The early twentieth century saw war ripping society in England and across the European continent into fragments which forced many individuals to struggle to piece together and make sense of the new disjointed and fragmentary modern existence. Also, rapid industrialization and radical advances in technology changed the way people perceived time and reality. For instance, philosophers like Henry Bergson criticized the Victorian notion of ‘time’ as a linear quantity, stipulating that time is a ‘heterogeneous qualitative multiplicity’. All the moments of time or duration intermingle within the mind and cannot be separated into individual components; there is no beginning, middle, and end. Artists of various disciplines found that traditional codes of representations were not adequate to present a true reflection of modern human experience. The changing nature of human experience called for modern representations of it.
Such ideas led to the inception of the avant-garde, modernist period which brought radical experimentation in literary form and expression. The avant-garde challenges former modes of representations of reality and experience by breaking away from them. The formal experimentalism and subjective realism of the modernist novel often contrasts with the literary realism of pre-modern times which conveys experiential reality objectively. Many modernist writers concern themselves with the human psyche and the internal reality of consciousness rather than simply an external reality. In fact, throughout the modern period up till today, there are divergent views on what actually constitutes ‘reality’ and the most appropriate ways of presenting it in fiction.
Two of the avant-garde, modern texts that demonstrate new ways of prese...
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... realist novels. It has no chapters or labeled divisions but only certain space breaks to indicate the switch in perspectives. This creates a reality in her novel that is subjective and flexible, flowing unrestricted by objective time. There is a shift from the action filled plots of realist novels as most of the ‘action’ takes place within the thoughts of the characters. The modern text highlights the tensions that exist between an external reality and an inner one of the consciousness.
Here too, time is measured by the duration of experiences as the human consciousness registers them. Free indirect discourse reveals the inner psyches of the various characters. Through these limited and subjective perceptions of reality, Woolf aims to represent human experience more truthfully, rejecting the previous literary traditions of heavy reliance on an omniscient narrator.
Milan Kundera contends, “A novel that does not discover a hitherto unknown segment of existence is immoral” (3). In this it is seen that the primary utility of the novel lies in its ability to explore an array of possible existences. For these possible existences to tell us something of our actual existence, they need to be populated by living beings that are both as whole, and as flawed, as those in the real world. To achieve this the author must become the object he writes of. J.M. Coetzee states, “there is no limit to the extent to which we can think ourselves into the being of another. There are no bounds to the sympathetic imagination” (35). Through this sympathetic faculty, a writer is able to give flesh, authenticity and a genuine perspective to the imagined. It is only in this manner that the goal of creating living beings may be realized. Anything short of this becomes an exercise in image and in Kundera’s words, produces an immoral novel (3).
Watt argues that the characters in a novel owe their individuality to the realistic presentation. "Realism" is expressed by a rejection of traditional plots, by particularity, emphasis on the personality of the character, a consciousness of duration of time and space and its expression in style.
The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka both incorporate “irreal” elements throughout their works. These elements provide an alternative point of view where the lives of main characters are recreated and imagined as part of their surroundings. It’s almost as if the characters are watching their lives from an outside vantage point, rather than living in the moment, which makes it easier to cope with their difficult circumstances. These two works are complementary in establishing relationships, exposing internal conflicts, and escaping the reality that these characters yearn for in their lives.
Woolf’s pathos to begin the story paints a picture in readers minds of what the
Modernism can be defined through the literary works of early independent 20th century writers. Modernism is exp...
One attribute of Modernist writing is Experimentation. This called for using new techniques and disregarding the old. Previous writing was often even considered "stereotyped and inadequate" (Holcombe and Torres). Modern writers thrived on originality and honesty to themselves and their tenets. They wrote of things that had never been advanced before and their subjects were far from those of the past eras. It could be observed that the Modernist writing completely contradicted its predecessors. The past was rejected with vigor and...
The characters of a modernist narrative reflected a new way of thinking. A summery no longer highlighted meaning, it was ambiguous. The ambiguity portrayed unmanageable futures. The Modernis...
Literary realism is the trend, beginning with mid nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors, toward depictions of contemporary life and society as it was, or is. In the spirit of general "realism," realist authors opted for depictions of everyday and banal activities and experiences, instead of a romanticized or similarly stylized presentation. (Wikipedia, Literary Realism)
Rahn, Josh. "Realism." Literature Periods & Movements. Jalic Inc., 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. .
Clarissa Dalloway and Peter Walsh are defined by their memories. Virginia Woolf creates their characters through the memories they share, and indeed fabricates their very identities from these mutual experiences. Mrs. Dalloway creates a unique tapestry of time and memory, interweaving past and present, memory and dream. The past is the key to the future, and indeed for these two characters the past creates the future, shaping them into the people they are on the June day described by Woolf. Peter and Clarissa’s memories of the days spent at Bourton have a profound effect on them both and are still very much a part of them. These images of their younger selves are not broad, all-encompassing mental pictures, but rather the bits and pieces of life that create personality and identity. Peter remembers various idiosyncracies about Clarissa, and she does the same about him. They remember each other by “the colours, salts, tones of existence,” the very essence that makes human beings original and unique: the fabric of their true identities (30).
According to Frank Norris, “This is Realism. It is the smaller details of everyday life, things that are likely to happen between lunch and supper, small passions, restricted, emotions, dramas of the reception-room, tragedies of an afternoon call, crises involving cups of tea.” (557) (Norris) Realism is said to be in charge of entertaining the readers; it contains information that would connect with the people on the topic of their normal
Michael Levenson said in The Cambridge Companion to Modernism that Modernism fiction was “involved in the radical modern departure, across all of the arts, from representational verisimilitudei”. It was stylistically and thematically focused on rebellion against the way art was presented in the past and what its main focus was.
Woolf, therefore, takes advantage of the lyrical short stories’ structure to create a liminal space that both breaks through barriers to form a unified, impressionistic world and to emphasize the imposing negative aspects of such a transitory structure. As a result, Woolf prompts the reader to question whether the liminal space created within the short story is positive in its ability to unite nature and human or negative in its apparent unsustainability. Regardless, the form and structure of the short story are pivotal in Kew Gardens. Without the liminal space of the short story, it is questionable if Woolf could have succeeded in creating the unstable, yet peaceful, world in Kew Gardens.
Many believed that Modernist works were not “art” because they did not always look like real life. But what is “real life”? A new outlook on reality was taken by Modernists. What is true for one person at one time is not true for another person at a different time. Experimentation with perspective and truth was not confined to the canvas; it influenced literary circles as well.
During the modernist movement artists and writers alike stepped away from traditional values, and radically changed the rules of perception in art. Before the modernist period traditional artistic values focused on realism, and art closely resembled life as it was. Boredom set in, and many artists began to manipulate the dimensions of reality. Reality was no longer viewed as perfect, but as series of fleeting impressions. Impressionism took the place of realism, and the ideas of individual perception took hold. Writers and artists started to contemplate what perception really was. The basic lines of realism in art dissolved, boundaries were crossed, and artists began to consider not only the idea of perception, but the experience of it as well. Walter Sickert is an example of an impressionist painter, who not only based many of his paintings on photographs, but manipulated light and colour to better represent the emotion of a scene, a stolen moment of the everyday lives the photograph depicted. His art was monumental in the modernist period, and like many other impressionist painters, he reshaped the idea of perception. On the literary side, lines of realism and tradition were also beginning to blur. Stream of consciousness writing was introduced, and became the written equivalent of impressionist art. The literary works of Henry James is an excellent illustration of how writers were able to create the impression of life in writing. Hand in hand the impressionist painters, and the stream of consciousness writers remodelled our view of perception .