modernism

modernism-

Who-  no one in particular... just those that reacted to what life they were given.

What - reaction to modernity. Characteristics include : Isolation/alienation of the individual through mechanization and division of labor and the individual becomes part of a collective, his/her identity flattened and regularized such as in fordism and taylorism. Everything becomes more uniform. The metropolis is important and time regulates a person’s life (development of wristwatch and other clocks). New modes of perception (train, speed, travel, cinema). Modernist literature such as all the novels we read have these characteristics: explicitly anti-bourgeois (anti-Victorian): Treatment of topics previously considered taboo (i.e., in poor taste) especially bodily functions represents a break with cultural norms and expectations, as well as (aesthetic) traditions, a break with Enlightenment ideals of reason, progress, altruism, peace, civilization, and complex interaction with modern life, particularly of the metropolis. Also, individual is isolated even when standing in a large crowd. The role of artist is elitist. The literature also has stylistic characteristics: Break with the rules and conventions of grammar and syntax, Non-linear narrative structure within novels disrupts the sense of time/chronology as an ordering principle, Crisis of representation: language is ultimately self-reflexive and cannot represent an “external” reality, Subjective narrative position (awareness of new theories of psychology)

• interior monologue and stream-of-consciousness--techniques for presenting a character’s thought “directly”, and Juxtaposition rather than narrative unity--forces the reader to engage actively in the construction of the text. Types of modernism include futurism, Dadaism, expressionism, symbolism( such as in heart of darkness by Conrad) Also, modernist films are important… see modernist aesthetics slides from powerpoint. Film starts to attract a bourgeois audience and to gain respect. Film was mass media propaganda. Also film began to be controlled by the government.

When - 1890s- post wwII especially after 1968

Where - everywhere

Why- when we talk about modernism, we should mention conrad and heart of darkness (heightened sense of sight, smell, and sound). We can also mention the mention of bodily functions in unbearable lightness by kundera and the stream of consciousness techniques in many of the novels that we read. Modernism is our world pretty much.