The
Modernist View of Literature
Modern
era is unique in every sense it has the complexities at social, political and
economical level. Therefore it has special notion to literature “Modern” or
“modernism” can imply at least three similar meanings. On the most general level, it can mean an
innovation, novelty, that is something which is in contrast to the old and thus
it expresses a certain belief in progress. The other, more specific meaning
refers to the modern period understood, from the philosophical point of view,
as connected to Enlightenment thinking, rationality and the period since the
18th century that started to emphasize reason as the means of “objective”
exploration of reality that is closely connected with empiricism in philosophy
(John Locke, Rene Descartes, and David Hume). Last, but not least, the term
modern, or modernism, is associated with the particular tendency in arts
starting in the late 19th century (Symbolism, Impressionism) that emphasizes
subjective experience, psychology and non-mimetic, non-realistic representation
of reality as manifested in the works of avant-garde and other poetic
tendencies (Dadaism, Futurism, Imagism, Vorticism, Poeticism, Cubism).
Modern
society has its own unique features therefore it is merely different from any other
development of the society. As the changing aspects of human life the human
changes their notions of living life the same way the literary flow also
changes its parameter for the evaluation. Following are the some of the notions
of Modern literature.
1) First
Person Narrator and Stream-of-Consciousness Narrative Method,
In
their literary works, Modernist fiction writers of the early 20th century such
as Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, & other in keeping with these ideas subjectivized
human experience and put the emphasis on inner subjective experience as
mostly expressed by a first person narrator and stream-of-consciousness
narrative method, a term overtaken from psychological theories of William
James. Modernist writers thus subjectivized experience and, in their literary
works, presented the idea that the world cannot be objectively known only
subjectively perceived by human mind. This subjectivity manifested mostly
itself, as it was mentioned above, in the first person narrative and the use of
the stream-of-consciousness narrative method expressing the subjective
perception of reality by human mind. In modernist literary works, chaotic
reality manifested itself in authors’ use of non-chronological, fragmentary
composition and in a depiction of the relationships between the characters.
Fragmentary composition, the use of non-linear and non-chronological time
expressed a new sensibility of the chaotic world and the alienation, as
a product of modern era and life in the cities. Alienation manifests itself in
the characters’ relationship to other characters, society, work, and the city
that can finally lead to the feelings of nihilism. Alienation is also closely
connected to skepticism which manifests itself in the characters’ attitudes to
the society. Modernist literary work is often ironic and parodic, and
irony and parody are used as a form critique both of realistic or romantic literary
tradition and of the society. Modernist writers often use ancient myths that
are transformed and re-contextualized in a modern context and thus they become modern
myths related to modernist cultural experience as expressed, for example,
in James Joyce’s Ulyssess (1922). The cities became cultural,
educational, industrial and economic centers of technologically advanced
societies and life in the cities and suburbs one of the major themes of
the modernist literary works.
2) The
Harlem Renaissance: In the Harlem
Renaissance in the USA (Langston Hughes) used the rhythms of traditional
popular folk and oral cultures such as blues and jazz in their poetry. It is important feature of modern era. Within
a literary work, we can speak about the mixture of genres as manifested itself,
for example, in the literary works of James Joyce whose Ulyssess (1922) used
a genre of a diary, myth, essay and other forms of writing and genres to point
out the modernist sensibility.
3) Philosophically
And Aesthetically:
•
A skeptical vision of
the world and a distrust in the possibility of reason to understand and explain
the world
•
by a growing impact of technology (cars,
airplanes, telephones, media such as radio, telephone, telegraph, film) on the
life style and the human perception of the world
•
a skeptical view on the use (misuse of
technology) and power (the World War I)
•
seeing a man as irrational rather rational
being influenced by her/his suppressed and unfulfilled desires and dreams
4) Reflection
in literature and arts: A depiction of
characters that are mostly unbalanced, alienated and hesitating individuals
searching for their identity and a sense of life. In a depiction of urban setting as a site of
new social experience and a producer of new relationships between people and between
the individual and the society. The individual is mostly in opposition to the
social structures and the society. In mostly unfinished, open ending through
the authors leave a space for a reader to participate in a completion of a
literary work. In the use of fragmentation, elimination of the chronology of
plot, open ending, and a mixture of different literary and non-literary genres
and techniques typical of other 25 media and arts within a single literary work
(essay, diary, letter, popular literary genres such as thriller, fantasy,
detective, love story etc., the use of camera-eye techniques and newsreels that
represent cinematic methods, techniques, and vision of reality, emphasis on the
imagery of color as in painting). The use of irony and parody as the means of
critical approach to both reality and past literary forms and genres, in reference
to myths, classical and other mythology, literary and artistic work and the
consequent transformation and re-writing their original meaning to emphasize a
critical distance from the past and contemporary life, in the emphasis on art
as a way out of an alternative to the chaotic and uncertain world.
