The Lost Generation is a literary movement that includes authors writing in the wake of the First World War. The devastation and disillusionment that resonated through society in the aftermath of World War I had a profound impact on the literary landscape, notably a group of U.S. writers living in Europe, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. Their stories are critical of traditional society and values, and their characters search for meaning and purpose in life.