CEL -Modern Literature

Modern Literature

By José Luis Isais V.

Modernism

• Braking away from tradition.

• Reaction to realism and naturalism.

• Existence through perception, relativism, unordered life, subconscious ​concern.

Contemporary English Literature

Modern Literature

Influenced by WWI and industrialization.

Experiment.

Non-linear narratives, interior monologues emphasizing emotions.​

Contemporary English Literature

Characteristics

Experimentation

writing breaking tradition

blended imaginary

absurdism​

nonlinear narratives

stream of consciousness​

Contemporary English Literature

Characteristics

Individualism

individual is challenged in a changing world

adaptation and integrity are key concepts​

Contemporary English Literature

Characteristics

Absurdity

capitalism was reorganizing society

​loss of humanity because of violence

the world was becoming absurd​

Contemporary English Literature

Characteristics

Symbolism

though not new, used by authors

layers and multiple interpretations by the reader​

Contemporary English Literature

Characteristics

Formalism

writing was more of a craft

smaller parts

foreign languages, dense vocabulary, invented words​

Contemporary English Literature

Characteristics

Multiple perspectives

individuals presented their own viewpoints

subjectivity

personal perspective​

Contemporary English Literature

Characteristics

Free verse

rejection of tradition

lack of rhyme or metrical pattern​

Contemporary English Literature

Stream of consciousness

• Aims to provide a textual equivalent to the stream of a fictional character’s consciousness

• Creates the impression that the reader is eavesdropping on the flow of conscious experience in the character’s mind

• Comes in a variety of stylistic forms

• Narrated stream of consciousness often composed of different sentence types including free indirect style

• Associative (and at times dissociative) leaps in syntax and punctuation

Contemporary English Literature

Interior Monologue

• ​A particular kind of stream of consciousness writing

• Presents characters’ thought streams exclusively in the form of silent inner speech, as a stream of verbalized thoughts

• Represents characters speaking silently to themselves and quotes their inner speech, often without speech marks

• Is presented in the first person and in the present tense and employs deictic words

• Attempts to mimic the unstructured free flow of thought

• Can be found in the context of third-person narration and dialogue

Contemporary English Literature

Multiple Choice

Modernism is known for...

• lack of creativity

• experimentation

• conformity

• limited options

Multiple Choice

Modernism was largely influenced from the ...?

• Romantic Poetry

• Idealism

• Impact of War

• The Royalty

Multiple Choice

Modernist poetry has...

• references to other cultures

• many allusions and unconventional metaphors

• open form and some free verse

• social criticism

Multiple Select

What are some of the main characteristics of modernism?

May choose more than one.

• Individualism

• Absurdism

• Symbolism

• Traditionalism

Multiple Choice

It is a flow of images and thoughts.

• Stream of the unconscious

• Flow of conscience

• Flow of consciousness

• Stream of consciousness