5) Complexity and Variety
Twentieth
century literary criticism in England offers a bewildering variety of critical
theory and practice. New discoveries in
psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, etc, have brought about a
revolution in critical methods with the result that modern criticism is quite
different from criticism in the 19th century. Critics like I.A. Richards, T.S. Eliot, F.R. Leavis,
William Empson, have provided entirely new interpretations of old writers, and
presented them in an entirely new light.
The full significance of their achievement is yet to be realized.
6) The Older Traditions
However,
at the turn of the century there were two traditions-the Matthew Arnold
tradition of intellectual, abstract or scientific criticism, and the Aesthetic,
Impressionistic tradition of Walter Pater that held the day While Arnold made
‘high seriousness’ and ‘criticism of life’ the test of poetry, Pater’s
criticism was aesthetic or Impressionistic; while Arnold made art subservient
to life, Pater advocated the theory of, ‘art for art’s sake’. Arnold’s influence was an all-pervasive and
continuing one. That is why Eliot once
remarked that we seem still to be living in the critical tradition or
Arnold. Writes Wilbur Scotts, “By and
large the early critics were carrying on the tradition of Mathew Arnold
although their lesser colleagues diluted Arnold’s “high seriousness” into
gentle respectability. In general, they were
thoughtful, fair-minded upholders of an intelligent ideal; but they seemed
unable to germinate seeds of the criticism of the immediate future. Form the present point of view; they were
spokesmen of forces that were in process of being rejected.
Pater,
on the other hand, has been a source of inspiration for the ‘Bloomsbury group’ of critics,
E.M.Forster, Virgnia Woolf, Lytton Strachery, and Clive Bell. According to these critics, the enjoyment of
art and the appreciation of Beauty is the greatest good of human life, and art,
therefore must be freed from the shackles of morality. Their criticism is impressionistic; they
assess a work of literature on the basis of the pleasure that it affords them.
7) Academic Criticism :
Lack of Originality
These
two traditions continue deep into the 20th century, and are a
constant source of inspiration. But in
the opening years of the century, we do not find any original critic, with a
definite and individual point of view. Literary
criticism is largely academic, the work of distinguished university professors. They are eminent scholars, they painstakingly
collect facts, biographical, historical and social, and evaluate a written on
the basis of these facts, but they lack a precise of view, and do not originate
any new theories or principles.
T.E.Hulme
The
only original critic- one who has had considerable influence on T.S. Eliot, as
also on the whole course of criticism in the century-is T.E. Hulme. His point of view is religious, classical,
and tragic. With the Existentialists, he
believes that tragedy is the central fact of human life. That is, and has always been, the human
predicament. Man has always suffered,
and this suffering arises from his own imperfections. Man is imperfect and finite, while God is
perfect and infinite. Two conclusions
follow from man’s imperfection and finitude; since man is imperfect,
inspiration alone is not a safe guide and Darwinian faith in unlimited
progress. Thus his point of view is
anti-romantic and anti-humanistic. He
advocates the need of order and discipline, and thus becomes a champion of
‘classical revival’ in literature, which Eliot also advocates. Eliot strengthened the reaction against
romanticism and humanism and did much to bring about the classical
revival. Further Hulme pointed out that
poetry should express the vague, fleeting impressions passing thorough the mind
of poet, and this can only be done when the verse-form is made loose and flexible. So, he became a powerful advocate of verse
libre or ‘free verse’ libre or ‘free verse’.
