Modernism
Modernism Basics
Time Period: Late 19th Century to the mid-20th Century
Significantly in the years following World War I
“For the artist is, in an impersonal sense, the most conscious of men; he is therefore the most and least
civilized and civilizable; he is the most competent to understand both civilized and primitive.”
T.S. Eliot, “The Indians of North America”
Virginia Woolf
Years active: 1882-1941
English writer - journalism and stories
Considered one of the most significant modernist authors
in the 20th century
*QUOTE*
James Joyce
Years active: 1882-1941
Irish novelist, short-story writer and poet
Contributed to the modernist avant-garde
(invention)
Considered one of the most influential and
important authors of the 20th century
*QUOTE*
Sylvia Plath
Years active: 1932-1963
American poet, novelist and short-story
writer
Credited for advancing the genre of
confessional poetry
*QUOTE*
Samuel Beckett
Years active: 1906-1989
Irish novelist, poet, short-story writer
Heralded as a defining piece of modernist literature was
his abstract play: ‘Waiting for Godot’
Considered one of the last modernists
*QUOTE*
How to Use Modernism in your works
Modernist fiction commonly written in first person narrative
Stories often stream of consciousness
Modernist literature used satire, irony and comparisons to point out the ills of society
Modernist writers saw a decline of civilisation, the cold machinery and increased capitalism -
alienated the individual leading to loneliness, and spoke on the self and consciousness
Readers of modernist literature may feel like the story is going nowhere
Example: V. Woolf - Mrs. Dalloway
How to Use Modernism in your Work:
Characteristics of Modernist Literature
1) Individualism
1) Experimentation
1) Absurdity
1) Symbolism
1) Formalism
Individualism
Worlds or Societies were presented as challenges to the novel’s characters integrity
Modernist writers found interest in the individual's ability to adapt to the changing world, and overcoming
obstacles
Characters were written to be heroic against a future/ world they were unable to control
Example:
K. Kesey, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
J. Steinbeck, “To God Unknown”
Experimentation
Breaking old forms and techniques of storytelling.
Inner workings of consciousness were a common subject for modernists.
Leading to a form of narration known as: ‘stream of consciousness’.
— Examples of writers who used this technique: James Joyce and Virginia Woolf
Poets, for example, abandoned traditional rhyming schemes and instead used free verse
Example:
M. Twain, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
Mark Twain used the technique of ‘stream of consciousness’
Absurdity
The two world wars affected writers of the period
To writers, the world was becoming a more absurd place, and so modernist writers depicted this
[absurdity] in their work.
Example:
‘The Metamorphosis’ by Franz Kafka
Symbolism
Modernist writers used people, objects, places and events to aid their significant meanings
Symbolism wasn’t a new concept at the time, however modernist writers own specific use of symbols were
an adaption
Unlike many earlier writers, modernist writers wanted to leave more to the reader’s imagination
Poems that were written as a riddle to allow the reader to crack it, began in the modernist period
Example:
E. Hemingway, “The Old Man and the Sea”
Hemingway’s novella has a various symbols within it, such as the sea representing life and the marlin, and
sharks, representing the struggles from life
Formalism
In the modernist period, writers found literature to be more a craft, rather than creativity based
By literature being seen as a craft, provided the modernists’ their creativity and originality wants
Modernist poetry sometimes included foreign languages, foolish and invented vocabulary
Example:
E.E. Cummings, “Poem Collection” (page. 64) ‘the sky was’
Cummings’ structure is scattered, words are misplaced and
syllables are separated
(Probably not needed?)
Other Characteristics Include:
Characters:
The ‘hero’ type character is abandoned, and instead replaced by those who either fear to act or can’t
within a world they feel trapped in.
Plot:
Modernist literature didn’t follow sudden climactic twists or clear ended resolutions within their stories,
instead they used open endings.
Style:
The use of ‘stream of consciousness’ technique (used through first person narrative)
Used specifically by James Joyce (‘Ulysses’) and Virginia Woolf (‘To the Lighthouse’)
Postmodernism
Postmodernism became widely used in the 1960s, describing a ‘new sensibility’ in literature
It either rejected, adapted or extended modernist attitudes and techniques
Bibliography
Rossetti, Gina M.. Imagining the Primitive in Naturalist and Modernist Literature, University of Missouri
Press, 2006.
A Companion to Modernist Literature and Culture, edited by David Bradshaw, and Kevin J. H. Dettmar,
John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2006.
