Modernism 1918 1945 Difference between Realism and Modernism

Modernism 1918 -1945

Difference between Realism and Modernism o Whereas REALISM n Emphasized absolutism, and n Believed that a single reality could be determined through the observation of nature o MODERNISM n Argued for cultural relativism, n And believed that people make their own meaning in the world.

Value Differences in the Modern World Pre-Modern World (Early 20 th Century) Ordered Chaotic Meaningful Futile Optimistic Pessimistic Stable Fluctuating Faith Loss of faith Morality/Values Collapse of Morality/Values Clear Sense of Identity Confused Sense of Identity and Place in the World

World War I: 1914 (1917 -1918)

WWI: Doughboys and Air Fights

WWI: Trench War Fare and Poison Gas

Russian Revolution: 1917

Social Snapshot of the Times o Result of Political Turmoil n Revolutionary Ideologies Rise p Fascism n The separation and persecution or denial of equality to a certain group based on race, creed, or origin p Nazism n Socialism featuring racism, expansionism and obedience to a strong leader p Communism n Control of the means of production should rest in the hands of the laborers.

Fascism and Nazism

Communism

Social Snapshot of the Times o Scientific Revolution n Quantum theory p Explains the nature of matter and energy on the atomic and subatomic level n Principle of Uncertainty p In quantum mechanics: increasing the accuracy of measurement of one observable quantity increases the uncertainty with which another may be known

Snapshot of the Times: Implications for Nature of Reality o Many-worlds (multi-verse) theory n As soon as the potential exists for any object to be in any state, the universe of the object transmutes into a series of parallel universes equaling the number of possible states in which an object can exist. Stephen Hawking posits the possibility for interaction between universes. o Copenhagen interpretation: nothing exists until it is measured: n Schrödinger's cat (dead and alive)

Schrödinger's cat

Forces Behind Modernism o The sense that our culture has no center, no values. o Paradigm shift n from the closed, finite, measurable, causeand-effect universe of the 19 th century to an open, relativistic, changing, strange universe;

Characteristics of Modernism in Literature o Literature Exhibits Perspectivism n n Meaning comes from the individual’s perspective and is thus personalized; A single story might be told from the perspective of several different people, with the assumption that the “truth” is somewhere in the middle

Characteristics of Modernism in Literature o Inner psychological reality or “interiority” is represented o Stream of consciousness—portraying the character’s inner monologue

Characteristic of Modernism in Literature o Perception of language changes: n n n No longer seen as transparent, allowing us to “see through” to reality; But now considered the way an individual constructs reality; Language is “thick” with multiple meanings and varied connotative forces.

Characteristic of Modernism in Literature o Emphasis on the Experimental n n Art is artifact rather than reality; Organized non-sequentially p Experience portrayed as layered, allusive, discontinuous, using fragmentation and juxtaposition. n Ambiguous endings—open endings which are seen as more representative of reality.

The Armory Show: International Exhibition of Modern Art, 1913 o Watershed date in American art o Introduced astonished New Yorkers, accustomed to realistic art, to modern art; o Teddy Roosevelt said, “That’s not art!”

Matisse

Cubism o Cubism— 1909 -1911 n Art in which multiple views are presented simultaneously in flattened, geometric way.

Cubism

Dadaism o Dadaism –deliberately irrational n a protest against the barbarism of the War and oppressive intellectual rigidity; n Anti-art p Strives to have no meaning p Interpretation dependent entirely on the viewer; p Intentionally offends.

Dadaism Duchamp

Surrealism o Surrealism n Grew out of Dada and automatism. n Reveals the unconscious mind in dream images, the irrational, and the fantastic, n Impossible combinations of objects depicted in realistic detail.

Surrealism Dali Magritte

Jackson Pollock

Futurism o Futurism—grew out of Cubism. n n n Added implied motion to the shifting planes and multiple observation points of the Cubists; Celebrated natural as well as mechanical motion and speed. Glorified danger, war, and the machine

Futurism Kandinsky Giacomo Balla

Modernism Timeline o 1914: Outbreak of WWI o 1917: US enters war, Russian Revolution o 1919: n n n WWI ends, Einstein’s Relativity theory confirmed, Prohibition begins

Modernism Timeline o 1920 n n League of Nations begins; 19 th Amendment granting women the vote o 1921—Irish Free State proclaimed o 1922—Fascists march on Rome under Mussolini o 1923—Charleston craze

Modernism Timeline o 1925— n Image of human face televised n Hitler published Mein Kampf o 1927 n Lindbergh flies solo across Atlantic n Al Jolson, first talkie

Modernism Timeline o 1929—US stock market crashes; o 1933 n n n Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany First German concentration camps Prohibition ends in US

Modernism Timeline o 1934—Hitler becomes dictator o 1936—Civil War in Spain begins o 1938—Germany occupies Austria o 1939 n n n Hitler and Stalin make pact; Germany invades Poland Great Britain and France declare war on Germany

Modernism Timeline o 1941 n n Germany invades USSR Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, US enters war o 1942 n n Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Midway; T-shirt invented o 1944—D-Day invasion of France

Modernism Timeline o 1945 n End of war in Europe n Atomic bomb dropped on Japan n First computer built n Microwave oven invented n United Nations founded