MODERNISM AND MODERNIST LITERATURE

1、Chapter 11: Modernism and Modernist Literature現現代主義代主義與現代主義現代主義的的文文學學 I. Some Notions about Modernism 1.Modernism is a practice, an attitude, a usage, an expression, a way of thinking, a way of living, etc. 2.Modernism is to “make new” in form or content. 3.Modernism is expressed in painting, sculpt

2、ure, music, theater, etc., as well as in literature.4.Modern literature is not necessarily modernist literature. Modernist literature is not necessarily modern. 5.The period of modernism is often said to be from 1910 to 1930 or 1965. 6.Modernism covers a number of schools with various ideas and tech

3、niques. II. Characteristics of Modernism: Formal/Stylistic Characteristics:Free indirect speech & free associationStream of consciousness & interior monologueDiscontinuous narrative & multiple narrative points of viewQuotation & wide use of classical allusions, etc. Thematic Characte

4、ristics:Life is viewed as incoherent, experience as fragmented, reality as a matter of perception.Alienation & spiritual lonelinessObjection to traditional thoughts and moralitiesDisillusionment and despair of the individualBreakdown of social norms, etc.III. Some Branches of Modernism: Free ver

5、se Dadaism Stream of consciousness technique Anti-novel, anti-play, nouveau roman Imagism, symbolism Expressionism New humanism Existentialism Theater of the absurd, etc.IV. Some Important Modernists:Ireland: James Joyce, W. B. YeatsEngland: Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forste

6、r, Joseph Conrad, Katherine Mansfield, Samuel Beckett France: Marcel Proust (pioneer of 意識流意識流)Italy: Luigi Pirandello (relativist)Bohemia: Franz Kafka (alienation)America: T. S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle 意象派意象派 Imagist), Ezra Pound, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Katherine A

7、nne Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost V. Some Famous Modernist Works: Ulysses by Joyce Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Waiting for Godot by Beckett Remembrance of Things Past by Proust Six Characters in Search of an Author by Pirandello Metamorphosis by Kafka The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot Th

8、e Sound and the Fury by Faulkner The Old Man and the Sea by HemingwayVI. Stream-of-Consciousness Technique:“It is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individuals point of view by giving the written equivalent of the characters thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in conn

9、ection to his or her actions.”“Stream-of-consciousness writing is usually regarded as a special form of interior monologue and is characterized by associative leaps in syntax and punctuation that can make the prose difficult to follow.”“In stream of consciousness, the speakers thought processes are

10、depicted as overheard in the mind (or addressed to oneself); it is primarily a fictional device. “ - WikipediaIn using the technique, the author focuses mainly on characterization, rather than on action or setting of the narrative. The story, however, can be reconstructed from the thought content.VI

11、I. Some WorksWritten with the Stream-of-Consciousness Technique:T. S. Eliots “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”:“With its weariness, regret, embarrassment, longing, emasculation, sexual frustration, sense of decay, and awareness of mortality, Prufrock has become one of the most recognized voices

12、in 20th-century literature, and is the quintessential urban zeitgeist of the 20th century.” -WikipediaProusts Remembrance of Things Past (or, In Search of Lost Time):“It is known for its length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the episode of the madeleine. . Involu

13、ntary memory is triggered by sensory experiences such as sights, sounds and smells which conjure important memories for the narrator.” It explores a lot of themes (snobbism, deceit, jealousy and suffering, etc.). One of them is the nature of art. For Proust, “art can recapture the lost and thus save

14、 it from destruction, at least in our minds.” -WikipediaVII. Some WorksWritten with the Stream-of-Consciousness Technique:Joyces Ulysses:It “chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904.” Leopold corresponds to Odysseus, Molly Bloom to Penelope, and Ste

15、phen Dedalus to Telemachus. It has 18 episodes. The book contains a number of pages without punctuation to show the stream of consciousness that goes with the words.Virginia Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway:It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway in post-World War I England. The story is about Clariss

16、as preparations for a party of which she is to be hostess. It travels forwards and back in time and in and out of the characters minds to construct an image of Clarissas life and of the inter-war social structure. Woolf blurs the distinction between direct and indirect speech throughout the novel. The novel has such themes as mental illness, existentialism, feminism, and homosexuality. -Wikipedia西洋文學概論西洋文學概論Introduction to Western Literature Vol. II The Romantic Mo