FEATURES OF MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE
The period from 1900 to 1945 is generally considered as Modern Age in English literature. However, some critics and historians believe that modern age in English literature begins after the World War I (1914-1919) and ends after the World War II (1949-1945).
Modern age is the period of scientific and technological advancement. New discoveries in science and new developments in the field of psychology changed the life, manners and thinking pattern of the modern man. Moreover, after the World War I, man found himself in the world of disillusionment, frustration and psychological agony. Industrialization made the life hectic and materialistic. All these aspects brought about a deep impact on the literature produced during this time.
BREAK FROM TRADITIONALISM OF VICTORIAN LITERATURE:
Modern English literature is characterized by a break from traditional modes of writing in both prose and poetry. English literature during the Modern age is in sharp contrast to the previous Victorian era. People started considering Victorian age as a hypocritical age, having superficial and mean ideals. Hypocrisy of Victorian period gave birth to a rebellious attitude in the writers of modern literature. Things that were considered as beautiful and honorable during Victorian age were now considered as ugly by the writers of modern period. Modern writers started questioning the form, style and content of the Victorian literature.
THE PILLARS OF MODERNISM:
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) ‘Sons and Lovers’
James Joyce (1882- 1941) ‘Ulysses’
T. S. Eliot (1888- 1965) ‘Murder in the Cathedral’
G. B. Shaw (1856- 1950) ‘Mrs. Warrant’ Profession’
W. B. Yeats (1865- 1939) ‘The Land of Heart’s Desire’
John Galsworthy (1867- 1933) ‘The Man of Property’
INDIVIDUALISM:
In Modernist literature, the individual is more interesting than society. Specifically, modernist writers were fascinated with how the individual adapted to the changing world. Focus on the individual life of the modern man and how he struggles against various forces is mainly depicted by the modern writers in English literature. Modernist literature featured characters who just kept their heads above water. Writers presented the world or society as a challenge to the integrity of their characters. Ernest Hemingway is especially remembered for vivid characters.
EXPERIMENTATION:
Modernist writers made themselves free from the old Victorian forms and techniques. Poets abandoned traditional rhyme schemes and wrote in free verse. Novelists defied all expectations. Writers mixed images from the past with modern languages and themes, creating a collage of styles. The inner workings of consciousness were a common subject for the modernists. This preoccupation led to a form of narration called ‘Streams of Consciousness’, where the novelist tried to express the thoughts that actually took place in man’s mind. They tried to explore the sub-conscious level of the modern man. Laurence Stern’s ‘Tristram Shandy’ is a fine example of an unorthodox novel in English. The novelists like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, along with poets T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, are well known for their experimental modernist works.
ABSURDITY:
The death of millions of people in the two World Wars profoundly affected the modern society. Disillusionment and frustration of the modern life is well expressed in the modern literature. Life became meaningless. The violence of WW II proved that humanity had lost its humanity and meaning of life. Hence, this meaninglessness of life is expressed by the writers like Harold Pinter in ‘The Birthday Party’. Franz Kafka's ‘The Metamorphosis’, also presents this absurdity in which a traveling salesman is transformed into an insect-like creature.
SYMBOLISM:
The Modernist writers infused objects, people, places and events with significant meanings. They presented objects and incidents with multiple layers of meanings. Symbolism was not a new concept in literature, but the Modernists' particular use of symbols was an innovation. They left much more to the reader's imagination than earlier writers, leading to open-ended narratives with multiple interpretations. For example, James Joyce's ‘Ulysses’ incorporates distinctive, open-ended symbols in each chapter. T. S. Eliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ too is full of symbols. Eliot has used a host of symbols like that of Water (Symbols of Birth), Draught (Symbol of Death) etc.
FORMALISM
Writers of the Modernist period saw literature more as a craft, art or technique than a flowering of creativity. T. S. Eliot rejected Wordsworth’s concept of poetry (spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings). The modern writers believed that poems and novels were constructed from smaller parts instead of the organic, internal process that earlier generations had described. Form and structure was mainly focused in the modern times. Modern poetry often includes foreign languages, dense vocabulary and invented words. The poet E.E. Cummings abandoned all structure and spread his words all across the page.
IMPORTANT MODERN WRITERS:
Some of the most notable writers of this period include the novelists James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, Dorothy Richardson, Graham Greene, E. M. Forster, and Doris Lessing; the poets W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Wilfred Owens, Dylan Thomas, and Robert Graves; and the dramatists Tom Stoppard, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Frank McGuinness, Harold Pinter, and Caryl Churchill.
CONCLUSION:
All in all we may sum up the discussion by saying that modernism was a movement in English literature which started with the World War I and ended with the World War II. Modern English literature witnessed a deep impact of these two world wars. It came as a reaction against the Victorian literature of sophistication and hypocrisy. Focus is more on individualism and formalism. Frustration, disillusionment and meaninglessness of modern life are expressed artistically in modern literature with numerous images and symbols.
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