1. Introduction to The Modern World Literature
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Introduction to The Modern World Literature
1900 to Present
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The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

2. “The Center Cannot Hold” -Yeats
7/31/2018 6:58 PM
“The Center Cannot Hold” -Yeats
The early years of the twentieth century brought change from the prosperity and stability of the Victorian era to great chaos and conflict.
Order, industry and self control was attacked on every front: intellectually, socially, economically, politically.
How was English society changed by WWI?
What were the long term effects on the wars in Great Britain?
What were some factors that led to WWII?
How did social and political events lead to diversity in the literature of the period?
© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

3. Change on the Horizon Victorian Period to Modern
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Change on the Horizon Victorian Period to Modern
The Victorian Era ended with Queen Victoria’s death in 1901.
It ended the moral and economic dominance Britain had on the rest of the world.
We see a rise in The United States
Several colonies gained independence: Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand…not Ireland
The rise in literacy, the growing power and influence of the Labour Party, the widespread interest in Socialism would all change Britain.
© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

4. Thinkers that Undermine Victorian Ideals: Changing the Future
Charles Darwin: Origin of the Species…
Theory of evolution based on natural selection
Survival of the fittest … adaptation to environments
Contradicts bible account of creation
Used to justify competition, rigid class distinctions, indifference to social problems and doctrines of racial superiority
Karl Marx: Das Kapital
Advocates doing away with private property
Economic injustices caused by capitalism
Supports worker party- led to sweeping changes in political and economic systems

5. Thinkers that Undermine Victorian Ideals: Changing the Future
Sigmund Freud- The Interpretation of Dreams
Finds motives for human behavior not in rational thought but in irrational and sexually driven realm of consciousness
Manifested in our dreams (unconscious)
Led to artists and authors to be influenced by the mysterious realm of unconscious thought

6. WWI
1914- Britain declared war on Germany. The character of the English citizen at this time was patriotic. People were proud to be British…the saviors of the world. Men joined the war effort willingly and proudly.
Sixty thousand British men killed or wounded at the Battle of Somme alone. 300,000 were killed, wounded or frozen to death at the Battle of Ypres. Generals would not stop…
By 1918 (end of the war) cynicism arose… so did a weakened economy, a tottering colonial empire, and loss of life equal to the plague.
A new pessimism about eh state and the individual’s relation to society came about as a result. Realism swept in, mainly against the propaganda machine of the government that got them into the war in the first place

7. Experimentation in the Arts: Shocking Form and Content
Challenged traditional values of beauty and order and opened new avenues of expression
Matisse, Picasso- paintings
“The Playboy of the Western World”- play about a hero murderer
“Dubliners”- first Irish publication- daring

8. A Revolution in Literature
“Stream of Consciousness” : A writing style that tries to depict the random flow of thoughts, emotions, memories, and associations running through a character’s mind
James Joyce and Virginia Woolf were the first to experiment with this.
D.H.Lawerence: “Lady Chatterly’s Lover- explicitly sexual, upper class woman having a lower class lover

9. James Joyce’s Ulysses 1922- Based on Homer’s Odyssey
Narrates the events in a single day in the life of a Jewish Dubliner named Leopold Bloom
Wholly revolutionary way of writing: drew on myth and symbol, Freudian explorations of sexuality, and concepts of time and the workings of the human mind.
Was the starting point for Literary Modernism
Banned in 1933 in U.S.: “Tends to excite sexual impulses or lustful thoughts”
1998- Top 100 English Language Novels of All Time
1999- Named the #1 GREATEST NOVEL OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY!!! (Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man was #3)

10. Rise of Fascism, Communism and Socialism
Fascism: a type of government that is rigidly nationalistic and relies on the rule of a single dictator whose power is absolute and backed by force
Communism: (Lenin) a type of society without a class system, one in which the state would distribute the country’s wealth equally among the people.
Socialism: (Marx) is an characterized by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy.

11. WWII Hitler, Stalin, Marx Death and destruction on mass proportions
“The war to end all wars”…WWI… didn’t really happen
More death for British men in this war. London bombed.
United States dropping of atomic bomb on Hiroshima devastated it.
Literature that followed was dark and pessimistic

12. Common Themes in Literature
Alienation and Loneliness: the idea of finding your way in the a big messed up world. Often depressing..
Domination, racism, sexism, war and control…also explored

13. Some Important Titles- Top Ten of the Twentieth Century
1. Ulysses
2. The Great Gatsby
3. Lolita
4. Brave New World
5. The Sound and the Fury
6. Catch 22
7. Sons and Lovers
8. The Grapes of Wrath
9. The Way of All Flesh