MODERNISM (Early 20th century)

MODERNISM
indicates:

• a period of EXPERIMENTATION in the arts in the early 20th century;

• strongly influenced by the HORROR and ANXIETY of the First World War;

• LOSS OF THE OPTIMISM AND FAITH in human progress of the Victorian Age;

• search for NEW FORMS AND STYLES in visual arts, music and literature;

• attempt to explore the hidden recesses of the ‘modern’ HUMAN MIND.

Modernism is found in all art forms, including pictorial art:

• FUTURISM
Artistic and literary movement which decomposed the subject to create a
sense of dynamism in painting (e.g. Marinetti, Boccioni and Balla)

• CUBISM
Fragmented the subject into geometrical, abstract shapes (e.g. Picasso)

• EXPRESSIONISM
Use of distorted forms, experimentation in the use of colour to convey an idea
of anxiety (e.g. Munch).

• SURREALISM
Use of art to express the world of the unconscious mind (e.g. Dali, Redon).
MAIN FEATURES

fragmentation of narrative point of view;

traditional plot replaced by multi-layered, complex narration;

redefinition of concepts of time and place

• subjective rather than objective dimensions;

use of experimental narrative techniques showing the flux of

thoughts of the mind
• Stream of Consciousness;
use of free verse and rejection of
traditional verse forms in poetry;

use of complex vocabulary and

concepts;

focus on the human mind

• complexity, anxiety,
fragmentation;
• subjective rather than
objective truths.
INFLUENCING FACTORS

Freud’s The Interpretation of

Dreams (1900)
• importance of the
unconscious mind and
the inner self.
• Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
(1915)
• loss of faith in objective reality.

the First World War (1914-1918)

• horror, loss and destruction – the end of Victorian
optimism.
PRECURSORS

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)

(Polish-born English novelist – Heart
of Darkness)
• use of multiple points of view;
• use of disconnected images
and puzzling narrative details;
• exploration of the mystery of
human life and consciousness.

Henry James (1843-1916)

(American novelist – The Portrait of
a Lady)
• novels narrated from point of
view of one single character;
• ‘narrative consciousness’
technique.
D.H. Lawrence (1843-1924) (Welsh
novelist – Sons and Lovers, Lady
Chatterley’s Lover)

• novels influenced by Freud’s

theories;
• analysis of the psychological
implications of family bonds
and sexual impulses;
• use of traditional narrative
technique.
MODERNIST AUTHORS

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) – American-born British

poet
• masterpiece: The Waste Land

James Joyce (1892-1941) – Irish novelist

• masterpiece: Ulysses (1922)
• Stream of Consciousness
• direct interior monologue

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) – English novelist

• masterpiece: Mrs Dalloway (1925)
• Stream of Consciousness
• indirect interior monologue