American Literature
Modernism
1900-1950

Modernism
Definition:
a term for the bold new experimental styles
and forms that swept the arts during the
first third of the 20th century.
Modernism called for changes in subject
matter, in fictional styles, in poetic forms,
and in attitudes.

Difference between Realism
and Modernism
 Whereas REALISM


Emphasized
absolutism, and
Believed that a
single reality could
be determined
through the
observation of
nature
 MODERNISM
 Argued for cultural
relativism,
 And believed that people
make their own meaning
in the world.
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Value Differences in the Modern
World
Pre-Modern World
Modern World (Early 20th
Century)
Ordered
Chaotic
Meaningful
Futile
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Stable
Fluctuating
Faith
Loss of faith
Morality/Values
Collapse of Morality/Values
Clear Sense of Identity
Confused Sense of Identity and
Place in the World
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Contributing Factors
World War I
Loss of Innocence
Disillusionment
Cynicism

The Elements of Modernism
• Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and
form to represent the fragmentation of society
• Rejection of traditional themes and subjects
• Disillusionment and loss of faith in the
American Dream
• Rejection of the ideal hero
• Interest in the inner workings of
the human mind

History and Culture
• World War I caused a “traumatic coming of age” where
“Americans returned to their homeland but could never
regain their innocence.”
•
Soldiers from rural roots yearned for a modern,
urban life. (Nick Carraway—The Great Gatsby)
• “Big Boom” business flourished—1920s
• Major advances allowed for fast production of
new technology and business.
• 1920 Americans—The Lost Generation

History and Culture (cont.)
• The Lost Generation—
“Without a stable, traditional structure of values,
the individual lost a sense of identity. The
secure, supportive family life; the familiar, settled
community; the natural and eternal rhythms of
nature; the sustaining sense of patriotism; moral
values [founded] on religious beliefs and
observations—all seemed undermined by World
War I and its aftermath.”

History and Culture (cont.)
• 1929—The Stock Market Crash brought
The Great Depression of the 1930s.
• 1930s—One third of all Americans
were out of work.
“Soup kitchens, shanty towns, and
armies of hobos—unemployed men
illegally riding freight trains—became
part of the national life.”

American Literature
•The Harlem Renaissance
•A time when Harlem attracted worldly and raceconscious African Americans who nurtured each
other’s artistic, musical, and literary talents and
created a flowering of African American arts.
Noted writers: Langston Hughes
Claude McKay
Countee Cullen
W.E.B. Dubois
Zora Neale Hurston

American Literature
•
1920s—F. Scott Fitzgerald
—The Great Gatsby
—flamboyance, bootlegging,
money, parties, wildness
—The Jazz Age
•
1930s—John Steinbeck
—Of Mice and Men
—The Grapes of Wrath
—no money, migrant work,
tragedy, hardship
• 1940s—Arthur Miller
— The Crucible
— Death of a Salesman

The American Dream
Pre-Modernist View—
•America as the new Eden
•Triumph of the individual
•Optimism
Modernist View
•America as New Eden
•Self-reliance

Forces Behind Modernism
 The sense that our culture has no
center, no values.
 Paradigm shift

from the closed, finite, measurable, causeand-effect universe of the 19th century to
an open, relativistic, changing, strange
universe;
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Characteristics of Modernism
in Literature
 Literature Exhibits Perspectivism


Meaning comes from the individual’s
perspective and is thus personalized;
A single story might be told from the
perspective of several different people,
with the assumption that the “truth” is
somewhere in the middle
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Characteristic of Modernism in
Literature
 Perception of language changes:



No longer seen as transparent, allowing us
to “see through” to reality;
But now considered the way an individual
constructs reality;
Language is “thick” with multiple meanings
and varied connotative forces.
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Characteristic of Modernism in
Literature
 Emphasis on the Experimental


Art is artifact rather than reality;
Organized non-sequentially
 Experience
portrayed as layered, allusive,
discontinuous, using fragmentation and
juxtaposition.

Ambiguous endings—open endings which
are seen as more representative of reality.
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