He also advocated that the poet should express his concepts through the
use of solid, concrete and clear images, and clear images, and in this way, he
became a source of inspiration to Ezra Pound and other poets of the ‘Imagist
School’.
8) Foreign Influences –
sociological Criticism:
Due
to the industrialization human is the
center point of any philosophy , humanism is basic motto of the present
scenario therefore in this era sociological approaches have been ripen and
started to talk about the socialism. After World War I, people understand the
meaning of the life, therefore most of writers of this era had written about
the complexities of the life, therefore socialism is important parameter to
evaluate the texts of this period. First, there was the influence of Marx and his
concept of class struggle. Writers were analyzed
and interpreted in terms of class conflict.
For example, David Daiches in his book, ‘Society and Literature’,
shows how economic trends are reflected in literature, Cristopher Caudewll studies,
Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the other romantics, against
the background of social and economic changes.
Aestheticism of Pater is thus rejected, and literature is viewed as a
social activity reflecting the changing social and economic patterns.
9) Expressionism: Expressionism was a modernist
movement, initially in poetry
and painting,
originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. It’s typical trait
is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it
radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist
artists sought to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical
reality. Expressionism was
developed as an avant-garde
style before the First World War. It remained popular during the Weimar Republic, particularly in Berlin. The style
extended to a wide range of the arts, including expressionist architecture,
painting, literature, theatre,
dance, film and music.
Secondly,
there was the potent influence of the Italian critic, Benedetto Croce. According to his view, art is expression, and
criticism is the study of that expression.
Vivid pictures are constantly rising in the mind of the poet, and he
must express them spontaneously and fully as they arise in his mind, without any
attempt at organization. This is known
as Expressionism. Expressionistic
writing is bound to be broken and fragmentary in keeping with the fragmentary
and chaotic nature of the vague sensations fleeting through the consciousness
of the poet. The teaching of Croce had a
far-reaching impact on creative and literary activity in England.
10) MARXISM
Marxism
is the most important social philosophy of the Modern era. It address to the
social conflict which seek egalitarian principle. Marxism is not a theory; it
is a school of social, economic and political aspects. It is important ideology
of the 20th century. Two German, writers, philosophers and critics –
Karl Marx (1818-1883_) and Friedrich Engel (1820-1895) – co- authored a text in
1848 that proclaimed, Marxism‘s basic doctrines , ‘the Communist Manifesto’ Unlike
other schools of literary criticism , Marxism did not begin as an alternative
theoretical approach to literary analysis. Before 20th century,
writers and critics embraced the principles of Marxism and formulated these
ideas in the working classes of society an opportunity to change their world
and their life styles. Marxism provides to working class to improve their
socio- economic condition by giving them philosophical system and plan of
action, to bring out change in the society. Marxism offers /gives humanitarian
attitude for the social, political, economic and cultural understanding to the
writers, philosophers, thinkers and downtrodden people of the society. These
and similar ideas become the basis of socialism and communism.
In
the philosophy of Karl Marx and Fredrich Engel says, ‘Capitalists and
bourgeoisie (middle class/ upper class) had successful enslaved the working
class or the proletariat (inferior class) through economic policies and control
over the production of goods therefore this philosophy emphasis and provokes to
working or proletariat class and they must organize against the capitalists and
bourgeoisie economic and political power and agitate for their fundamental
rights. It should be placed the ownership of all the government, which will
easy to distribute among the people.
11) Surrealism: Surrealism
is a cultural movement
that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and
writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions
of dream and reality." Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with
photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and
developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself.
Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and
non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as
an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works
being an artifact. Leader André Breton
was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary
movement.
It
is closely allied with Expressionism is the French theory, known as
Surrealism. It is mainly an art theory
which has, however been applied to literary criticism and literary
creation. Surrealism attributes artistic
creation to dreams, and the influence of spirits who inspire the artist with
his forms and images. Herbert Read is
one of those English critics whose works reveal the influence of this creed.
12) The Psychological
Approach – Due to the technological impact on lifestyle human being, human
become the self centered, Individualism is the main slogan of the world
therefore libertine approach started to formulate among the people of the
world. Man is the social animal has broken down in the new dimensions of human
philosophy. With changing pattern of human behavior and complex portrayal of human
characters in the various texts it is urgent need to understand the human
psyche through the psychological approach therefore emerging various social and
psychological approaches in this context.
