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Modernism

Nadine Kurz Anglistik Deutsch 57 Karten

Karten in diesem Stapel (57)

  1. 1Whartonwrote most of her oeuvre in 20th cent, stylistically and thematically bound to realist tradition, tableau vivant= pictures that nearly come to life, the protagonist of “The House of Mirth” tries to mimick Mrs. Lloyd (reaction to painting is: she achieved what she wanted to achieve, too much of sexual object, she showed too much outline, not Victorian layers of dress, on stages performed tableau vivant have pornographic touch, they appeared in the nude = wearing flesh-colored body stockings that suggested nudity, pleasure was outline, when she shows too much outline, then she is associated with loose women of public stage, also for young people to overcome strict rules of the age, young people could touch in liceted way, also in dancing)
  2. 2Ambrose Biercepredate modernism’s narrative experiments by decades, his short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890) toys with time and space, two dimensions hold central position in early 20th cent aesthetics, main character of story is Peyton Farquhar, soldier in American Civil War, awaits execution on railroad bridge, noose around neck, while falling, Farquhar feels how rope rips as consequence of which he dives into river underneath bridge able to escape his pursuers, rest of story details about his flight to the point where he returns to his home, falling into arms of his wife, hours take place during split second of him falling to death, detailed getaway over entire day imagined, Bierce’s short story misleads, has twist ending, similar to Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of ratiocination set up the reader, we receive key for making sense out of plot only after very end of narrative, when we realize we missed major clues withing text, Bierce points (lile Poe)
  3. 3Bierce pointing to 20th cent narrative structuresin direction of early 20th cent narrative structures in Hollywood cinema à la “Sixth Sense”, where epiphany-lile end retrospectively puts the plot in a completely new light, unbroken interest in use of relative time has excited audiences until today, e.g. Christopher Nolan’s movie “Inception” (2010) also plays with experienced time in relation to real time, Bierce’s psychological dimension and experimental time structure in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” anticipate central aspects of modernism in first decades of 20th cent, scholarship often refer to modernism as “era of time and space” because intensely occupies itself with two parameter of human experience
  4. 4in late 19th can early 20th century ground breaking inventionsinventions in material culture reshaped people’s way of thinking with respect to two these dimensions, in realm of transportation, steamboats, trains, automobiles and airplanes diminished great distances, as did telegraph and telephone communication, new media lile photography and film altered general perception of reality modernist era reflected experimented with and revolutionized use of spatial and temporal aspects, strong general interest in mental and psychological processes, Bierce continues Poe’s concern with phsychological mechanisms of extreme mental states, yet anticipates Sigmund Freud’s concerns with psychology of dreams and imagination
    New technological forms of representation reshape people’s attitudes towards time and space, e.g. photography and movement in film depicted, influence modernist art and literature, painting, old privileged medium in visual arts, received input through cinematic inventions , e.g. editing and montage with new possibilities for changing perspectives, new movements in visual arts, e.g. cubism became modes of inspiration for literary innovation
  5. 5Summary of Akira Kurosama’s “Rashomon”movie, robber killed by husband, wife allegedly raped, told from several different perspectives, show relativety of truth, depends on narrative perspective
  6. 6Gertrude Steinwriter experimenting with photography, film and avantgarde art à la Cézanne and Picasso, expatriate American writer, turned Paris apartment into meeting place for artistic elite from literature and visual arts, beginning of 20th cent, absorbed influences from Picasso (major visual artist of the time) and functioned as catalyst for number of young American writers, who later became proponents of modernism, e.g. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pound and Eliot
    attempted to render Picasso’s analytic cubism in literary discourse, e.g. “Melanctha”, one of 3 biographies in her 1909 novel “Three Lives”, Stein uses narrative style characterized by extreme repetitions on lexical and syntactical level, reiterating words and parts of sentences with only slight alterations, often repeats whole paragraphs in text, Cubist painters capture multiperspectival aspects of object on canvas, Stein tries similar fragmented perspectives in literature, her influence was big, her own works never very popular, she saw herself as “a writer’s writer” (influencing other writers, without having vast readership)
