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Dr. Bordelon's American Lit II On Campus

Modernism

This page is a general clearinghouse on modernism.

Terms | Times | Links | Pictures | Quotes from Critics

For a detailed yet accessible (and relatively brief -- 20 pages) overview of American Modernism, see Towards a Definition of American Modernism by Daniel Joseph Singal in American Quarterly (Accessed via JSTOR)

Terms to Know
Avant Garde: The French military and political term for the vanguard of an army or political movement, extended since the late 19th century to that body of artists and writers who are dedicated to the idea of art as experiment and revolt against tradition. Ezra Pound's view, that "Artists are the antennae of the race," is a distinctly modern one, implying a duty to stay ahead of one's time through constant innovation in forms and subjects.

"avant garde." The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Ocean County College. 11 March 2009.

Modernism: Generally, any movement or climate of ideas, especially in the arts, literature, or architecture, that supports change, the retirement of the old or traditional, and the forward march of the avant-garde. More specificically, adherence to the ideas and ideals of the Enlightenment . This is the sense that gives rise to the contrary movement of postmodernism.

"modernism." The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Simon Blackburn. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Ocean County College. 6 March 2009.

modernism: A general term applied retrospectively to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in the literature (and other arts) of the early 20th century, including Symbolism , Futurism , Expressionism , Imagism , Vorticism , Ultraismo , Dada , and Surrealism , along with the innovations of unaffiliated writers. Modernist literature is characterized chiefly by a rejection of 19th-century traditions and of their consensus between author and reader: the conventions of realism , for instance, were abandoned by Franz Kafka and other novelists, and by expressionist drama, while several poets rejected traditional metres in favour of free verse . Modernist writers tended to see themselves as an avant-garde disengaged from bourgeois values, and disturbed their readers by adopting complex and difficult new forms and styles. In fiction, the accepted continuity of chronological development was upset by Joseph Conrad , Marcel Proust , and William Faulkner , while James Joyce and Virginia Woolf attempted new ways of tracing the flow of characters' thoughts in their stream-of-consciousness styles. In poetry, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot replaced the logical exposition of thoughts with collages of fragmentary images and complex allusions . Luigi Pirandello and Bertolt Brecht opened up the theatre to new forms of abstraction in place of realist and naturalist representation.

Modernist writing is predominantly cosmopolitan, and often expresses a sense of urban cultural dislocation, along with an awareness of new anthropological and psychological theories. Its favoured techniques of juxtaposition and multiple point of view challenge the reader to reestablish a coherence of meaning from fragmentary forms. In English, its major landmarks are Joyce's Ulysses and Eliot's The Waste Land (both 1922 ). In Hispanic literature the term has a special sense: modernismo denotes the new style of poetry in Spanish from 1888 to c .1910 , strongly influenced by the French Symbolists and Parnassians and introduced by the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario and the Mexican poet Manuel Gutierrez Najera . For a fuller account, consult Peter Childs , Modernism (2nd edn, 2007 ).

"modernism," The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms . Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Ocean County College. 6 March 2009

The Times

How about a PowerPoint review of the literary themes we've covered so far -- with a special emphasis on modernism?. Okay. Click below to download and click on the link below for a web version of the slideshow.

Web version of slide show.

Links

Engaging and informative overview of the Great Depression -- a central event of late modernism.

A fine short overview to modernism is at the Poets.org site.

Interesting essay from the New York Times on the cultural relevance of WWI

Online exhibit titled Teaching the American 20s is filled with archival documents on the period, complete with a special section on Modernism (and a cool picture of Pound).

You may want to check this site for an art-centric history of modernism.

For an outline of American Modernism, see the PAL site by Paul Reuben

Is there a physiological connection to modernism? Consider the following excerpt from Radio Lab (great program -- follow this link for intellectual ear candy) on why we like certain sounds -- which ends with an . . . appreciation . . . of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring.

Modern American Poetry
A fine clearinghouse of links and information on, as the title suggests, Modern American poetry.

Photo essay on World War I
A before and after series illustrating the ravages of World War I

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
Click to enlarge pictures

Marcel Duchamp
Nude Descending Staircase 1912

Piet Mondrian
Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red, 1921

Pablo Picasso
Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910

Pablo Picasso
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)

The paintings below are precursors to the Modernist art movement, showing that many of the visual effects and themes were part of the cultural zeitgiest even before the 1900s

Paul Cezanne
The Cardplayers
(1892).

Edvard Munch
The Scream
(1893)

Images from Wikipedia

Quotes from Critics