The modernist period in British and Irish literature was one of the most important and exciting times in literary history. The term modernist stemmed from the beginning of the 20th century labelled the modern period. The modern period was a time of confusion and transitions, mostly due to the result of people returning from World War I. The modern period was an era of massive unemployment and technological changes. Freud, Jung, and Marx were redefining human identity, Assembly lines and factories were being introduced, and gender differences were starting to crumble. The modern period was a time of change, and the field of Literature was no exception. Susan Gorsky, in her book titled Virginia Woolf, states that " Virginia Woolf perhaps spoke for the writers coming of age around WWI:" " We are sharply cut off from our predecessors. A shift in the scale - the sudden slip of masses held in position for ages has shaken the fabric from top to bottom, alienated us from the past and made us perhaps too vividly conscious of the present." (Virginia Woolf, 280). The continuous change in life and the constant "shift in the scale" forced writers to take a new approach to literature, creating some of the most read work of the twentieth century.
Modernist authors of the twentieth century reinvented literature. Instead of placing the main focus of storytelling on the story itself, they went one step further and based their novels on the concepts of truth, and the understanding of self. They explored the ideas of consciousness, alienation, and inner conflict within the mind, and asked important questions of the reader while testing the boundaries of the soul. Susan Gorsky, perfectly defines literary modernism, in her book Virginia Woo...
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...o inspire, and create, to make new.
The world of modernism is still an exciting world to visit, even today. Though some of the ideas no longer seem new to us, one must imagine what it must have been like to live in a world of so much change and creation. To imagine what it would have been like to read a literary work of James Joyce, Ezra Pound, T.S Eliot, or Virginia Woolf, for the first time, and honestly say you had never in your life read anything remotely similar, as. Writers alike stepped away from traditional values, and radically changed the rules of perception, and literature, as we now know it. Without the modernist period, many of the great authors, painters, and musicians of the world today may not have been inspired, and life as a whole would have suffered. Modernism is a very important, not only in the history of Literature, but in humanity itself.
Modernism was the word of the era because it was the opposite of the last. People pined for new and exciting ways to make up for time lost to the war. This feeling of looking ahead through the ambiguity of the time permeated through all tiers of society from the working class to the elites. In Judith Walkowitz’s “A Jewish Night Out,” we find a dance hall catering to Jewish youth. One can rent a dance partner and learn how to dance well. It was suddenly important to be able to charm the opposite sex in talent, attitude, and appearance because sex wasn’t just for procreation anymore. Deborah Cohen’s Household Gods, she gives a look into architecture and material things. There’s a clear clash between the older and younger generations, and the younger ones enjoy modernism. “Advocates of the modern insisted that the new era required a new style. They deplored the vogue for reproductions, which, in the psychological language of the day, they analysed as evidence of an ‘inferiority complex’.” As well, stream of consciousness writing emerges from the depths of collegiate, middle class bohemia. The Bloomsburry Group were named after the London neighborhood they inhabited and were an artist collective, living life according to art and the new fragmentation of life after war. Virginia Woolf’s writing reflects the general feeling of the interwar period: confusing, ambiguous, hopeful, and moral-less. The Bohemians took the disassociation of the era and put it into new and modern art. All of these cultural ideas and forms of recreation were a result of the Great War because there was a generation of young people who were lost and needed a future meaningful to them, so they created
Throughout the year we have read many different novels from many different time periods. We have read from the following five time periods Colonial, Revolutionary, Romanticism, Realism, and Modernism. All five of these time periods express the way of life in many different ways. By that I mean that throughout every time period the thought of life is very much so different. Each time period gives you a different perspective on life and also how much different we live now in comparison to any of these time periods with the exception of post modernism. Post modernism is the current way way of writing. These time periods range from 1607-current. We have read and learned the ways of writing from 400 years in the matter of nine months. We truly need more time to truly understand all of these ways of writing.
Modernist Poetry involves a movement away from the self and the emotions of the individual. Typically, the focus of Modernist poetry revolves around the rational notions of the self, unlike the Romantic period, which focused on the poet. Modernist poets ex...
The Modernist Fiction period took place during the 1920’s and revolutionized the American way of life in literature, economically, and socially. There was a national vision of upward mobility during this time that represented the American Dream. The upward mobility was seen through the consumerism and materialism that dominated this decade economically. Popular novels of this time reflected the mass consumerism in the lives of those wrote them. During the American Modernist Fiction period, Americans became increasingly materialistic throughout the roaring twenties; therefore, the American Dream was to obtain upper class status through the possession of material goods, which was reflected in many of this period’s works.
