ENG426: Modernist Thematic Concerns
Modernist Thematic Concerns
The modernist‘s major concern was that there was a need for a new art for a new world which had new challenges and realities. Modernism refers to a group of characteristics which are new and distinct in form, concept and style in literature. It is a strong reaction against established religious, social and political views. Modernists had a deep distrust and disappointment in the institutions they were brought up with and held dear which had led their peaceful world into war and a state of destruction. As a result, their works reflected a persistent sense of despair, loss, disillusionment and trauma. They laid emphasis on fragmentation, discontinuous narratives, and randomness which to them was how the world was.
For modernists, characters are the soul of fiction. They tried to locate meaning from the view point of the individual and discarded the omniscient narrator who is all-knowing because they argued that nobody really could be the custodian of truth and therefore adopted the stream of consciousness technique to represent inner and psychological realities of man. To modernist writers, there is no absolute truth and everything is subjective and relative. To show the meaninglessness and disjointed nature of life, they paid less attention to plot or the structural organisation that would show cause and effect, beginning, middle or end of a text. The cause and effect presentation of the traditional writing was discarded for a discontinuous, fragmented and complex narration because it was seen as that which ―…ceases to be a means of communication between writers and readers, and become instead, an obstacle and an impediment‖ (―Mr. Bennett and Mrs Brown‖, 10). The modernist idea especially that of Woolf was that the literary convention of the previous age was artificial and that literature should demonstrate that the society had changed.
Modernist works are imbued with interrelated themes that show lack of communication, fragmentation, solitariness/aloneness, trauma and gloom, existentialism, quest, unrealised love and unfulfilled life, class differences, and anti-heroism, and so on.
3.1.1 Lack of communication: The characters in modernist writings, especially the novel are emotionally and psychologically distraught. They are characters who are anti- social and introverted loners who sometimes dwell in the gloom of their minds as mere
22
3.1.2 Solitariness and aloneness: This lack of communication gives rise to characters that are alienated, isolated and detached from the external world. They are so alone that they seem oblivious of external realities. They escape to and live in the world they have created for themselves in their minds and are always afraid of and angered by external disturbance or interruptions.
3.1.3 Trauma and gloom: The terrible experiences that some people had on the battlefield or what they saw in hospitals, the loss of their loved ones, and so on, brought the minds of many to a sad state. There are gloomy portraitures of life in modernist writing through an inward reflection of the inner consciousnesses of characters.
3.1.4 Existentialism: Modernist writing shows how life itself has become or seems to be meaningless as the ontology of man was seen to be marked with futility. So many lost hope in the struggles for life and were afraid to give birth to children. This hopelessness makes the characters not to believe in institutions made by man, including religion and the military. Sometimes, these institutions are satirised like George Bernard Shaw mocked the military in Arms and the Man.
3.1.5 Search for New Ground: With the loss of hope, and with the notion that the world is without God, true guidance and rule, and clear distinction between good and bad, there is always the quest for a new basis of meaning in the world. Characters are often seen trying to seek for happiness. Sometimes, the characters leave their own countries in search of a place where they can make their lives meaningful.
3.1.6 Rebellion and Individuality: The search for meaning and attempt to give meaning to an individual‘s life in a practical world always lead to rebellion and assertion of individual‘s notions. Through this theme, attention is usually drawn to how old traditions are questioned and reversed without moral decorum.
3.1.7 Anti heroism: Unlike in 19th century literature where heroes and heroines are depicted, in modernist writing, characters are shown to be people with flaws and weaknesses and are unable to attain any lofty heights. Indeed, in the fail in their struggles to be ―good‖ and oppose traditional values of their societies. Their acts might look incomprehensible but their strength, joy and pride are in their flaws and frailties.
