The setting of the 20th century Literature

Hello readers...

In this I would like to talk about 20th century Literature. 

Introduction:-This 20th century opened with great hope but also with some apprehension, for the new century marked the final approach to a new millennium. For many, humankind was entering upon an unprecedented era. this age is one of most important and very interesting age because all the new and different things and changing in writing of literature is done in this age. The modern age is very different from the other ages in English Literature. The modern age is known as “Modernist Movement” in English Literature. The period of modern age is 1915 to 1945 and this age is totally different from the Victorian age.

Let's talk about Summary of The setting:-

In his book A.C ward wrote about the  setting of 20th century Literature.

He pointed out that:-

                   In the study of literature few things are most interesting than to consider periodic changes of outlook which sway the human mind and spirit, and to observe those fluctuation of value which cause truths and certainties of one generation to appear as superstitious and baseless conevntions in the eyes of the generation following.(A.C.Ward)

The people of modern age reject old forms and trying to do a new technique and new style. Even in literature also many of the poet and writer wants to do different and bring something new in their writing.

                 The terms modern and modernism pertain to the beliefs and philosophy of the society during the late 19th to the early 20th century. Because the concept has two different accepted meaning.        

      The twentieth century introduces a cultural period in which individuals not only reject the past but also question the very basis of knowledge and consider the possibility that knowledge and concepts once thought to be fixed and objective are instead constantly shifting and subjective.

                                Philosophers and thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzche, Henri Bergson, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud challenged nineteenth-century science and the positivist confidence in its ability to explain both the physical and social worlds in completely rational terms.

                   World War I had a powerful impact in its aftermath, causing Europeans to reconsider their very belief systems and leading to widespread dissatisfaction with the authorities who, many believed, were motivated by greed, class exploitation, and hunger for power.

                   A growing interest in psychology influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud contributed to a new emphasis on the internal reality of individuals, the importance of the self, and the alienation of the self in modern society.

                     New studies in the relationship between reality and appearance led to the philosophies of phenomenology and existentialism as represented in the philosophical writings of Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre.

                      After the Second World War, the rise of Communism, the gradual disintegration of colonialism, and the exponential development of technology, existentialism flourished in the 1940s and 1950s as individuals struggled to find meaning in an increasingly fragmented and confusing world.

A growing awareness of a variety of other cultures that have differing worldviews than traditional European or American ones undercut the assumptions of “cultural parochialism” and led to pluralistic and postcolonial perspectives.

The Bloomsbury Group:-

                             L Bloomsbury Group was a small, informal association of artists and intellectuals who lived and worked in the Bloomsbury area of central London. Most prominent of these was novelist and essayist Virginia Woolf. In all, only about a dozen people at any one time could have called themselves members of the group. Beginning shortly before 1910, the Bloomsbury Group gathered at irregular intervals for conversation, companionship, and the refueling of creative energy. The members of Bloomsbury, or “Bloomsberries,” would more or less maintain allegiance to their mutual philosophy of an ideal society, even through a World War and three decades of tectonic shifts in the political climate. They had no codified agenda or mission. They were not political in the ordinary sense of the word. Most importantly, there was no application or initiation required to become a member. Bloomsbury was an informal hodgepodge of intellectual friends, and one either merited inclusion to that circle or one did not. No rules of order, as in a committee, governed the way in which Bloomsbury managed their interactions. Instead, they held impromptu dinners and gatherings where any number of topics was the subject of serious discussion and contemplation. These intellectual exchanges served as the main influence on later work by individual members. By no means were all members in full agreement on all subjects. 

In his essay he referred that From 1901 to 1925 English literature was directed by mental attitudes opposite to victorian mindset.

Everything was held upon to question

G.B.Shaw gave three watch words:-

1)Question!

2)Test!

3)Examine!

This caused people question every religious dogma.It is very difficult to differentiate when particular movement in history began or ended. We cannot give exact dates. But then even various critics have tried to put Modern age into different periods.

When any new thing starts in history it doesn’t became particular movement rapidly. But after a long time people realizes the traces, seeds of that movement or age/epoch, which later on recorded by historians by keeping in mind particular references. The same case happens with all the great ages or says The Modern age also.Categorizing is very much western idea. They see in linear way like rail bogies, whereas for Indians everything is in cyclical nature (life-death-rebirth). 

My point is that thus they differentiate history also in various compartments.Literature captures fluctuations of time/ society. Literature is affected/ influenced by society. So whatever was happening in early 20th century that time is captured in The Modernist Literature.

After this we throw some light on modern literature and thier characteristics:-

What is Modern? When we say 'Modern', it automatically signifies that there was something ancient or old. Then we can differentiate that things which are not ancient or old or traditional are modern.

Modernism:-

Although the term “modernism” generally refers to the collective literary trend in the early twentieth century, it more precisely applies to a group of British and American writers—such as James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot—who crafted carefully worded images in colloquial language. In the broader sense of “modernism,” early- twentieth-century writers broke up the traditional plot structure of narratives, experimented with language, fragmented ideas, played with shifting perspectives, and drew self-conscious attention to the very nature of language itself.

Here most important things is cultural movement or humane relations connected to thought to represent many of creations.some point out important is modernism movement.

Ø Modernism is a comprehensive movement which began in the closing years of the 19th century and has had a wide influence internationally during much of the 20th century. 

Characteristics:-

1)Modernism marks a strong and intentional break with tradition and it is also related to politics, religion etc.. Though modernism becomes prominent after traditionalism so knowing the difference between these two ‘ism’ is important. Traditionalism, which is based on tradition, is a dominant way of life.

 2)There are always pre-determined rules, explanations for people and their life in traditionalism. Objectivism is another important point in traditionalism. There is one truth for everything in traditionalism.

 3)High class people are more important than middle or low class people in traditionalism because it gives importance for elevated style. On the other hand, as modernism is a break with tradition, so this break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views.

 4)According to modernism, there is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative. Another thing, where in traditionalism objectivism is an important point, modernism gives importance to subjectivism.

5)Championship of the individual through the celebration of inner strength is one of the most prominent characteristics of modernism and in this regard it differs from realism. This ‘ inner strength’ of the individual is expressed through four literary ‘isms’- subjectivism, impressionalism, expressionalism and surrealism.

 6)Realism attempts to portray external objects and events as the common or middle class people see them in every day life, impressionalism tries to portray the psychological impression that these objects and events make on characters, emphasizing the role of individual perception and exploring the nature of conscious and subconscious mind.

 7)Whereas realism attempts to portray external objects and events, expressionalism tries to explain the inner vision, emotion or spiritual reality.

 8)Whereas, realism attempts to portray external objects and events as they are verisimilituded, surrealism tries to liberal the subconscious to see connection overlooked by the logical mind.

Conclusion:-

     A literary and artistic movement that provided a radical breaks with traditional modes of Western art, thought, religion, social conventions, and morality. Major themes of this period include the attack on notions of hierarchy; experimentation in new forms of narrative, such as stream of consciousness; doubt about the existence of knowable, objective reality; attention to alternative viewpoints and modes of thinking.

Word count:-1494