Modernist Literature

•International literary and cultural movement of the early 20th century

•Reflected a sense of cultural crisis which was both exciting and disquieting

•Opened up new vistas of human possibilities while called into question previous means of grounding and evaluating ideas

What is Modernism?

General FeaturesModernism was built on a sense of lost civilization and lost community—it embodies a series of contradictions and paradoxes•Revolution and conservatism•Lost of a sense of tradition

•Lamented in an extreme form of conservatism•Celebrated as a means of liberation from the past

•Increasing dominance of technology•Condemned Vehemently•Embraced as progress

Important Characteristics of Narrative•Alienation—Self is separate and distinct from society which is frequently antagonistic to differences•Fragmentation– Disintegration or breakdown of norms of thought, behavior, or social relationship•Stream of consciousness•Complex allusions•Juxtaposition and multiple points of view

•Use of extended metaphors•Use of extended symbolism•New types of symbolism allusive in style and an interest in rarified mental states

Important Characteristics of Poetry•Open form•Use of free verse•Juxtaposition of ideas rather than detailed explanations•Use of allusions and multiple associations of words•Unconventional use of metaphor•Importance given to sound to convey the “music of ideas”•Imagism

Imagism•Uses juxtaposition of images and the rhythmic arrangement of words to create a condensed effects•Influenced by Japanese haiku—short poems which create a subtle mood through a succession of images

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

The Great GatsbyPoint of View:

Limited third personEverything we know is seen through the eyes of Nick Carraway

The Great Gatsby Themes

The American Dream and its disintegration.

The American dream was originally about:

Discovery

Individualism

The pursuit of happiness

The Great Gatsby ThemesDeath of the

American Dream

with unprecedented prosperity and material excess it became tarnished and left:

Social decay

Greed

Empty pursuit of pleasure

The Great Gatsby ThemesOld money vs. new

money: Old money—aristocratic, inherited wealth, tasteful, elegant, have social graces…but ultimately very shallow peopleNew money—vulgar, self-made (rags to riches), showy, tacky…

The Great Gatsby ThemesCarelessness

"They were careless "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things they smashed up things and creatures and then and creatures and then retreated back into their retreated back into their money or their vast money or their vast carelessness or whatever carelessness or whatever it was that kept them it was that kept them together, and let other together, and let other people clean up the mess people clean up the mess they had made." – Nick’s they had made." – Nick’s description of Tom and description of Tom and DaisyDaisy

The Great Gatsby Symbols

The eyes of T.J. Eckleburg—a pair of eyes on a billboard ad for an eye doctor…they overlook the Valley and may represent God looking at and judging American society

The Great Gatsby Symbols

•Green light—at the end of the Buchanan’s dock—represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams

The Great Gatsby•Valley of Ashes—

between Long Island and NYC, a desolate wasteland used for dumping and burning trash—stands for a moral wasteland

The Great Gatsby