modernism (modernismo), Appunti di Inglese

Scarica modernism (modernismo) e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! MODERNISM The beginning of the 20th century was marked by one of the most productive, yet shocking literary and artistic revolutions of all time. All the aspects that were traditionally associated with Victorian literature – such as the importance of the third-person omniscient narrator, a well-structured and eventful plot, the presence of many characters, the interest in realism, a general optimism and a strong faith in human progress – were swept away by the spread of new theories and ideas that revolutionised the very concept of life and of the world. The spread of Einstein’s theory of relativity, for instance, which destroyed the faith in objective reality, and the influence of Freud’s psychoanalysis, which unveiled the world of the unconscious and pf the inner self, radically changed the image of both the outer and the inner world. The experience of the First World War (1914-1918) was the final blow to Victorian optimism and inaugurated an era of anxiety and uncertainty. These trends were reflected in the literary and artistic production of the period, which was characterised by strong technical and stylistic experimentalism and by the attempt to use literature to explore the hidden recesses of the “modern” human mind. The break with the 19th Century and the Outburst of Modernism The literature and the arts of the early 20th century were marked by the birth of “Modernism”, a general term referring to the cosmopolitan literary and artistic movements that violently reacted against late 19th century values. Modernism included and was influenced by different artistic movements, all of which were united in their attempt to rebel against the past and create new forms and styles in visual arts, literature and music. The main movements were: • Futurism, an artistic and literary movement which rebelled against the past and decomposed the subject to create a sense of dynamism in painting; • Cubism, which fragmented the subject into geometrical and abstract shapes; • Expressionism, which was characterised by distorted forms and by radical experimentation in the use of colours to convey an idea of anxiety; • Surrealism, which gave importance to the world of the unconscious and used art to represent it. Even though the works of Modernist writers are heterogeneous and show strong experimentalism, it is possible to point out the following common recurring features: • Fragmentation of the narrative point of view and of a traditional plot in favour of a multi-layered and complex narration; • Redefinition of the traditional concepts of time and place, which are represented as subjective, rather than objective dimensions; • Use of experimental narrative techniques that aim to render the flux of thoughts that characterise the working of the mind; • Rejection of traditional grammar and punctuation in favour of unorthodox forms of expression; • Use of free verse and rejection of traditional verse forms in poetry; • Use of complex vocabulary and concepts. The general idea that emerges from Modernist literature is that the human mind is at the centre of the writer’s scrutiny: the writer tries to render its complexity and to express subjective, rather than objective truths. Britain and Modernism In Britain the group of Modernist writers included authors such as the poet T.S. Eliot and the novelists Virginia Woolf and James Joyce: their main works – which are considered among the highest peaks of English literature – came to light between 1922 and 1925 and dealt with the representation of the unconscious, the writers who belonged to this groups formed a heterogeneous group of intellectuals who experimented with traditional literary forms and reflected intensely on their capacity to represent the self and the world. Many of these writers also used the “Stream of Consciousness” technique as a means of expressing the complex workings of the human mind.