Some Characteristics of Modernism in Literature

Modernist writers proclaimed a new "subject matter" for literature and they felt that their new
way of looking at life required a new form, a new way of writing. Writers of this period tend to
pursue more experimental and usually more highly individualistic forms of writing. he sense of
a changing world was stimulated by radical new developments, such as!
new insights from the emerging fields of psychology and sociology
anthropological studies of comparative religion
new theories of electromagnetism and quantum physics
a growing critique of "ritish imperialism and the ideology of empire
the growing force of doctrines of racial superiority in #ermany
the escalation of warfare to a global level
shifting power structures, particularly as women enter the work force
the emergence of a new "city consciousness"
new information technologies such as radio and cinema
the advent of mass democracy and the rise of mass communication
fin$de$si%cle &"end$of$the$century"' consciousness
Some of the features of the new sense of reality:
the replacement of a belief in absolute, knowable truth with a sense of relative, provisional truths
()instein*s first book on relativity +,-./0an awareness of "reality" as a constructed fiction
a focus on the unconscious as an important source of motivation (1reud*s The Interpretation of
Dreams +,--/
a turning away from teleological ways of thinking about time to a sense of time as discontinuous,
overlapping, non$chronological in the way we experience it0 a shift from linear time to "moment
time"
less emphasis on art*s reflection of external reality and a greater emphasis on art*s reflection of
the perceiving mind0 &compare developments in painting! moving from "representational"
2ictorian painting (painting that represents identifiable, often narrative, scenes in external
reality/ through 3mpressionism (e.g. Whistler0 the attempt to paint the quality of the sensations
stimulated by the external scene/ to 4ost$3mpressionism (e.g. Matisse0 painting the "painterly"
scene, the pure elements of colour and form$$perhaps as a way of painting the perceiving mind,
the aesthetic consciousness'
a focus on epistemological concerns (how do we know what we know5/ and linguistic concerns
(how is the way we think inseparable from the forms in which we think5/0 a sense of the break$
down of a shared linguistic community0 a reaction against the dominance of rational, logical,
"patriarchal" discourse and its monopoly of power
Some manifestations of new approaches in modernist writing:
character: a disappearance of character summary, of discrete well$demarcated characters as in
6ickens0 the representation of the self as diverse, contradictory, ambiguous, multiple
plot: scepticism about linear plots with sudden climactic turning points and clear resolutions0 the
use instead of discontinuous fragments, "moment time," a$chronological leaps in time,
contrapuntal multiple plots, open unresolved endings
style: "stream of consciousness"$$tracing non$linear thought processes, moving by the "logic of
association" or the "logic of the unconscious"0 imagistic rather than logical connections
point of view (or focalization): a rejection of the single, authoritative, omniscient point of view
for a narrative focali7ed instead through the consciousness of one character whose point of view
is limited$$or through several characters who establish relative, multiple points of view$$or
through several simultaneously$held positions maintained by the one character
Modernism, in the arts, a radical break with the past and the concurrent search for new forms of
expression. Modernism fostered a period of experimentation in the arts from the late +,th to the
mid$8-th century, particularly in the years following World War 3.
3n an era characteri7ed by industriali7ation, rapid social change, and advances in science and
the social sciences (e.g., 1reudian theory/, Modernists felt a growing alienation incompatible
with 2ictorian morality, optimism, and convention. 9ew ideas in psychology, philosophy, and
political theory kindled a search for new modes of expression.
Modernism in literature
he Modernist impulse is fueled in various literatures by industriali7ation and urbani7ation and
by the search for an authentic response to a much$changed world. :lthough prewar works
by ;enry <ames, <oseph =onrad, and other writers are considered Modernist, Modernism as a
literarymovement is typically associated with the period after World War 3. he enormity of the
war had undermined humankind>s faith in the foundations of Western society and culture, and
postwar Modernist literature reflected a sense of disillusionment and fragmentation. :
primary theme of .?. )liot>s long poem The Waste Land (+,88/, a seminal Modernist work, is
the search for redemption and renewal in a sterile and spiritually empty landscape. With its
fragmentary images and obscure allusions, the poem is typical of Modernism in requiring the
reader to take an active role in interpreting the text.
he publication of the 3rish writer <ames <oyce>s Ulysses in +,88 was a landmark event in the
development of Modernist literature. 6ense, lengthy, and controversial, the novel details the
events of one day in the life of three 6ubliners through a technique known as stream of
consciousness, which commonly ignores orderly sentence structure and incorporates fragments
of thought in an attempt to capture the flow of characters> mental processes. 4ortions of the book
were considered obscene, and Ulysses was banned for many years in )nglish$speaking countries.
@ther )uropean and :merican Modernist authors whose works rejected chronological
and narrative continuity include2irginia Woolf, Marcel 4roust, #ertrude ?tein, and William
1aulkner.
he term Modernism is also used to refer to literary movements other than the )uropean and
:merican movement of the early to mid$8-th century. 3n Aatin :merican
literature, Modernismoarose in the late +,th century in the works of Manuel #utiBrre7
9Cjera and <osB MartD. he movement, which continued into the early 8-th century, reached its
peak in the poetry of EubBn 6arDo. (See also :merican literature0 Aatin :merican literature./