The History of Modernism Essay Example

Modernism was a literary movement that started around the early 1900s and continued until the early 1940s. This period was marked by several social, political, and cultural changes which shook the foundations of the existing world order. Literature was also affected by the developments in the field of science and technology, the socio-political upheavals, the rise of industrialization, urbanization, and capitalism. There was a continuous search to explain mankind’s place in the modern world and an urge to redefine every aspect of society. This resulted in writers trying to experiment with new forms, styles, and techniques. Thus, it became difficult to classify writers under particular groups, movements, or trends, as they try not to limit themselves to a certain classification. 

The exact date for modernism in literature is open to question. Some say it began in 1857, with the works Les Fleurs du mal of Baudelaire and Madame Bovary of Flaubert. Others suggest it as 1901, the year Queen Victoria died. While some date it to World War I in 1914, the cataclysmic event which tremendously impacted the psyche of people. It is clear that by 1922, with the publication of James Joyce's Ulysses, that Modernism was afoot. 

Modernist literature was not about what we see, it was about how we see and understand. And this was explained through the stream of consciousness technique, which was developed in various ways by writers to render directly and in-depth the experience of individual characters. The feature of individualism, where the focus shifts from the society to the individual is also shown through this technique. Characters try to adapt to the changing world while trying to find their own identity. Examples of this technique are used by Virginia Woolf in Mrs. Dalloway.

Another important feature of modern fiction was the greater degree of subjectivity, where writers were concerned about the inner life of characters. “Examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day”  wrote Virginia Woolf. This aspect represents the things we overlook, it shows the otherwise mundane things in a different light making it more authentic than the previous trend of Realism. But novels weren’t just limited to that. There were writers, like Joseph Conrad and E.M Forster, who brought in objectivity to show a clearer depiction of colonialism and its effect. Some writers continued with the traditional forms, like Arnold Bennett. He was criticized by the new ‘great tradition’ writers like Woolf and James who rejected rationality and who were inclined towards making the strange and remote seem as something familiar.

Modern fiction also adopted newer techniques in narration. The technique of multiple points of view was developed by writers like Conrad and Faulkner. We see how different characters relay the story as they perceive it. It also reveals the characters’ behaviors from different narrative viewpoints. There was also a collapse in the distinction of genres as poems became more prosaic and novels became more lyrical and poetic as many writers tried to challenge the traditional definitions.

There was also a change in perception towards time. Time was no longer treated as something that goes in chronological order. The past, present, and future were all merged together. The concept of “we are our memories” by psychologists such as Freud and Jung was reflected in this understanding and can also be seen in the aspect of doubling. Writers like Conrad use flashbacks and time-shifting to create a complex interpretation of events.

The theme of alienation was seen in many works. The isolation that was created by the displacement and war and also the alienation of inner self was explored in the works of Joyce, Graham Greene, and Edgar Allen Poe(The Man of the Crowd). Humans are unique individuals and need privacy; they are also social beings and need communion.    This dilemma was explored as the societal structures were collapsing and also as religion and ethics were put into question. There was a sense of impending anarchy and the aspect of morality can be seen in novels like The Heart of Darkness.

The fragmentation of the world after the war was also of interest to modern writers. They captured it through their broken sequential modes of organization. There is no defined ending and beginning, leading to reality becoming elusive. This disordered form was needed to reflect the painful modern reality. This sense of elusiveness is also seen in the characters, especially in the novels of Virginia Woolf. She was criticized by Arnold Bennett for the lack of reality in her characters and she answered back saying that modern reality itself has become a question as there was no agreement about what really mattered. Reality became something specific to individual perspective. 

Conclusion

When we look at the features of modern fiction, there seems to be a celebration of the absurd, fragmented, discontinuous narrative. But underneath it lays an inherent sense of coherence, a pattern that helps one to understand the various crises of the century as well as the unstructured, shapeless inner world of the individual. The attitude of the writers was radically different from the earlier times as they experimented with new techniques, theories, and languages. They took an inward turn into the unique, isolated, and conflicted inner consciousness, which made their works as complex as the human mind which got manifested in their writings.