Modernism

Definition: Departure from Romanticism Departure from Romanticism Concerned with social and historical change Concerned with social and historical change Saw the emerging city/urbanscape as central part of society Saw the emerging city/urbanscape as central part of society

Style Open Form Open Form Free Verse Free Verse Free Verse Free Verse Discontinuous narrative Discontinuous narrative Juxtaposition Juxtaposition Juxtaposition Intertextuality Intertextuality Intertextuality Classical allusions Classical allusions Borrowings from other cultures and languages Borrowings from other cultures and languages Unconventional use of metaphor Unconventional use of metaphor

Themes Breakdown of social norms and cultural sureties Breakdown of social norms and cultural sureties Dislocation of meaning and sense from its normal context Dislocation of meaning and sense from its normal context Valorization of the despairing individual in the face of an unmanageable future Valorization of the despairing individual in the face of an unmanageable future Alienation/dysfunction Alienation/dysfunction Disillusionment Disillusionment Disillusionment Rejection of history and the substitution of a mythical past, borrowed without chronology Rejection of history and the substitution of a mythical past, borrowed without chronology Product of the metropolis, of cities and urbanscapes Product of the metropolis, of cities and urbanscapes Stream of consciousness Stream of consciousness Stream of consciousness Stream of consciousness Overwhelming technological changes of the 20th century Overwhelming technological changes of the 20th century

F. Scott Fitzgerald Novels and short stories Novels and short stories Youth, despair, and age Youth, despair, and age “Lost Generation” “Lost Generation”

T.S. Eliot Back and forth from USA to England— modern and traditional, popular and elite, secular and religious, democracy and monarchy Back and forth from USA to England— modern and traditional, popular and elite, secular and religious, democracy and monarchy Poetry is both colloquial and learned Poetry is both colloquial and learned “Lost Generation” “Lost Generation”

Ernest Hemingway: At 18 volunteered as Red Cross ambulance driver in WWI, later severely wounded At 18 volunteered as Red Cross ambulance driver in WWI, later severely wounded “Lost Generation” “Lost Generation”

Other Notable Authors: James Joyce James Joyce Ezra Pound Ezra Pound Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad Virginia Woolf Virginia Woolf W.B. Yeats W.B. Yeats William Faulkner William Faulkner Robert Frost Robert Frost