Literary Modernism

English 12Spring 2014

Realism

Outside/PublicSocietyWholenessLinearityVerisimilitude

Modernism

Inside/Interiority

Subjectivity

Fracture

Time-shifts, repetition

Self-consciousness

Modernist Narrative• Structured by flow of consciousness and

memory• Associative, not linear• Interior monologue, “stream-of-

consciousness,” flashforward/flashback• Jumps in space and time• Narrative frame• Continuous, fragmented, suggestive,

evocative, irrational, introspective• Influenced in part by psychoanalysis

Woolf, The Waves (1931):Example of high modernist

stream-of-consciousness narration

Let us inhabit the underworld. Let us take possession of our secret territory, which is lit by pendant currants like candelabra, shining red on one side, black on the other. Here, Jinny, if we curl up close, we can sit under the canopy of the currant leaves and watch the censers swing. This is our universe. The others pass down the carriage-drive. The skirts of Miss Hudson and Miss Curry sweep by like candle extinguishers. Those are Susan's white socks. Those are Louis' neat sand-shoes firmly printing the gravel. Here come warm gusts of decomposing leaves, of rotting vegetation. We are in a swamp now; in a malarial jungle. There is an elephant white with maggots, killed by an arrow shot dead in its eye.

Challenges for Readers

• Narrator/author evokes or suggests, does not explain• Involves personal symbol system and new, previously

forbidden subjects• Unsettles readers’ expectations• Use of time/space can be bewildering• Open-ended, ironic, multi-layered, inconclusive• The process/search/journey may have meaning in

itself but goal is not reached• Reader must be active co-creator of meaning

Coping Strategies• Preview vocabulary ahead of time to familiarize

yourself with new words.• Notice when you’re struggling– struggle indicates

something is happening. What’s hard about it?• See if you can name the thing that’s happening. (ex:

The time seems to be changing all over the place.)• REREAD. Modernist texts demand but also reward

close reading. • Remember that unsettling the reader is part of the

point of modernist narrative.

Works Cited and Consulted

Agatucci, Cora. “Joseph Conrad and Early Modernism.” English 109. Course homepage, Spring 2007. Central Oregon Community College. 13 May 2012.

O’Malley, Seamus. “Realism, Impressionism, Modernism.” 20th Century British Literature. Course homepage, Spring 2014. Stern College, Yeshiva University. 4 May 2014.