Modernism

1. MODERNISM
A MOVEMENT THAT PAVED A WAY TO THE PRESENT
Under the Guidance of:
Prof. Lata Mishra Ma’am
Submitted by:
Shivani Tomar (MA Previous)

2. CONTENT
▪ Introduction
▪ Defining Modernism
▪ Forces that Shaped Modernism
▪ Characteristics and Features
▪ Influence of Modernism
▪ Transition from Victorian Age to Modernism
▪ Modernism as a Literary Movement
▪ Characteristics of Modernist Literature
▪ Other Contemporary Movements
▪ Modern Poetry
▪ Modern Prose
▪ Modern Drama

3. Introduction
Modernism is both a philosophical 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 forms of art, philosophy
and social organizations which reflected the newly emerging
industrial world, including features such as urbanization,
new technologies and war. Artists were trying to depart
from traditional forms of art which they considered outdated
or obsolete.

4. Defining Modernism
A style or movement in the art that aims to depart
significantly from classical and traditional forms. In
other words, we can also say that modernism is a
movement towards modifying traditional beliefs in
accordance with modern ideas.

5. Forces that shaped modernism
➢ By the late 19th century, the world
was a bustling place transformed by
all of the new discoveries, inventions
and technological achievements like
electricity, the light bulb, the
automobile, the airplane and so
forth. While, on one hand, these
created an optimistic aura of a
worldly paradise, we also saw how
the new technology quickened the
pace through which people
experienced life on a day to day
basis. Thus, the change that we
witnessed was not gradual but a
rapid urbanization process.
Innovations

6. World Wars  It was the year 1914 when started the World
War I - the first war of mass destruction. A
war in which many nations lost millions of
precious lives. With advancement in weapon
development, like widespread use of
automatic weaponry, war became about
mass casualties (over 9 million deaths), a
change that many felt was inhumane and
downright evil. Not much later, we saw the
beginning of another end, the second World
War. The effect of both the wars fought
between different nations was about the
realization that man was perfectly capable of
destroying what he had created.
Destructions of First World War

7. Recession  The Great Depression was a severe
worldwide economic depression that took
place mostly during the 1930s. It was the
longest, deepest and most widespread
depression of the 20th century. Historian
David M. Kennedy wrote, “There can be a
little doubt that the deepest roots of the
crisis lay in the several chronic infirmities
that World War I had inflicted on the
international political and economic order.”
This economic recession didn’t only effect
the poor but also the rich ones and hence
led to a crisis which resulted in hunger,
unemployment, migration and displacement
of a large number of people.
Dorothea Lange’s MigrantMother
(March 1936)

8. Bradley’s Theory
 English philosopher F. H. Bradley’s most
ambitious work, ‘Appearance and
Reality: A Metaphysical Essay,’ which was
published in 1893, introduced the
concept that an object in reality can have
no absolute contours but varies from the
angle from which it is seen. Thus,
Bradley defines the identity of things as
the view the onlooker takes of it.
British Philosopher,F. H. Bradley
(1846-1924)

9. Einstein’s Theory  In one of the most seminal works of the
20th century, ‘On the Electrodynamics of
Moving Bodies,’ Albert Einstein’s theory
of relativity held that, if, for all frames of
reference, the speed of light is constant
and if all natural laws are the same, then
both time and motion are found to be
relative to the observer. In other words,
there’s no such thing as universal time
and thus experience runs very differently
from man to man.
German Physicist, Albert Einstein
(1879-1955)

10. Freudian Theory  Sigmund Freud was the first to gaze inwardly
and to discover a world within where
dynamic, often warring forces shape the
individual’s psyche and personality. In his
various theories, he illustrated the
importance of unconscious motivation in
behavior and the proposition that
psychological events can go on outside of
conscious awareness. And hence, our
behavior, dreams and thoughts are outward
manifestation of unconscious motive. Thus
his legacy to the modern world was to
expose a darker side of man that had been
hidden from view in the previous century.
Austrian Neurologist, Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)

