Modernism

The background elements to Modernism are three: 1) the negative, and largely unforeseen, results of massive industrialization ( to name but four: overcrowding of city areas, with following slum and crime problems; pollution; disruption of the family-system; a general feeling of isolation and alienation), 2) the horrific destruction of WWI (with the use of the new technology - that was supposed to "save the world" - a record 7.5 million dead), and 3) the following severe economic hardships of the Great Depression (the worst period being the late 1920's to the early 1930's). This time in history is now sometimes called, following the title of T.S. Eliot's main work, the Wasteland period.

What we have, then, in sum, is a technological, political, and social failure of epic proportions. In an amazingly short span of time - less than 20 years - the very foundations of western culture, and all the subsequent improvements made upon it, came under scrutiny of the most harsh kind. All values, all systems of thought and life, were questioned. Little of the old was found adequate for the new age, and thus much was rejected outright. And yet the remainder was insufficient. The general feeling was one of disillusionment. Gertrude Stein, in a remark to Ernest Hemingway, said, "You are all a lost generation".

And yet the artists of the time were equal to the monumental task that confronted them. Out of this despair, of near hopelessness, came an incredible profusion of profound art. This movement, which we now call Modernism, took, essentially, two forms: 1) the development of an entirely new set of techniques and values appropriate to this new age, and 2) a reinterpretation of the old and a synthesis of it with the new. With some qualifications, James Joyce may be seen as the leader in the former, whereas T.S. Eliot was preeminent in the latter.

Very broadly, for the purposes of this discussion, I would like to designate 750 BC - 1914 as the "Traditional" period, and thereafter to the present time as the "Modern".

The first point to recognize regarding the Modern period is that, in part at least, it is something entirely new. In other words, if we contrast Greco-Roman times to the Victorian with the start of WWI to the present we will find in the latter several elements never conceived in the former.

Now, as I have mentioned several times during this course, the basic procedure for analyzing a piece of literature consists in first identifying its structure (or form) and then moving on to content (giving the work its particular "value coloring") ; these two elements in combination yield what the work expresses (or "means"). Oddly enough, I would now like to apply this literary method of analysis to the period of history under discussion

The structure, I would say, of the Traditional period was one of rational unity. By this I mean that the universe was thought to be constructed in a systematic way that was comprehensible to the human mind (n.b., rational here has three meanings: either 1) the scientific Aristotelian-Newtonian sense, or, 2) the supra-rational Platonic-Christian sense, or, 3) some combination of these two). The content of the universe was held to be absolute in quality; this two aspects, one moral, the other physico-logical. Ethically, some things were held to be right and good at all times, whereas other, conversely, were deemed to be immoral and evil in any situation (1). Scientifically, the laws of logic, mathematics, and physics were also thought to be absolutely invariable; for example, both Aristotle and Newton would hold that God was bound by logic (2). Finally, these two elements of structure and content combine giving an expression of continuity between the various sub-periods of the Traditional period: in short, we see an emphasis on rationality, the worth of the individual's worth (and thus democracy), and a certain moral inflexibility.

In many respects the Modern period is the exact opposite of the Traditional. Structurally, an irrational chaos reigns: and this applies not only to the universe but to humanity itself (confer Freud, starting 1900). Further, all values are relative ; i.e., linked to the certain contingencies of the particular time and place in which the judgment occurs (key names: Oswald Spengler, Leo Frobenius, and James Frazer for sociology, and Einstein for physics). These elements coalesce to form an expression of experimental forms.

Thus, to sum up, the Traditional period, on the whole, held a worldview of a rationally unified system of absolute values in continuous expression; the Modern, on the whole, sees an irrational, chaotic collection where value is relative and life forms are experimental.

With experimentation as one of its basic features, as might be guessed, the variety of literary techniques used in Modernism were considerable. Some, of course, proved more flexible (meaning applicable to a wide array of situations) and powerful (capable of deep expression) than others. Three of the most popular, with examples, follow.

1. Stream-of-Consciousness (interior monologue)

Described, in part, by the Oxford Companion to English Literature as follows,"…the narrative method whereby certain novelists describe the unspoken thoughts and feelings of their characters, without resorting to objective description or conventional dialogue".

(From the last chapter of Ulysses.)

"YES BECAUSE HE NEVER DID A THING LIKE THAT BEFORE AS ASK To get his breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs since the City arms hotel when he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness to make himself interesting to that old faggot Mrs Riordan that he thought he had a great leg of and she never left us a farthing all for masses for herself and her soul greatest miser ever was actually afraid to lay out 4d for her methylated spirit telling me all her…"

2. The "Poetic Image"

Though widely used, this technique is rather difficult to describe precisely, due to its flexibility. Basically, however, I would say, it involves a short, objective, and striking analogy or simple description which is intended to evoke in the reader a certain response. The direct historical influence on this Modernist technique is Japanese Haiku and Tanka. Although used primarily in poetry, there are also examples in prose.

The standard example is Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro".

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

This next example of the poetic image, though slightly more "impressionistic" in form, is still of the same basic type. It is the opening paragraph from Joyce's "Two Gallants", the sixth story in Dubliners.

The grey warm evening of August had descended upon the city, and a mild warm air, a memory of summer, circulated in the streets. The streets, shuttered for the repose of Sunday, swarmed with a gaily coloured crowd. Like illumined pearls the lamps shone from the summits of their tall poles upon the living texture below, which, changing shape and hue unceasingly, sent up into the warm grey evening air an unchanging, unceasing murmur.

3. Myth-as-Structure

Here the Modernist author uses the general outline of a traditional story, but through changes in, for example, the time, setting, and emphasis, reinterprets, often radically, the entire expression of the tale. Through this comparison and contrast, the successful author will be able not only to synthesize traditional and modern elements, but, more importantly, bring about a completely new manner of expression.

The most famous example is, of course, Joyce's Ulysses, which is roughly modeled on Homer's Odyssey. Take, for example, ch. 1 in the Odyssey where Telemachus is visited by Athena; this is matched in ch. 1 of Ulysses when Stephen meets the poor old milk woman. Thus, in this particular scene (I have not the necessary hubris to generalize about Ulysses!), Joyce, through a (superficially) similar structure, synthesizes an aspect of the ancient story with his novel, and, simultaneously, through reinterpretation, has the scene express something entirely new.

Modernism, on the whole, is intimidating to students due to the complexity of much of the work. However, a nice, short introduction, I believe, may be had to this genre through a careful (annotated) reading of Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", followed by Joyce's "Dubliners".

And the students come and go…