Modernism

Modernism is a period in literary history which started around the early 1900s and continued
until the early 1940s.It was based on a trend of improving every aspect of life by involving
science and technology into it. Modernism can be said as a self-conscious break from traditional
styles showing flexibility. Modernism experimented with literary forms and expressions,
following Ezra Pound’s maxim to “make it new.” It was a time of industrialization which can also
be introspected in the “Great Gatsby.” Some people considered it a transformation and for
others it was exploitation. It also initiated rivalries at all levels due to competition whereas
before that there was harmony and peace. It also serves to be the reason for the destruction in
the First World War.
It was connected with an idea to overturn traditional modes of representation and express
one’s voice in a different manner than before. The prominent aspect of modernism was
perspectivism. It propagates the idea that the knowledge of a subject is inevitably partial and
limited by individual perspective from which it is viewed. It was against the element of
universality that everyone has to go with the same traditional opinion or stance. As none of us
cannot have complete grasp of the whole truth so we hold fractions of truth. Bertrand Russell
had the stance that we never know enough to form an opinion. Everything is just a matter of
point of view. Here the example of dice can be introspected. If the dice is painted with different
colors with respect to various sides then everyone is going to see a partial part of dice and
resultantly giving his statement about the color. Just like this partial vision of dice, we hold
partial fractions of truths. Prior to modernism there had been univocal readings that supported
a single perspective for instance the bed time stories, fairy tales and many more. But now we
have to entertain multiple perspectives with an orchestra of opinions. This is perspectivism.
Pluralism is present everywhere and the need is that to accept it. It supports the notion that
there are more than one or more than two kinds of ultimate realities. Everyone has one opinion
or point of view and it matters. Even the constitution of the state is amendable according to the
opinions of the people in a systematic way. Nothing is inherently instilled in anything. Rather it
is just a matter of opinions of the people. Democracy is an example of pluralism where
everyone’s opinion matters despite any discrimination. It also rejects the stance that language
creates the reality and imparts its support that language describes the reality.
In the age of modernism, Individuality was of utmost interest rather than social level. It was
actually a shift from Standard to standard. Modernism supports the notion that standard is just
what an individual accepts and what is not accepted. There was a paradigm shift from objective
reality to subjective reality. Along with all this, modernism also rejects the standards formed as
absolute Reference Points. Everything is tentative. The most eloquent example here can be of
the ribbed jeans. These jeans are worn as a reaction towards the standards considered as the
reference points. However, there are certain rules and regulations for the institutions and the
public places and we have to conform with them but privately, there are no such restrictions.
We are still and shaped by our past and our experiences.
We are always interlinked which is more precisely Relativism. It is an endless fictionality. We
get conformed to the meta narratives of the people in the forms of their advertisements. The
reason behind it is that meta narratives are always dominant on the micro narratives. Prior to
the modernism, there was one center and everyone was at the periphery but afterwards
various points of views started getting accepted at the behest of others perspectives.