What is Modernism in Literature?

NAME : HARIYANI KISHAN .RROLL NO: 17

PAPER : 9 THE MODERNIST LITERATURE SUBMITTED:S.B.GARDI DEPARTMENT

OF ENGLISH M.K.BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY

BATCH :2015’17Email Id :kishanhariyani1992@gmail.com

What is Literary Modernism?

Literary modernism traces its origins to late 19th and early 20th century

Began in France, spread to England and America and finally came back to Europe

Enjoyed its peak during the years 1910-1925.

Modernism as a movementModernism as a movement can be recognized not onlyin literature but also in • The sciences• Philosophy • Psychology • Anthropology • Painting • Music• Sculpture• Architecture

Influential thinkers

Physicist Einstein on Relativity (1905)Physicist Planck on Quantum Theory (1900)Philosopher Nietzsche on the Will of PowerPsychologist Freud on the Unconscious (The

Interpretation of Dreams, 1900)Psychologist Jung on Collective UnconsciousLinguist De Saussure on LanguageAnthropologist Frazer on Primitive Cultures

Artistic and Literary Movements

• Imagism: • Symbolism: • Vorticism: • Expressionism: • Futurism: • Dadaism

History of Modernism in Literature

Emerging fields of psychology and sociologyAdvancements in science and technologyAmbiguous situation after World-War IIncrease in population and expansion of cities

It was in these tumultuous times that the Cultural Revolution, known as Modernism.

Decay of Character and Hero

Psychological theories of Sigmund Freud created an impact on modernist writers

Writers found that the traditional method of portraying characters was erroneous

Characteristic Of Modernist Literature:

Modern story does not follow a Chronological order

Modern stories do not have a beginning or end

Modernist literature requires an Active reader

Decay Of Plot

Stress on Individual

Individual is more important for modernist writers than society

In a modern story, there are no universally accepted values of social conduct 

Realism

Modern stories are realistic For writers, there is no such thing

as absolute truth; everything is relative. 

Modernist literature is a portrayal of life as it is.

Thematic features

Focus on form rather than meaningBreaking down of limitation of space

and timeBorrowings from other cultures and

languagesUnconventional use of metaphor

Formal features of narrative

• Lack of traditional chronological narrative (discontinuous narrative)

• Break of narrative frames (fragmentation)• Moving from one level of narrative to another • Use of interior monologue technique• Use of the stream of consciousness technique • Focus on a character's consciousness and

subconscious

Prominent Modernist Writers

Samuel Beckett James Joyce Virginia Woolf Elizabeth Bowen Dorothy Richardson T. S. Eliot William Faulkner Sylvia Plath W. B. Yeats Ernest Hemingway

Work Cited:

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