GROUP 7

MODERNISM
BACKGROUND : Modernism was a literary movement that lasted approximately from
1914-1950. Modernism began the breaking of traditional writing styles that we know
today. Literary modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a very
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self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction.

IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS

 World War I (The Great War)—1914—1918: A war fought from 1914 to 1918
between the Allies, notably Britain, France, Russia, and Italy (which entered in
1915), and the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the
Ottoman Empire.
 Russian Revolution—1917:The Russian Revolution of 1917. The Russian
Revolution of 1917 involved the collapse of an empire under Tsar Nicholas II and
the rise of Marxian socialism under Lenin and his Bolsheviks. It sparked the
beginning of a new era in Russia that had effects on countries around the world.:
 Great Depression—1929: The Great Depression was a severe worldwide
economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, originating in the
United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; in most
countries it started in 1929 and lasted until 1941.It was the longest, deepest, and
most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great
Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can
decline.
 World War II—1939-1945: A war fought from 1939 to 1945 between the Axis
powers — Germany, Italy, and Japan — and the Allies, including France and
Britain, and later the Soviet Union and the United States.
 Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates
that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or
regulated by the community as a whole.
 Communism: a theory or system of social organization in which all property is
owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to
their ability and needs.
 Fascism: Fascism is a form of government which is a type of one-party
dictatorship. Fascists are against democracy. They work for a totalitarian one-
party state. ... Such a state is led by a strong leader—such as a dictator and a
martial government..
 Jingoism: The extreme belief that your own country is always best, often shown in
enthusiastic support for a war against another country.Patriotism can turn into
jingoism and intolerance very quickly.

CHARACTERISTICS
 Rejected traditional ways
 Promoted experimentation & individualism
 Disillusionment and loss of faith and innocence
 Explore the inner mind of man
 Critics of western culture
  Use words and traditional form in new ways
 Use of stream of consciousness technique
 Use of interior monologue technique
 Use of free verse
 Unconventional use of metaphor
 Modernist writing usually focus on representing the writer ideas,opinions and Page | 2
thoughts
 Use of irony
 Decay of plot (modern stories do not have a beginning or end,does not follow
choronological order)
 Death of both hero and villain

IMPORTANT WRITERS

 W. H. Auden (1907–1973)
 E. E. Cummings (1894–1962)
 H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) (1886–1961)
 T. S. Eliot (1888–1965)
 William Faulkner (1897–1962)
 F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
 E. M. Forster (1879–1971)
 Robert Frost (1874–1963)
 Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
 James Joyce (1882–1941)[10]
 Franz Kafka (1883–1924)
 D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930)
 Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923)
 Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
 Wallace Stevens (1875–1955)
 Italo Svevo (1861–1928)
 William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
 Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
 W. B. Yeats (1865–1939)

MOJOR WORKS OF MODERNISM

 POETRY: EZRA POUND (THE CANTOS)

TS ELIOT (THE WASTE LAND)

 NOVEL: ERNEST HEMINGWAY (FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS)

WILLIAM FAULKNER (THE SOUND & THE FURY)
F SCOTT FITZGERALD (THE GREAT GATSBY)

 SHORT STORIES: ERNEST HEMINGWAY (THE KILLERS)

WILLIAM FAULKNER (BARN BURNING)

Conclusion
In conclusion, it is safe to assume that modernism was the most influential period of
writing in the twentieth century. Ulysses, first published in 1922, contains certain traits of
modernist writing, although it is problematic to label it as a modernist book. It was
recently announced by Time magazine to be the ‘best book’ written in the twentieth
century. The term ‘modern’ is still being used to describe phenomena that appear to be
new. It that sense the period of modernism is not finished yet, it has just changed its
face.However, the impact can still berecognized today.