1. “Make it new.” -- Ezra Pound
Modernism: Part I
“Make it new.”
-- Ezra Pound

2. Bell Work Take out your notebook and be prepared to take notes.
What does the image below make you think about? How does it make you feel? Write 3-5 sentences and be ready to share out.
“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso (1937)

3. Bell Work WED Take out your notebook and be prepared to take notes.
Why is the poem below considered an example of “Modernist” art? Give 2-3 reasons.
“The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot
Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men,
Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again!
You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”

4. Historical Context: 1915-46 reaction to
overwhelming optimism preceding WWI & sense of promise introduced by technological advances
tragic devastation proceeding WWI

5. Value Differences in the Modern World
Themes of
Alienation
&
Existentialism
Pre-Modern World
Modern World (Early 20th Century)
Ordered
Chaotic
Meaningful
Futile
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Stable
Fluctuating
Faith
Loss of faith
Morality/Values
Collapse of Morality/Values
Clear Sense of Identity
Confused Sense of Identity and Place in the World

6. Characteristics: “Not” Themes
“dis” (“not,” “not any”) themes: disjointedness, disillusionment, disenchantment, disappointment, dissatisfaction
Gatsby believes in the “American Dream,” confuses it with Daisy, and is ultimately betrayed by it

7. Characteristics: Collapse of “American” dream
it’s impossible for the individual to triumph & America is no longer a “new Eden,” a land of opportunity (like w/ Transcendentalism)
despite his best efforts to re-create the past & re-unite w/ Daisy, Gatsby’s efforts blow up in his face -- literally

8. Characteristics: Collaboration w/ Reader
implied themes & piecemeal prose forces readers to draw their own conclusions
reader has to piece together chronology of The Great Gatsby & true image of titular character

9. Characteristics: Fragmentation
texts are fragmented to reflect fragmentation of modern world (expositions, transitions, resolutions & explanations are omitted)
Gatsby follows the narrator’s subjective memory and doesn’t adhere to a linear chronology

10. Characteristics: No “happy ever after endings”
Myrtle is killed
Gatsby is murdered
Wilson commits suicide
Daisy remains in a loveless marriage

11. Characteristics: Cynical Tone
emphasis is on moral re-evaluation, social experimentation & hedonism
Gatsby’s lavish parties suggest that pleasure & happiness is the chief good in life
But the ending (and writing) suggest otherwise

12. Literary Styles of Modernism
Stream of consciousness narration: a narrative mode which seeks to portray an individual’s point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character’s thought processes, either through loose interior monologue or in connection to action. 12

13. Characteristics of Modernism in American Literature
Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form, reflecting the fragmentation of society.”
Rejection of traditional themes and subjects. Loss of faith in religion and society.
Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American Dream
Example—Nick and Gatsby from The Great Gatsby

14. American Literary Modernism:
MAJOR AUTHORS 14

15. T.S. Eliot Influential poet and literary critic.
Conceives of the poem as an object demanding a fusion and concentration of intellect, feeling, and experience.
Major Works: Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), The Waste Land (1922)
T.S. Eliot 15

16. William Faulkner Southern American writer
Many works center on the mythical Yoknapatawpha county
Experimental techniques include stream-of- consciousness and dislocation of narrative time
Focus on issues of sex, class, race relations
The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Absalom, Absalom! (1936)
William Faulkner 16

17. Ernest Hemingway Iceberg Theory of literature (one-eighth above water)
Spare, tight journalistic prose style
Objective, detached point of view
Examination of masculinity, gender
Major works: The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
Ernest Hemingway 17

18. Gertrude Stein Expatriate Author – Lived in Paris
Coined the term “Lost Generation”
Editor of many great Modernist writers
Major works: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Gertrude Stein 18

19. F. Scott Fitzgerald Focus on Jazz Age and Great Depression
Examination of American materialism
Exploration of the American dream
Major works: The Great Gatsby (1925), Tender is the Night (1934)
F. Scott Fitzgerald 19