Modernism: Early 20th Century Literature

• Early 20th-century society experienced dramatic shifts, including the impact of two world wars, Einstein's theory of relativity, and Freud's psychoanalysis.
• These events led to a loss of life, questioned objective reality, and revealed the unconscious mind's influence on human behavior.

Rise of Modernism

• Modernism emerged as a literary and artistic movement, breaking away from past traditions and exploring new forms and styles.
• Key artistic movements influencing Modernism include:
  • Futurism focused on dynamism in visual art, breaking down subjects to convey motion.
  • Cubism fragmented subjects into geometric shapes, challenging traditional representations.
  • Expressionism used distorted forms and radical color choices to express anxiety and emotional intensity.
  • Surrealism explored the unconscious mind, emphasizing dream-like and irrational imagery.
• Modernist writers shared characteristics such as experimenting with fragmented narratives, subjective portrayals of time and place, stream of consciousness, disregard for traditional grammar and punctuation, and complex vocabulary.
• Modernist works often featured complex and multi-layered plots.

Precursors to Modernism

• British Modernism was preceded by writers experimenting with narrative techniques and rejecting Victorian realism.

Psychoanalysis

• Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis played a significant role in shaping Modernist literature.
• Freud's theory suggested unconscious forces motivate actions, leading to anxiety and depression.
• Psychoanalysis aimed to resolve these issues by making people aware of hidden causes.
• Modernist works often focused on characters' inner lives and unconscious thoughts.

William James and the Stream of Consciousness

• William James influenced Modernist writers with his concept of consciousness.
• In The Principles of Psychology (1890), James described consciousness as a continuous "stream".
• This inspired the narrative technique of "stream of consciousness."
• Virginia Woolf and James Joyce used this technique to reveal characters' inner thoughts and experiences.
• Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) and James Joyce (1882-1941) used "stream of consciousness" to reveal characters' inner thoughts and experiences in a direct or indirect manner.

Colonial and Dystopian Novels

• While Modernism took hold, traditional realism continued in colonial and dystopian novels.
• E.M. Forster explored the cultural clash between colonizers and the colonized.
• George Orwell and Aldous Huxley wrote dystopian novels, depicting oppressive future societies.
  • Orwell's works include Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949).
  • Huxley's works include Brave New World (1932).
• E.M. Forster (1879-1970) explored the cultural clash between colonizers and the colonized.
• George Orwell (1903-1950) and Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) wrote dystopian novels, which depicted oppressive future societies.

Radical Experimentations in Poetry

• Early 20th-century poetry saw radical experimentation influenced by the horrors of war.
• War Poets, including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke, wrote about the brutal realities of war, alienation, and death.
• Their works conveyed the disillusionment of a generation that initially supported the war but later confronted its inhumanity.
• Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967), and Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) wrote about the brutal realities of war, alienation, and death.

Literary Background

• The two World Wars, Einstein's theory of relativity, and Freud's psychoanalysis undermined Victorian Age optimism.
• This ushered in an era of anxiety and doubts that influenced literature.
• The aim of literary works shifted to exploring the recesses of the human mind.
• Modernism was a cosmopolitan literary and artistic movement.
• Modernism was characterized by a reaction against Victorian Age values. – Some currents of modernism were:
  • Futurism was rebellion against the past characterized by dynamism
  • Cubism was fragmentation of things in geometrical forms
  • Expressionism was distorted forms and experimentation with colors to convey feelings, above all anxiety
  • Surrealism focused on the unconscious.
• Recurring features of Modern Literature include:
  • fragmentation of the plot and points of view
  • subjective time and space
  • expressing the flux of thoughts through new literary tools like stream of consciousness
  • rejection of traditional grammar, punctuation, and verse
  • complex vocabulary and concepts
• Modernist writers aimed to express the instability of the century, question the ability of writers to describe a changing world, redefine reading, and convert readers into overhearers.
• Modernists sought to describe the complexity of the mind and provide subjective truths.
• Modernists despised tradition to give voice to a new concept of human consciousness and life.
• Influenced by Freud's conception of the mind with conscious and unconscious parts.
• Stream of consciousness was used to represent the inner life as an uninterrupted flow of thoughts.
• The publication of Freud's and Bergson's works, along with William James's description of the stream of consciousness, paved the way for a new narrative technique.
• James Joyce used the direct interior monologue (direct expression of character's thought without writer intervention).
• Virginia Woolf employed the indirect interior monologue (character's thoughts revealed through a non-obtrusive omniscient narrator).
• The spread of Modernism in England was anticipated by authors reacting against realistic prose.
• D.H. Lawrence’s novels were highly conditioned by the theory of the unconscious and psychoanalysis.
• In modernist novels, plot loses importance, and stories have open endings.
• Modernism was influenced by French Symbolist poetry and interest in Metaphysical poetry.
• T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" exemplifies modernist poetry, using techniques resembling stream of consciousness.
• Eliot used the myth of the Holy Grail to represent the search for spiritual truths and criticize civilization.
• Despite Modernism's spread, realism continued in Britain through the works of some writers.
• E.M. Forster depicted the cultural clash between colonizers and colonized.
• George Orwell and Aldous Huxley wrote dystopian novels representing oppressed futuristic societies.
• Recurring features included the fragmentation of the plot and viewpoints, reflecting the fragmented human condition in the 20th century.
• Artists aimed to express the flux of thoughts, employing literary tools like stream of consciousness.
• Modernist writers sought to express the instability that characterized the turn of the century.
• Modernist writers wanted to question the ability of writers to describe a completely changing world in which old certainties are put in doubt.
• Modernist writers aimed to redefine the concept of reading as more than just an entertaining activity.
• Modernist writers tried to convert the reader into an overhearer, who hears casually the conversations of the characters expressing their inner train of disconnected thoughts