Literary Modernism: Defining a Revolutionary Movement
Literary modernism, or modernist Literature, was a literary movement which has its origins in the late 19th and Early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. It is characterized By a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and Prose fiction. Modernists experimented with literary form and expression, and The literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to overturn traditional Modes of representation and express the new sensibilities of their time.
Modernism marks a strong and Intentional break with tradition and it is also related to politics, religion Etc.. Though modernism becomes prominent after traditionalism. In Traditionalism, Which was based on tradition, there are always pre-determined rules, Explanations for people and their life. Objectivism is another important point In traditionalism. There is one truth for everything in traditionalism. High Class people are also more important than middle or low class people in Traditionalism because it gives importance for elevated style. On the other Hand, as modernism is a break with tradition, so this break includes a strong Reaction against established religious, political, and social views. According To modernism, there is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are Relative. Another thing, where in traditionalism objectivism is an important Point, modernism gives importance to subjectivism.
Championship of the individual Through the celebration of inner strength is one of the most prominent Characteristics of modernism and in this regard it differs from realism.
Modernism in Literary texts:
Some of the high priests of the Movement in literature are T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Wallace Stevens, Franz Kafka etc.. The characteristics of the literary modernism that Are followed by these writers are given below:
First of all, a new emphasis on Impressionalism and subjectivism, that we mentioned earlier, which focus on how We see rather what we see. In this regard a new literary technique, stream of Consciousness’, is employed by James Joyce and his followers such as Virginia Woolf in their writings. Then, regarding narrative technique modernist literary Texts are away from the apparent objectivity provided by such features as: Omniscient external narration, fixed narrative point of view. However, language Is also an important device of modernism to differentiate a literary text from Other texts. In modern literary text emphasizes on colloquial language rather Than formal language. Finally, a new Liking for fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives are obvious in modernist Literary texts. For example- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is a good Example of this characteristic.
Finally, symbolism was one of the Most important characteristics of this movement because the Modernist writers Infused objects, people, places and events with significant meanings. They Imagined a reality with multiple layers, many of them hidden or in a sort of Code. The idea of a poem as an enigma to be cracked had its beginnings in the Modernist period. Symbolism was not a new concept in literature, but the Modernists’ particular use of symbols was an innovation. They left much more to The reader’s imagination than earlier writers, leading to open-ended narratives With multiple interpretations. For example, we can see this in James Joyce’s “Ulysses” because he Wrote open-ended symbols in each chapter.
As Andrzej Gasiorek says in his Book, “A history of Modernist Literature”: “Modernism is an aesthetic revolt Against a refined society and offers itself as a substitute for a reality it Despises but can see no way of altering”