Exploring Modernist Literature

Modernism was born during the later half of the 19th Century. The Modernists became overwhelmed with the Victorian Age Machine and disillusioned by the Civil War. They felt the frailty of mankind and the devastation that mercantilism and war had done to society. They were looking for a new vision and challenged the Victorian Era; "Modernists broke away from the Victorian, staunch literary style and experimented with new forms and techniques in architecture, dance, literature and others" (Murfin;Ray 221).

Further, Modern literature disillusioned with morals, religion and ethnicity attempted to portray mankind as it really was; questioning morals, ethics and the human soul. The relationship between Modernism and Postmodernism is evident due to further advancement in the Postmodernism Era that continued to question cultural roots, religion and produced isolationism.

Modernist William Faulkner in his book entitled "As I Lay Dying" develops his dialogue using a new technique known as the fragmented interior monologue. This new Modernist psychoanalytic technique or stream-of-consciousness reveals isolationism created by fragmented pieces of Faulkner's story that are revealed through the minds of his characters.

This method overlaps into the Postmodern Era because it "Depicts the individual as essentially isolated or alone, even when surrounded by other people" (Murfin:Ray 2).

Further relationships between Modernism and Postmodernism are revealed in the works of Postmodernist Alice Walker. In her story entitled "Everyday Use", Walker portrays the character Dee as unhappy with her "white" name. After her character moves away from home and then and returns for a visit, she has now changed her American name from Dee to "Wangero"; replacing her American name with an African identity. This event along with her clothes, her hair and patronizing speech "proclaims a deplorable degree of alienation from her rural origins" (Cowart 2). This alienation of the author's character is part of the dark side of the Postmodernist Period in literature.

Alice Walker further uses the introduction of the "quilts" that have the history of Dee's ancestors and transcends the quilts from a "cultural artifact [. . .] moving (the quilts) from the marginalized position as a symbol of gossipy women's sewing circles, to becoming by the Seventies the central metaphor of American cultural identity" (Whitsitt 1). Walker's character Dee reveals the author's Postmodernist identity as explained by Bedford as "Postmodernist included the Absurdist which refers to [- - -] refers to humanity's loss or lack of religious or cultural roots" (Murfin:Ray 2).