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" T H E G R E A T E S T S I N G L E F A C T A B O U T O U R
M O D E R N A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G I S O U R W R I T E R S ' A B S O R P T I O N I N E V E R Y L A S T
D E T A I L O F T H E I R A M E R I C A N W O R L DT O G E T H E R W I T H T H E I R D E E P A N D S U B T L E
A L I E N A T I O N F R O M I T . " - A L F R E D K A Z I N
American Literary Modernism
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Literary Modernism: 1915-1945
Reaction to World War I Response to a sense of social breakdown Development of cubism and surrealism in the visual arts International perspective on cultural matters
The Jazz Age and The Great Depression Investigation of the excesses of the “Roaring 20s” Consideration of class and trauma as raised by the Great Depression
View of the world as “fragmented” The usual connective patterns are missing: morals and frameworks
are compromised
Artist’s self -consciousness about questions of form and structure Stylistic innovations, disruption of traditional syntax and form
“These fragments I have shorn against my ruin” (The Wasteland )
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A B R I E F O V E R V I E W O F T H E I N T E L L E C T U A L
C U R R E N T S W H I C H I N F L U E N C E D M O D E R N I S M
Philosophy and Theory:
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Darwinism
Charles Darwin
Evolution
Displacement of the human position of privilege
Collapsing of boundaries between human and animal
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Existentialist Philosophy
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Economic and psychological determinism
No divine patterns
Search for meaning War and spiritual trauma
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Freudian Theory
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis
Psychological determinism
Forces inside the self impact human behavior Sexuality and repression
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Marxism
Karl Marx
Economic determinism
Forces outside the self impact human behavior
Class struggle Relationship between labor and capitol
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Modernism as Movement
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Painting
Spirit of experimentation
New ways of seeing
New materials
New ideas about the function of art Abstraction
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Sculpture
Addition: disparate objects and materials
Construction: involuntary sculpture
Abstract
Stylized Minimalist
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Architecture
Materials and functional requirements determine theresults (form follows function)
Adoption of the machine aesthetic
Rejection of ornament
Simplification of form
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Music
Sound-based composition: noise, factory, mechanical,speech
Extended techniques and sounds
Expansion on/abandonment of tonality
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Sciences
Quantum Theory
Theory of Relativity
Treatment of light and color
Treatment of energy Treatment of time and space
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Themes of Modern Literature
Collectivism versus individualism
Anxiety regarding the past
Historical discontinuity
Disillusionment Violence and alienation
Decadence and decay
Loss and despair
Breakdown of social norms and cultural sureties Race and gender relations
Sense of place, local color
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Formal Aspects of Modern Literature
Formal experimentation Free indirect discourse: a style of third-person narration which
combines some of the characteristics of third-person report with first-person direct speech. Passages written using freeindirect speech are often ambiguous as to whether they convey the views, feelings and thoughts of the narrator or those of thecharacter the narrator is describing. This allows a flexible andsometimes ironic interaction of internal and externalperspectives.
Stream of consciousness narration: a narrative mode whichseeks to portray an individual’s point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character’s thought processes, eitherthrough loose interior monologue or in connection to action.
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Democratic impulse
Anti-traditionalism Celebration of
international culture
Free expression of sexual
and political matters Technology as liberation
Revolution
Elitist impulse
Traditionalism National jingoism and
provinciality
Puritanical andrepressive elements
Fear of technologicaladvancement
Conservatism
Tensions within Modern Literature
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The Modern Self
The chief characteristic of the self is alienation.
The “Lost Generation” (Gertrude Stein)
“Dissociation of Sensibility” (T.S. Eliot)
The “Dream Deferred” (Langston Hughes) The modern self is often unable to act, feel, or
express love
The modern self has a tormented recollection of the past
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Djuna Barnes
Began her writing careeras a reporter
Poet and novelist
Expatriate writer
Major work:
Nightwood (1936)
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John Dos Passos
Critique of materialismin early works
Literature includesfragments of pop songs,news headlines, stream-of-consciousnessmonologues, naturalisticfragments from the lives
of a horde of unrelatedcharacters
Major works: Manhattan Transfer (1925), U.S.A. (1938)
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T.S. Eliot
The most dominantliterary figure between
the two world wars.
Influential poet andliterary critic.
Conceives of the poem asan object demanding a
fusion and concentrationof intellect, feeling, andexperience.
Major Works: Prufrockand Other Observations (1917), The Waste Land
(1922)
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William Faulkner
Southern American writer
Many works center onthe mythical Yoknapatawpha county
Experimental techniquesinclude stream-of-
consciousness anddislocation of narrativetime
Focus on issues of sex,class, race relations
The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Absalom, Absalom! (1936)
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
Focus on Jazz Age andGreat Depression
Examination of American materialism
Exploration of the American dream
Major works: The Great Gatsby (1925), Tender isthe Night (1934)
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Ernest Hemingway
Iceberg Theory of literature (one-eighth
above water)
Spare, tight journalisticprose style
Objective, detachedpoint of view
Examination of masculinity, gender
Major works: The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms
(1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
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Gertrude Stein
Expatriate Author
Coined the term “LostGeneration”
Patron of authors andartists as well as artisticinnovator
“Rose is a rose is a roseis a rose.”
Major works: Three Lives (1909), The Making of Americans (1925)
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Wallace Stevens
Embodied the union of the artistic and the
practical
Employed in theinsurance business
Opaque poetic style,meaning is not
transparent
Major works: Harmonium (1923), The Man with the BlueGuitar (1937)