3.2 Modernist Styles and Techniques
3.2.1 Anti- tradition
―With the modern soul in fragments, with human character in question, with the mind a mystery, and with authority now uncertain, fiction had to change, and ‗the modern novel‘ refers to fiction that does so gladly, radically, and even with the hope of making a difference‖ (Matz:7). Modernist writings are marked by a strong conscious break from
23
tradition. Modernism implies a historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, loss, and despair and modernists try to show this in their works. It rejects not only history but also traditional values and assumptions, and rejects equally the rhetoric by which they are sanctioned and communicated (ibid). It elevates the individual and the inward over the social and the outward, and it prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious. In rejecting traditions and conventions like linear plot and omniscient narration, modernists introduced new and distinctive features in the subjects, forms, concepts, and styles of literature.
3.2 Subjective Realism
One of the significant ways in which modernists challenge the traditional representations in the ‗traditional‘ novel form is by undermining the external reality and foregrounding the inner, subjective reality of the mind, and also by fashioning an appropriate medium to render that reality, namely, the stream-of-consciousness technique. There is no absolute truth because truth has become subjective, making objectivity almost impossible.
3.3 Stream-of-Consciousness Technique
3.4 Convoluted and Fragmented Plots
―… they made its sentences as slippery as the movements of the human mind; they let plot go random, told their stories from changing points of view, and began or ended them abruptly‖ (Matz: 9). The idea of oneness and togetherness in form, law, order or sequence is challenged in the face of modernism. Events are not necessarily narrated in an order or sequence. There are narrative disjunctions or sudden shifts from one character‘s consciousness to another.
3.5 Focus on Characterisation
Modernist literature is more interested in the individual and the consciousness of the character than the physical surrounding or society. So that instead of describing a scene, a place or the weather, modernist writing concentrates on individual characters, showing them as being more important than things that could be seen or touched. They show how the individual is able to adapt to changes in the world around them. In her essay, ―Mr.
24
Bennett and Mrs. Brown,‖ Woolf posits that the foundation of good fiction is characterisation and nothing else, and that the character‘s inner life should be presented as it is instead of burdening the narrative with details of the environment.
3.6 Autobiographical Narratives
Modernists believe that it is important to write fiction that is true to daily life, primary feelings, desires and experiences, and also because no knowledge or information can be accepted at face value, modernists borrow largely from their own lives and the experiences that they have undergone. Therefore, there is usually a connection between the personal experiences of the writer and characters in their works.
3.7 Open-Ended Conclusions
―Real life never gives full last explanations; its stories always continue…. In recognition of this continuance, of the necessity of loose ends, modern novels stay open-ended‖ (Matz40). Nothing is settled, nothing is final. Stories are left without conclusions but with possibilities, so that the reader continues to draw many inferences from them. Modernist writing shows this as being representative of ―reality‖ as opposed to "closed" endings, in which matters are resolved and conclusions are drawn.
3.8 Complex Language:
The language of the modernist literary works is usually complex. It is no longer a transparent form through realities can be mirrored directly. Rather, language often contains nuanced constructions of realities that could have multiple meanings. The language usually includes infusion of objects, people, places and events with significant meanings (symbolism). The language may also include the use of appendage sentences, short, crisp and rhythmic language. The modernist writers also made use of vulgar expressions.
3.9 Time as a Symbolic Sequence:
Time in most modern writings becomes a psychological sequence. It accommodates a symbolic reality rather than a historical reality. For example, events of many years may be narrated as occurring within few years or even months. The use of fragmentation and juxtaposition make this possible.
3.10 Epiphany
This term refers to moment of realisation. In modernist works, it is often used to show a point at which a character comes to terms with the realities about him/herself. An example of this will include a character who is at the verge of choosing a career or has already chosen one but suddenly realises that (s)he is not fit for the career but for something else due to her personality. It can also be an awakening in a character which makes him/her realise where his/her happiness lies. In short, epiphany lets a character to know the truth about him/herself
The modernist‘s major concern was that there was a need for a new art for a new world which had new challenges and realities. Modernism refers to a group of characteristics which are new and distinct in form, concept and style in literature. It is a strong reaction against established religious, social and political views. Modernists had a deep distrust and disappointment in the institutions they were brought up with and held dear which had led their peaceful world into war and a state of destruction. As a result, their works reflected a persistent sense of despair, loss, disillusionment and trauma. They laid emphasis on fragmentation, discontinuous narratives, and randomness which to them was how the world was.
