Kelifa Workneh
ENGL 1302
Prof. Lisa Mach
July 18, 2014
Authors of the Modernism Literary Movement
Modernism was a literary movement that took place in America roughly from 1915 to 1945. The period was marked by sudden and unexpected breaks with traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. Experimentation and individualism became the main goals, where in the past they were often discouraged. Modernism came about through a series of cultural shocks. The first of these shocks was World War One. This horrifying shock shaped and influenced the Modernism movement. Modernism displays a better sense of unity and similarity across genres and settings, and writers who embraced the modern point of view often did so quite deliberately and
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During his writing career, Faulkner wrote numerous short stories which reflected Modernist Literary Movement. Faulkner's most famous and most popular short story, "A Rose for Emily" points directly towards Southern gothic and grotesque, two types of literature in which the general tone is one of despair, terror, and understated violence, and the characteristics of Modernism which are individuality and alienation. In the story, Mrs. Emily Grierson is a true individualist. She does whatever she wants, such as not pay her taxes, keeping her dead father for three days after he died, and killing her partner after he told her he did not want to marry. Emily also alienates herself. After her father’s death and the disappearance of her loved one, Emily is hardly seen by the townspeople. “After her father’s death she went out very little after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all” (Faulkner 5). The only person that ever spoke to Miss Emily was her “negro servant.” These examples from the short story make it clear that William Faulkner was a Modernist …show more content…
War made people change their view of the world. People became full of despair, delusional and were horrified that everything would fall apart, and it made them lose faith. In Hemingway’s "In Another Country" the main theme of the short story is the war. There is one character in the story that is known as Major, and he is Hemingway’s example of the person who has lost their faith. In the story the Major is suffering from a battle wound where his hand has been burned, the doctor tries to boost his confidence with a picture of one of his other patients recovery but fails miserably “The major held the photograph with his good hand and looked at it very carefully. ‘A wound?’ he asked. ’An industrial accident,’ the doctor said. ’Very interesting, very interesting,’ the major said, and handed it back to the doctor. ’You have confidence?’ ’No,’ said the major.” (Hemingway). The Major is a smaller part of the story but he is the perfect example that Hemingway uses to exemplify that kind of loss of faith that people were beginning to experience because of the war and the affects that it was having on people’s
“Don’t talk about the war,” he says after abandoning the front, “it was over…but I did not have the feeling it was really over” (Hemingway 245). For Frederic the war captured his mind in a way that he
Growing up in Mississippi in the late Nineteenth Century and the early part of the Twentieth Century, young William Faulkner witnessed first hand the struggles his beloved South endured through their slow progression of rebuilding. These experiences helped to develop Faulkner’s writing style. “Faulkner deals almost exclusively with the Southern scene (with) the Civil War … always behind his work” (Warren 1310. His works however are not so much historical in nature but more like folk lore. This way Faulkner is not constrained to keep details accurate, instead he manipulate the story to share his on views leading the reader to conclude morals or lessons from his experience. Faulkner writes often and “sympathetically of the older order of the antebellum society. It was a society that valued honor, (and) was capable of heroic action” (Brooks 145) both traits Faulkner admired. These sympathetic views are revealed in the story “A Rose for Emily” with Miss Emily becoming a monument for the Antebellum South.
During this time period it was common for young men to enlist into the army for the thrill and honor. While this task is not as strenuous (in terms of literal battle) as being a on the front line of the field, the visions and experiences are definitely both life changing. While on the Italian front, Hemingway was seriously wounded by a mortar blast, following a machine gun while handing out supplies (165). Not only is the presence of war and injury presented in “Soldier’s Home,” but it is also prevalent in his other short stories that make up his collection In Our Time (165). It is evident that through the characters of his collections, that Hemingway first handedly understands the gravity of the impact that is left on people’s lives after returning from a war. This is evident in “Soldier’s Home” as he clearly depicts that not only was Krebs changed, but his mother was also distraught by her son’s mental
He did not want to tell anymore lies. It wasn’t worth it” (Hemingway). Lies are the main focus of this short story, and for a respectable reason. Disillusionment is such a prevalent idea in this era, and Hemingway shows how much it really impacted people. Soldiers had no way of expressing their thoughts because no one around them could understand.
