مخطط أسبوعي

  • Overview

    طي الكل توسيع الكل

    Modernism is a term used to describe a movement that spread in Europe and America. It had its roots in the late 19th century, and was at its height in the nineteen twenties. Modernism covers all creative arts. Embracing the progress in technology, the drastic changes made in science and politics, it presented a radical shift from traditional forms of expression. The modernists rejected the optimism of the nineteenth century together with the absolute power of God. It has faded since then, but it is not totally over.


  • Contact Card

    Teacher :Rebahi Khaoula

    Contacts : .khawlarebahi@yahoo.fr

    Tutor : Rebahi Khaoula

    Contacts : khawlarebahi@yahoo.fr

    Credit: 6

    Coefficient :3

    Number of required hours for this lesson : 15 hours

    Number of required hours per week: 1h and 30 min

    Assessment modality: diagnostic evaluation + formative evaluation + summative evaluation

    Tutoring schedule: every Tuesday from 8 to 10


  • Target Audience

    This lecture is dedicated to students of second year Master (LMD) as part of "American Literature" module

  • Objectives of the lesson 

    1. To assess and interpret the relationship between literary texts and their social and political context.
2. To recognise and discuss features of Modernist literary texts.
3. To compare and contrast Modernism and Realism.   
    4. To evaluate examples of the Modernist novel.
    5. To analyse and interpret modernist works of literature ( novel, poem)

  • Prerequisites

    Students should already know :
    1. What a literary movement is
    2. literary movements before Modernism.
    3. Fiction vs poetry
    4. literary devices.

  • Table of Contents


           i.  Introduction 
          ii.  Chapter I: Introduction to Modernism in Literature

         iii.  Chapter II: Basic Characteristics of Modernism

          iv.  Chapter III: Modernist Fiction

          v.  Chapter IV: Modernist Poetry

          vi.  Chapter VI: The Harlem Renaissance

     


     

  • Chapter I: Introduction to Modernism in Literature

         

    As a literary movement, modernism reached its height in Europe between 1900 and the mid-1920s. Modernist literature was featured as avant-garde; ahead of its time. Deliberately and self-consciously, modernist writers celebrated the new, yet adhered to some feeling of the traditional. They rejected the optimism of the nineteenth century and regarded the world as decadent and dissolute. They introduced new literary tactics and devices, with attention to the social conditions that characterised the era. Modernist writers were preoccupied by the inner-self and consciousness. Technique was more important than meaning in the same manner shape was to subject in the visual arts. Modernist literature engages the reader in the more adventurous and tempting art of examining life through thought.

  • Chapter II: Basic Characteristics of Modernism


    Modernist literature is characterised by a new emphasis on impressionalism and subjectivism which focus on how we see rather what we see. In this regard a new literary technique, stream of consciousness’, is employed by some writers as William Faulkner . Then, regarding narrative technique modernist literary texts are away from the apparent objectivity provided by such features as: omniscient external narration, fixed narrative point of view. However, language is also an important device of modernism to differentiate a literary text from other texts. In modern literary text emphasizes on colloquial language rather than formal language.  Finally, a new liking for fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives are obvious in modernist literary texts. For example- The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot are superb examples of fragmented forms.
    Thus, modernism originated from the corruption, decadence and frustrations in the post-war psyche of the western people marks off from the previous literary tradition that got reduced to cold formalism and traditionalism.

    • Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form—reflects the fragmentation of society
    • Rejection of traditional themes and subjects.
    • Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American Dream. (Modernists rejected Emerson’s optimism.)
    • Rejection of the ideal of a hero as infallible in favor of a hero who is flawed and disillusioned but shows “grace under pressure” (Hemingway)
    •   Interest in the inner workings of the human mind. (Sometimes expressed through a new narrative technique such as stream of consciousness—William Faulkner)

  • Chapter III: Modernist Fiction

           Modernist literature was a predominantly English genre of fiction writing, popular from roughly the 1910s into the 1960s. Modernist literature came into its own due to increasing industrialization and globalization. New technology and the horrifying events of both World Wars (but specifically World War I) made many people question the future of humanity: What was becoming of the world?