For modernists, characters are the soul of fiction. They tried to locate meaning from the view point of the individual and discarded the omniscient narrator who is all-knowing because they argued that nobody really could be the custodian of truth and therefore adopted the stream of consciousness technique to represent inner and psychological realities of man. To modernist writers, there is no absolute truth and everything is subjective and relative. To show the meaninglessness and disjointed nature of life, they paid less attention to plot or the structural organisation that would show cause and effect, beginning, middle or end of a text. The cause and effect presentation of the traditional writing was discarded for a discontinuous, fragmented and complex narration because it was seen as that which ―…ceases to be a means of communication between writers and readers, and become instead, an obstacle and an impediment‖ (―Mr. Bennett and Mrs Brown‖, 10). The modernist idea especially that of Woolf was that the literary convention of the previous age was artificial and that literature should demonstrate that the society had changed.
Modernist works are imbued with interrelated themes that show lack of communication, fragmentation, solitariness/aloneness, trauma and gloom, existentialism, quest, unrealised love and unfulfilled life, class differences, and anti-heroism, and so on.
3.1.1 Lack of communication: The characters in modernist writings, especially the novel are emotionally and psychologically distraught. They are characters who are anti- social and introverted loners who sometimes dwell in the gloom of their minds as mere
22
ENG426:Nineteenth Century English Literature (Victorian English Literature)
observers and thinkers, unable to associate with or communicate their feelings to the other.3.1.2 Solitariness and aloneness: This lack of communication gives rise to characters that are alienated, isolated and detached from the external world. They are so alone that they seem oblivious of external realities. They escape to and live in the world they have created for themselves in their minds and are always afraid of and angered by external disturbance or interruptions.
3.1.3 Trauma and gloom: The terrible experiences that some people had on the battlefield or what they saw in hospitals, the loss of their loved ones, and so on, brought the minds of many to a sad state. There are gloomy portraitures of life in modernist writing through an inward reflection of the inner consciousnesses of characters.
3.1.4 Existentialism: Modernist writing shows how life itself has become or seems to be meaningless as the ontology of man was seen to be marked with futility. So many lost hope in the struggles for life and were afraid to give birth to children. This hopelessness makes the characters not to believe in institutions made by man, including religion and the military. Sometimes, these institutions are satirised like George Bernard Shaw mocked the military in Arms and the Man.
3.1.5 Search for New Ground: With the loss of hope, and with the notion that the world is without God, true guidance and rule, and clear distinction between good and bad, there is always the quest for a new basis of meaning in the world. Characters are often seen trying to seek for happiness. Sometimes, the characters leave their own countries in search of a place where they can make their lives meaningful.
3.1.6 Rebellion and Individuality: The search for meaning and attempt to give meaning to an individual‘s life in a practical world always lead to rebellion and assertion of individual‘s notions. Through this theme, attention is usually drawn to how old traditions are questioned and reversed without moral decorum.
3.1.7 Anti heroism: Unlike in 19th century literature where heroes and heroines are depicted, in modernist writing, characters are shown to be people with flaws and weaknesses and are unable to attain any lofty heights. Indeed, in the fail in their struggles to be ―good‖ and oppose traditional values of their societies. Their acts might look incomprehensible but their strength, joy and pride are in their flaws and frailties.
3.2 Modernist Styles and Techniques
3.2.1 Anti- tradition
―With the modern soul in fragments, with human character in question, with the mind a mystery, and with authority now uncertain, fiction had to change, and ‗the modern novel‘ refers to fiction that does so gladly, radically, and even with the hope of making a difference‖ (Matz:7). Modernist writings are marked by a strong conscious break from
23
tradition. Modernism implies a historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, loss, and despair and modernists try to show this in their works. It rejects not only history but also traditional values and assumptions, and rejects equally the rhetoric by which they are sanctioned and communicated (ibid). It elevates the individual and the inward over the social and the outward, and it prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious. In rejecting traditions and conventions like linear plot and omniscient narration, modernists introduced new and distinctive features in the subjects, forms, concepts, and styles of literature.