  7. 7CubismCubist painters capture multiperspectival aspects of object on canvas, Stein tries similar fragmented perspectives in literature, cubists render object with slight modifications several times on one canvas, minimally changing vantage point, cubists simultaneously fuse different moments in time or points in space into one composite image
  8. 8Ezra Poundinfluenced by Gertrude Stein, also influenced other writers, poet, one of most colorful characters of American modernist circle, wanted to revolutionize literature on large scale, Pound modeled his undertaking on Italian Renaissance (was radical new beginning after Middle Ages), believed himself to bring about similar change at beginning of 20th cent by reorienting poetry on past whilst revolutionizing language, in later years kind of radicalism led him to support Mussolini’s fascism in Italy, an allegiance resulted in Pound’s fall from grace in literary establishment
    beginning of his poetic endeavor, experimented with Japanese haiku
  9. 9Haiku and Ezra Poundshort poem with regulated form and number of syllables, tries capture one specific image through highly focused and condensed mod of expression), Pound excited by reductionist approach of this literary genre and inspired by it, composed programmatic manifesto-lile publications, following haiku idea of compressing and condensing object into image, Pound founded lyrical movement called imagism, manifesto: “A Retrospect” (1918) in which he postulates image as emotional complex in instant of time, temporal dimension at center of Pound’s literary contemplation, concept also lies at heart of Pound’s most famous poem
  10. 10In a Station of the Metro(maybe most important poem ever) (1913) -> tercet based on haiku format reduces crowd in subway station to single image of wet branch with blossoms, seasonal references typical for haiku, Pound recreates by using branch in spring
  11. 11Pound and ideogramsequally influenced by Chinese ideogram (image-lile script in which Japanese haiku were composed), “Dichtung” = verdichten from images, highly condensed form of poetry, also wrote the Cantos his unconventional interpretation of Chinese ideogram as script akin to pictures -> Pound believed it to be ideal medium for poetry, pictographic scripts illustrate content they represent directly, almost unmediated, European alphabetic writing lost immediacy because process of abstraction between letters and what they represent, he was convinced that reducing language to images, or “imagines” even English poetry can capture elements of concrete nature of Chinese pictographic writing (tree looks lile tree, word sun looks lile sun, cannot be achieved with alphabetical writing)
  12. 12Frog poemmost important haiku
  13. 13Ezra Pound's magnum Opushe, lile Walt Whitman, worked throughout his life on magnum opus, the “Cantos” (1912-1962), failed in attempt to compose modernist epic, lile classical or medieval epics of Homer or Dante Alighieri, reflects knowledge and essence of culture and period, Pound’s complex “Cantos” inevitably remain only glimpses of fragmented society of first part of 20th cent, he self-consciously comments on in last of “Cantos”, it does not bundle knowledge of entire era lile a multifaceted crystal, his magnum opus disintegrates into fractured perspectives that lack an overall coherence, crystal ball too heavy to hold for one person (fascinated by Italian Renaissance, they were convinced that they could make change lile in Renaissance, Cantos from Dante’s poem divided into Cantos, lile Homer’s epic encapsulated worldview with his epic, he also tried to capture all of the nation, during book you can see how he starts believing that it not possible and modern world to multi-faceted for that)
  14. 14T.S.EliotEzra Pound strong influence on him, one of most successful American modernist authors, Pound edited and largely rewrote Eliot’s major work, the long poem “The Waste Land” (1922), similarly to Pound wanting to reinvent poetry, Eliot tries to unite voices of Renaissance poets, myth and science, Eliot incorporates elements of grail myth to illustrate the psychological wasteland of post-WW1 society, numerous intertextual references, also direct quotes and scholarly footnotes, deliberately blurs borders between primary and secondary literature, footnotes could also be indebted to Italian Renaissance
  15. 15Giovanni Boccaccio14th cent writer, in his chivalric romance “Teseida” (1340) had already used stylistic feature to align poem with scholarly and religious texts of period, managed to reach larger audience with his poems, plays and essays,
