The Mdern Period.docVIP

The Modern Period（1901-1960） Ⅰ．Background 1. The rapid development of natural and social sciences in Europe. (The further deepened gap between the rich and the poor.) 2. The impact of the First World War 3. The impact of the Second World War All these radical changes gave rise to all kinds of philosophical ideas in Western Europe. Modernism rose out of skepticism and disillusion of capitalism. The French symbolism, appearing in the late 19th century, heralded her?ld]；预示…的来临consciousness. Modernism is a time in our history when traditional values began to change and literature became an outlet for the troubled and rebellious souls. Modernism attempted to rethink science, art, culture, ethics, philosophy and psychology. It attempted to find new or hidden meaning in the human experience and had to deal with coming to terms with new ideas. Early 20th century literature turned increasingly to lower middle class and working-class life. In poetry, the short lyrics became popular. Under the influence of Impressionism印象派, writers focused more on the private than on the public, more on the subjective than on the objective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual. From the above discussion we can summarize the term modernism: .As a term modernism refers to an experimental style of visual arts, literature and music. . Modernist work are often called avant-grade or unconventional and are preoccupied with formal issued rather than content . Several factors that contribute to Modernism are the losses of certainty and optimism in human progress and anxiety about future. Ⅲ．Important Writers and Literary Works Different periods: 1.Thomas Hardy（1840～1928）The foremost English regional novelist and a major Victorian poet poet of the naturalist movement 2.John Galsworthy约翰.高尔斯华绥（1867~1933） novelist and playwright won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932 style：strength and elasticity for its powerful sweep and deep psychology analysis Works： 。。The Forsyte Saga 《福尔