Modernism in American literature
泡椒萝卜
Modernism was a t of cultural movements in all creative arts: painting, novel, poem and play, originally arising as the whole world was being reshaped by a ries of profound changes occurred in almost every field of 商品销售Western society and later spreading through the whole Europe and America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. As the world underwent great revolutions of economy, politics and ideology, people realized the traditional idea, value and authority were outdated and they tried to find a new way to react to the profound changes of modern society. In this period, modernist literature came into being in respon to the stimulation of modernity, which marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression, innovative writing techniques, new ideas and a wider range of themes.
Between 1914 to 1945, influenced by social upheaval, economic and political transformation and European modernism, America also saw the ri of its own modernism. American modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that either affirms the
power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, or fears for the possible catastrophe brought by transformations of the society. Both are in its esnce progressive.With a greater number of great writers producing a voluminous amount of distinguished literary works, this period is also termed the cond renaissance in the history of American literature. American Modernism covered a wide variety of topics including race relations, gender roles, and xuality. It began with the rebellion of naturalists before 1917, thrived along with the ri of the Lost Generation in the 1920, attained the zenith of prosperity in the 1930s, and ended with the cond world war.
The background of modernism in America
Having undergone the cond industrial revolution and world war one, America gradually progresd to modernity and went on the stage of the world as a great power. With economy and science and technology speedily developed, various new machines of transportation and communication invented, America enjoyed an unbalanced prosperity i
n 1920s, which was known as the roaring twentieth or the jazz age. The world war one had destroyed many young people’s heroic dreams and left them only with a disillusioned life. In this period, the Lost Generation emerged with Ernest Hemingway as its reprentative. Meanwhile, prohibition was issued, which also led to more organized crime and the gangster phenomenon. However, in 1930s, economic crisis erupted and America suffered from the great depression, to deal with which president Roovelt went onto stage with his policy named new deal. During the depression, people who suffered from unemployment and hunger naturally sought comfort from the communism. Thus communism was prevailed through working class and left wing activities. The economic crisis left a mark on the literary creations of the period and 1930s was regarded as red decade in history of Amercan literature. On 1914, America declared war after the pearl harbor event. The war removed a large portion of the young male population, which greatly influenced economic and social life of America.
Influenced by irrational philosophy and Freudianism, modernism in literature mainly revolves on veral ideas.
1) It is believed that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.
文明上网公约2) Modernists feel no connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair.
3) Since the psychologies of Freud and Jung are influential in modernist literature, Modernists more and more concern themlves with the sub-conscious and try to explore the sub-conscious world of human being.
4) It doesn’t subscribe to absolute truth. All things are relative.
5) It believes life is unordered.
6) Modernist tried stylistic innovations and experiments with language, form, symbol and myth.
New trends of literature also emerged: symbolism, expressionism, surrealism, futurism, dadaism, imagism and streams of consciousness.
Major American modernists
1. Novelists
Gertrude Stein, Sinclair Lewis (Main Street), Scott Fitzgerald(北京踏春The Great Gatsby), Ernest Hemingway(The Sun Also Ris, A Fare well to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Old Man and Sea), John Dos Passos(the trilogy U.S.A), William Faulkner(The Sound and the Fury).
2. Poets
目不转睛的反义词Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot (The Waste Land), Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moor, E. E. Cummings,
贵港特产3. Dramatists
Eugene O’Neil, Tenne Williams, Arthur Miller
Modernism in American novel
Lost Generation literature
Lost Generation literature is an important part of American modernist literature, which had an positive effect on American modernism and was regarded as the cond prosperity in American literature.杭三鲜
Having experienced the world war one, American young people returned to their country with physical or mental wounds and a disillusion of heroism. With a rejection against maistream values of materialism prevailed in American society, some intellectuals, poets, artists and writers fled to Paris or London where they may enjoy freedom and a diversity of cultures there. The generation was “lost” in the n that their inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and they are thus spiritually alienated from a country that emed to be hopelessly provincial, materialistic, and emotionally barren. Although they were unhappy with American culture, the writers were instrumental in changing their country's style of writing from Victorian to modern. In aspect of artistic style, they were influenced by French modernism, while their ideas were affected by exist
写给自己的信entialism. Having inherited American exploring spirit, they cho new themes and tried to innovate and experiment a diversity of new writing skills and styles.
