Literary Modernism (1900-ish to 1950)

“Make it new!”Ezra Pound

What caused another shift in literature? (Historical Causes)

Modernism grew out of the disillusionment that many writers, artists, and thinkers felt after World War I.

Disillusionment: (n)

“disappointment caused by a frustrated ideal or belief”

In other words, writers lost the trust they previously had in mankind and his social and political systems if those systems could lead to such a horrific war.

Historical Causes (continued…) The war had been far more terrible and

destructive than anyone could have imagined, and Europe, long considered the center of the world for all things cultural and political, lay in ruin.

New technology such as machine guns and mustard gas along with the spread of horrible diseases led people to become disgusted with man’s ability to kill.

Other historical causes

Technology exploded during this time (automobiles, radio, movies, telephones, pre packaged foods and cleaning products etc…)

This led to a new way of life that writers felt must be represented.

So how did they write “modern” texts? Writers challenged traditional forms of

writing. They explored modern themes that

applied to the world that they saw (which according to them had not worked out so well due to war.)

They often looked at life as “fragmented,” meaning that life does not always “fit together.”

This idea of fragmentation often leads to the idea that life is meaningless. Writers grapple with this issue.

Who are these writers?

F. Scott Fitzgerald T.S. Eliot Langston Hughes Gertrude Stein Ezra Pound Ernest Hemingway Claude McKay

Terms to know (we will define them as we go)

Imagism Disillusionment Expatriate Harlem Renaissance Unreliable narrator Stream of consciousness