3.2 Subjective Realism
One of the significant ways in which modernists challenge the traditional representations in the ‗traditional‘ novel form is by undermining the external reality and foregrounding the inner, subjective reality of the mind, and also by fashioning an appropriate medium to render that reality, namely, the stream-of-consciousness technique. There is no absolute truth because truth has become subjective, making objectivity almost impossible.
3.3 Stream-of-Consciousness Technique
ENG426:Nineteenth Century English Literature (Victorian English Literature)
―Let us record the atoms as they fall upon the mind in the order in which they fall, let us trace the pattern, however disconnected and incoherent in appearance which each sight or incident scores upon the consciousness‖ (Woolf,qtd in McNellie 1988). This point of view resembles human thought and involves recording the thought processes as they arise in the mind of the various individuals. This technique enables the reader to be close to the character‘s thoughts and motives than what obtains in the traditional novel, for the latter describes a character from the outside only superficially, while the stream of consciousness shows each character as a living and thinking individual who is actively and noticeably developing as the novel progresses.3.4 Convoluted and Fragmented Plots
―… they made its sentences as slippery as the movements of the human mind; they let plot go random, told their stories from changing points of view, and began or ended them abruptly‖ (Matz: 9). The idea of oneness and togetherness in form, law, order or sequence is challenged in the face of modernism. Events are not necessarily narrated in an order or sequence. There are narrative disjunctions or sudden shifts from one character‘s consciousness to another.
3.5 Focus on Characterisation
Modernist literature is more interested in the individual and the consciousness of the character than the physical surrounding or society. So that instead of describing a scene, a place or the weather, modernist writing concentrates on individual characters, showing them as being more important than things that could be seen or touched. They show how the individual is able to adapt to changes in the world around them. In her essay, ―Mr.
24
Bennett and Mrs. Brown,‖ Woolf posits that the foundation of good fiction is characterisation and nothing else, and that the character‘s inner life should be presented as it is instead of burdening the narrative with details of the environment.
3.6 Autobiographical Narratives
Modernists believe that it is important to write fiction that is true to daily life, primary feelings, desires and experiences, and also because no knowledge or information can be accepted at face value, modernists borrow largely from their own lives and the experiences that they have undergone. Therefore, there is usually a connection between the personal experiences of the writer and characters in their works.
3.7 Open-Ended Conclusions
―Real life never gives full last explanations; its stories always continue…. In recognition of this continuance, of the necessity of loose ends, modern novels stay open-ended‖ (Matz40). Nothing is settled, nothing is final. Stories are left without conclusions but with possibilities, so that the reader continues to draw many inferences from them. Modernist writing shows this as being representative of ―reality‖ as opposed to "closed" endings, in which matters are resolved and conclusions are drawn.
3.8 Complex Language:
The language of the modernist literary works is usually complex. It is no longer a transparent form through realities can be mirrored directly. Rather, language often contains nuanced constructions of realities that could have multiple meanings. The language usually includes infusion of objects, people, places and events with significant meanings (symbolism). The language may also include the use of appendage sentences, short, crisp and rhythmic language. The modernist writers also made use of vulgar expressions.
3.9 Time as a Symbolic Sequence:
Time in most modern writings becomes a psychological sequence. It accommodates a symbolic reality rather than a historical reality. For example, events of many years may be narrated as occurring within few years or even months. The use of fragmentation and juxtaposition make this possible.
3.10 Epiphany
This term refers to moment of realisation. In modernist works, it is often used to show a point at which a character comes to terms with the realities about him/herself. An example of this will include a character who is at the verge of choosing a career or has already chosen one but suddenly realises that (s)he is not fit for the career but for something else due to her personality. It can also be an awakening in a character which makes him/her realise where his/her happiness lies. In short, epiphany lets a character to know the truth about him/herself
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