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The Modernist Revolution: A Paradigm Shift in Science and Philosophy

Explore the transformative era of the 20th century filled with new ideas reshaping man's worldview. From Einstein's Theory of Relativity to Freud's Psychoanalysis, delve into the breakdown of traditional literary genres, fragmentation of time and place, and the adoption of free verse in Modernism. Follow the journey of First-Generation Modernists and Second-Generation Modernists as they challenge conventions and create their personal mythologies in literature and art. Discover the evolution of modernist poetry and novels, including the influential works of Yeats, Eliot, and Woolf.

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The Modernist Revolution: A Paradigm Shift in Science and Philosophy

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  1. The ModernistRevolution

  2. Science and Philosophy • The beginning of the 20°century  an explosion of new ideas that would change man’s view of himself and the universe . • Albert Einstein, Theory of Relativity (1905). • Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche  existing • abstract values were decadent and the • expression of the levelling of modern • democracies. • Robert Oppenheimer, the nuclear bomb.

  3. Psychoanalysis Its founder was Sigmund Freud. He began to explore new areas of sensibility, which came to be known as the unconscious. a dynamic force originating in instinct and repressed desires the human mind has many layers, some of which are hidden

  4. Modernism • It indicates 20th century literature and art, which expressed the reaction against 19th century ideas and conventions. • Its most important features are: • the breakdown of traditional literary genres • the fragmentation of time and place • the collapse of the traditional plot • the use of complex language • the emphasis on psychological truth • the use of myth • the adoption of free verse

  5. First-Generation Modernists • Literary Modernism flourished from 1922 to 1925 with: • T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land(1922) • J. Joyce, Ulysses(1922) • V. Woolf, Mrs Dalloway(1925) • Much of the modernist literature: • deals with the unconscious in daily life • used the stream-of-consciousness technique • reproduced the flow of human thought

  6. Modernist Mythology • The great modernist writers were influenced by Cubism, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism. • Modernist writers were looking for what was valuable and could be rescued from the past. • They were trying to create their own interpretation of reality, a key to reading of the modern world. • They were completing a process of personal myth-making. • Ancient myths were investigated with an anthropological • interest.

  7. Second-generation Modernists • From the mid-1920s onwards, artists began to take sides in the philosophical and political fight between right- and left-wing views • During the 1930s, many of them turned to the political Left. • During the Spanish Civil War, some intellectuals • went to Spain to fight for the Republican forces • against General Franco’s forces.

  8. Modernist Poetry • 1900-1918  English poetry changed profoundly. • The 1910s were a crucial decade, which saw the first poetic efforts of the great first-generation modernists. • In the 1910s, Ezra Pound founded two literary and artistic movements: • Imagism  clear thoughts were fixed in simple, clear images; • Vorticism a celebration of energy, speed and dynamism.

  9. Celtic Revival and Myth • William Butler Yeats • The most important figure of the so-called Celtic Revival; • One of the symbols of Irish nationalism; • The French symbolists and Ezra Pound influenced him; • He adopted a clear language and his images are both realistic and symbolical. • Thomas Stearns Eliot • His masterpiece is built on myth and anthropology.

  10. The 1930s Generation • In the 1930s, a new generation of poets came to the fore. • the ‘Oxford Poets’  Wynstan Hugh Auden • no nihilistic attitude; • no experimental techniques; • more traditional forms; • less obscure language; • concerned with social problems both at home and abroad.

  11. Modernist Novels • Late 1910s – early 1920s  the English novel changed. • Modernist writers reflected: • the novelists’ lack of faith in traditional values; • the trauma of World War I; • the disillusion with myths  progress, science, technology • The breakdown of time divisions: • time became a continuous flux; • only individual consciousness could identify significant moments; • stream of consciousness / interior monologue

  12. Joyce & Woolf • James Joyce • Irish background • Dubliners the central theme is ‘paralysis’ • Ulysses  the lack of heroism • Virginia Woolf • Her house became the centre of the Bloomsbury Group • Human perception depends on the way the mind is affected by time • Mrs Dalloway the space of a few hours can contain a whole life

  13. The Colonial Novel • Edward Morgan Forster • Inability to believe in accepted values; • Reality is elusive and many-faceted; • A Passage to India the difficult relations between the • British and the Indians; • He has little in common with the experimenters of the novel form.

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