What is Modernism?

Modernism in Literature
The following are characteristics of Modernism:

Marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break includes a
strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views.

Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is
what we say it is.
There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative.
No connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation,
loss, and despair.
Championship of the individual and celebration of inner strength.
Life is unordered.
Concerned with the sub-conscious.
British & Irish Modernism
The horrors of World War I (1914-19), with its accompanying atrocities and
senselessness became the catalyst for the Modernist movement in literature and art.
Modernist authors felt betrayed by the war, believing the institutions in which
they were taught to believe had led the civilized world into a bloody conflict.
They no longer considered these institutions as reliable means to access the
meaning of life, and therefore turned within themselves to discover the answers.

Their antipathy towards traditional institutions found its way into their writing,
not just in content, but in form. Popular British Modernists include the following:

James Joyce (from Dublin, Ireland) - His most experimental and famous work,
Ulysses, completely abandons generally accepted notions of plot, setting, and
characters.
Ford Madox Ford - The Good Soldier examines the negative effects of war.
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse, as well, strays from conventional forms,
focusing on Stream of Consciousness.
Stevie Smith - Novel on Yellow Paper parodies conventionality.
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World protests against the dangers and nature of modern
society.
D.H. Lawrence - His novels reflected on the dehumanizing effect of modern society.
T.S. Eliot - Although American, Eliot's The Wasteland is associated with London and
emphasizes the emptiness of Industrialism.
American Modernism
Young HemingwayKnown as "The Lost Generation," American writers of the 1920s
brought Modernism to the United States. For writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald,
World War I destroyed the illusion that acting virtuously brought about good. Like
their British contemporaries, American Modernists rejected traditional institutions
and forms. American Modernists include:

Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises chronicles the meaningless lives of the Lost
Generation. Farewell to Arms narrates the tale of an ambulance driver searching for
meaning in WWI.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby shows through its protagonist, Jay Gatsby,
the corruption of the American Dream.
John Dos Passos, Hart Crane, and Sherwood Anderson are other prominent writers of
the period.
Mini Lesson: Make a chart to identify aspects of modernism. In the left column list
the characteristics of modernism; in the middle column find specific passages; in
the right column write an analysis of the passage.

LITERARY MOVEMENTS
These brief descriptions of literary movements make an easy day of notes for you.
Cut and paste. I don't care.
Let's Be Realistic: What Puts Literature in the "Realism" Category?
American Literature: American Romanticism Overview
Modernism in Literature: Quick Overview
Naturalism in Literature
Overview of British Romanticism & Poets from That Era
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