LITERARY MOVEMENTS – MODERNISM

 

 Introduction

 

    Modernism is a blanket term that refers to a wide variety of international movements, which took place in the arts starting from the closing years of the 19^th century till the culmination of the second world war. Some prominent movements in this regard include symbolism, imagism, surrealism, expressionism and impressionism. Though all modernist movements were unique in their own ways, a common denominator that united them was that they were all avantgarde in scope. This is to say, they exhibited a strong reactionary stance against traditional forms and methods of producing art, in favour of new and experimental means of artistic creation. The years between the two world wars is generally regarded as the high point of modernism.

 

Causal Factors

 

    Many factors contributed to the development of modernism. Among these four conceptual factors are particularly noteworthy. These are the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin, theory of psychoanalysis propounded by Sigmund Freud, the theory of socialist materialism advanced by call Marx, and the philosophy of nihilism advocated by niche. All these theories installed a strong sense of reaction against traditional values and ideas, positing new avenues and outlets to explore. What ensues is a succinct review of how the four said theories brought about this professed change.

 

    In his theory of natural selection, Charles Darwin advocated that all organisms of this world or a product of evolution. In this regard, he pointed out that human beings evolved from monkeys. This proposition of Darwin directly collided with the account related in the Bible that human beings were created by God in his own image. The upshot was that people’s faith in religion was indelibly undermined, with science now presenting itself as a possible alternative for consideration.

    The Greek philosopher Socrates specified introspection ‘know thy self’ as the key for attaining enlightenment. For the next two millennia, humanity adopted this formula as the Motto of life. The Austrian thinker Sigmund Freud cast an indelible doubt on this belief by his theory of psychoanalysis. Freud conceptualised that almost nine tenth of the human mind was constituted by what he termed the unconscious, which comprised of impulses unknown to the individual subjects themselves. The mind of humanity for Freud thus represented an entity that is essentially unfathomable. The obvious implication was that complete mastery of the self is simply not possible, which rendered the Socratian dictum practically unattainable.

    Traditionally society was considered as a harmonious institution in which people live together. Call marks with his theory however completely shattered this notion. He pointed out that society was essentially made up of two classes, The dominant capitalist class that constantly exploited the dominated working class. Society thus as he theorized far from being a harmonious whole, was characterized by a constant sense of underlying tension. He called this state class struggle.

    In the conventional mode of thinking, God was regarded as the ultimate source of redemption for humanity. This notion was however called into question by the idea of nihilism advocated by niche. He famously pronounced God is dead by which he meant humanity has become so corrupted that it is incapable of sustaining faith in God. He therefore pointed out that the only source of salvation for humanity lay in its own hands.

 

    Beside these four ideological factors, one other important social factor that contributed to people’s disillusionment with traditional values is the first world war. The first world war caused a scale of destruction and death that was unprecedented in the annals of human history at the time. In doing so, it made people wonder at the utility of such institutions as religion and education, which were apparently supposed to civilize humanity and refine its tastes and values. The upshot was that people’s belief in traditional ideas and value systems were lost, at least their faith in them was shaken to the very foundation.

 

Literary Ramifications

 

Traditionally, the classical idea of unity advocated by Aristotle was recognised as the essential hallmark of literature. Works of art were therefore conceived and executed by authors as fundamentally holistic entities. This idea of wholeness was strongly challenged by the artist during the modernist Era. For instance plots in traditional works of art were essentially presented as a logical sequence where a clear sense of time was manifested. Even when there were flashbacks, they were clearly indicated so that the readers did not get confused with regard to the logic of time in the work. In modernist works however this idea of temporal unity was challenged by authors who employed abrupt time ships that deliberately sought to disrupt a clear cut sense of linear logic in the plot. Another way by which the idea of wholeness was upheld in traditional works was by making them into a complete and finished phenomenon. This is to say traditional works of art were basically conceived as neatly packaged units in which all loose ends were tied up at the end. In modernist works however authors deliberately tried to undermine this concept of wholeness by culminating the works with open ended conclusions. The work of art in other words was left deliberately incomplete with an obvious sense of unresolved ambiguity to reckon with.

 

In conventional literature, authors basically sought to manifest a clear framework or pattern in their works. Consistency was perceived as a principle of composition that ought to be consciously fulfilled. In modernist writing however writers consciously strove to undermine any aspect of uniformity in their composition. In traditional poetry for instance, poets invariably sought to uphold notions of rhyme scheme, metrical sequence and stanzaic structure to ensure there was an overall sense of pattern in the work. In modernist poetry however poets adopted what is known as Free verse, in which considerations of rhythm, rhyme and other prosodic elements were regarded as irrelevant and dispensed with.

 

Traditionally, the concept of realism was primarily conceived in objective terms. Hence conventional literary works sought to portray a representation of life that mirrored aspects in the real World. With the advent of modernism however the idea of realism came to be redefined in essentially subjective terms. Instead of what people perceived externally through their senses, the thoughts and impulses that animated their minds now came to be considered as representing the most pristine and ultimate form of reality. Literature accordingly underwent a drastic change during modernist times with regard to the notion of reality represented in them. In conventional novels for example, plots were conceived in terms of events that took place in the external world, in which the actions performed by characters was given primacy. In modernist fiction however, rather than what the characters did, that which they thought and felt became the focus of representation. Modernist plots – did not hence relate a logical sequence of incidence that gave the impression of neatly emanating from a clear focal point or centre. Instead they represented a random and erratic sequence of events and images, in which notions of linearity and logicality were undermined in favour of fragmentation