Examining
Modernism, Post Modernism And New Millennialism
by
BJ Neblett
February,
2020
Sometime back, before the world went
crazy – my world that is, although the rest of the world is… well, that’s a
topic for another dozen blogs – I started a blog about a term I coined to help
define what I see as a trend in writing away from traditional, Modernism and Post-Modernism:
New Millennialism. (See this blog, February 16, 2019) Simply put New
Millennialism is, “Thrusting cutting
edge technology, concepts and ideas into the very core of classic human
situations." You may quote me on that! Ok, so what exactly does that
carefully crafted jumble of words mean? Good question. To understand, let’s
look at previous literature groupings. Class is now in session.
Modernism
Modernism
is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose
from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. Alright, enough
Wikipedia babble. People in the late 1800’s started to tinker, asking, “Can
this be done easier, better.” This led to inventions. The discovery of large
deposits of oil led to more advanced inventions. These inventions led to
factories. Factories helped propel the large shift in the populace from rural
to urban areas to work in these factories. And all of this led to what we now
call the industrial revolution: inventions begat more employment which begat more
products and higher salaries, and the whole thing begat more leisure time for
us to stop and breathe and think. Ironically, something Victorian peoples had plenty
of time to do, but seem not very adept at doing.
Now we
all know what thinking leads to… people, Americans and Europeans in particular,
began a conscious desire and effort to overturn tradition. In short, the birth
of Idealism in literature: Modernism. The horrors of World War One contributed
to a world-wide reassessment of the ideas, ideals and morals of society: ie, people
were fed up and wanted something new. Idealism, remained popular, accompanied
by more cynical thoughts and beliefs, soon manifesting themselves in works of art,
music, architecture, philosophy and more. We will concentrate on literature.
Some
outstanding proponents of what would become known as the Modernism Movement in
literature include: Virginia Woolf; James Joyce; Gertrude Stein, and poet T. S.
Eliot. They presented works in a less illusionary and more realistic vein. What
is, what could be and what should be became catch phrases for writers desirous
of shedding the oppressive restraints of the Victorian Era. A ‘Let’s be happy
and gay,’ mindset carried the world populace through the roaring ‘20’s. Fitzgerald’s
Great Gatsby examined what we think we are and desire to be, passing
the torch to authors like John Steinbeck and William Faulkner and William
Carlos Williams who examined who we really are and strive to be, through
the depression racked 1930’s and the war torn 1940’s.
While
traditional wisdom states that Modernism began fading post 1940, many modernists
continued to publish beyond, and indeed, into the 1950’s. These include
Faulkner, Wallace Stevens, Hermann Broch, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and Samuel
Beckett. Most have been described as ‘later modernist’.
Rather
than bore you with further hotly debated theories on who is and who isn’t, and
what is and what isn’t, let’s just look at some outstanding examples of Modernist
Literature.
Joseph
Conrad Heart Of
Darkness (1899/1902)
T.
S. Eliot The
Waste Land (1933)
James
Joyce Ulysses (1922)
Virginia
Woolf To The
Lighthouse (1927)
William
Faulkner As I Lay
Dying (1930)
Djuna
Barnes Nightwood (1936)
Ralph
Ellison Invisible
Man (1952)
Samuel
Beckett Waiting
For Godot (1953)
Any
of the writers and their works mentioned here will give you a more insightful
look into Modernism in literature than my simple prose can offer. Enjoy. Next
time we’ll tackle Post Modernism on our way to figuring out what the heck is
New Millennialism. Hint: it’s more prevalent in today’s literary sci-fi/fantasy
fiction than you might think!
Peace,
BJ Neblett
(See this blog, February 16, 2019)
