Modernism

1918-1945

What is Modernism?

What is Modernism?

MODERNISM Argued for cultural relativism, (Cultural relativism is

the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture-specific; what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality exists, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs.

And believed that people make their own meaning in the world.

Value Differences in the Modern World

Pre-Modern World Modern World (Early 20th Century)

Ordered Chaotic

Meaningful Futile

Optimistic Pessimistic

Stable Fluctuating

Faith Loss of faith

Morality/Values Collapse of Morality/Values

Clear Sense of Identity Confused Sense of Identity and Place in the World

World War I:1914 (1917-1918)

WWI: Doughboys and Air Fights

WWI: Trench War Fare and Poison Gas

Russian Revolution: 1917

Social Snapshot of the Times

Result of Political Turmoil Revolutionary Ideologies Rise

Fascism The separation and persecution or denial of

equality to a certain group based on race, creed, or origin

Nazism Socialism featuring racism, expansionism and

obedience to a strong leader Communism

Control of the means of production should rest in the hands of the laborers.

Fascism and

Nazism

Communism

Social Snapshot of the Times

Scientific Revolution Quantum theory

Explains the nature of matter and energy on the atomic and subatomic level

Principle of Uncertainty In quantum mechanics: increasing the

accuracy of measurement of one observable quantity increases the uncertainty with which another may be known

Snapshot of the Times: Implications for Nature of Reality

Many-worlds (multi-verse) theory As soon as the potential exists for any object to be

in any state, the universe of the object transmutes into a series of parallel universes equaling the number of possible states in which an object can exist. Stephen Hawking posits the possibility for interaction between universes.

Copenhagen interpretation: nothing exists until it is measured: Schrödinger's cat (dead and alive)

Schrödinger's cat

Forces Behind Modernism

The sense that our culture has no center, no values.

Paradigm shift from the closed, finite, measurable, cause-

and-effect universe of the 19th century to an open, relativistic, changing, strange universe;

Characteristics of Modernism in Literature

Literature Exhibits Perspectivism Meaning comes from the individual’s

perspective and is thus personalized; A single story might be told from the

perspective of several different people, with the assumption that the “truth” is somewhere in the middle

Characteristics of Modernism in Literature

Inner psychological reality or “interiority” is represented

o Stream of consciousness—portraying the character’s inner monologue

Characteristic of Modernism in Literature

Perception of language changes: No longer seen as transparent, allowing us

to “see through” to reality; But now considered the way an individual

constructs reality; Language is “thick” with multiple meanings

and varied connotative forces.

Characteristic of Modernism in Literature

Emphasis on the Experimental Art is artifact rather than reality; Organized non-sequentially

Experience portrayed as layered, allusive, discontinuous, using fragmentation and juxtaposition.

Ambiguous endings—open endings which are seen as more representative of reality.

Cubism

Cubism—1909-1911 Art in which multiple views are presented

simultaneously in flattened, geometric way.

Futurism

Futurism—grew out of Cubism. Added implied motion to the shifting planes

and multiple observation points of the Cubists;

Celebrated natural as well as mechanical motion and speed.

Glorified danger, war, and the machine

Modernism Timeline

1914: Outbreak of WWI

1917: US enters war, Russian Revolution

1919: WWI ends, Einstein’s Relativity

theory confirmed, Prohibition begins

Modernism Timeline

1920 League of Nations

begins; 19th Amendment

granting women the vote

1921—Irish Free State proclaimed

1922—Fascists march on Rome under Mussolini

1923—Charleston craze

Modernism Timeline

1925— Image of human

face televised Hitler published Mein

Kampf 1927

Lindbergh flies solo across Atlantic

Al Jolson, first talkie

Modernism Timeline

1929—US stock market crashes;

1933 Hitler appointed

Chancellor of Germany

First German concentration camps

Prohibition ends in US

Modernism Timeline

1934—Hitler becomes dictator

1936—Civil War in Spain begins

1938—Germany occupies Austria

1939 Hitler and Stalin make

pact; Germany invades

Poland Great Britain and

France declare war on Germany

Modernism Timeline

1941 Germany invades

USSR Japan bombs Pearl

Harbor, US enters war 1942

Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Midway;

T-shirt invented 1944—D-Day invasion of

France

Modernism Timeline

1945 End of war in Europe Atomic bomb

dropped on Japan First computer built Microwave oven

invented United Nations

founded