Summaries Of Periods

Question 1

Summary of postmodernism (5)

Answer 1

• postmodernism describes the sphere of cultural production after the end of WWII
• covers art, architecture, design, advertisment
• critiqued for its implication in late capitalism, lack of political involvement, moral standarts and sincerity.
• has seen the rise of a literary aesthetic that can be playful, artificial and self-referential
• debatable whether we have moved beyond it in 2024

Question 2

Literature of the WIndrush Generation (4)

Answer 2

• themes of displacement and alienation
• hybrid cultural identities, especially in the second generation
• idealization of great britain vs reality
• experience of racism and hypocrisies

Question 3

Modernism (4)

Answer 3

• modernism was a broad, international movement that comprised literature and other forms of artistic expression.
• marked by a strong tendency towards renewal and the breaking of traditions
• experience of crisis reflected in cultural production
• literature and the visual arts were oftentimes entwined

Question 4

The Victorian period (8-9)

Answer 4

• period of major change and transformation in technology, natural sciences, infrastructure, demography
• rising religious doubt and uncertainty
• changing relations btwn men and women. No more multi generationnal homes, families live alone
• diversification of literature :
  => periodical publishing thrived (soon beggining of the short story genre)
  => lots of sucess for the novel
  => poetry = a much celebrated art form (the preraphaelites)
  => prose writing and cultural criticism played an important role

Question 5

The victorian period (first class, 4)

Answer 5

• great changes in politics, legislation, demographic structure (urban life, industrialisation)
• society changes : more democracy, consolidation of the class system, the woman question
• many inventions affecting everyday life and experience
• literary responses = realism + the novel, but also prose writing and cultural criticism

Question 6

Gothic motifs

Answer 6

• set in strange places
• covers moments of historical transition
• interest for power struggles
• doubt is created about the supernatural and spiritual
• themes of sexuality and transgression
• distinction bwtn terror and horror drawn and explored
  «gothic fiction began as a sophisticated jole» (John Mullan)

Question 7

Romanticism (part one only)

Answer 7

• more than a literary period, approach to life, friendship, subjectivity
• reaction to the 18th century neoclassicist ideal of order, harmony and strict rules
• relationship btwn nature and the individual
• poet as a genius, use of simple language, emphasis on memory and solitude as necessary for him