Department of English,M. K. Bhavnagar University
Name :- Niyati Vyas
Roll No :- 14
Department :-M. A.English department
Submitted to :- Dr. Prof. Dilip Barad
Semester :- 2
Paper No :- 10 A History of English Literature – From 1900 to 2000
UNIT - 3 Trends and moments
ASSIGNMENT TOPIC - What is Modernism? Explain the characteristics of Modernism.
ANS -
Modernism is both a philosophical movement and an art movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, and social organization which reflected the newly emerging industrial world, including features such as urbanization, new technologies, and war. Artists attempted to depart from traditional forms of art, which they considered outdated or obsolete. The poet Ezra Pound's 1934 injunction to "Make it New" was the touchstone of the movement's approach.
Modernist innovations included abstract art, the stream-of-consciousness novel, montage cinema atonal and twelve - tone music, and divisionist painting. Modernism explicitly rejected the ideology of realism and made use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody.Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists also rejected religious belief. A notable characteristic of modernism is self consciousness concerning artistic and social traditions, which often led to experimentation with form, along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and materials used in creating works of art.
While some scholars see modernism continuing into the 21st century, others see it evolving into late modernism or high modernism. Postmodernism is a departure from modernism and rejects its basic assumptions.
‘Modernism’, in a broader sense, is modern thought, character, or practice breaking away from the rules, traditions and existing ways of writing practiced by earlier authors before the 20th century. In art, modernism breaks away with the ideology of realism and makes use of past through the use of flashback, recapitulation, and incorporation. This rebellious attitude flourishes between 1900 and 1930 has, as its basis, the rejection of European culture for having become too corrupt and artificial. This dissatisfaction with the moral bankruptcy of everything European led modern thinkers and artists to explore other alternatives, especially primitive cultures. In literature, ‘modernism’ grows out as a reaction to realism and naturalism. Generally literary texts after World War I as well as belonging the above qualities are considered as modern text.
Characteristics of Modernism:
Modernism marks a strong and intentional break with tradition and it is also related to politics, religion etc.. Though modernism becomes prominent after traditionalism so knowing the difference between these two ‘ism’ is important. Traditionalism, which is based on tradition, is a dominant way of life,, There are always pre-determined rules, explanations for people and their life in traditionalism. Objectivism is another important point in traditionalism. There is one truth for everything in traditionalism. High class people are more important than middle or low class people in traditionalism because it gives importance for elevated style. On the other hand, as modernism is a break with tradition, so this break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views. According to modernism, there is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative. Another thing, where in traditionalism objectivism is an important point, modernism gives importance to subjectivism.
Championship of the individual through the celebration of inner strength is one of the most prominent characteristics of modernism and in this regard it differs from realism. This ‘ inner strength’ of the individual is expressed through four literary ‘isms’- subjectivism, impressionalism, expressionalism and surrealism. Realism attempts to portray external objects and events as the common or middle class people see them in every day life, impressionalism tries to portray the psychological impression that these objects and events make on characters, emphasizing the role of individual perception and exploring the nature of conscious and subconscious mind. Whereas realism attempts to portray external objects and events, expressionalism tries to explain the inner vision, emotion or spiritual reality. Whereas, realism attempts to portray external objects and events as they are verisimilituded, surrealism tries to liberal the subconscious to see connection overlooked by the logical mind.
Modernism in Literary texts:
In literature, Literary Modernism has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. The period of high modernism is twenty years from 1910 to 1930. Some of the high priests of the movement in literature are T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Wallace Stevens, Franz Kafka etc.. The characteristics of the literary modernism that are followed by these writers are given below:
First of all, a new emphasis on impressionalism and subjectivism, that we mentioned earlier, which focus on how we see rather what we see. In this regard a new literary technique, stream of consciousness’, is employed by James Joyce and his followers such as Virginia Woolf in their writings. Then, regarding narrative technique modernist literary texts are away from the apparent objectivity provided by such features as: omniscient external narration, fixed narrative point of view. However, language is also an important device of modernism to differentiate a literary text from other texts. In modern literary text emphasizes on colloquial language rather than formal language. Finally, a new liking for fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives are obvious in modernist literary texts. For example- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot are superb example of fragmented forms.
Thus, modernism originated from the corruption, decadence and frustrations in the post-war psyche of the western people marks off from the previous literary tradition that got reduced to cold formalism and traditionalism.
Modernism, in the fine arts, a break with the past and the concurrent search for new forms of expression. Modernism fostered a period of experimentation in the arts from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, particularly in the years following World War |.
In an era characterized by industrialization, rapid social change, and advances in science and the social sciences (e.g., Freudian theory), Modernists felt a growing alienation incompatible with Victorian morality, optimism, and convention. New ideas in psychology, philosophy, and political theory kindled a search for new modes of expression.
Modernism in literature
The Modernist impulse is fueled in various literatures by industrialization and urbanization and by the search for an authentic response to a much-changed world. Although prewar works by Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and other writers are considered Modernist, Modernism as a literary movement is typically associated with the period after World War I. With its fragmentary images and obscure allusions, the poem is typical of Modernism in requiring the reader to take an active role in interpreting the text.
The enormity of the war had undermined humankind’s faith in the foundations of Western society and culture, and postwar Modernist literature reflected a sense of disillusionment and fragmentation. A primary theme of T.S. Eliot's long poem The Waste Land (1922), a seminal Modernist work, is the search for redemption and renewal in a sterile and spiritually empty landscape.
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