Revisiting the Transatlantic 1920s: Vincent Sheean vs. Malcolm Cowley.

COWLEY, Malcolm, 1898-1989; SHEEAN, Vincent, 1899-1975; EXILE'S Return: A Narrative of Ideas (Book); PERSONAL History (Book); WORLD War I -- Influence; INTERWAR Period (1918-1939); LITERATURE & history; HISTORY of travel writing; AUTOBIOGRAPHY

The article compares and contrasts the autobiographical travel writings of American authors abroad in the 1920s by focusing on the books "Exile's Return: A Narrative of Ideas" by Malcolm Cowley and "Personal History" by Vincent Sheean. It considers the contemporary popular reception of the two books: Cowley's sold fewer than one thousand copies while Sheean's sold over two million and won the National Book Award for best biography. Other topics include the "lost generation" referring to people who came of age during World War I, history and literature during the inter-war period, and how both books reveal a rising American awareness of both political and cultural international engagement during the period.