Modernism

Modernism first came to England at the end of the 19th century in the works of Oscar
Wilde, Yeats and James. However, in the first half of the 10 th century there was some
sort of rejection towards modern kinds of writing and so writers went back to more
traditional forms of writing. In 1914, the literary situation was about to change due to
two main reasons: on the one hand, Ezra Pound decided to make London the centre of
the avant-garde and promoted the works of some modernist writers. On the other
hand, WW1 seemed to have frustrated Pound’s plans because the war would draw
attention off art. Many artists participated in the war and unfortunately died.
However, the war did ensure the triumph of Modernism creating a climate of opinion
receptive to the literary changes.

WW1 was even more brutal than any other war before because of the use of new
machines and more people died. People were of course shocked by this brutality and
believed that something had to be changed in all areas of society since if the values
present had led to that war, changes needed to be made and those old values need to
get rid of.

Modernist fiction is experimental in form and concerned itself with the consciousness
as well as the subconscious and unconsciousness of human minds; this of course
through the influence of Freud. There was more room for interpretation, analysis and
reflection, while objective events were not so important. The Modernist novel tends to
have no real beginning, so the reader has to familiarize itself with the character and
the character’s stream of consciousness. It also tends to have an open or ambiguous
ending and one has no information of the final destiny of the characters. Another
characteristic is the avoidance of a straight chronological order and this is partly
because of the stream of consciousness since one follows the character’s thoughts.
Also, the rejection of the use of an omniscient narrator is seen, Modernists preferred a
single and limited point of view or multiple points of view equally limited, so ether
way, a fallible narrator.

What is more, Modernism also rejected the traditional idea of art as imitation and
stood behind the idea of art as an autonomous activity. The fundamental principle of
the aesthetic was that art imitates art; it must tell the truth of life to contribute in
making it better. Romantic writers first challenged this idea of imitation, but it was
reinforced back in the 19th century, which was the great age of the Realistic novel, by
the Victorian writers.

At the end of the 19th, the idea that art comes from other art was reinforced and it was
best described by Oscar Wilde. The idea of “life imitates art” means that we perceive
reality by means of certain mental structure, cultural not natural. So, it is art that
would change when the structure became inadequate.