Modernism 1915-1946

Writing changed content to reflect the feelings of the time: Growing sense of uncertainty, disjointedness and disillusionment with the human experience Growing mistrust of ideas and values of the past generations Applying new ideas to 20th century life Realizing a need for change, but unsure what sort and how to accomplish it All of this can be FELT in writing—down to the very sentencing

Writing changed form to reflect the time: Turning away from the literary style, form, and techniques of the 19th century Experimenting with new themes: uncertainty, bewilderment, apparent meaninglessness of life Experimenting with new techniques: Implied themes, rather than stated themes Uncertainty in resolution of plot/themes leave reader just as bewildered The reader is forced to draw his/her own conclusion

The Forms Modernity takes: Abandoning tradition plots, leaving possibilities rather than certainties Little or no exposition/summaries Few or no transitions Jerky plots reflecting fragmentation of human experience Stream of consciousness flow Point of view switches (sometimes mid-story) New Narrators: Psychologically/Emotionally wounded Detached and unreliable (sometimes unreadable)

IMPORTANT to note: Symbols and allusions are out of control…sometimes they are the only “theme” we can find Irony becomes the dominate tone (what will this do to the reader?)

Poetry changed form as well Stretched old boundaries of form and content Abandoned structure and form (what was left) Experimented with presentation of the poem on the page

For Example: e.e. cummings old age sticks up Keep off signs)& youth yanks them down(old age cries No Tres)&(pas) youth laughs (sing old age scolds Forbid den Stop Must n't Don't &)youth goes right on gr owing old. For Example: e.e. cummings

Main New Styles of Poetry Imagism (Led by Ezra Pound) Word pictures Symbolism (Led by Wallace Stevens) Clusters of images The New Critics (a literary criticism AND a “kind” of poetry) Form is essential to interpreting content Debated purpose of poetry (it’s important—because it is) Wrote poetry about poetry (meta-poetry!) Individual Voices (Like T.S. Eliot and Robert Frost)

Yes, the moderns were “a generation lost” According to Gertrude Stein Sherwood Anderson F. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway T.S. Eliot All spent time in Europe…supposedly disenchanted with the “American Dream”

Modernism as movement elsewhere Humor becomes a FORCE in literature Dorothy Parker, James Thurber, E.B. White, Ogden Nash, Will Rogers Drama New staging techniques, costume desings, and the golden age of film The Jazz Age Coined by Fitzgerald Reflected the “Roaring 20s” HUGE changes in behavior of young adults Art Cubism and Impressionism