1. Modernism 1890-1945

2. Modernism An early twentieth-century movement in the arts responding to the fragmented world created by mass society and industrialism

3. Characteristics A new objectivity or impersonality, in which a work is built from images and allusions, not direct statements of thoughts and feelings A rejection of realistic depiction of life in favor of the use of images for the artistic effect Critical attention to the spiritual troubles of modern life

4. Commitment to Creating Perhaps the most important artistic movement of the 20 th Century Many modernists used images as symbols, leading to indirect, evocative work Often presented experiences in fragments, rather than a coherent whole

5. Modernism in Poetry Stressed the use of precise visual images and unadorned, concise language William Butler Yeats was a leading poet during the Modernism using directness and drama T.S. Eliot – preeminent Modernist poet –American who lived in England –Wrote about the despair after WWI, while linking the present with the past

6. Edwardian Age Named after King Edward VII, this period lasted from 1901-1910 A period of drastic change Changes that were undermining the customs and assumptions of the Victorian Age –Ranges from use of electricity, to protests on woman’s rights

7. Focus on Internal Conflict A struggle that takes place in a character's mind is called internal conflict. For example, a character may have to decide between right and wrong or between two solutions to a problem. Sometimes, a character must deal with his or her own mixed feelings or emotions. –Man against himself Joseph Conrad – Lord Jim

8. Importance of Internal Conflict In short stories, there is usually one major conflict. In longer stories, there could be several conflicts. Conflict adds excitement and suspense to a story. The conflict usually becomes clear to the beginning of a story. As the plot unfolds, the reader starts to wonder what will happen next and how the characters will handle the situation. The excitement usually builds to a high point, or climax.

9. Stream of Consciousness The technique of immersing readers in the associational, disjointed flow of one or more characters’ thoughts The plot line may weave in and out of time and place, carrying the reader through the life span of a character or further along a timeline to incorporate the lives (and thoughts) of characters from other time periods James Joyce was a pioneer in this type of writing

10. Images of Modernism Modernism can be thought of as a complex response to what photographs imply Ezra Pound (American) and T.S. Eliot wrote poetry as if they were taking snapshots of the world and then cutting and pasting them into collages Reliance on images to encapsulate a feeling or perspective

11. Images of Modernism Novelist Virginia Woolf, on the other hand, perfected techniques for conveying an individual’s moment-by-moment experience Her writing records what the moment looks like to the individual –What the world looks like depends on who is looking

12. Short Story A brief work of fiction that usually features a plot with a distinct beginning, middle, and end Build up to a suspenseful climax with a dramatic twist at the end

13. Elements of the Short Story Plot Conflict Setting Character Theme Point of View (see nest slide) Flashback: a scene that interrupts the sequence of events in a narrative to reveal events that occurred in the past Foreshadowing: clues hinting at events likely to occur later in the plot

14. Narrative Point of View There are three types of narrative point of view in a story. –1 st PPOV – main character is the narrator….subjective narration based on POV of this main character. –3 rd PPOV (limited) – external narrator (not a character in the story); connects with one main character and reveals only the thoughts and feelings of that character. –3 rd PPOV (omniscient) – external narrator (not a character in the story); reveals the thoughts and feelings of all characters….all knowing

15. Elements of the Modern British Short Story Characters represent everyday people with everyday conflicts Conflicts tend to be internal and psychological Many times the resolution of the conflict results in characters experiencing a sudden, intuitive insight or perception into the reality or experience of a particular situation. “Epiphany”