William Faulkner takes us back in time with his Gothic short story known as, “A Rose for Emily.” Almost every sentence gives a new piece of evidence to lead the reader to the overall theme of death, isolation, and trying to maintain traditions. The reader can conclude the theme through William Faulkner’s use of literary devices such as his choice of characters, the setting, the diction, the tone, and the plot line.
In the modernism there was no focus on the plot events, instead the writers focused on characters' consciousness. Ambiguity and complexity were valued at that time. Modernists often work towards open endings and used the narrative gaps. In the early modernism the technique of Stream of Consciousness was widely used to know more about the human sense. Modernism was influenced by naturalism and realism. Its social content is characteristically avant-grade (Drabble 682). Moreover, the 20th century is one of the most important periods in English drama. New ideas, terms and styles have been introduced as a result of the atmosphere. Writers on that time expressed their anger and scorn as a result of the wars and the revolutions. There were many social changes at that time and the playwrights started to tackle that in their plays (Innes
The modernist style of writing is one of disillusionment, frustration and loss of hope. The modernist writers did not try to point out silver linings or brighter futures, instead they explored the depths of the sorrows of life in the time of the great depression and the long road to recovery from it. Most of these writers blamed the modernization of America for the stock market crash that brought on the great depression. Likewise, modern politics drew America into not only one, but two world wars. At the same time, modern intellectual advancements challenged or usurped traditional beliefs and values.
...s strived to create pieces of literature and art that challenged American traditions and tried to reinvent it, used new ways of communication, such as the telephone and cinema, to demonstrate the new modern social norms, and express the pain and suffering of the First World War, during the American modernism period of literature. Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen shed a new light into the African-American social groups and a new age of art, music, and literature was formed. Poets, like Pound and Elliot, shaped American poetry to fit the outlandish ruin in the First World War and the Great Depression. In novels, like The Great Gatsby, the American dream of success and hope was shattered through the stock market collapse and the Great Depression. Through all these attributes, American literature changed significantly into a literary period called modernism today.
Modernism can be defined through the literary works of early independent 20th century writers. Modernism is exp...
William Faulkner used indirect characterization to portray Miss Emily as a stubborn, overly attached, and introverted women through the serious of events that happened throughout her lifetime. The author cleverly achieves this by mentioning her father’s death, Homer’s disappearance, the town’s taxes, and Emily’s reactions to all of these events. Emily’s reactions are what allowed the readers to portray her characteristics, as Faulkner would want her to be
Modernism is defined in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary as "a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression." While this explanation does relate what modernism means, the intricacies of the term go much deeper. Modernism began around 1890 and waned around 1922. Virginia Wolf once wrote, "In or about December, 1910, human character changed." (Hurt and Wilkie 1443). D.H. Lawrence wrote a similar statement about 1915: "It was 1915 the old world ended." (Hurt and Wilkie 1444). The importance of the exact dates of the Modernist period are not so relevant as the fact that new ideas were implemented in the era. Ideas that had never before been approached in the world of literature suddenly began emerging in the works of many great authors. Two of the pioneer Modernist writers were Joseph Conrad and T.S. Eliot. The tendencies to question the incontestable beliefs embedded in all thinking and to focus on the inner self dominated. Old viewpoints were tossed aside to make way for the discovery of modern man's personal spirituality. Two works that are considered important forbears in the Modern period are T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
The short story “In Another Country” by Earnest Hemingway is a story about the negative effects of war. The story follows an unnamed American officer and his dealings with three other officers, all of whom are wounded in World War I and are recuperating in Milan, Italy. In war, much can be gained such as freedom and peace, however war also causes a plethora of negative consequences. Cultural alienation, loss of physical and emotional identity, and the irony of war technology and uncertainty of life are all serious consequences of war that are clearly shown by Hemingway.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2012. 84-90. Print.
...ople think about literary movements as reacting against earlier modes of writing and earlier movements For example, just as modernism is often seen as response to realism”. (Citation; WHAT IS AMERICAN LITERATURE? AN OVERVIEW; http://www.learner.org/amerpass/ampasspg3-30.pdf)
Modernism is all about individualism and breaking from the customary forms in literature ("The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 20th Century: Topic 2: Overview." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 20th Century: Topic 2: Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web.