Literary Modernism Flashcards
When did literary modernism bwgin?
1800s
What started literary modernism?
Writers experimenting with unconventional ways of writing, inspired by emerging philosophies
What emerging philosophies prompted writers to consider new ways of writing
Nietzche - phsychological drives
Freud - theories of the subconscious
Henri Bergson - ideas on subjectivity
What was modernist writing aiming to capture?
Internal drives and the chaos of the mind
What were some features of modernist writing?
Non-linear narratives and internal dialogue - emphasis on individual emotion rather than a person’s actions in the world
Five key characteristics of modernism
experimentation
focus on the individual
multiple perspectives
free verse
use of literary devices such as symbolism and imagery
When do scholars agree was the transition into postmodernism
1940s
Give some historical context to the modernist period
Self confidence of the Victorian era began to crumble as faith in religion turned to doubt, philosophy began to explore the darker side of human nature
What major event was the final blow, causing writers to search for a new way to write about the human condition?
World war I
Name some poets who depicted life on the front lines
Siedfried Sassoon, Rubert Brooke, John Ciardi, Wilfred Owen
Name two examples of famoud novels tackling the war
Ernest Hemmingway’s A Farewell to Arms, and Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front
Which novel by a female writer depicts war’s impact on a stunned society
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Explain the rationale behind the loss of absolutes following the enlightenment
everything is relative and subjective - there was no god, the human mind is not rational, and science can be wrong
What narrative device rose to popularity in this period
The unreliable narrator - rejected the idea of ‘truth’, and instead focused on the way people interpret events
Name some notable impressionists
Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad
What did the embracing of Impressionism allow
writers were open to presenting life as it appeared through a subjective lens instead of objectivity of realism
What form of theatre appeared after World War II
Theatre of the absurd
What did theatre of the absurd aim to express
A meaningless and cruel world, the result when communication breaks down entirely
What are some conventions of theatre of the absurd
characters trapped in completely illogical and nearly impossible to understand situations, complete inadequacy of language, characters often cliches, dialogue occasionally descends into nonsense
What cultural revival occurred in the 1920s and 30s in America?
The Harlem Renaissance - African American dance, literature and art
What fuelled the Harlem Rennaissance
The Great Migration (when African Americans moved in huge numbers) out of the American South
Who became known as the leader and chief recorder of the Harlem Rennaissance
Alan Locke - ‘The New Negro’
Name an example of a writing from the Harlem Rennaissance
Weary Blues by Hughes
Which poet was a central figure to modernist literature?
TS Eliot
Who mentored Eliot
Ezra Pound
What change in TS Eliot is reflected in later poems such as Ash Wednesday and The Four Quartets
Conversion to Anglicanism
What style is modernist writer William Faulkner known for
Stream of conscious narration, highly emotional, complex stories tending towards the Gothic
What was William Faulkner’s first major work
The Sound and the Fury
What is considered Faulkner’s most iconic modernist work
Absalom! Absalom!
