Modern Era 1910 1945 The Modernist movement was

Modern Era 1910 -1945

The Modernist movement was �New and innovative �In literature, �In Painting �In Music �And other arts

Caused by � Disillusionment with traditions that seemed to become no longer true or relatable

What influenced it � Major changes in American life developed in an era filled with turbulence and trials � EXAMPLES?

Historical influences � Onset of WWI (called the Great War or War to end all wars) “turning point in American life, marking a loss of innocence and a strong disillusionment with tradition” � Prohibition � Nineteenth Amendment � Great Migration � Immigration Act � Great Depression

Social influences � Fire at Triangle Shirtwaist company � Sinking of the Titanic � Influenza epidemic killed about 500, 000 people in the US; 30 million worldwide � Fixing of the World Series in 1919

Cultural changes � Development � Assembly � Radio line of the automobile � Movies � Advertising � Air travel � Explosion of popular heroes: Babe Ruth Charles Lindbergh

Result? �bold experimentation �wholesale rejection of traditional themes and styles.

Elements of modernism � Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form: reflected the separations of society � Rejection of traditional themes/subjects � Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in American Dream � Rejection of the ideal of a hero as infallible in favor of a hero who is flaws and disillusioned but shows grace under pressure � Interest in the workings of the mind; expressed through new ways of telling story (stream of consciousness)

What does it look like? � Modernist literature often conveys fragmentation � abrupt shifts in perspective, voice, and tone � obscure symbols and images rather than clear statements of meaning

Who are the modernists? Novelists, short story writers, poets, playwrights �F Scott Fitzgerald � Ernest Hemingway � John Steinbeck � T. S. Eliot (poet) � Sherwood Anderson, � Claude Mc. Kay (poet) � Katherine Anne Porter � Robert Frost (poet) � Eugene O’Neill (playwright)

Disorderly conduct � Order, sequence, and unity did not seem to the modernists to convey reality. � Instead, they emphasized discontinuity, discordance, and fragmentation as more representative of the modern experience. � Faced with making sense of fragments and intuiting connections left unstated, the reader of a modernist work is often said to participate in the creative work of making the poem or story, him or herself � Therefore it was not widely popular, called for more work by the reader (Norton Anthology of American Literature)

Au Revoir, USA � Many modernists left the US to write abroad � Particularly settled in France � Called ex-patriots (ex-pats) � Continued to write about American themes � Believed European climate was more conducive to their writing