11. Jung’s Theory  A disciple of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung
also developed another theory delving
into the unconscious which explored the
nature of the irrational self and which
explained the common grounds shared
by so many cultures. Jung’s Theory of
Collective Unconscious, states that there
are patterns of behavior or actions and
reactions of the psyche which he calls
archetypes that are determined by race.
Swiss Psychiatrist. Carl Jung
(1875-1961)

12. Darwin’s Theory
 Charles Darwin, a British naturalist, when
came forward with his theory of evolution by
natural selection in the timeless book, ‘On
the Origin of Species,’ challenged the view of
those whose faith resisted the long gradual
process of the man. This scientific discovery
led the thinkers to question the basic and
foundational beliefs of God and religion.
Doubts began to arise regarding the position
of man against the long held belief in man’s
primacy in the universe. Thus, the existence
of God is put into radical question.
British Naturalist, Charles Darwin
(1809-1882)

13. Characteristics and Features
▪ The rejection of history and conservative values such as realistic
depiction of subjects.
▪ Innovation and experimentation with forms with a tendency to
abstraction.
▪ A refusal to the acceptance of rules of conduct which were a
restrictive and limiting force over the human spirit.
▪ An emphasis on the relativeness of truth and meaning.
▪ Subjectivity becomes the main focus.
▪ Priority to inclination towards the inner self rather the material
possessions.

14. Influence of modernism
Since modernism is a reaction to many events that the society underwent as well as
a lot of ongoing happenings in the 20th century, its effects were also not limited to a
single field and aspect of life. We can see the influence of modernism on:
▪ Painting
▪ Music
▪ Dance
▪ Philosophy
▪ Psychology
▪ Architecture
▪ Science
▪ Sculpture and
▪ Literature

15. Transition from Victorian age to modernism
Victorian Age
Optimism
Traditional beliefs
Blind faith in God
Society centric
Moral values
Realism
Omniscient intrusive narrator (voice of the author)
Wars highlighted the feeling of nationalism
Linear chronological concept of time
Belief in objective nature of concepts
Modernism
Melancholy and pessimism
Modern view of things
Loss of faith
Individual centric
Collapse of moral values
Rejects realism
Eclipse of the narrator (varied point of views)
Wars highlighted destruction
Simultaneous concept of time
Belief in subjective nature of concepts

16. Modernism as a Literary Movement
Literary modernism or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is
characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of
writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism
experimented with literary form and expression as exemplified by Ezra
Pound’s maxim to “Make it new.” This literary movement was driven
by a conscious desire to overturn traditional modes of representation
and express the new sensibilities of their time. The horrors of the First
World War saw the prevailing assumptions about society reassessed,
and much modernist writing engages with the technological advances
and societal changes of modernity moving into the 20th century.

17. Characteristics of Modernist Literature
▪ In the literature of Modern age, the individual is given more importance than the
society. Modernist writers made a constant effort to delve deeper in the human
psyche.
▪ Traditional rhyme schemes, rhythm and meter were abandoned and writers
started adopting free verse as a main form of poetry, which was in a way
providing them the freedom from the limitation of old forms.
▪ Modernist literature embraces fragmentation as a literary form, since it
reinforces the fragmentation of reality and contradicts notions of totality and
wholeness.
▪ Earlier we saw how modernism embraced and celebrated individualism but
individualism results in feelings of isolation and loss. Thus, modernist literature is
also marked by themes of loss and exile.

18. ▪ There is no longer an anonymous, omniscient third-present narrator, as there is
no universal truth according to the modernists. The conflicting perspectives of
various narrators and speakers reflect the multiplicities of truth and the
diversities of reality that modernism celebrates.
▪ Modern writings give reader the freedom to expand their imagination and hence
we often find obscurity in the literature of this age. Writers use symbols, images
and references which are multi-dimensional.
▪ We see a frequent use of techniques like stream of consciousness and internal
monologue, and that’s the reason for having writings where there’s no
chronological order of events.
▪ Modernism also abandoned one of the mostfundamental types of character: the
hero. Modern writers kept challenging the stereotypes regarding heroism, which
was undoubtedly a revolution on its own.
▪ Modernist novels did not treat lightly topics about social woes, war and poverty.
Modernist novels also reflect a frank awareness of societal ills and of man’s
capacity for cruelty.

