Age of Anxiety and Uncertainty

Reading: Spodek,

pp. 678-682, 710-714

Overview

World War I was really awful for most people Technology had so transformed the face of the

war that many things were called into question.

Even before the war, there was tension as people were asking questions and doubting that everything was so wonderful.

There was a crisis of modernity. The idea that each generation was better off

than the one before was questioned.

Modern Philosophy

Nietzsche (1844-1900) Western civilization has

emphasized rationality at the expense of passion and instinct.

Christianity glorified weakness, envy, and mediocrity

“God is dead” Democracy isn’t working Respectability stifles self-

realization People have no

authenticity Will to power

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

Existentialism God has nothing to do with giving

life meaning. Human beings simply exist.

There is no God to help them There is no reason to help

them. “Man is forced to be free”

To be free, men and women must become engaged and choose actions correctly.

Human beings are responsible for their own behavior.

Became really popular after World War II, a war in which actions and consciousness induced men and women to either act courageously or abominably

New Physics

Science foundation of Enlightenment, reason and progress.

At the end of the 19th century, scientists found atoms not hard, permanent little balls.

Atoms consists of many smaller fast-moving particles, including electrons and protons

Marie Curie (1867-1934) and her husband found that radium emits subatomic particles so it has no constant atomic weight.

Max Plank (1858-1947) found that subatomic energy is emitted from vibrating electron in uneven spurts or “quanta”. Calls into question old distinction of matter and energy. He also called into

question atoms as stable building blocks of nature

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Light propagated through space in the form of particles (photons)

E=mc2

Special theory of relativity. Time and space relative

to the viewpoint of the observer

General theory of relativity Newton’s universe three

dimensional while Einstein’s universe four dimensional space-time continuity

Rutherford(1871-1937) and Werner Heisenberg (1901-1927)

Rutherford (1871-1937)

Showed atom could be split into smaller particles.

Crucial for subsequent development of atomic weapons

Werner Heisenberg (1901-1927)

“Principle of Uncertainty”

Instead of Newton’s certainties, we now have a physics based on tendencies and probabilities

Freudian Psychology

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Interested in unconscious behavior

Theory of psychoanalysis

His conclusion was that human behavior is basically irrational, not rational behavior of Enlightenment thought.

Modern Literature and Modern Cinema

Franz Kafka captured the sense of nightmarish 20th century world in The Metamorphosis, as well as others.

Oswald Spengler wrote Decline of the West which was the obituary of civilization.

Also two war novels were written: Ernest Hemingway, A

Farewell to Arms. Erich Remarque, All

Quiet on the Western Front

German expressionist films came out during this time period. The Cabinet of Dr.

Caligari (1919) which was trying to answer the question, “Is the director of the insane asylum himself an insane murderer?

Metropolis was about the madness of industrial capitalization.

Modern Art--Overview

Camera invented in 19th Century.

Great images of U.S. Civil War—Matthew Brady’s photographs

Kodak personal camera introduced at the end of the century. Why paint realistic paintings if camera can better capture reality. No color photos yet.

Impressionism—French painters

French Painters

Claude Monet (1840-1926)Camille Pissaro (1830-1903)Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)Their goal was to capture the overall

picture of things by capturing light falling on the scene before their eyes.

Vincent van Gogh

Painted what is in his mind Increasingly form became

more important than light Paul Cezanne (1893-

1906) Henri Mattisse (1869-

1954) Pablo Picasso (1891-

1973) Cubism—all of these artists

trying to capture in form inner essence of things not superficial “surface”

Cubism

Dali and Surrealism

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was involved in Surrealism which exalted the irrational, the violent, and the absurd in human experiences

Dali and Surrealism

Modern Music

Western music tradition since the Renaissance “major-minor” system of tonality

New musicians began to explore polytonality.

Igor Stravinsky Achieved effects through

polytonality, dissonant harmonies, and percussive rhythms

Rites of Spring was a pre-World War I ballet which undermines common conventions of ballets with his jarring music. Dancers engaged in representation of reproduction

Extremely shocking when first performed in Paris in 1913. It became more popular after World War I

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) abandoned traditional harmony and tonality altogether and arranged the 12 notes of the scale in an abstract mathematical pattern, the “tone-row” which stresses disharmony

Modern Architecture

Bauhaus was an institution in Germany that brought together architects, designers, and painters.

Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was the first director of Bauhaus. He believed in functional designs, simplicity of shape, and lots of glass.

Implemented philosophy “form must follow function”

Influenced Swiss-French Architect, Le Corbusier

Global Impact

Europeans searched for non-Western inspiration.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) searched the South Pacific for unspoiled beauty and a primitive way of life.

Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was an African American who was a dancer, singer, entertainer who was popular in 1930s Paris

Jazz was the music from the American Blacks which combined gospels, African rhythms, and erotic blues. It was very popular in Europe.

More on Global Impact

Trinidad was where Calypso was a popular music. Songs about urban hunger, unemployment, and social upheaval.

Negritude Movement in France was closely connected to surrealists.

The Democratization of Desire and Modernism

The Democratization of Desire Radio Hollywood Shopping

Modernism A word to collectively

describe these common features of Western art and culture.

Form is emphasized at the expense of content.

A systematic and determined rejection of the classical models

Culture is increasingly global