MODERNISMAlexandra CervantesRebecca AlvarengaEsther Rodriguez

Erik ChavezLazaro R.

George Mendoza

Modernism

Modernism is a literary and cultural movement which flourished in the first decades of the 20th century.

It is used to refer to English literature in the broad sense.

Modernism can be recognized not only in literature but also in painting, music, sculpture, and architecture.

Modernism can be applied to the content and to the form of a work, or either in isolation.

It reflects a sense of cultural crisis that is exciting and disquieting.

This opens up a new vista of human possibilities but at the same time puts into question any ideas.

Modernism is marked by experimentation, particularly manipulation of form, and by the realization that knowledge is not absolute

The Beginning of Modernism

Emerged in the middle of the nineteenth century in France, with Charles Baudelaire in literature and Edouard Manet in painting.

The “avant-garde” was what Modernism was called at first, and the term remained to describe movements which identify themselves as attempting to overthrow some aspect of tradition or the status quo.

Modernism’s second generation

By 1930, Modernism had entered popular culture. It was beginning to be looked to as the source for ides with the challenges of the day.

It was developing a self-conscious of its own importance.

One of the most visible changes of this period was objects into daily life. (electricity, the telephone, the automobile)

In the 1930’s Modernist writers became more overtly political, especially in their involvement with left-wing causes and their opposition the rise of Fascism in Europe.

Modernist Literature

Modernist literature had a tendency to lack of chronological narrative, or move from one level of narrative to another without any warning through the words of a number of different narrators.

Unlike the literature in the 19th century, Modernist novels left an impression of enigma and an open-endedness to the work.

Main Exponents

Although Ernest Dowson, Arthur Symons and W.B. Yeats, who were influenced by the writing of Baudelairure, Mallarme, and Valery, had made use of elements of what is called Modernism, it was the work of Henry James that really indicated the new direction in literature by the end of the 19th century.

Other authors that went in the same direction were Stephen Crane, Joseph Conrad, and Fore Modox Ford.

The works of these writers were new in their structure

Characteristics in Modernism

Uses images and symbols as typical and frequent literary techniques.

Uses colloquial language rather than formal language.

Uses language in a very self-conscious way

Often the intention of writers in the Modern period was to change the way the reader saw the world and the change of understanding of what language is and does.