American Modernism

Entering the 20th Century and breaking new ground

Historical Context• About early 1900s-1950 (began just after World War I in 1914 and ended with the end WW II into the About early 1900s-1950 (began just after World War I in 1914 and ended with the end WW II into the

1950s)1950s)• Spurred by disillusionment (loss of illusions about reality; loss of faith in the American Dream, which Spurred by disillusionment (loss of illusions about reality; loss of faith in the American Dream, which

holds that: progress is inevitable and things are always getting better; America is a promised land of holds that: progress is inevitable and things are always getting better; America is a promised land of plenty that offers ever-expanding opportunity; the individual is championed; and the independent/self-plenty that offers ever-expanding opportunity; the individual is championed; and the independent/self-reliant person will triumph, for if you work hard enough, you can always get what you want) after a reliant person will triumph, for if you work hard enough, you can always get what you want) after a savage WW I--What had this world become?savage WW I--What had this world become?

– Loss of innocenceLoss of innocence– War shook faith in the foundations & continuity of Western civilization & cultureWar shook faith in the foundations & continuity of Western civilization & culture– Hard to believe in the progress of mankind in face of senseless slaughterHard to believe in the progress of mankind in face of senseless slaughter– Belief that life is unordered and meaninglessBelief that life is unordered and meaningless– People sick of Romanticism (optimism replaced by pessimism)People sick of Romanticism (optimism replaced by pessimism)– Unease with social orderUnease with social order

• Russian Revolution highlighted political tension & advocated need for changeRussian Revolution highlighted political tension & advocated need for change• Flourished/peaked in 1920s (The “Roaring Twenties” marked by prohibition, jazz, & decadence, as Flourished/peaked in 1920s (The “Roaring Twenties” marked by prohibition, jazz, & decadence, as

captured by author F. Scott Fitzgerald) & 1930s (industrialization, labor movement, and a Depression); captured by author F. Scott Fitzgerald) & 1930s (industrialization, labor movement, and a Depression); explored both the decadence & wealth of the 1920s and the harsh realities of the Great Depression explored both the decadence & wealth of the 1920s and the harsh realities of the Great Depression that plagued the 1930sthat plagued the 1930s

• Development of the WestDevelopment of the West• Immigrant influx (primarily European)Immigrant influx (primarily European)• Photography as fine artPhotography as fine art• The Harlem Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance: rise of African American literature, art, etc.• The Lost Generation: a group of American writers, many of whom served in WWI, who reacted against

certain tendencies of older writers in the 1920s; many spent their time abroad, particularly in Paris; based on Gertrude Stein’s remark to a mechanic: “You are all a lost generation” (Stein was a homosexual, feminist – yet conservative - American writer and developer of modern literature & art

• Expatriates – people who left their native land (America, in this case) and reside elsewhere voluntarily; many were American writers, such as Henry James & T.S. Eliot, and many lived in Paris, such as Gertrude Stein & Ernest Hemingway

• Influenced by Nietzsche, Karl Marx, (Marxism expressed disillusionment in Capitalism) & James G. Grazer, Darwin (his theory undermined religion), Carl Jung (suggested that impulses towards breaking social norms were essential to the nature of the human animal)

Historical Context, cont.• Science = source of logic & stability• Technological Innovation: • Fixation on LIGHT (invention of electricity)

• Light as symbol for knowledge/awareness, and the darkness beyond as ignorance of blind tradition (i.e. Puritanism), such as the green light in The Great Gatsby. Light changed a person’s (pace of) life.

• Enrollment in college doubled in the 1920s• Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in physics (notion of time

travel)• Integration of internal combustion engine (motor) &

industrialization: machines replacing humans changes lives & culture (i.e. employment); rise of the machine and feelings of loss of humanity

• Rise of social sciences, including public policy: welfare, compulsory school (before kids worked instead of school previously), labor laws (minimum wage), etc. to protect people

• Psychology as prominent field of study: Sigmund Freud (began with Realism), interest in the subconscious (leads to stream of consciousness style & revolt against loss of spirituality & moral center)

• People owned cars, radios, cameras, typewriters, and even phones, drastically changing daily life forever (i.e. didn’t have to ride horse miles to deliver a message) because not as limited

Values & Beliefs• Like other movements, it occurred across all forms of expression: literature (minimalism),

music (jazz - improvised), dance, art (minimalism; Impressionist paintings focused on work done outdoors & saw not objects but light itself; Cubist painting & sculpture broke up & reassembled objects in abstract form, distorting depth), architecture (minimalism & simplicity in form; driven by technology, which made function more important than appearance, eliminating ornaments/decoration)

• Strong & intentional break with tradition (tradition seen as outdated), including reaction against political, religious, and social views; rejects traditional art, sentimentality, artificiality, & consumerism

• “avant garde”: movements attempting to overthrow the status quo and do something new– Move past confines of extremely conservative Victorianism– New = good; move forward and embrace the future– Celebrates deviation from the norm

• Breakdown of social norms – beginnings of civil rights movements for equality• Two World Wars' effects on humanity: alienation, frustration, disillusionment (feel

disconnected; experience is that of loss & despair)• Focuses on the fragmentation of society• Spiritual loneliness: rejection of organized religion, but unsure how to replace it because

ugliness of war; trying to do new things but can’t bring them together• The world is created in the act of perceiving it (the world is what we say it is)• Do not subscribe to an absolute truth; that all things are relative• Freedom of expression• The possibility of unity (weltanschauung = comprehensive world view that encompasses

everyone everywhere)• The artist = revolutionary (overthrowing rather than enlightening)

Conventions• Experimental in style (forms & techniques)

– Stream of Consciousness: written as one would think (i.e. James Joyce’s Ulysses broke new ground); tries to capture a character’s thoughts & memories as they would occur; playful, humorous, sometimes repetitive

– Point of View: limited, multiple narratives, etc. (i.e. Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury told from different points of view)

• Fragmented narratives: readers have to make connections• Break from bonds of Realism

– Disjointed timelines• Classical allusions (i.e. Shakespeare & Greek myths)

– Including intertextuality• Symbolic representation• Poetry: symbolism & imagism • Anti-hero: one who is flawed• Contradictions & paradoxes• Blurring of distinctions between genres: poetry seems more

documentary; prose seems more poetic

Who?• T.S. Eliot (born American but moved to England so often claimed to be British): The Wasteland, Four Quartets, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock• John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath (a novel about a family

during the Dust Bowl), East of Eden (uses Biblical allusions of Cain & Abel)• F. Scott Fitzgerald:The Great Gatsby• Sherwood Anderson: Winesberg, Ohio• Ernest Hemingway: “Hills Like White Elephants,” The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls• William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury, A Light in August, “A Rose for Emily”• Robert Frost: “The Road Not Taken,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay”• Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire• William Carlos Williams: “The Red Wheelbarrow”• Willa Cather: “A Wagner Matinee”• Eudora Welty: “A Worn Path”• Flannery O’Connor: “The Life You Save Could Be Your Own”• Ezra Pound: “In a Station of the Metro”• Wallace Stevens: “Sixteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” “Anecdote of a Jar”• ee cummings: “what if a much of a which of a wind,” “somewhere I have

never travelled” • Langston Hughes: “The Weary Blues,” “Harlem,” “I too Sing America”• Claude McKay: Home to Harlem, “America”• Countee Cullen: “Tableau,” “Incident”