  16. 16Eliot's other workstheir essays “The Metaphysical Poets” (1921) and “Tradition and the Individual Talent” (1920) more than just interpretations of literary phenomena from past, in indirect way they present insightful self-analysis of modernist project of renewing literature during first decades of 20th cent, Eliot in his Shakespeare essay “Hamlet and His Problems” (1919) introduces term “objective correlative” defined as set of objects, a situation, a chain of event that creates particular emotion, his primary goal is not to discuss historical or neglected phenomenon in the works of Shakespeare, key concept of essay is theoretical credo, showing parallels to Pounds’ definition of image, objective correlative also bears close resemblance to conceit of metaphysical poets, another of Eliot’s interests in his essays, all of which expound positions of a modernist poetics as much as they explain literary phenomena of past historical periods
  17. 17Hilda Doolittle or Marianne Moorehave belatedly been recognized in literary history as major influences on American modernist poetry, their roles in formation of modernist trends largely been underestimated, e.g. Hilda Doolittle or H.D. (refers to herself) major force in imagism (movement which scholars traditionally associated mainly with Ezra Pound), most famous for her poems deal with mythological topics from feminist perspective, e.g. epic poem “Helen in Egypt” (1953)
  18. 18American modernists not socialized in EuropeAll American modernist (Wharton, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot) so far experienced literary socialization in Europe, mostly Paris and London, but also independent group of modernist poets emerged in US, among them Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost and concrete poet e.e. cummings, while “European” representatives of American modernism saw key to literary reorientation in the cosmopolitan and historical, for Americans in US contemporary local American culture became starting point of modernist renewal, second line of modernist poetry in US does not necessarily share overt experimental or academic finesse of expatriate poets wiring in Europe, e.g.
  19. 19Robert Frost“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, unlile American expatriate texts, is reminiscent of romantic poetry, building tension between Nature and individual self, in the wintry idyll of forest, lake and snowflakes which the text superficially sketches, camouflages deep existential question concerning responsibility of man, speaker is tied to implicit pledge which prompts them to fulfill certain task or promise, similar to Romantic and transcendentalist poets, experimented with narrative perspective of a social outcast or mentally handicapped person, Frost weaves into poem unconventional POV of horse as judge of situation, for horse seems foolish to risk your life in freezing woods if safer and warmer in company of humans, hard to say whether poem expounds a wish for deaths which gives way to sense of responsibility and obligation to live, remained unclear whether poem expresses feelings of an overworked Santa Claus, important that Frost utilizes typical American setting, suspended between wilderness and civilization to explore existentialist questions, positions himself contra P or El
  20. 20Wallace Stevenpoem “Anecdote of the Jar” (1919) another example of how autochthonous poets position themselves in contrast to international strand of modernist American poetry, two opening lines seem lile a persiflage of John Keat’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1819) in which romantic poet chose classical Grecian urn as central object of description, Stevens seems to mock the grand enterprise of American exile-modernists, Pound and Eliot, who, liel Keats in form of urn, employ classical cultural traditions with their myths and literary memorials as starting point for renewal of poetry, substituting Keats’s classical urn with mass-produced American glass jar, Stevens ironically substitutes classical tradition with indigenous American material culture, with this subliminal allusion to Keats
  21. 21Wallace Stevens questions central aspect of modernistsrenunciation of romanticism and its understanding of literature, Stevens proves 2 points at the same time: illustrates that renewal cannot base itself on classic tradition, especially when tradition revived itself several times in different periods, e.g. romanticism, and to achieve this renewal the project cannot rest on romanticism, self-declared enemy of modernist s, so Steven reminds fellow poets to watch out when seeking reform in poetry by relying on older traditions because it has already been done multiple times
  22. 22William Carlos Williamin between seeing patients as physician, composed abundance of poems, e.g. “The Red Wheelbarrow” (1923): seems lile parody of metaphysical conceit, sneering at “spinning wheel” of Puritan poet Edward Taylor, object-lile metaphor which Eliot, in form of the “Objective correlative” propagated for modern poetry, similar to Wallace Stevens, Williams uses sth unedifying which can be found at every American barn, William’s poem achieves central idea of poetics of Eliot an Pound, despite or because of ironic tone, the “objective correlative” created by William’S tableau of objects seems to successfully transport emotions associated with American farmlife, also fulfill Ezra Pound’s definition of image as emotional complex in instant of time
