Were the intellectual critics of the 1920s really disillusioned with the fundamental character of American life, or were they actually loyal to a vision of a better America, and only hiding their idealism behind a veneer of disillusionment and irony?

I think there was disillusionment with the evils of WWI and modernity to some extent. There were literary figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald who obviously felt conflicted about the prosperity of the 1920s and the direction where American society was heading.

Explanation:

The 1920s were a decade of contradictions and profound cultural changes. There was the rise of mass culture and important advances in women's rights as women started to go out to jazz clubs and converse with men and other women, their intellectual contributions and agency were recognized more than in the past. But there was also prohibition during the 1920s and a struggle to maintain the conservatism of the old traditional America. There was also a rise in organized crime but advances in technology like Charles Lindbergh's flight and the massification of cars by Henry Ford that also showed some idealism and pride in American ingenuity.