Modernist's Rejection Of Modernism, AndMake It New?

Modernism Modernism begins with World War I and the Great Depression and is the rejection of tradition. Writers in this time era began to question the authority and tradition that seemed to be the foundation of America. Modernists destroyed the American Dream. The modernist group ask themselves three questions. Who are we?

"Modernism, like any other historical literary period or movement, ıs a crıtıcal construct- both of its own time and its own actors, and of the ensuing critical tradition. In their own day, the modernists especially the Americans expatriated to Europe-self-consciously responded to what they perceived as a spiritually bankrupt modernity by inventing new poetic and novelistic forms ... ".(Norris 329)

Kuiper, Kathleen. “Modernism.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 02 DEC 15.

Modernism is the heartbeat of culture, or as Clement Greenberg (1992:754) states, modernism involves of what “is truly alive in our culture” and it includes more than just art and literature. Western civilization began to interrogate their foundations and progressed into a self-critical society (Greenberg 1992:754). This notion began with the theories of the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804); he criticized the means itself of criticism (Greenberg 1992:754). Therefore, Greenberg (1992:754) perceived Kant as the first real Modernist.

At one point or another in one’s lifetime, people let go one thing to try and move on to something bigger and better, whether it’s a new job or new way of life. In its entirety, modernism is similar. It can be defined as moving away from the traditional creations and activities towards news tasks formed by the individualism and freedom within a man or woman. For instance, in the poem “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, the speaker eventually moves on from his previous set of ideas to something new. Similarly, in “anyone lived in a pretty how town” by E.E. Cummings, the main character doesn’t feel comfortable with the repetitious structure of the society he’s placed in. This leads the main character to form his own opinion, uncommon to his society,

Modernism changed the scene of thought and brought advances in the world that has given reason to its distinctive status as a period of intellectual thought. Modernity and its shift in thought has given rise to what we would call modern and this reference point is crucial when evaluating the direction man is heading in intellectual thought and society as a

During the time period of modernism, society saw a massive shift, especially from the everyday life of people in the cities. With improvements being made in transportation and technology this shifted the way of life to a much faster pace, shrinking the distances between people around the world thus creating a more rapid pace of life. The emphasis on radical innovations left many people will feelings of despair, a sense of meaninglessness, and hopelessness. With the ever growing developments to society, a lack of traditional and cultural norms and beliefs in closely held faiths were strained. These concepts were much illustrated in the literature of the time. Literary figures such as T.S Eliot flawlessly depicted the perception of the troubles of the “modern man” in his poem The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, while also integrating the new way of looking and appreciating life will all the good and bad components, ideas brought forth by the forerunners of modernism.

The Norton Anthology of American Literature defines and explains American Modernism through a historical lens and further emphasizes the significant social changes of the era. The American Modernist era is situated between two world wars and a devastating economic depression. The anthology describes these impactful events as a catalyst for social, political, technological, and philosophical change. America lost a sense of identity and entered into a quest to find meaning in all aspects of life.

Modernism in its complexities derives from the notion that is an attitude toward divine truth (O'Neal, pp. 679-682, 1978). Sometimes difficult to define, it is a radicalisation across different types of disciplines and era throughout lifetime. In the present day perspective, modernism moves towards the socially progressiveness trend that builds on the whole power to recreate by improving and reshaping environments and social cohesion through the assistance of technologies, knowledge and experiments.

Modernism is to make something new; to destroy all previous beliefs. This is what people like Hemmingway, Stein, Picasso and many others did because they felt this way and expressed it in their own artistic ways. The modernist movement made a big change to the art that was being produced at the time the movement took place. These men and women that were a part of the movement might have been seen as strange to outsiders looking in, but they achieved marvelous success and became famous for their work. In today's world, there are many artists and creators that are doing things now that nobody has ever done. These risky works of art are being made and displayed for everyone to see. The artists are making powerful statements on how they feel about

Modernism was a movement that was developed during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Modernism developed due to the changes happening in societies at the time. Around the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century there was a rise in the industrial society’s where there were advancements in technologies and machines, and a rapid growths in cities. This lead to a change in cultural trends and philosophies, which is known as modernism. Modernism was well known for the rejection on traditional way, such as the arts and beliefs. It rejected the idea of realism and religious beliefs. During these years modernism could be distinguished by two aspects, High and Low Modernism.

The modernist movement is a time where the enlightenment ideas are rejected and replaced by truth and reality. The modernist writers began to use things such as ambiguity, alienation, fragmentation, and estrangement in their works to shock or surprise the reader. Many of the modernist works try to show readers that they cannot know every meaning of a word that is put on paper or if what is happening is real or fake. These concepts are reasons why the modernist movement became so important to this time period. The modernist made it so that one would question reason, truth, and reality leaving one unsure of what was happening.

The Modernist Period was first a reaction against the previous Victorian culture. Intellectuals and artists of the 20th century believed that the previous era’s way of doing things was a cultural dead end and they wanted to break away from traditions.

Throughout this essay I am going to explore a range of artists and show you how modernism changed throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s in photography, I am also going to explore Modernism in Graphic Design as well. “Photographers began to Work with Sharp focus and an emphasis on formal qualities, exploiting, rather than obscuring, the camera as an essentially mechanical and technological tool” (Artsy.net)

Modernism, a constantly debated term, is a philosophical movement that emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following World War I. Painters, writers, and musicians did not however perceive it just as a period in time, rather as a “commitment to experimentation in techniques, freedom in ideas, originality in perceptions, and self-examination in emotions” (Baughman, Bondi, Layman…etc,1) Writers, for example, like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Ernest Hemingway broke away from the traditional and conventional techniques to create their own literary voice. Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Woolf’s Jacob’s Room, and Hemingway’s In Our Time each exemplify distinctive styles in ideology, art, culture, and politics which eventually became what the modernist movement, also known as the avant-garde, appertained to. While their childhood’s affected their writing, Hemingway’s minimalistic technique of composition in In Our Time, and Joyce and Woolf’s prolific amount of attention to detail in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Jacob’s Room affected the growth of the modernist movement.