  23. 23e.e. cummingsanother poet interested in realization of images, although first sight not necessarily following Pound’s imagist spirit, poet got away from Europe and worked as painter and author in US, for him, poetry is intricately interwoven with pictorial quality of text, following this credo, indirectly implements Pound’s concept of pictorial language, puts into effect much more radical fashion, his concrete poetry creates direct correlation between textual surface and its content, this approach has precursors in metaphysical poetry of 17th cent or the iconic poems of French surrealists, but he goes far beyond tradition of figuratively arranging letter to visually recreate objects: single linguistic signs, even letters and punctuation marks, becomes meaningful visual elements
  24. 24poem “l(a”by e.e., toward end of cummings career: from top to down words “a leaf falls” in parentheses withing the word “loneliness”, so romantic/melancholic poem, topic of loneliness is rendered through concrete image – Eliot call “objective correlative”- a single leaf falling, already “Illiad” had compared the transience of humans with leaves in the wind, e.e. also transports message on visual level, reenacting leaf’s downward swirl through number of cunningly arranged textual elements, opening parenthesis “)” and later closure “)” illustrate rotary motion of the leaf when turning from side to side, uses rhetorical figure of chiasmus “af and “fa” to realize spiraling motion of falling leaf even on smallest linguistic level of letter, also plays with typographic ambiguity of letters: “l” can be read as first person singular pronoun, or number one, loneliness becomes “1ness”, result of falling from “II” or twosomeness, modernist poetry manifest itself in a number of ways, many concern themselves with pictorial quality of poetical language
  25. 25Hart Cranevisual object of different kind in poem “The Bridge” (1930), ode-lile manner Crane glorifies America’s modern age via incantation of bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan as masterpiece of modern engineering, lile Eliot works with classical elements based on Dante and Italian Renaissance, ride on subway resembles journeys to underworld in classical or late medieval epics, strongest cohesive element of poem is concept of bridge, both as literary metaphor and as material manifestation of period’s departure into modernity, preceding poem, Crane inserts a prayer-lile “proem” calling Brookly Bridge a “harp and altar” -> object that simultaneously sing the new America and adopt function of site of worship of new America
  26. 26American dramaBesides movements of renewal in poetry, American drama also experienced major breakthrough around time of WW1, American drama only emerged as serious genre during that time, in 17th and 18th cent Puritanism repressed dramatic performances, American theater heavily depended on European (British) imports, when connection to mother country severed during War of Independence, American theater of 19th cent continued in form of distorted versions of successful slassics, among most popular were Shakespeare’s plays often in crude reductions, and prose texts, e.g. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” or “Rip van Winkle” performed as stage adaptations
  27. 27Eugene O’NeillAmerican drama emerged with him as serious genre after WW1, came from family of actors, fame derived from practice of adaptating novels for stage, e.g. stage version of “The Count of Monte Cristo” in which Eugene O’Neills father reached nationwide recognition as acclaimed actor, his breakthrough as first major American playwright closely connected to his play “The Emperor Jones”, premiered in 1920
  28. 28The Emperor Jones plotprotagonist is Brutus Jones, runaway AA convict, gains and loses power over an island in West Indies, fleeing from pursuers after rebellion, Brutus experiences a descent into abyss of human psyche, interest in the psychology of unconscious is particularly committed to C.G Jung’s theory of archetypes, his escape becomes psychological regress, personal and collective images surface and mentally haunt him, in hallucinatory sequences, Brutus believes himself to be sent back to 19th cent slavery of to Africa of his ancestors, gradually delving into personal unconscious as well as collective unconscious of his race, O’Neill mainly relies on Jung’s theory of archetypes as possibility for capturing human condition via collective images
    O’Neill also adopts Friedrich Nietzsche’s idea of a mythic Dionysian theater for cultural renewal of modern drama, elements not only at work in “The Emperor Jones” also in his other plays, frequently converge with expressionist feature
