Introduction


F. Scott Fitzgerald

T. S. Eliot's corrected proof for his poem "The Waste Land"

Virginia Woolf
The dominant artistic movement from about 1900 to 1940, modernism was characterized by the reexamination of existence from every possible angle. Modernist writers sought to leave the traditions of nineteenth-century literature behind in terms of form, content, and expression. They realized that a new industrial age—full of machines, buildings, and technology—had ushered out rural living forever, and the result was often a pessimistic view of what lay before humankind. Frequent themes in modernist works are loneliness and isolation (even in cities teeming with people), and a significant number of writers tried to capture that sense of solitude by engaging in stream-of-consciousness writing, which captures the thought process of a single character as it happens without interruption. Some of the most famous modernist authors include Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce.

Essential Facts

  1. Open form and free verse are distinguishing characteristics of modernist poetry. Though commonplace now, this style was quite a break from nineteenth-century rules about meter and rhyme.
  2. The moniker “The Lost Generation” was coined by Gertrude Stein and refers to those artists of the 1920s who had become disillusioned with America and found themselves living as ex-patriots in Europe, chiefly in France.
  3. An example of stream-of-consciousness (also called “interior monologue”) from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway: “She felt somehow very like him—the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. She must assemble.”
  4. One of the most famous poets and influential critics of the modernist era was T. S. Eliot, whose seminal works like The Waste Land captured the despair and angst of the new century.
  5. “The Jazz Age” (1918-1929) was an especially productive period of modernist literature. The Jazz Age was immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his classic novel The Great Gatsby, which describes the decadence and sexual freedom of the post-World War I generation.
 

All Resources

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  1. A Farewell to Arms Study Guide (eNotes) - Ernest Hemingway
  2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Study Guide (eNotes) - James Joyce
  3. Catholicism and Modernism - 1940's Religion
  4. Ernest Hemingway
  5. Ernest Hemingway (Critical Survey of Long Fiction)
  6. Ernest Hemingway (Critical Survey of Short Fiction)
  7. Ernest Hemingway (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
  8. Ernest Hemingway (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
  9. Ezra Pound
  10. Ezra Pound (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
  11. F. Scott Fitzgerald
  12. F. Scott Fitzgerald (Critical Survey of Long Fiction)
  13. F. Scott Fitzgerald (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
  14. F. Scott Fitzgerald (Magill Book Reviews)
  15. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Modernism
  16. Fiction of the 1930s: Modernism for the Masses
  17. Gertrude Stein
  18. Gertrude Stein (Critical Survey of Long Fiction)
  19. Gertrude Stein (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
  20. Gertrude Stein (Feminism in Literature)
  21. Gertrude Stein (Short Story Criticism)
  22. James Joyce
  23. James Joyce (Censorship: Ready Reference Series)
  24. James Joyce (Critical Survey of Long Fiction)
  25. James Joyce (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
  26. Literary Modernism - 1920's The Arts
  27. Lost Generation (The Oxford Companion to AMerican Literature)
  28. Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance
  29. Modernism Criticism
  30. Modernism Study Guide
  31. Mrs. Dalloway Study Guide (eNotes) - Virginia Woolf
  32. Redefining Modernism
  33. T. S. Eliot
  34. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Study Guide (eNotes) - Gertrude Stein
  35. The Cantos Study Guide (eNotes) - Ezra Pound
  36. The Faith of Modernism
  37. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  38. The Great Gatsby Lesson Plans
  39. The Influence of Ernest Hemingway (Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism)
  40. The Oxford Companion to English Literature Article on Modernism
  41. The Sun Also Rises Study Guide (eNotes) - Ernest Hemingway
  42. The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
  43. Ulysses by James Joyce
  44. Virginia Woolf
  45. Virginia Woolf (Critical Survey of Short Fiction)
  46. Virginia Woolf (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
  47. Virginia Woolf (Magill Book Reviews)
  48. Virginia Woolf (Magill’s Choice: Notable British Novelists)