Subject :- Modernism movement.
Name: Himanshi Parmar
paper: 110 A : History of English Literature - From 1900 to 2000
Roll no: 08
Enrollment no : 4069206420210025
Email id: himanshiparmar3004@gmail.com
Batch : 2021-2023(M.A sem 2)
submitted to: S. B. Gardi Department of English, maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji bhavnagar University
Definition / meaning and Origin of Modernism :-
According to Collins dictionary,
"Modernism was a movement in the arts in the first half of the twentieth century that rejected traditional values and techniques, and emphasized the importance of individual experience".
Modernism can describe thought, behavior, or values that reflect current times, but it can also be used to describe an art and literature movement of the 19th and 20th centuries that intentionally split from earlier conservative traditions. The poet Ezra Pound was considered as a key figure in modernism, and his famous slogan "Make it new!" sums up the values of modernism, which rejected traditional forms and styles for more experimental techniques. Modernism is a period in literary history which started around the early 1900s and continued until the early 1940s. Modernist writers in general rebelled against clear-cut storytelling and formulaic verse from the 19th century. Instead, many of them told fragmented stories which reflected the fragmented state of society during and after World War I.
Many of the writers used free verse in their work and tried to include the culture of various countries. Some writers also wrote in the style of stream of consciousness to describe flow of thoughts and numerous points of views. Modernism movement has its origin in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Mainly the movement arose in Europe and North America. The movement generally did self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing in poetry and prose because they saw it as boring as well as binding. If we try to find reasons behind the rise of modernism, the horror and fear of world war one must come first. Especially world war one became a key reason for modernism in literature and art. Why so! The answer is after the war, the world seems meaningless, the World war was itself meaningless.there was no purpose, no aim of anything which serves right argument in a fever of World War. And to show this meaninglessness in work of art, poets and writers started a new movement called the Modernist movement. Not only in literature but in all the art forms like painting, sculpture, writing etc.
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are thought to be the mother and father of the movement because they had the most direct influence on early Modernists. Some time after their deaths, the Imagist poets began to gain importance. The University of Toledo’s Canaday Center has a rich collection of poetry and critical work from that era. Here are some important characteristics to understand modernism more clearly.
Characteristics :-
1 - Nihilism :-
The first characteristic associated with modernism is nihilism, the rejection of all religious and moral principles as the only means of obtaining social progress. In other words, the modernists repudiated the moral codes of the society in which they were living in. The reason that they did so was not necessarily because they did not believe in God, although there was a great majority of them who were atheists, or that they experienced great doubt about the meaninglessness of life.
2 - Influenced by some thinkers :-
The movement called modernism not only arose in literature but before that it was already existing in various fields, like psychology, sociology, science, philosophy etc. And modern writers were influenced by all of them and began the new movement. The main figures who influenced them are, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and others. The main work of these thinkers is to raise questions against the rationality of the human mind.
2 - International break with tradition :-
The movement started as a revolution against the traditional way of writing. The traditional subjects of writing were mostly taken from the myth and religious books which were always in favour of religion and spirituality but modernist writers break that traditional way and started writing about the reality and horror of the world. They don't care whether their works give delight or pleasure or not. They just try to let out what they are feeling in the problematic world.This break of tradition includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views.
3 - Inner self and Consciousness :-
Inner self and Consciousness are at the center of Modernism. And might be that's why the new writing technique called stream of consciousness came into existence. Which focuses on the inner thoughts of the writer and a stream of thoughts without any syntax, figures of speech, structure of writing, metaphors, and spelling correction. Nothing is more important than the stream of thoughts.
4 - Modernism care for nature and structure of history :-
Modernists are focusing on history and nature. As we know that modernism is all about breaking tradition. And to break the tradition, it is important to know the old traditions which one can only know if he knows history well. And for that purpose modernism is looking back to history.
Modernism also focuses on Nature and believing in the divine power of nature. They believe that the world is full of chaos and meaninglessness and the only way to escape from here is to look into nature. And they believe that everything is the origin of nature and will end in that only.
5 - Unreliable narrator and structure of work :-
Modernist works mainly don't follow any structure of writing. For example, It does not follow any grammatical rules, syntax structure, spelling errors but just gives importance to thoughts and the ideas of writers. Mainly in modernist works we find unreliable narrators and lack of plot arrangement. For example in F. Scotte. Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. In that a young boy named Nick is a narrator. But he is highly considered as unreliable because sometimes he was actually not presented. Also if we see Orlando : A Biography by Virginia Woolf, or Wasteland of T. S. Eliot's. We find no proper structure in plot, no appropriate characterization and themes. Mainly these kinds of works are written to show the extreme thought process of the writer's mind and the stream of consciousness.
6 - No truthfulness :-
In the works of modern time, there is no such thing as absolute truth, all the things are relative. Imagination is the soul of any literary works it is highly believed in. But modernist writers used to write about extreme imagination.
modernism influenced by :-
Charles Darwin, who forwarded a theory of evolution and natural selection.
Sigmund Freud, who pioneered psychoanalysis and revolutionized the way people thought about the brain. Similar techniques are found in literature as a form of stream of consciousness.
Karl Marx, who analyzed class inequalities.and discuss about social problems. In modernism they revolt against the old norms of social, political and religious.
Friedrich Nietzsche, who turned the world on its head when he proclaimed that “God is dead.” and modernists are believing in one's own self and self satisfaction and thought of the individual's mind.
Important writers of Modernist Movement :-
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald :-
F. Scott Fitzgerald born on September 24, 1896 and died on December 21, 1940. He was a great American novelist, essayist, short story writer and screenwriter. Considered as a great modernist writer.During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. His most famous works are,
1- The Beautiful and Damned (1922).
2- This Side of Paradise (1920).
3- The Great Gatsby (1925)
4 - Tender Is the Night (1934)
Robert Lee Frost :-
Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 and died on January 29, 1963. He was an American poet and His works were initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Mainly he was Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. Frost is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America's rare "public literary figures, almost an artistic institution". He was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont. Critic Harold Bloom argued that Frost was one of "the major American poets". His famous works are,
1- Home Burial.
2 - Mending Wall.
3- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
4- Spring Pools.
5- A Servant to Servants.
Samuel Beckett :-
His full name is Samuel Barclay Beckett. Born on 13 April 1906 and died on 22 December 1989. He was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator.He wrote in both French and English.Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which in new forms for the novel and drama in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation". He was the first person to be elected Saoi of Aosdána in 1984. His famous works are,
1- Waiting for Godot.
2- More Pricks than Kicks (1934),short-story collection.
3- Happy Days (1961).
4 - Krapp's Last Tape (1958)
Conclusion :-
Thus to conclude we are able to say that modernism is one of the major literary movements that emerged during the late 19th century and early 20th century. In which writers break all the traditional ways and write in quite new form.which we can consider as a reaction against world war one. Here I have discussed the meaning, definition and origin of modernism, Characteristics of modernism, modernism influenced by what! and discussion on some of the key figures from the modernist movement.
References :-
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/modernism
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modernist_writers
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