by Francesco Bernardini Modernism
Definition A literary and artistic movement that developed in Europe during the first three decades of XX century. Its name describes the period in which it developed, that is the end of the Modern age
Cultural Background Modernism development between the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century In that period all traditional beliefs were put into doubt by scientific discoveries (evolution theory, theory of relativity) In society the general atmosphere was one that recorded a sense of confusion and absence of points of reference and authorities
Objective The main objective of Modernism was to create a new way of expression in which the absence of points of reference, and the idea of a changing the world was expressed and traditional beliefs were turned upside down It also created a new connection between tradition and myths and contemporary literature by means of trans-codifiction
Main Features Modernist works are the most complex works in the history of literature Modernism became an elitarian movement: since its artistic production was so difficult and couldn’t be understood by ordinary people since it required ahigh level of culture Modernist artists used particular devices to better convey feelings, emotions and ideas; it also made reference to a new conception of time
Literary Devices Shift of the point of view Dramatic monologue Speaking voice Interior monologue Stream of consciousness Intertextuality
Conceptual Devices Anthropology The Objective correlative Anti-hero The Mythical method Transcodification Importance of mankind
Representative Writers Poetry: Thomas Stearns Eliot ( ) USA - UK Ezra Pound ( ) USA - UK William Butler Yeats ( ) IRL Novel: James Joyce ( ) IRL Virginia Woolf ( ) UK Franz Kafka ( ) CS
Representative Works James Joyce : “Ulysses” 1922, “Finnegan’s Wake” 1939, Dubliners, 1914 Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway,1925, To the Lighthouse, 1927 T.S.Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, 1915, The Wasteland 1922, The Four Quartets,