Modernism in

Literature
SEMESTER III
Supposed Beginning

 Modernist literature was a predominantly English genre of fiction writing, popular

from roughly the 1910s into the 1960s.
 due to increasing industrialization and globalization, new technology and the
horrifying events of both World Wars (but specifically World War I)
 What was becoming of the world? (the dominant question in front of the artists
and the philosophers)
 Modernist fiction spoke of the inner self and consciousness and decline of
civilization
 born from the notion of putting an end to realistic novels
influences

 WWI and WWII

 Urbanization
 Industrialization
 Immigration
 Technological Evolution
 Growth of Modern Science
 Influence of Austrian Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
 Influence of German Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Characteristics of Modernism in Literature
(Time)
 often unusual and significant
 time as a symbolic or psychological construct, allowing them to take a nonlinear
approach to their novels or breeze through a large period of time very quickly.
 For instance, Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" has a section entitled "Time
Passes," which portrays the passing of 10 years in just a matter of pages.
 represents the futility of a person's efforts to protect her loved ones and stop the
passage of time.
Characteristics of Modernism in Literature
(Perspective)
 Modernist authors preferred to write from a first person perspective to get a more
personal view of the story and tap into the character's thoughts.
 Many modernist novels switch between the perspectives of various characters in
order to get different view points.
 This also serves as a commentary of the subjective nature of perspective and
reality.
 For example, in "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner changes perspective with
each chapter, the shortest of which is just five words long.
Characteristics of Modernism in Literature
(Literary Devices)
 modernist writers employed a number of literary devices to remove themselves from
realist literature.
 use of language with multiple meanings, experimentation with form, nonlinear
narratives, ironic juxtapositions and deliberate obscurity of meaning.
 These devices have been described by some as modernist formalism -- the author's
way of making his work inaccessible to an average reader.
 Many saw this as the only way to stop literature from becoming insipid and eroding
into light entertainment.
 A good example of modernist formalism is James Joyce's "Ulysses." It experiments
with form by Joyce weaving verse into his prose and by switching into play form for
over 100 pages part way through the novel. Even the length of the book, at nearly
700 pages, serves to put off the average reader.
Characteristics of Modernism in Literature
(Themes)
 modernist literature is characterized by certain themes.
 The genre looks at the idea of meaning in modern times and of a world without
God, in addition to exploring the reality of experience and critiquing culture's
traditional values.
 These themes are considered to be deeply inspired by the shock of the brutality
and bloodshed of World War I -- and later World War II -- which caused these
authors to question the very nature of society and reality.
 Franz Kafka's seminal work, "The Trial," critiques traditional values and discusses
the idea of reality, by presenting an absurd situation in which a man wakes up one
day and finds himself facing trial for crime which no-one will tell him about.
Thank You!