Revolution begins 1945
Chinese Revolution 1949
Beginning of Cold War 1948
Texts
The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov (USSR) 1940. The Burgin and O'Connor translation.
Requiem Anna Akhmatova (USSR) 1940. The peak of Russian lyric modernism.
Our Lady-of-the-Flowers Jean Genet (France) 1940. Genet's greatest prose work.
Watt Samuel Beckett (Ireland) 1940. Beckett's greatest novel.
The Wild One Ismat Chughtai (India) 1941. Tremendous novel from Chughtai.
The Garden of Forking Paths Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina) 1941.
Children of the Lens E.E. Doc Smith (US) 1942
The Crooked Line Ismat Chughtai (India) 1944. Path-breaking and brilliant novel, from one of Urdu's greatest writers.
Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann (Germany) 1947.
Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien (UK) 1947. The fantasy classic.
Triplanetary, First Lensmen E.E. Doc Smith (US) 1948, 1950
Langston Hughes (US), selected poems
Films
The Great Dictator Charlie Chaplin (US) 1940
Citizen Kane Orson Welles (US) 1940.
Fantasia (Multiple directors) (US) 1940
Casablanca Michael Curtiz (US) 1942
Double Indemnity Billy Wilder (US) 1944
The Lost Weekend Billy Wilder (US) 1945
The Best Years of Our Lives William Wyler (US) 1946
It's a Wonderful Life Frank Capra (US) 1946
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Charles Barton (US) 1948. A romp -- the comedy duo's funniest film.
Theater
The Good Person of Szechuan Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1940
Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1940
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1941
The Caucasian Chalk Circle Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1944
Galileo Galilei Bertolt Brecht (Germany) 1947
Visual
Paul Klee
Music
Ko-Ko Duke Ellington (US) 1940
Variations, Op. 30 Anton Webern (Austria) 1941
Second Cantata, Op. 31 Anton Webern (Austria) 1943
Charlie Parker, Koko, Savoy November 11, 1946; Embraceable You, Take 1, Dial, October 28, 1947; Klack-oveeseds-tene, Take 1, Dial, November 11, 1947; Parker's Mood, Take 2, Savoy, September 18, 1948
Count Basie
Theory
Dialectic of Enlightenment Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno (US) 1944
Mimesis Erich Auerbach (Germany) 1946
Minima Moralia Theodor Adorno (Germany) 1947
Philosophy of Modern Music Theodor Adorno (Germany) 1947
The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir (France) 1949