Lecture 8
The Age of Modernism: Literature in the 1920s
(Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost)
Ⅰ Teaching Content
Modernism; Imagism; Ezra Pound; T. S. Eliot; Robert Frost
Ⅱ Time Allotment
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Ⅲ耳环的英文>dcs是什么意思 Teaching Objectives and Requirements
1 Make the students know clearly about Modernism.
2 Help the students to know about the characteristics of the American 1920’s and Imagism.
3 Help the students to know Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot.
4 Make the students know clearly about Robert Frost.
Ⅳ Key Points and Difficult Points in Teaching
1 Imagism
2 Ezra Pound
3 Robert Frost
Ⅴ英文网店 Teaching Methods and Means
Lecture; Discussion; Multi-media
1 Modernism
● Modernism is a general term applied to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century, including symbolism, futurism, expressionism, imagism, vorticism, data, and surrealism.
●bauhaus Modernist literature is characterized chiefly by a rejection of the 19th century traditions: the conventions of realism, for instance, were abandoned by Franz Kafka and other novelists, and by expressionist drama, while veral poets rejected traditional meters in favor of free ver.
● Modernist writers tended to e themlves as an avant-garde dingaged from bourgeois values, and disturbed their readers by adopting complex and difficult new forms and styles.
● all riIn fiction, the accepted continuity of chronological development was upt by Joph Conrad, and William Faulkner, while James Joyce and Virginia Woolf attempted new ways of tracing the flow of characters’ thoughts in their stream-of consciousness styles.
● In poetry, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot replaced the logical exposition of thoughts with collages of fragmentary images and complex allusions.
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● Modernist writing is predominantly cosmopolitan, and express a n of urban cultu
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umemaroral dislocation, along with an awareness of new anthropological and psychological theories. Its favored techniques of juxtaposition and multiple points of view challenge the reader to reestablish a coherence of meaning from fragmentary forms.
2 The 1920s
(The 1920s can be termed as the cond renaissance in the history of American literature and as the “Jazze Age”. It was a chaotic age and also a transitional age. After 1920s, US society stepped into its modern times. The works of T. S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway and their generations consituted an adequate expression of the spirit of their times.)
2.1 Historical background
The twentieth century began with a strong n of social breakdown. A ries of wars fought on the international scene during the first part of the century were to affect the life of Americans and their literary writings. Among them the two World wars, especially the First World War (1914-1918), became the emblem of all wars in the twentieth century, which means violence, devastation, blood and death.
●naru With all the wars the whole world had undergone a dramatic social change, a transformation from order to disorder. And so had the United States.
● The First World War had made a big impact on the life of the American people. After the war, there was a booming industry and material prosperity (radio, automobile, movie).
● At the same time there was a n of unea and restlessness (strikes, unemployment, political corruptions, organized crimes, radical labour force).
● There was a decline in moral standard and this period was best described as a spiritual wasteland.
◆ People became less certain about accepted standards of honesty and morality.
◆ The idea of “ize the day” or “enjoy the prent” was pervasive, as oppod to placing all hope in the future.
◆ Attitude toward x had changed. Instead of thinking of x as something obscene or wrong, people especially youngsters, gave loo to their xual desire.
◆ Girls wore short skirts, smoked, drank, and went about with men.
● There was the loss of faith (Nietzsche’s “death of God”). People lived a purpoless, futile and chaotic life. Social breakdown and individual powerlessness and hopelessness became part of the American experience as a result of the First World War, with resulting feelings of fear, loss, disorientation and disllusionment
2.2 Literary scenes
● A large group of writers began to make all kinds of literary experiments becau they felt old literary form can’t express the new spirits. (Impressionism, Dadaism, expressionism, symbolism, surrealism)
● Since the 1920s, US literature stepped into the modern age. (Imagism, “The Lost Generation”, First Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis, veral great writers, Southern Renaissance, Harlem Renaissance)
