Evolution of Realism in the 1940s

Like the turn of the 19^th century when literature was affected by the Civil War, the late half of the 1940s reflected the aftermath of World War II and the beginning of the of the Cold War. Many authors of the time employed the use of realism that verged on the point of naturalism to depict the horrors of war. The literature of the time also displayed human follies evident in wartime. Writers of the time period include Norman Mailer (The Naked and the Dead), James Jones (From Here to Eternity), Irwin Shaw ( The Young Lions), Joseph Heller (Catch-22), Arthur Miller (The Crucible) and Tennessee Williams (Streetcar Named Desire).