Modernism-general introduction.pptVIP

Modernism Modern English Literature Background of Modernism Post-industrialization: intensified social conflicts /increasing dependence of individuals on the society / a conflict of tradition and new culture. Two world wars: lost of faith / Cynicism /a manifest of uniqueness Influence of great thinkers: Friedrich Nietzsche – “God is dead” Sigmund Freud – sub-consciousness Bertrand Russell – stream of consciousness / “direct unconscious expression of thoughts” Modernism Modernism as a literary movement reached its height in Europe between 1900 and the middle 1920s. Revolve around themes of individualism -the randomness of life -mistrust of institutions (government, religion) -and the disbelief in any absolute truths. Modernistic literature tends to involve a literary structure that departs from conventionality and realism. Modernism-major changes in artifices Stream of consciousness - is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individuals point of view by giving the written equivalent of the characters thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions. Symbolism Fragments Images Absurd settings Focus on individuals Narration, no longer solo. Major Modernists Poetry: T. S. Eliot – The Waste Land images, symbols, broken rhythm impersonal theory, object correlative, catalyst William Butler Yeats – diversified styles, symbols, mysticism Fiction: James Joyce – Ulysses, Dubliners, A Portrait of Young Artist. stream of consciousness, contrast of past present, focus on individual experience Major Modernists D. H. Lawrence – Sons Lovers, Rainbow, etc. importance of sub-consciousness, distortion of human nature, complex inner world Virginia Woolf – Mrs Dollaway, The Waves, To the Lighthouse stream of consciousness, images, symbols. E. M. Forster – A Passage to India, highly sym