Etymology and Meanings of “Modernism” Literary Theory
The term modernism has been derived from a Latin term, modernus. It means the present time, the current or existing time. Literally, it connotes the contemporariness of the time that is present and not the past time.
Modernism in social sciences also means the same thing that is the present time, while the literary theory of modernism means a breakup of the literary pieces from the past conventions during the early 20th century.
Definition of “Modernism” Literary Theory
Modernism could be defined as a movement that rebelled against the classical and Victorian periods, conventions, and clear-cut or straightforward storytelling and poetry writing norms. This definition has two aspects. The first one implies rebellion against the conventions or set -standards and the second one is innovation. Therefore, modernism means a new trend in literary writings.
Origin of “Modernism” Literary Theory
In literature as a movement, modernism, which is often called literary modernism or modernist literature, emerged during the final years of the 19th century and early years of 20 century. This movement mostly emerged in English-speaking countries in Europe and the United States. It featured the representation of untraditional ways in writing fiction, poetry, and plays giving space to a wide array of experiments in form as well as expressions and style. The impacts of WWI on the social fabric of Europe led to the emergence of this movement which later turned into a theoretical perspective.
Principles of Modernism Literary Theory
- It broke from the established order in religious, political, and social realms.
- It broke away from accepted traditions.
- The belief in the world as per the perceptions of things became strong.
- It negated absolute truth and the experience of alienation.
- It showed that life is not systematic and ordered
- It paid attention to micro issues of the individuals and not the society as a whole.
- It showed disintegration against harmony.
- It demonstrated an openness to sexuality, non-superiority of ethics, and propagation of aesthetics.
- Its major focus was on personal and spiritual decadence.
- It rejected ideas of rationality, objectivity, and unity in things and the universe.
Criticism Against Modernism Literary Theory
- It stresses too much on individuality, disintegration, and the world.
- It has led to several non-issues that have exploded into postmodernism and several other ideologies.
- It has led to commodity fetishism and consumerism.
- Modernism has caused the destruction and disintegration of several political, religious, and social orders.
- It has brought various other literary theoretical perspectives into views such as atheism, capitalism, liberal capitalism, trans-humanism, and post-truth.
- It has given birth to materialism, negating nature.
Examples of Modernist Literature Literary Theory
Example # 1
—My name is absurd too: Malachi Mulligan, two dactyls. But it has a Hellenic ring, hasn’t it? Tripping and sunny like the buck himself. We must go to Athens. Will you come if I can get the aunt to fork out twenty quid? He laid the brush aside and, laughing with delight, cried:
—Will he come? The jejune jesuit! Ceasing, he began to shave with care. —Tell me, Mulligan, Stephen said quietly.
—Yes, my love?
—How long is Haines going to stay in this tower? Buck Mulligan showed a shaven cheek over his right shoulder.
—God, isn’t he dreadful? he said frankly.
This passage shows some of the features of a modernist novel. It shows how Malachi Mulligan in Ulysses by James Joyce thinks of his name in dactylic features as being absurd. The other questions and his attempt of equating them to the Hellenic traits show modernism and then his musings point to the modernist trait of self-reflection or stream of consciousness.
Example # 2
From To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Indeed, she had the whole of the other sex under her protection; for reasons she could not explain, for their chivalry and valour, for the fact that they negotiated treaties, ruled India, controlled finance; finally for an attitude toward she her self which no woman could fail to feel or to find agreeable, something trustful, childlike, reverential; which an old woman could take from a young man without loss of dignity, and woe betide the girl–pray Heaven it was none of her daughters!–who did not feel the worth of it, and all that it implied, to the marrow of her bones.
This passage about Mrs. Ramsay, her character traits, and her musings show some features of modernist literary theory. First, she thinks of herself in gendered terms and second that she is quite ambivalent about it as she does not know how to explain this. Despite this modernist thinking, she is in confusion when it comes to breaking social norms and mores.
Example # 3
From Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Ah, Mr. Kurtz!’ broke the stick of sealing-wax and seemed dumfounded by the accident. Next thing he wanted to know ‘how long it would take to’ … I interrupted him again. Being hungry, you know, and kept on my feet too. I was getting savage. ‘How can I tell?’ I said. ‘I haven’t even seen the wreck yet— some months, no doubt.’ All this talk seemed to me so futile. ‘Some months,’ he said. ‘Well, let us say three months before we can make a start. Yes. That ought to do the affair.’ I flung out of his hut (he lived all alone in a clay hut with a sort of verandah) muttering to myself my opinion of him. He was a chattering idiot.
This pen picture of Mr. Kurtz from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad shows modernist traits in writing. He has broken away from the traditional way of writing narratives. This shows how inserting dialogues, emotions, and exclamations within the text became a new normal in modernist writings.
Example # 4
From “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
This is the first stanza of the celebrated poem “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot. The stanza shows Eliot breaking several poetic norms. He has not used any rhyme scheme. He has rathered termed April as the cruelest month which is not the poetic norm of those days. It was rather considered the best due to being in the spring season. Several other points such as desire, memory, and rain have been given meanings, not traditionally associated with them.
Example # 5
“In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough
This short poem by Ezra Pound shows the modernist theoretical perspective that is showing people through images. This is one of the best imagist poems written by one of the best imagist poets. The poem is purely modernist not only in writing and poetic conventions but also in its very themes.
Keywords in Modernism Literary Theory
Destabilization, fragmentation of reality, non-linearity, interiority, multiple perspective, allusiveness, self-consciousness, depiction of sexuality, invocation to classicism, grotesqueness, absurdity, absurdism, commodification