  29. 29experiments in The Emperor Jonesfrequently converge with expressionist feature, in some plays he uses masks to link to cultic quality of Ancient Greek theater while experimenting with them as modes of representing alienated identity of modern man, in “The Emperor Jones” he also employs other expressionist element, e.g. drums gradually getting louder throughout the play, mirroring protagnosit’s heartbeat, which accelerates parallel to his growing despair, as one of first and most important dramas of 20th cent it captivates audiences with unusual choice of AA main character, he certainly manages balancing between racial stereotypes and renewal of dramatic genre in US, AA protagonist Brutus problematic as he remains in stereotypical psychological disposition, he eagerly trades civilized rationality for savage superstition, but through combination of these elements makes it typical work of modernism
  30. 30Susan Glaspellat beginning of 20th cent, in function as cofounder of theater company the Provincetown Players, contributed to establishing drama in US, scholars saw her role mainly in providing platform for performances ba authors who would become big names in American drama, e.g. Eugene O’Neill, from today’s POV her early plays are especially pertinent to history of American drama because of gender specific concerns, in contrast to male contemporaries her plays no direct influence on development of genre, only in 2nd half of 20th cent did feminist literary criticism recognize Glaspell’s achievements as playwright
  31. 31Trifles plotby Susan Glaspell, demonstrates her new and gender-conscious approach, central to play is the in plot absent Minnie, wife of homicide victim, two of Minnie’s female friends visiting crime scene uncover through female POV real background and motive for crime, women read inconsistencies that men did not and see husband’s oppression of Minnie, as well as evidence testifying to fact that Minnie killed husband, while men search only male domains of house, such as toolshed or bedroom, women inspect kitchen, discovering important leads concerning crime and motive, first hint is half-finished quilt, unexpectedly showing untidy seams, do not fit with wife’s perfect work, second observation is a dead canary in wife’s sewing box, apparently husband strangled the canary and wife murdered her husband the same way, at the end the women remove all evidence that would point to Minnie as murderer to keep their discoveries to themselves
  32. 32Trifles meaningin the play Glaspell toys with concept of “text” as texture or textile in form of telltale quilt, female readers of quilt interpret strands of narrative that seams spell out differently than professional male investigators, her play becomes allegory of gender-specific reading and perception processes, similar to Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” with double meaning of “paper” as wallpaper and text, despite innovative and intriguing aspects of the play, Glaspell shares with Gilman fate of belated recognition since both authors waited more than 50years to be granted rightful place beside male authors in American literary canon
  33. 33Elmar Riceone of three great reformers of American theater after WW1 (besides Glaspell and O’Neill), especially his play “The Adding Machine” (1923) marks beginning of expressionist theater of US, main character of play is Mr.Zero, who after 25years of good work is made redundant when company replaces him by an adding machine, beside himself with rage, he kills boss, sentenced to death and in afterlife gets reemployed on Elysian Fields where he is forced to operate adding machine until made redundant again, that his soul can be sent back to earth in order to serve in new body, similar to a number of texts in American literary tradition, displays and problematizes Puritan work ethic, to achieve this critique, Rice uses expressionist elements in stage design, e.g. specific lighting and renders characters with mask-lile features, in crude reduction of the figures to stereotypical character traits, play seems to draw on mask-lile elements from ancient drama and medieval allegorizations of human virtues and vices
  34. 34Elmar Rice anticipation"The Adding Machine", with nihilistic plot and seemingly senseless direction and flat characters, already in 1920s anticipates aspects of theater of the absurd in middle and second half of century, also socioeconomic subject matter of the play paves way for socialist drama of 1930s, focusing on role of worker as well as unjust modes of production
  35. 35three great reformers of American theater after WW1Glaspell, O’Neill, Elmar Rice