    Writers reacted to this question by turning toward Modernist sentiments. Gone was the Romantic period that focused on nature and being. Modernist fiction spoke of the inner self and consciousness. Instead of progress, the Modernist writer saw a decline of civilization. Instead of new technology, the Modernist writer saw cold machinery and increased capitalism, which alienated the individual and led to loneliness. (Sounds like the same arguments you hear about the Internet age, doesn't it?)

    To achieve the emotions described above, most Modernist fiction was cast in first person. Whereas earlier, most literature had a clear beginning, middle, and end (or introduction, conflict, and resolution), the Modernist story was often more of a stream of consciousness. Irony, satire, and comparisons were often employed to point out society's ills. For the first-time Modernist reader, this can all add up to feel like the story is going nowhere.

    A short list of some of famous Modernist writers includes Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, T.S. Eliot, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, E.E. Cummings, Sylvia Plath, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, and Gertrude Stein.

    The modernist novel is often non-chronological with experiments in the representation of time” (Drabble 682). For instance, different moments of time could be presented simultaneously; sudden shifts from one point in time to a totally different one. The language used is complex with varied connotative forces and multiple meanings that construct the reader’s sense of reality (682).

            The novel is told from one perspective; the point of view of the narrator or narrators who seem to be subjective with limited knowledge of reality (different from the realistic novel in which an omniscient narrator is used). Thus, the narrator is often a first-person unreliable narrator or a limited third-person one, or multiple narrators with various perspectives. As far as theme is concerned, modernist novels tend to represent a godless world, with a critique of traditional values. The focus usually is not on the plot, but on the characters consciousness (or unconsciousness), memory or perception of the world (682).

            Modernist works are often about the presentation of the inner-self or reality through the use of devices such as stream of consciousness. In addition, modernists barely satisfy the reader’s expectations by giving a closure or following established formulas. They value opacity and complexity.











  • Chapitre IV: Modernist Poetry 

    so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.
                                         William Carlos Williams
    Modernist poetry is characterised by the experimentation in style and disruption of syntax. E.E.Cummings is one poet to mention here for his experimentations with syntax. Modern poetry also focuses on the theme of alienation. The image is more important than the theme as in William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow" .

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937) was a period between World War I and the Great Depression when black artists and writers flourished in the United States .During the 1920s, Harlem, the black community situated uptown in New York city, sparkled with passion and creativity. the sounds of its black American Jazz swept the United States by storm. African Americans emboldened by new experiences and better paychecks, energized by the possibility for change. A number of black intellectuals, such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke, were making it clear that the time had come for white America to take notice of the achievements of African-American artists and thinkers. The idea that whites might come to accept blacks if they were exposed to their artistic endeavors became popular. The Harlem Renaissance contributed to the cultural and political involvement of African Americans in the life of the country.
               Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were among the brightest representatives of the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. They promoted the main philosophical and social ideas of this movement in their literature works. Countee Cullen, a native of Harlem, wrote accomplished rhymed poetry, in accepted forms, which was much admired by whites. Jean Toomer, an African American fiction writer and poet, envisioned an American identity that would transcend race. His major work, Cane is ambitious and innovative. Richard Wright was born to a poor Mississippi sharecropping family that his father deserted when Richard was five. Wright was the first African-American to reach a general audience though he had barely a ninth grade education. His harsh childhood is depicted in his book Black Boy. His other works include Uncle Tom's Cabin and Native Son.

    Common themes in the Harlem Renaissance include: double-consciousness and twoness of identity, alienation and marginalization, racial consciousness. their writing was characterised by the use of folk dialect and syntax that uses the blues tradition.

             The Harlem Renaissance ended due to the Great Depression since Blacks were not prepared to face the drastic changes that the nation was going through.

  • Final test


  • References

    • Childs, Peter and Roger Fowler. The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms. London: Routledge, 2005. Print.
    • Drabble, Margaret, Ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print
    • Gillie, Mary Ann and Aurelea Mahood. Modernist Literature: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,2007.Print.
    • Shams, Ishteyaque Ed. New Perspectives in American Literature. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishing, 2004. Print.
    • https://www.elacommoncorelessonplans.com/literature-reading-standards/exemplars-g-9-10/modernism-in-literature.html
    • http://www.online-literature.com/periods/modernism.php