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Themes in Modernist Literature

This document provides an overview of 20th century British and Irish modernist literature. It discusses the historical context of the time period which included two world wars, the rise of Hitler, and major scientific discoveries. It notes that many influential writers of the time came from outside Britain or were marginalized groups. Key influences on modernist literature included thinkers like Marx, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein who questioned traditional worldviews. Modernist literature is characterized by experimentation with form, a sense of discontinuity, and themes of alienation, fragmentation, and questioning social norms. Excerpts from T.S. Eliot and James Joyce demonstrate these literary techniques and concerns.

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Gabriela Pauna
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244 views10 pages

Themes in Modernist Literature

This document provides an overview of 20th century British and Irish modernist literature. It discusses the historical context of the time period which included two world wars, the rise of Hitler, and major scientific discoveries. It notes that many influential writers of the time came from outside Britain or were marginalized groups. Key influences on modernist literature included thinkers like Marx, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein who questioned traditional worldviews. Modernist literature is characterized by experimentation with form, a sense of discontinuity, and themes of alienation, fragmentation, and questioning social norms. Excerpts from T.S. Eliot and James Joyce demonstrate these literary techniques and concerns.

Uploaded by

Gabriela Pauna
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

20th-Century British and Irish Modernist Literature

A Quick Overview of General Characteristics, Themes, and Agendas

Historical Background
1901- The End of the Reign of Queen Victoria 1903- Ford Motor Company Founded 1905- Einstein Unveils the Theory of Special Relativity 1914-18- WWI 1916- Easter Rising in Dublin 1920- League of Nations Formed 1929- Stock Market Crash 1933- Hitler Rises to Power 1939-45- WWII 1945- Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japan 1969- Apollo Lands on the Moon

Who is a British Writer in the 20th Century

20th-century writers who we call British


Conrad (Polish) [Link] & Pound (Americans) Yeats & Joyce (Irish)

The British Empire has Stretched Across the Globe

Who is a British Writer in the 20th Century?

Writers that were once marginalized by sexuality, gender, and class were now celebrated.

W. H. Auden

Virginia Woolf

D. H. Lawrence

Much has Been Brewing in the World of Science, Philosophy, and Ideology
Marx Darwin
Marx felt that reality was determined by materialist cultures and economics. He called for a social revolution.

(1818-1883)

Nietzsche Freud

Darwin's theory of evolution and survival of the fittest suggests that survival is determined by the ability to adapt. The Origin of the Species

(1809-1882)

Feels that traditional religions have been debunked by physical and natural sciences and thus, that moral and ethical systems that arise from traditional religions are illogical.

(1844-1900)

Einstein

Freud s theories of the dynamic unconscious suggested that humans are not fully aware of what they think or why they think it. His ideas proposed that awareness existed in layers and that many thoughts occur "below the surface. Overturns Newtonian conceptions of Physics. The universe is uncertain and we are ill-equipped observers.

(1856-1939)

(1879-1955)

Reeds Reflections on Modernist Literature


Modernist

literature is a movement away from Romanticism, Victorian trends in literature, and Realism, and really, is marked by its determined desire to break away from all previous forms and conventions. It reflects the lack of order seen in a growing urban society, celebrates passion over reason, and questions traditional moralities.

Some Formal Characteristics of Modernist Literature


Open

and Experimental Form Discontinuity Juxtaposition Intertextuality Classical Allusions Borrowings From Other Cultures and Texts

T.S. Eliot
I grow old I grow old

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.


Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. ( The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock lines 120-125)

Some Thematic Characteristics of Modernist Literature


Alienation

of the individual and the artist Society as fractured and culture as fragmented Sense of dislocation and meaninglessness Questioning the value of cultural norms Rejecting recorded history and valuing the mythic Focusing on the urban, the mundane, and the marginalized

James Joyce
I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it call itself home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use, silence, exile, and cunning. (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)

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