  36. 36Eugene O’Neill and Gertrude Steinmodernism experimented with African culture at beginning of 20th cent, due to its seeming naturalness and primitivism served as role model for innovation and renewal, inspired painters lile Pablo Picasso, who influenced visual arts as well as literature, not surprising that Gertrude Stein as literary proponent of cubism and catalyst figure of AAmerican protagonist for “Melanctha”, in similar move Eugene O’Neill, reformer and founder of American drama, centered his play around black figure of Brutus Jones
  37. 37Harlem RenaissanceParallel to non-black authors borrowing from African culture in 1920s, strong strand of AA self-expression evolved in an unprecedented way around same time, this flare of artistic black confidence
  38. 38Souls of Black Folkby sociologist W.E.B Du Bois, together with Booker T. Washington’s works among first AA theoretical views on race relations, drawing on climate of AA self-expression in social sciences
  39. 39Langston Hughesrepresentative of Harlem Renaissance, Hughes’s poems together with works of other AA poets appeared in Alain Locke’s landmark verse anthology “The New Negro
  40. 40female AA authorsZora Neale Hurston in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (1937), captivated audiences with self-confident female protagonists, similarly Nella Larsen’s novel “Passing” (1929) focuses on woman protagonist, taking female approach to topic of racial passing by stripping the theme of stereotypical and sentimental treatment by white authors in 19th cent melodrama
  41. 41AA cinemanotion of AAs passing for whites also made way into cinema of first half of 20th cent with films such as “Imitation of Life” (1934), also important to note especially in 1920s and 30s an independent AA cinema evolved, black directors, e.g. Oscar Micheaux made films with all-black cast for specifically black audience, during Great Depression and race riots at beginning of 1930s, Harlem Renaissance lost momentum, finding continuation in more fragmented AA voices in second half of 20th cent
  42. 42Theodore DreiserNew York as place for modernist literary renewal was not limited to Harlem, around turn of century with realists lile Theodore Dreiser, metropolis continued to serve as projection screen for diverse literary agendas into 1920s and 30s, modernist who sought cultural renewal in America (unlile Eliot and Pound) stylized uniqueness of New York for specific concerns
    specifically novels of Jazz Age perpetuated realist and naturalist traditions of urban novel
  43. 43F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”becomes epitome of roaring twenties with exuberant parties and excesses, a decadent lifestyle that Scott and his wife Zelda shared with protagonists of their novels (thanks to Scott’s early successes as writer), stylistically less experimental than many other modernist novels, it draws in readers through choice of narrative perspective, events around mysterious, rich social climber Gatsby told from POV of minor character of novel, choice of Nick Carraway as narrator of events is reminiscent of Melville’s “Moby Dick” in which sailor Ishmael from periphery characterizes enigmatic Captain Ahab, in English literature of pre modern period, Joseph Conrad’s novella “Heart of Darkness” (1902) also uses this narrative technique to mystify character of ivory trader and monstrous colonist Kurtz; plot of Fitzgerald’s novel revolves around enigmatic Gatsby who gained newly accumulated wealth under mysterious circumstances, story fueled by affair between Gatsby and love of his youth, Daisy, now married to rich but boring Tom Buchanan, one day while driving Gatsby’s car, Daisy kills woman in traffi
  44. 44F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” 2Daisy kills woman in traffic accident, panic-stricken, Daisy flees scene and lets Gatsby heroically take blame for accident as well as death of woman, mistaking Gatsby for responsible driver of accident, husband of victim kills Gatsby in revenge, despite all of this, Daisy resumes her position in her marriage, finding comfort in security of her husband’s money, which from beginning had formed the basis of their relationship, it’s a genre picture of American society of Jazz Age in 1920s before Great Depression, also glorifies American dream of “Self-made man”, figure that will evolve as central character of new social novel in decades to come
  45. 45John Dos PassosFitzgerald’s document of Jazz Age does not show clearly identifiable political trajectory, Dos’s trilogy “U.S.A.” much more unambiguous, his novels “The 42nd Parallel” (1930), “1919” (1932) and “The Big Money” (1936) represent the concerns of “red thirties” after Great Depression, marked by left-wing literary politicking and toying with socialism and communist ideas, trilogy covers time frame of 30years, from turn of century to early 1930s, besides numerous fictional characters who appear loose network throughout novels, Dos Passos weaves into the picture real-life figures from politics, economics and the arts, e.g. biographical information on Henry Ford, Isadora Duncan and Woodrow Wilson at times interrupts plot that is otherwise based on fictional characters, also makes collage-lile use of newspaper headlines, song lyrics or political speeches that appear in aphoristic manner at beginning of chapters, referred to as “newsreels” by Dos Passos, supposed to achieve similar effect on audiences as the newsreel that preceded movie shows in cinema of time
