1. MODERNISM: American Literature 1914-1945

2. Realism and Modernism Whereas REALISM Whereas REALISM –Emphasized absolutism –Believed that a single reality could be determined through the observation of nature MODERNISM MODERNISM –Argued for cultural relativism –Believed that people make their own meaning in the world MODERNISM MODERNISM Rebelled against nineteenth century academic and historicist traditions Rebelled against nineteenth century academic and historicist traditions “Traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life: outdated “Traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life: outdated

3. Causes of the Modernist Temper WWI (1914-1919) WWI (1914-1919) Urbanization Urbanization Industrialization Industrialization Immigration Immigration Technological Evolution Technological Evolution Growth of Modern Science Growth of Modern Science Influence of Austrian Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) Influence of Austrian Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) Influence of German Karl Marx (1818-1883) Influence of German Karl Marx (1818-1883)

4. WWI WWI

5. URBANIZATION URBANIZATION

6. INDUSTRIALIZATION INDUSTRIALIZATION

7. IMMIGRATION Oscar Handlin states, “Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.”

8. TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

9. GROWTH OF MODERN SCIENCE Scientists became aware that the atom was not the smallest unit of matter the atom was not the smallest unit of matter matter was not indestructible matter was not indestructible both time and space were relative to an observer’s position both time and space were relative to an observer’s position some phenomena were so small that attempts at measurement would alter them some phenomena were so small that attempts at measurement would alter them Some outcomes could be predicted only in terms of statistical probability Some outcomes could be predicted only in terms of statistical probability the universe might be infinite in size and yet infinitely expanding the universe might be infinite in size and yet infinitely expanding

10. SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) Invented the use of psychoanalysis as a means to study one’s as a means to study one’s “unconscious” “unconscious”

11. KARL MARX (1818-1883) “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class society is the history of class struggles.” struggles.” “The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave- diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.” very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave- diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.”

12. SHIFTS IN THE MODERN NATION from country to city from country to city from farm to factory from farm to factory from native born to new citizen from native born to new citizen introduction to “mass” culture (pop culture) introduction to “mass” culture (pop culture) continual movement continual movement split between science and the literary tradition (“science vs. letters”) split between science and the literary tradition (“science vs. letters”)

13. Social Snapshot of the Times Result of Political Turmoil Result of Political Turmoil –Revolutionary Ideologies Rise Fascism Fascism –The separation and persecution or denial of equality to a certain group based on race, creed, or origin Nazism Nazism –Socialism featuring racism, expansionism and obedience to a strong leader Communism Communism –Control of the means of production should rest in the hands of the laborers.

14. Fascism and Nazism

15. Communism

16. Modernism Timeline 1914: Outbreak of WWI 1914: Outbreak of WWI 1917: US enters war, Russian Revolution 1917: US enters war, Russian Revolution 1919: 1919: –WWI ends, –Einstein’s Relativity theory confirmed, –Prohibition begins

17. 1920’s: THE JAZZ AGE To F. Scott Fitzgerald it was an “age of miracles, an age of art, an age of excess, an age of satire.”

18. Modernism Timeline 1920 1920 –League of Nations begins; –19 th Amendment granting women the vote 1921—Irish Free State proclaimed 1921—Irish Free State proclaimed 1922—Fascists march on Rome under Mussolini 1922—Fascists march on Rome under Mussolini 1923—Charleston craze 1923—Charleston craze

19. Modernism Timeline 1925— 1925— –Image of human face televised –Hitler published Mein Kampf 1927 1927 –Lindbergh flies solo across Atlantic –Al Jolson, first talkie

20. Modernism Timeline 1929—US stock market crashes; 1929—US stock market crashes; 1933 1933 –Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany –First German concentration camps –Prohibition ends in US

21. 1930’s: THE DEPRESSION “True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

22. Modernism Timeline 1934—Hitler becomes dictator 1934—Hitler becomes dictator 1936—Civil War in Spain begins 1936—Civil War in Spain begins 1938—Germany occupies Austria 1938—Germany occupies Austria 1939 1939 –Hitler and Stalin make pact; –Germany invades Poland –Great Britain and France declare war on Germany

23. Modernism Timeline 1941 1941 –Germany invades USSR –Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, US enters war 1942 1942 –Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Midway; –T-shirt invented 1944—D-Day invasion of France 1944—D-Day invasion of France

24. Modernism Timeline 1945 1945 –End of war in Europe –Atomic bomb dropped on Japan –First computer built –Microwave oven invented –United Nations founded

26. Modernist Literature The literary form of Modernism and especially High modernism The literary form of Modernism and especially High modernism Different from Modern literature: history of the modern novel and modern poetry as one Different from Modern literature: history of the modern novel and modern poetry as one At its height from 1900 to 1940 At its height from 1900 to 1940 Authors: Authors: –Poems: T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot –The Waste Land Robert Frost Robert Frost W.B. Yeats W.B. Yeats Ezra Pound Ezra Pound –Short stories and Novels: James Joyce William Faulkner Ernest Hemingway –The Old Man and the Sea Franz Kafka Joseph Conrad –The Heart of Darkness Virginia Woolf F. Scott Fitzgerald –The Great Gatsby D.H. Lawrence Katherine Mansfield

27. CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERNIST WRITING A movement away from realism into abstractions A movement away from realism into abstractions A deliberate complexity, even to the point of elitism, forcing readers to be very well-educated in order to read these works A deliberate complexity, even to the point of elitism, forcing readers to be very well-educated in order to read these works A high degree of aesthetic self-consciousness A high degree of aesthetic self-consciousness Questions of what constitutes the nature of being Questions of what constitutes the nature of being A breaking with tradition and conventional modes of form, resulting in fragmentation and bold, highly innovative experimentation A breaking with tradition and conventional modes of form, resulting in fragmentation and bold, highly innovative experimentation A variety in content because with a stable external world in question, subjectivity was ever more valued and accepted in literature A variety in content because with a stable external world in question, subjectivity was ever more valued and accepted in literature Along with the social realist and proletarian prose of the 1920s and 1930s came a significant outpouring of political and protest poetry. Along with the social realist and proletarian prose of the 1920s and 1930s came a significant outpouring of political and protest poetry.

28. TECHNIQUES IN MODERNIST WORKS The modernists were highly conscious that they were being modern—that they were “making it new”—and this consciousness is manifest in the modernists’ radical use of a kind of formlessness. Collapsed plots Collapsed plots Fragmentary techniques Fragmentary techniques Shifts in perspective, voice, and tone Shifts in perspective, voice, and tone Stream-of-consciousness point of view Stream-of-consciousness point of view Associative techniques Associative techniques

29. COLLAPSED PLOTS Begins arbitrarily Begins arbitrarily Advances without explanation Advances without explanation Often ends without resolution Often ends without resolution Consists of vivid segments juxtaposed Consists of vivid segments juxtaposed Is ironic Is ironic

30. SHIFTS IN PERSPECTIVE, VOICE, AND TONE representations of the speech of the uneducated and the inarticulate representations of the speech of the uneducated and the inarticulate colloquial, slangy, and popular colloquial, slangy, and popular traditional educated literary voice was lost traditional educated literary voice was lost average novel became shorter than it had been in the nineteenth century average novel became shorter than it had been in the nineteenth century tends to be written in the first person tends to be written in the first person one character’s point of view one character’s point of view

31. Stream-of-consciousness - depicts the mental and emotional reactions of characters to external events, through the practice of reproducing the unedited, continuous sequence of thoughts that run through a person’s head, most usually without punctuation or literary interference. Stream-of-consciousness - depicts the mental and emotional reactions of characters to external events, through the practice of reproducing the unedited, continuous sequence of thoughts that run through a person’s head, most usually without punctuation or literary interference. STREAM-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS

32. "Everything (he kept saying) is something it isn't. And everybody is always somewhere else. Maybe it was the city, being in the city, that made him feel how queer everything was and that it was something else. Maybe (he kept thinking) it was the names of the things. The names were tex and frequently koid. Or they were flex and oid or they were duroid (sani) or flexsan (duro), but everything was glass (but not quite glass) and the thing that you touched (the surface, washable, crease-resistant) was rubber, only it wasn't quite rubber and you didn't quite touch it but almost. The wall, which was glass but turned out on being approached not to be a wall, it was something else, it was an opening or doorway--and the doorway (through which he saw himself approaching) turned out to be something else, it was a wall. And what he had eaten not having agreed with him." (excerpt- "The Door" by E.B. White. The New Yorker, 1939)E.B. White Stream of Consciousness in E.B. White's "The Door"

33. Formal Characteristics of Modernist Literature Open Form Open Form Discontinuous narrative Discontinuous narrative Juxtaposition Juxtaposition –Two unlike things are put next to one another –A quality of being unexpected –To compare/contrast the two –Example: A teacup and its saucer are expected Classical allusions Classical allusions –A figure of speech –Making a reference to or representation of, a person, place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, –Directly or implied

34. MODERNISM INCLUDES OTHER “ISMS” Fauvism Fauvism Cubism Cubism Dadaism Dadaism Expressionism Expressionism Surrealism Surrealism Symbolism Symbolism

35. Works Cited Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998. York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998. Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Homan, eds. A Handbook to Literature. Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Homan, eds. A Handbook to Literature. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996. Kimmelman, Burt, ed. The Facts on File Companion to 20 th Century Kimmelman, Burt, ed. The Facts on File Companion to 20 th Century American Poetry. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2005. American Poetry. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2005. Lathbury, Roger. American Modernism (1910-1945): American Lathbury, Roger. American Modernism (1910-1945): American Literature in its Historical, Cultural, and Social Contexts. Literature in its Historical, Cultural, and Social Contexts. Backgrounds to American Literature Series. New York: Facts On Backgrounds to American Literature Series. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. File, Inc., 2006. Siepmann, Katherine Baker, ed. Benét’s Reader’s Encyclopedia. Siepmann, Katherine Baker, ed. Benét’s Reader’s Encyclopedia. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, Inc., 1948. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, Inc., 1948.