Modernism --the breaking away from established rules, traditions, and conventions; fresh ways of looking at a human’s position and function in the universe - avant-garde: exploration, path-finding, innovation, invention, something new or advanced, revolutionary

Influence of Modernism Began in closing years of 19th c. Had a wide influence internationally during 20th c. Pertains to poetry, fiction, drama, painting, music, and architecture At its most active: France 1890-1940s; Germany 1890s-1920s; Russia 1920s (pre-revolution); England 1900, 1920-30s; America 1915ish-interwar period

Overview of Modernism Attempted to move from the bonds of Realist literature Introduced concepts such as disjointed timelines beyond classic uses of in medias res and flashbacks Distinguished by emancipatory metanarrative—a story about a story, encompassing and explaining other ‘little stories’ within totalizing schemas

Overview of Modernism Transcends the limitation of the Realist novel’s concern for social and historical change View work as aesthetic object rather than representation of reality This is largely demonstrated through the use of stream of consciousness writing—giving the written equivalent of the character’s thought processes (through interior monologues or his / her sensory reactions to external occurrences)

Overview of Modernism Also defined by its move away from Romanticism—venturing into subject matter that is clearly mundane Features pessimism as a clear rejection of the optimism in Victorian literature A common motif is that of the alienated individual, though some works are marked by the absence of a central, heroic figure

Formal Characteristics Open form/free verse Discontinuous narrative Intertextuality/classic allusions Borrowings from other cultures and languages Unconventional use of metaphor Metanarrative Fragmentation Incoherence of character Multiple narrative points of view (parallax)

Thematic Characteristics Breakdown of social norms and cultural sureties Dislocation of meaning and sense from its normal context Valorization of the despairing individual in the face of an unimaginable future Disillusionment Rejection of history and the substitution of a mythical past, borrowed without chronology Product of the metropolis, of cities and urbanscapes Overwhelming technological changes of the 20th century Loss of sense of tradition

The Three Amigos Marx, Freud, and Darwin Unsettled human subject from “center of the universe” mentality Reveal dependence on laws and structures out of our control and sometimes completely unknown Ideological uncertainty (built on lost civilization, loss of tradition) Series of contradictions and paradoxes

Vs. Contemporary Contemporary or Postmodern is an era (written after 1960) Postmodernism follows most of the same ideas listed above There are some differences – simple version 1.Modernist writers see fragmentation as tragic; they also believe their works supply the needed coherence and unity civilization has lost 2. Both are products of their time periods