  46. 46John Dos Passos's trilogyspecific to trilogy are “camera-eye” passages, which interspersed throughout the novels, document subjective POV of adolescent young man in form of stream-of-consciousness narration, exuberant play with unconventional POVs already announced itself in choice of minor character of “The Great Gatsby” and reaches climax in high modernism of Dos Passos
  47. 47William Faulknerin novel “The Sound and the Fury” (1929) Faulkner uses four people from four different POV throw light on four different time frames in life of a Southern family, most outstanding and, for reader most demanding part is so-called “Benjy-section” which told from POV of Benjy, youngest member of family, mentally challenged, hence title of novel (which is part of Shakespeare verse from Macbeth), reader inevitably has to assume role of detective, as Benjy perceives world in highly unconventional way, special mode of perception passes on information in unfiltered and unexplained manner, as following passage illustrates, hundreds of other instances reader has to decipher one of Benjy’s observations, trying to solve question of what Benjy actually witnessing in his limited perceptive mode, Benjy observing game of golf, a game of which he knows not rules nor purpose, simply registers red flags and white balls, Faulkner using mentally challenged Benjy, positions himself in long tradition of authors, going back to Mark Twain, who also relied on unconventional narrators
  48. 48Faulkner's experimentsalso Faulkner continues his experiments in realism and naturalism, confronted by reader directly with character’s perception of their external reality,
    as different Faulkner’s and Henry James’s texts are in their choice of subject matter, realism and modernism become very similar in trying to depict perception or, in Faulkner’s case, extreme alienation of perception, reading Benjy-section leads to defamiliarization effect, kind of constant epiphany, answering questions of how perception works, POV of Faulkner’s “idiot” becomes necessary to spell out for reader the fundamental processes at work in perception and in formation of consciousness
    also in other texts, e.g. novel “As I Lay Dying” (1930), Faulkner experiments with narrative techniques when he spins together 59 monologues by 7 different family members into polyphonic plot around funeral procession, lile majority of his texts set in fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Faulkner stylizes as imaginary manifestation of American South, although Faulkner had already written major works in 1920s, he achieved full recognition and literary
  49. 49Ernest Hemingwayprimitive simplicity, despite winning Nobel Prize for Literature and gaining international recognition literary judgement on Hemingway never been homogenous, large part of Hemingway’s popularity certainly be attributed to topics, which addressed concerns of time, e.g. war experience and postwar trauma, he was volunteer and wounded paramedic during Spanish Civil War, writes archetypal situations of crisis which his protagonists try to resolve, heroes are the “toreros” of Spanish bullfighting, e.g. “The Sun Also Rises” (1926) or lonesome fighters who combat elemental forces, e.g. fisherman in “The Old Man and the Sea” (1951), this choice of topics and the fact that women hardly play a role in his novels made Hemingway easy and justified target for feminist literary criticism in second half of 20th cent, but these choices of protagonists singled Hemingway out as preferred object for masculinity studies toward end of 20th cent, his simple language and narrative technique seems at least at first glance to regress stylistically when compared to other modernist innovators of fiction
  50. 50Hemingway's simple styleshe consciously chose simple narrative structures and simple diction, style in several aspects borrowed form medium of film, e.g. his short story “The Killer” (1927) clear that he renders scene as if viewed through film camera, unnoticed and without commentary, narrator disappears almost completely, dialogue takes over, reader seemingly left alone with utterances of characters, this technique finds main premise in realist novel in mode of Henry James, his texts obtain sth immediate, almost dram-lile, analyses by Swiss scholar Max Nänny impressively shown simple surface of Hemingway’s texts can hide very complex structures, sometimes Hemingway similar to Gertrude Stein uses repetitive, mirroring elements on syntactical level, generating diverse network of brace-lile interlacing
