Exploring Modernism: From Pound to Picasso

Modernism: Part I “Make it new.” -- Ezra Pound

Bell Work • Take out your notebook and be prepared to take notes. • What does the image below make you think about? How does it make you feel? Write 3-5 sentences and be ready to share out. • “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso (1937)

Bell Work WED • Take out your notebook and be prepared to take notes. • Why is the poem below considered an example of “Modernist” art? Give 2-3 reasons. • “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. Flowed up the hill and down King William Street, To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine. There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson! You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! That corpse you planted last year in your garden, Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed? Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men, Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again! You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”

Historical Context: 1915-46 • reaction to • overwhelming optimism preceding WWI & sense of promise introduced by technological advances • tragic devastation proceeding WWI

Value Differences in the Modern World Themes of Alienation & Existentialism

Characteristics: “Not” Themes • “dis” (“not,”“not any”) themes: disjointedness, disillusionment, disenchantment, disappointment, dissatisfaction • Gatsby believes in the “American Dream,” confuses it with Daisy, and is ultimately betrayed by it

Characteristics: Collapse of “American” dream • it’s impossible for the individual to triumph & America is no longer a “new Eden,” a land of opportunity (like w/ Transcendentalism) • despite his best efforts to re-create the past & re-unite w/ Daisy, Gatsby’s efforts blow up in his face -- literally

Characteristics: Collaboration w/ Reader • implied themes & piecemeal prose forces readers to draw their own conclusions • reader has to piece together chronology of The Great Gatsby & true image of titular character

Characteristics: Fragmentation • texts are fragmented to reflect fragmentation of modern world (expositions, transitions, resolutions & explanations are omitted) • Gatsby follows the narrator’s subjective memory and doesn’t adhere to a linear chronology

Characteristics: No “happy ever after endings” • Myrtle is killed • Gatsby is murdered • Wilson commits suicide • Daisy remains in a loveless marriage

Characteristics: Cynical Tone • emphasis is on moral re-evaluation, social experimentation & hedonism • Gatsby’s lavish parties suggest that pleasure & happiness is the chief good in life • But the ending (and writing) suggest otherwise

Literary Styles of Modernism • Stream of consciousness narration: a narrative mode which seeks to portray an individual’s point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character’s thought processes, either through loose interior monologue or in connection to action.

Characteristics of Modernism in American Literature Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form, reflecting the fragmentation of society.” Rejection of traditional themes and subjects. Loss of faith in religion and society. Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American Dream Example—Nick and Gatsby from The Great Gatsby

MAJOR AUTHORS American Literary Modernism:

T.S. Eliot Influential poet and literary critic. Conceives of the poem as an object demanding a fusion and concentration of intellect, feeling, and experience. Major Works: Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), The Waste Land (1922)

William Faulkner Southern American writer Many works center on the mythical Yoknapatawpha county Experimental techniques include stream-of-consciousness and dislocation of narrative time Focus on issues of sex, class, race relations The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Absalom, Absalom! (1936)

Ernest Hemingway Iceberg Theory of literature (one-eighth above water) Spare, tight journalistic prose style Objective, detached point of view Examination of masculinity, gender Major works: The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

Gertrude Stein Expatriate Author – Lived in Paris Coined the term “Lost Generation” Editor of many great Modernist writers Major works: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

F. Scott Fitzgerald Focus on Jazz Age and Great Depression Examination of American materialism Exploration of the American dream Major works: The Great Gatsby (1925), Tender is the Night (1934)

Exploring Modernism: From Pound to Picasso