"The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, and social organization which reflected the newly emerging industrial world, including features such as urbanization, architecture, new technologies, and war."
An artistic and literary movement characterized by experimentation, fragmentation, and challenges to traditional values.
Historical Context: Understanding the social, cultural, and political climate that gave rise to literary modernism, including events such as World War I, the rise of industrialization and urbanization, and the collapse of traditional value systems.
Avant-Garde Art: Exploring the influence of modernist movements in art and design, such as Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism, on modernist literature.
Stream of Consciousness: Analyzing the narrative technique that presents a character's thoughts and feelings in a continuous flow, often without punctuation or linear structure.
Fragmentation: Examining the use of fragmented and disjointed narratives, and how they reflect the breakdown of traditional forms and structures.
Alienation: Understanding the themes of isolation, dissociation, and disconnection from society and the self in modernist literature.
Identity and the Self: Examining how modernist writers explore the individual's struggle to establish a sense of self in a rapidly changing world.
Irony and Parody: Analyzing the use of irony and parody in modernist literature to critique societal norms and conventions.
Modernist Poetry: Understanding the unique characteristics of poetry in the literary modernism movement, including experimentation with form, syntax, and language.
Urbanization and Industrialization: Examining how modernist literature grapples with the changing landscape of cities and the impact of industrialization on society.
Mythology and Symbolism: Exploring the use of mythological and symbolic imagery in modernist literature to convey complex themes and ideas.
Women's Voices in Modernism: Examining the contributions of female writers to the modernist movement, and how they challenged traditional gender roles and expectations.
Nationalism and Cultural Identity: Understanding how modernist writers grappled with issues of nationalism, identity, and cultural heritage in a rapidly changing world.
The Role of the Writer: Analyzing the shifting role of the writer in modernist literature, and how they sought to redefine the purpose and function of art.
Postmodernism: Examining the connections between modernist literature and the subsequent postmodern movement and the ways in which postmodernist writers build on and challenge modernist techniques and themes.
"Artists attempted to depart from traditional forms of art, which they considered outdated or obsolete."
"The poet Ezra Pound's 1934 injunction to 'Make it New' was the touchstone of the movement's approach."
"Modernist innovations included abstract art, the stream-of-consciousness novel, montage cinema, atonal and twelve-tone music, divisionist painting, and modern architecture."
"Modernism explicitly rejected the ideology of realism..."
"Modernism... made use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision, and parody."
"Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking..."
"A notable characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness concerning artistic and social traditions, which often led to experimentation with form..."
"...along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and materials used in creating works of art."
"While some scholars see modernism continuing into the 21st century, others see it evolving into late modernism or high modernism."
"Postmodernism is a departure from modernism and rejects its basic assumptions."
"...broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries."
"[Modernism sought to reflect] the newly emerging industrial world, including features such as urbanization, architecture, new technologies, and war."
"[Modernists] considered [traditional forms of art] outdated or obsolete."
"Modernist innovations included... atonal and twelve-tone music."
"Modernism also rejected... religious belief."
"Modernist innovations included... modern architecture."
"Modernism... made use of the works of the past by... rewriting, recapitulation, revision, and parody."
"A notable characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness concerning artistic and social traditions, which often led to experimentation with form..."
"Postmodernism is a departure from modernism and rejects its basic assumptions."