  51. 51John Steinbeckalso returned in novels to seemingly traditional forms of narration, committed to ideas of “red thirties” most important novel “The Grapes of Wrath” (1939) tells story of financially troubled Joad family, after crop fails due to soil erosion, they leave their land in Oklahoma in attempt to try luck in California, journey to alleged Golden West turns into reversal of American Dream, ending in disillusionment and situation that severely threatens family’s survival, together with filmic adaptation Steinbeck’s novel became a classic about dark side of American Dream, questioning principle hard work will eventually be rewarded with success, wishful thinking had been dominating American self-understanding from colonial times onward
  52. 52Clifford Odetbesides novel also newly emerging genre of drama took up sociopolitical and socioeconomic questions, among social dramas of 1930s was his drama “Waiting for Lefty” (1935), political agenda the play foregrounds, by using planned labor strike by taxi drivers for plot, breaks new ground in experimenting with illusion of self-contained world onstage, integrating theater audience into play by planting actors among the theatergoers and eventually letting them react to the comments made by actors onstage, seemingly dissolves barriers that separate theater from real life
  53. 53Lillian Hellmanfeminist plays also emerged in this period, e.g. “The Children’s Hour” (1934) about rumors around alleged lesbian relationship of two teachers and their stigmatization by society
    Before theater of the absurd and postmodern theater developed during 2nd half of 20th century, midcentury drama became aware of its modernist or realist roots
  54. 54Thornton Wilder’s“Our Town” (1937) part of this development, depicts everyday life in small-town America and set in two acts in 1901 and 1913, noteworthy feature of play is that a “stage director” introduces and comments on both acts, with frame narratives Wilder manages in a move reminiscent of Brecht’s alienation effect, to deliberately break illusion of theatrical space as self-contained world
  55. 55Tennessee Williamsuses similar technique in psychological drama classic “The Glass Menagerie” (1944), by implementing a narrator of frame story, narrator Tom remembers scenes from past about physically handicapped sister Laura, whose isolation from her surroundings is symbolized by collection of glass animals (therefore title), the family’s world of make-believe shatters during one of their mother’s arranged visits, Laura’s childhood sweetheart unintentionally breaks a glass unicorn, kisses her, then tells her of his engagement to another woman
    similarly his psychodrama “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947) is structured around issues of family relations and sexuality, centering on extensive visit of aging Blanche Du Bois at her sister’s place in New Orleans, interaction with her macho brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, confronts Blanche with her inglorious dishonest love life, suffering from severe mental instability and after being raped by Stanley she is “diagnosed” with nervous breakdown and institutionalized
  56. 56Arthur Millerbesides Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams counts as the third great dramatist of late modernism, Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” (1949) exemplifies economic pressure to succeed in American middle class by focusing on character of 60-year-old salesman Willy Loman, using stream-of-consciousness technique with extensive flashbacks to earlier life, Miller portrays Willy’s futile struggle as aging breadwinner in success-oriented society, his disillusionment gives way to desperation when Willy ends his life in suicide disguised as car crash to make sure his family receives money from his life insurance, in death he achieves goal of financially supporting his family which he failed in during life, while being unable to fulfill the harsh requirements of capitalist system in life, in his martyr-lile death he conforms to system
  57. 57Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"Also linked to American Dream in widest sense of term is Miller’s “The Crucible” (1953), play set in Puritan New England during Salem Witch trials, one of the darkest chapters of American colonial history, in his play uses persecution of innocent people in late 17th cent only as pretense to hint at the hunt for alleged communists in McCarthy era of 1950s, witch-hunting for Miller becomes parable of mass hysteria, identical to activism kindled by conservative US senator Joseph McCarthy after WW2, alleged communists similar to 17th cent witches were put on trial to serve as scapegoats onto which public rage of Cold War era could easily unload itself

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Anglistik Karteikarten am Modernism, erstellt von Nadine Kurz am 27/05/2021.
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Nadine Kurz
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