Twentieth Century Literature

Aspects of the Twentieth Century Literature

1- Two World Wars : economic depression, severity of life.

2- Questioning the traditional values of Western civilization.

3- Traditional literary forms were rejected.4- New kinds of experiences were portrayed.

The Early Twentieth Century

1- Drama: including William Butler Yeats and George Bernard Shaw.

2-Poetry: including William Butler Yeats and D. H. Lawrence.

3- Novel: including Henry James and Joseph Conrad.

The Postwar Era to the Present

1- Focusing on aesthetic or social problems rather than political problems.

2- Expressing deep dissatisfaction with British society.

Twentieth Century Fiction

Heroic Age of the modern novel: Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence,

Virginia Woolf, and E.M Forster.

Main influences on the changes in attitudes and techniques

1- a change from public values to novelists’ personal notions of values.

2- New view of time; a change from chronological orders of moments to the flow in the consciousness of the characters.

3- New notion of the nature of consciousness.

For further detailed information please check the following links and book:

• http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/english-literature-the-early-twentieth-century.html

• http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/english-literature-the-postwar-era-to-present.html

• Abrams M.H. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. pp. 1687-1688.