History
Which war impacted modernists greatly?
World War 1
Define modernism as a genre briefly.
Bold experimentation.
Moving away from traditional styles and themes.
Explain what Anthem for Doomed Youth is about.
It questions the glorification of war. It talks about young soldiers dying in vain and their loved ones not getting a proper funeral.
What did modernism reject?
Realism - plain language, linear plots
Instead, writers wanted to show what was concealed beneath the surface.
Traditions.
When did modernism occur?
Around 1890-1940/beginning of 20th century
What is the difference between modern and modernism?
Modern: new or contemporary, opposite of old-fashioned
Modernism: cultural movement in response to modernity
*Modernity: developments in many fields, progress and innovation*
What do "Hills like white elephants" and "The end of something" have in common? Why is that aspect modernist?
The stories both concern communication. There is a lot that is hidden beyond the words that are written in the story. The two stories also make use of gaps. Common thing for Hemingway to use the iceberg theory.
Three common themes in modernist writing:
Meaninglessness of human existence, the individual and subjectivity, multiple narratives, opposing tradition, the importance of the unconscious mind, war.
Who were two people who impacted the changes in science and psychology? (one in each)
Einstein - theory of relativity
Freud - theory of the unconscious mind
What is the iceberg theory in literature?
A text showing something on the surface and having a lot more hidden beyond the written words.
What is the significance of the black dot in The Lottery?
The family and family member who gets the black dot is the one who is doomed to death.
Death, ignorance, doom, randomness, pointlessness.
Name three English speaking modernist authors.
For example: Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Wilfred Owen, William Butler Yeats.
What historical events impacted the changes in traditional social structures?
Industrialisation, urbanisation and WW1.
What does it mean when we talk about fragmentation in relation to literature?
Something in the text is broken into pieces, dispersed or non-linear. It can be the plot, characters or the narrative form.
How/why can the reader question the reality in Heat?
The narrator knows too much. Was she there when it happened?
Is the description of how it happened real or did the narrator speculate or make it up in her dreams?
Name two narrative techniques that were used to convey that there is no objective truth and everyone can interpret something in their own way.
Shifts of perspectives, gaps, using fragmentation
Why did people's view on violence change?
Photos from WW1, journalists who had witnessed it firsthand and soldiers who had fought came home and told their stories, which undermined the heroic stories that were told about war.
Define stream of consciousness!
Interior monologues, fragmentation, used to give deeper character knowledge. Characters' thoughts as a continuous flow.
Jumping between a person's mind and reality. Switching topics without clear connections.
Name three reasons why The Waste Land is modernist.
Stream of consciousness
Fragmentation
Themes of despair, death and destruction. "End of the world"-feeling, war.
What are three questions that modernists were reflecting over at the time of modernism?
Who are we? What is time? What can we know to be true? What does language really mean?