Modernist Literature Guide: Understanding Literary Modernism

Influenced by worldwide industrialization and the first World War, literary modernism was an emotional and experimental style of prose and poetry that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century literature.

Literary modernism allowed writers to express themselves in more experimental ways than in the past. Modernist works often contain non-linear narratives and free-flowing interior monologues that emphasize the experiences and emotions of the individual. Writers of modernist literature include Franz Kafka, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, Joseph Conrad, Samuel Beckett, William Carlos Williams, and W.B. Yeats.

Here are a few distinguishing characteristics of modernist literature.

1. 1. Experimentation: Modernist literature employed a number of different experimental writing techniques that broke the conventional rules of storytelling. Some of those techniques include blended imagery and themes, absurdism, nonlinear narratives, and stream of consciousness—which is a free flowing inner monologue.
2. 2. Individualism: Modernist literature typically focuses on the individual, rather than society as a whole. Stories follow characters as they adapt to a changing world, often dealing with difficult circumstances and challenges.
3. 3. Multiple perspectives: Many modernist writers wrote in the first person perspective with multiple characters to emphasize the subjectivity of each character, and add depth to the story by presenting a variety of viewpoints.
4. 4. Free verse: Many modernist poets rejected the traditional structure of poetry and opted for free verse, which lacks a consistent rhyme scheme, metrical pattern, or musical form.
5. 5. Literary devices: Many modernist writers rely on literary devices like symbolism and imagery to help the reader understand the writing, and to create a stronger connection between the text and the reader.

There have been many writers responsible for some of the greatest American modernist works, such as:

1. 1. D.H. Lawrence: The novels of David Herbert Lawrence explore the disillusionment that came with the aftermath of industrialization. His novels like Women in Love (1920) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) focused on the interiority of their female protagonists, tying in strong themes of sexuality that challenged the mores of the time.
2. 2. Franz Kafka: Franz Kafka’s work is often grounded in reality and takes fantastical or surrealist terms. One of his most famous works, The Metamorphosis, follows an ordinary man who transforms into a beetle.
3. 3. Gertrude Stein: Often considered the “mother of modernism,” Gertrude Stein was a feminist poet whose work incorporated stream-of-consciousness and experimental narrative techniques. One of her most famous works is the collection of poems “Tender Buttons,” which uses the sounds of words and fragmented phrases to deliver a particular image to the reader.
4. 4. T. S. Eliot: T.S. Eliot was a British poet, literary critic, essayist, and editor. Two of his most significant poems are “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915)—his first work, which made liberal use of literary allusions to Shakespeare— and “The Wasteland” (1922)—which provides a dark and introspective look at human nature.
5. 5. Ezra Pound: Poet Ezra Pound championed free verse and allusion, and is considered the one of first writers in modernist poetry to use imagism—a style that conveyed imagery in sharp, unadorned language. Some of Pound’s notable works include “In a Station of the Metro” (1913), “The Seafarer” (1911), and “The Return” (1917).
6. 6. Virginia Woolf: Late Victorian novelist Virginia Woolf is responsible for novels like Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To The Lighthouse (1927). Woolf incorporated stream of consciousness style into her texts, infusing the character’s interior monologue with emotion and complexity.
7. 7. James Joyce: Modernist author James Joyce is known for telling small, slice-of-life tales in experimental and evocative ways. Dubliners (1914), a collection of 15 short stories, discusses Irish middle-class life in the early twentieth century. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) was Joyce’s first published novel, which delves into the themes of identity and intellectual enlightenment. Ulysses (1922) is one of Joyce’s most famous novels, the events of which all take place in a single day, and serves as a modern parallel to Homer’s Odyssey.
8. 8. William Faulkner: William Faulkner is known for his Southern Gothic tales that incorporate unreliable narrators, multiple perspectives, symbolism, and nonlinear narratives. Some of his best-known works include As I Lay Dying (1929)—which follows the quest of a Southern family to bury their deceased mother in her hometown—and The Sound and the Fury (1930)—which tells the story of a Southern aristocratic family’s fall from grace through multiple perspectives.
9. 9. E. E. Cummings: E.E. Cummings was an avant-garde writer who incorporated a number of different styles in his texts, and was known for his non-traditional format and approach to poetry and novels. Cummings wrote almost 3,000 poems in his life, including “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” (1952) and “may i feel said he” (1935).
10. 10. Ernest Hemingway: Author Ernest Hemingway is one of the most famous authors in American literature, known for his novels and short stories that make economical use of adjectives, and matter-of-fact observations. His short stories “Indian Camp” (1924) and “Hills Like White Elephants” (1927) both exemplify Hemingway’s modernist style.
11. 11. Katherine Mansfield: Short story author Katherine Mansfield was influenced by visual art and psychoanalysis, and many of her stories contained epiphanies or important revelations about the main character. Some of her well-known stories include “Daughters of the Late Colonel” (1920) and “The Garden Party” (1922).
12. 12. Marianne Moore: Marianne Moore was an innovative, modernist poet known for her irony and literary precision. Her notable works include “Poetry” (1919), “Nevertheless” (1944), and “A Face” (1949).

Modernist literature focused on science, philosophy, art, and a variety of creative elements to examine the human experience. Postmodernism, however, eschews absolute meaning and instead emphasizes play, fragmentation, metafiction, and intertextuality. The postmodern literature movement in the mid-twentieth century was a reaction to the literary style of the modernist period, earlier in the century. Postmodernism embodied the disenchantment of the post-World War II era, rejecting the idea of absolute truth, avoiding deep analysis, and a focusing on subjective beliefs rather than science.

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