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This presentation delves into the transformative era of Modernism (1910-1965), highlighting historical events like WWI, the Roaring Twenties, and the Great Depression that shaped artistic expressions. We explore the disillusionment with the American Dream, the shift towards personal writing in the Bloomsbury Group, and the emergence of new literary forms such as fantasy and experimental fiction. Through the lens of notable authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf, we examine inner struggles, stream of consciousness, and the coexistence of human nature and reality, showcasing how modernist literature confronted socio-political issues.
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Modernism (1910-1965) Presented by Brittany Carson, Ryan Jenkins, and Maci Sepp
Background • Historical Events: - WWI & II - Roaring Twenties - Great Depression - Harlem Renaissance • The American Dream: unattainable perfection • Attack on middle class structure
Shifts • Realism and Impressionism evolved into fiction and fantasy • Rather than write for an audience’s entertainment, Modernists wrote for themselves • Critical of socioeconomic and political issues
Bloomsbury Group • Exclusive group who began writing for themselves rather than the good of the public • Shared ideas, techniques, and styles pertaining to literature • Intrinsic worth; ideas were innately good • Similar to “The Lost Generation” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf
Fiction vs. Nonfiction • Transition from traditional nonfiction to experimental fiction • Emergence of fantasy, science fiction, and utopian societies • Escape from reality and expand from limits of religion, politics, and society
Fiction vs. Nonfiction “Every one works for every one else. We can’t do without any one. Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn’t do without Epsilons. Every one works for every one else. We can’t do without any one. . . .” Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Protagonist’s Inner Struggles • Inability to free oneself from social class or alienation in materialized culture • Desire to return to a simpler past • Tragic hero whose flaws are often mental and unapparent to other characters; issues are internalized
Protagonist’s Inner Struggles “'Can’t repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Stream of Consciousness • Surveying inner space of human mind • Less focus on physical external world, more on emotions and deep thoughts • Text is written like thoughts; narrative is being processed
Stream of Consciousness “. . . I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Human Nature vs. Human Reality • Conflict between outer and inner problems • Representation of real issues through nature • Literature captured inner emptiness and lack of direction
Human Nature vs. Human Reality “Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same” Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
Imagism • Extreme conclusions and visualization • Free Verse: more elevated diction and freedom to explore human experience • Free verse allows true extreme feelings
Imagism “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough” Ezra Pound, In the Station of the Metro
Paintings The Old Guitarist The Weeping Woman
AGirlby Ezra Pound The tree has entered my hands, The sap has ascended my arms, The tree has grown in my breast- Downward, The branches grow out of me, like arms. Tree you are, Moss you are, You are violets with wind above them. A child- so high- you are, And all this is folly to the world.