I.A.Richards These
influences were joined in and strengthened by the teachings of modern
psychology, especially those of Freud, Jung and Bergson. Freud believed that suppression of the sex-instinct
results in frustration and neurosis, and art is but a sublimated expression of
this neurosis. Psychological theories
were used for an analysis and interpretation of past writers and their works
Thus Hamlet has been interpreted in the light of Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex. The motives and processes that lead to a
particular work of art were studied and thus new dimensions were added to
literary criticism. Similarly, the impact of literature on the mind of the
readers is sought to be explained in Psychological terms. I.A. Richards is the most outstanding of the
critics of the Psychological school.
According to him, the pleasure of literature arises from the fact that
it brings about a healthy equilibrium between the instincts and impulses of the
readers. The Kathartic effect of tragedy
implies that a balance is achieved between fear, the impulse to withdraw, and
pity; the impulse to approach.
13) Textual Criticism –. Textual
criticism (or lower criticism) is a branch of literary criticism
that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription
errors in the texts
of manuscripts. Ancient scribes
made errors or alterations when copying manuscripts by hand. Given a manuscript
copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic
seeks to reconstruct the original text (the archetype
or autograph) as closely as possible. The same processes can be used to attempt
to reconstruct intermediate editions of a document's transcription history. The
ultimate objective of the textual critic's work is the production of a
"critical edition" containing a text most closely approximating the
original. Textual criticism is very
important literary flow which seeks the form ,syntax, morphology,
phonology etc
The New Critics As
the century advanced, especially after the World |War II, the most potent
single influence was that of the ‘New
Critics’. The term was first used by
J.E. Spingarn, and though the New Criticism had its origin in the writings of
T.E. Hulme, it is now mainly an American movement. Its chief exponents in America are Kenneth
Burke.John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, Richard Blackmur, Cleanth Brooks,
etc. In England its leading
representatives are I.A. Richards, T.S. Eliot, F.R.Leavis, William Empson, etc.
The New Critics are opposed to the biographical, historical, sociological and
comparative approach of conventional criticism.
Similarly, they reject the traditional division of literature into
periods and groups, for the purpose of criticism. All such considerations are regarded as
extrinsic and irrelevant and a work of art is judged solely on its own merits. Their criticism is Intrinsic or Ontological,
and not Extrinsic. A poem, a piece of
literature, is the thing in itself, with a definite entity of its own, separate
both from the poet and the socio-cultural milieu in which it is produced. Thus emphasis is laid on the study of the
text, and its word by word analysis and interpretation. The music of a poem, its imagery and
versification, its total structure must be taken into account to arrive at its
meaning. Words must be studied with
reference to their sound, and their emotional and symbolic significance. New criticism is predominantly textual, and
the new critics have rendered valuable service to literature by their study and
interpretation of literary classics. While Eliot has his affinity with the
critics of the new school, he is against too close a scrutiny of a work of
art. The poem is the thing, and it must
be studied in itself, but he is against the “lemon-squeezer” critics who press
the words too closely.
14) Symbolistic and Archetypal Approaches Symbolistic
approach and the Archetypal approach are
the two other approaches of recent criticism.
The symbolists try to discover hidden meaning and significances which
may lie concealed beneath the surface.
The Archetypal approach is much in the air these days. It tries to demonstrate the presence of some
basic cultural pattern on myth, common heritage of mankind, in a work of
art. The critics of this school believe
that civilized man preserves, though unconsciously, these pre-historical areas of
knowledge which he articulated obliquely in myth. If valid, the speculation explains the
somewhat mysterious appeal of mythical stories long after the supernatural
elements in them have ceased to command belief.
Conclusion:
Modernist views are different because of the mixed
and complicated life style at the peak of human civilization. It laid the
importance of humanism due to the nature and human made disaster people understood
the meaning of life. Life is precious gift of human life bestowed by God therefore
it extends argument optimum use of the resources is essential to bring out meaning in the life. It is the combination of
new and old tradition of life. Ultimate aim to live life for the life’s sake,
that is the main motto of the world therefore we find satisfaction centered theories
to enhance human life towards betterment…..