In the modernism there was no focus on the plot events, instead the writers focused on characters' consciousness. Ambiguity and complexity were valued at that time. Modernists often work towards open endings and used the narrative gaps. In the early modernism the technique of Stream of Consciousness was widely used to know more about the human sense. Modernism was influenced by naturalism and realism. Its social content is characteristically avant-grade (Drabble 682). Moreover, the 20th century is one of the most important periods in English drama. New ideas, terms and styles have been introduced as a result of the atmosphere. Writers on that time expressed their anger and scorn as a result of the wars and the revolutions. There were many social changes at that time and the playwrights started to tackle that in their plays (Innes
The term “modern” makes people think of words like bold and captivating. Literary modernism is just that. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, poets and writers steered away from the traditional styles of literature and moved towards expressing the true sensibilities of their time. Some writers that followed this trend are Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Eliot. The techniques that these outstanding literary buffs used were rejection of traditional themes, subjects, and forms; bold experimentation in style and form reflecting fragmentation of society; sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American Dream; rejection of sentimentality; rejection of the ideal hero and instead using the flawed hero; interest in the workings of the human mind; and revolt against the spiritual debasement of the modern world. Many early authors, like the ones mentioned above, used these techniques to contribute to a unique American voice.
The modernist style of writing is one of disillusionment, frustration and loss of hope. The modernist writers did not try to point out silver linings or brighter futures, instead they explored the depths of the sorrows of life in the time of the great depression and the long road to recovery from it. Most of these writers blamed the modernization of America for the stock market crash that brought on the great depression. Likewise, modern politics drew America into not only one, but two world wars. At the same time, modern intellectual advancements challenged or usurped traditional beliefs and values.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, literature changed and focused on breaking away from the typical and predicate patterns of normal literature. Poets at this time took full advantage and stretched the idea of the mind’s conscience on how the world, mind, and language interact and contradict. Many authors, such as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Twain, used the pain and anguish in first hand experiences to create and depict a new type of literature, modernism. In this time era, literature and art became a larger part of society and impacted more American lives than ever before. During the American modernism period of literature, authors, artists, and poets strived to create pieces of literature and art that challenged American traditions and tried to reinvent it, used new ways of communication, such as the telephone and cinema, to demonstrate the new modern social norms, and express the pain and suffering of the First World War.
The Modernist period was a time in history when there were many changes. These changes varied from the American Dream to the literary styles and techniques. The American Dream became less complex and was more flexible than ever. It varied from the changing lifestyles to the change in literature. Helping to shape the nation into what we see today. People were focusing more on themselves and wanting to be known, and they also wanted to have money. Living life with an optimistic viewpoint.
It is a period when traditional values start to change.This movement causes innovations in science,art,culture,ethics,philosophy and psychology.It intends to find new or hidden meanings in the human experience.It’s main aim is to deal with new ideas.It is a break with the tradition.Modernist Poetry occurs between the 1890 and 1970.It’s key elements can be experimentation,anti realism,individualism.Experimentation means searching constantly.Anti-realism means to be against realism and concreteness.Individualism means to be an intellectual and to be an individual who has a self-confidence.The stress is mainly on the human mind rather than emotions.Many Modernist poets are from Universities,they appreciate their work a lot.It is a movement which is complex and diversed.It takes some of the important aspects from the movements.Modernism supports that every aspect from industry to philosophy should be interrogated.In this way,culture’s elements could be replaced by the new ones.The Modernist English poets write against the rules that are put by Victorian Poetry.They never deny the past poets or past works.They see themselves as they are respecting the earlier periods and other cultures.Their poems seem to be in longer form i...
Modernism can be defined as the post-industrial revolutionary era, where which the western world began to see a change in all spheres of living. The effects of the industrial revolution became prevalent towards the end of the nineteenth century and the modernist movement drew inspiration from this widespread change. Artists, writers, architects, designers and musicians, all began to embrace the changing world and denounce their pre-taught doctrines and previous ways of producing work. Society felt the urge to progressively move forward toward a modern way of thinking and living.
Many may argue that the Modernist movement was a completely new and unique movement within British literature. The goal of this paper is to determine whether or not the Modernist Literary Movement was completely unique or not. The similarities found in the works of Modernist authors and poets, such as Joseph Conrad and Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), will be examined against Romanticism themes and authors such as William Wordsworth. What will be found is that Modernism is not a completely unique movement, but one that combines elements from previous literary movements.
Modernists did not have faith in the external reality put forth by social institutions, such as the government and religion, and they no longer considered these avenues as trustworthy means to discover the meaning of life. For this reason they turned within themselves to discover the answers. Modernist literature is centered on the psychological experience as opposed to the external realities of the world. The experience is moved inwards in an attempt to make modernist works more representative of reality by making the experience more personal. The modernist era of literature is closely associated with the works of T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, among others. These three authors stand out because they have made use of unique literary tactics and devices which emphasize the inward turn of modernist literature.
The Modern Time Period started at the beginning of the 20th Century. Writing soon transitioned from Romantic and Victorian and adapted a new style known as modernism. Modernists did not care to write about nature or history, unlike the Romantic writers, but instead, modernists dealt more with exploration and independence of one's self. Literature, during the Modern Era, developed a sense of alienation and it dealt with the acknowledgement of the individual and one’s consciousness. Modern writing showed the deterioration and alienation of the individual rather than prosperity and development.
Many believed that Modernist works were not “art” because they did not always look like real life. But what is “real life”? A new outlook on reality was taken by Modernists. What is true for one person at one time is not true for another person at a different time. Experimentation with perspective and truth was not confined to the canvas; it influenced literary circles as well.