19. Other contemporary literary movements
Imagism
It was a movement in early 20th century
poetry that favored precision of imagery and
clear, sharp language. It gave modernism its
start in the early 20th century and is
considered to be the first organized modernist
literary movement in the English Language.
The origins of imagism are to be found in two
poems Autumn and A City Sunset by T. E.
Hulme published in the year 1909. Imagist
poetry is defined by directness, economy of
language, avoidance of cliché and a hierarchy
of precise phrasing over adherence to poetic
meter.

20. Surrealism
An artistic philosophy that took hold in
1920s Paris and spread throughout the
world in the decades that followed. Andre
Breton outlined its aims in his Surrealist
Manifesto (1924) affirming the supremacy
of the “disinterested play of thought” and
the “omnipotence of dreams” rather than
reason and logic. Breton and his colleagues
were inspired by Freudian psychoanalysis
and its emphasis on the power of
unconscious thought. Through “automatic
writing” artists could free their imaginations
to reveal deeper truths. Pablo Neruda is an
example of the second generation of
surrealist writers.

21. Dadaism
It is a movement that began in Zurich,
Switzerland, in 1916 at the Cabaret
Voltaire. The founders of this movement
struck upon this essentially nonsense
word to embody a simultaneously
playful and nihilistic spirit alive among
European visual artists and writers
during and immediately after World
War I. They salvaged a sense of freedom
from the cultural and moral instability
that followed the war and embraced
both “everything and nothing.”

22. Expressionism
Expressionism in literature arose as a reaction
against materialism, rapid mechanization and
urbanization and the domination of the family
within pre World War European society. It was
the dominant literary movement in Germany
during and immediately after the first World
War. It is a movement that tries to express the
feelings and emotions of the people rather than
objects and events.

23. Modern Poetry
Some of the notableand most important poems
written in this period are:
• Robert Frost’s North of Boston (1914)
• T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922)
• Ezra Pound’s Lustra (1916)
• W. B. Yeats’ The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
• E. E. Cummings’ Tulips and Chimneys (1923)
Modernist poetry refers
to poetry written mainly
in Europe and North
America between the
years 1890 and 1950 in
the tradition of modernist
literature.

24. Modern Prose
Some of the most remarkable novelsof this period
are:
• Joseph Conrad’sHeart of Darkness (1899)
• James Joyce’sUlysses (1920)
• VirginiaWoolf’s To The Lighthouse (1927)
• WilliamFaulkner’s As I Lay Dying (1930)
• Ralph Ellison’sInvisibleMan (1952)
The most significant prose writing of
the period was inspired by neither
hope nor apprehension but by bleaker
feelings that the new century would
witness the collapse of the civilization.
From 1908 to 1914 there was a
remarkably productive period of
innovation and experiment as
novelists undertook to challenge the
literary conventions not just of the
recent past but of the entire post-
romantic era.

25. Modern Drama
English drama during the ModernistPeriod falls into three
categories:
• The earliest phase is marked by the playsof G. B. Shaw
and John Galsworthy which constitute social drama
modeled on the playsof Ibsen.
• The middlephase comprise the playsof Irish movement
contributedby some elites like Yeats. In this phase the
drama containedthe spirit of nationalism.
• The final phase comprise playsof T. S. Eliot and
Christopher Fry. Here we saw the compositionof poetic
dramasinspired by the earlier ElizabethanandJacobean
tradition.
The drama which had suffered
a steep decline during the
Victorian Age was revived with
great force at the beginning of
the 20th century and this
course of six decades
witnessed many trends and
currents in the 20th century
drama