Hello 
and welcome to today’s session of NPTEL
course, the history of English language and
literature.
The journey that we began looking at the old
English period onwards has now
culminated in the beginning of 20th century
with the inaugural and the epoch making moment
of
Modernism.
From the beginning, we have been noticing
that each age is dominated by particular
characteristics and traits but there is also
a sense of continuity which ensures that literary
history
makes more sense and also that there is a
sense of coherence which gives an overall
significance,
relevance and meaning to this entire process
of cover literary history.
But however, we also begin to realise that
once we have reached Modernism, much of this
coherene seems to break down.
It is no longer possible to have a linear
discussion or a linear
presentation of narratives in a chronological
fashion because multiple things are happening
at the
same time, it is no longer the dominance of
a single genre or a single set of representative
writers
but there are various influences coming in.
We are no longer able to differentiate between
the
various influences, the various publications
and also the various forms of writings, the
forms of
artistic expressions that are being delivered.
So this makes the 20 th century less easy
to define
and more complex to access.
And compared to all the ages and literary
periods put together, we realise that the
20 th century
has got much more literature and it also has
got an immense amount of cultural production
to its
credit, makes the beginning of this journey
an all the more complex process.
And however, all of
this complexity and all of this incoherence
is together captured in a single term, Modernism.
In terms of a periodisation, it is again a
little difficult to periodise and to structurally
engage with
the idea of Modernism.
Many historians are of different opinions
about the periodisation of the
modernist period.
Some of them have even located different starting
points and it all depends on
the kind of perspective that one uses and
also the paradigm from which one tries to
engage with
this event or this epoch making moment of
Modernism.
It would be safe to say that the generally
accepted period of Modernism is from 1895
till 1945.
We notice that it is a long ranging period
and it is also difficult to identify a single
influence that
could be seen as the most representative one
of this period.
There is a consensus that Modernism
proper, it happened between the 2 world wars
and that since it can also be seen the specially
the
period of high modernism, it can also be seen
as a literary period or an artistic period
sandwiched
between the 2 world wars.
There is also a more or less a consensus that
access about the fact the literary phenomenon
of
Modernism, it may choose during the 2 world
wars, particularly the 2 world wars happening
in
1914 to 18 and 1939 to 1945.
These 2 world wars, they were also world changing
events which
began to change the understanding of the world
in the ways which were hitherto unknown to
the
mankind.
And in literature and in the general art forms
in general, its implications has been
tremendous which we shall be taking a look
at in one of the later sessions.
Accordingly, the period of high modernism
has been identified from the year 1910 till
about
1930.
It is again useful to remember that none of
these dates are rigid.
They are only placed here
for the convenience of discussion and as and
when we progress through our discussion of
Modernism, we will begin to notice that there
are multiple overlaps.
There are also ways in
which we will be forced to go back and forth
through this age, through different periods
and
ages.
Some of the important figures who were prominent
in the modernist period were Elliot
James Joyce, Pound, Woolf, Wallace Stevens,
Gertrude Stein and also Marcel Proust, Malame,
Kafka and Rilke though they did not really
belong to the British literature.
And this is also the appropriate time to recall
the fact that right at the outset of this
course, this
course had promised to deliver the set of
literary events which happened from Beowulf
till
Virginia Wolf, from Wolf to wolf.
In that sense, this lecture is also a culmination
of what we had
begun in the beginning of the course.
In one of the earlier sessions, when we were
talking about
the early image literature, we had identified
the significance to talk about the general
background
and the socio-political and the religious
events which informed the figuration and the
formation
of particular literary ages and accordingly
we have always been faithfully taking a look
at the
exhaustive background which informed a literary
understanding as well.
Accordingly we move
on to look at the general background which
categorised and defined the early 20 th century.
And as
stated in the beginning of this lecture, this
is going to be quite complex process as the
influences
and the determinants were not just limited
but they were was and exhaustive in nature.
Keeping in continuation with the age of Revolution
that we witnessed in the previous age, this
age also continues to be an age of difficulty
in terms of politics and society but at the
same time,
what makes the 20th-century or the age of
Modernism more distant is the fact that it
is also an age
of contradictions.
Accordingly from the beginning, we noticed
that this is an age of emancipation
and destruction in the same time.
We come across extreme situations of freedom
as well as
oppression.
This is a very promising period as well as
a very destructive and a very regressive
period as we would begin to notice.
And this was also in that sense, a period
of rules as well as achievements.
So it is with this
inherent understanding of the complexity and
the contradictions of this age that we move
on to
take a look at the various socio political,
historical, religious and cultural background
of the 20 th
century.
We noticed in our discussions of the Victorian
period and the 19 th-century that scientific
inventions were dominating the age.
So this trend continues even into the 20th
century and
needless to say that the dependence on technology
also increased rapidly.
It was followed by a rapid organisation process
and we also find people migrating in large
scale
to the city centres and also moving away from
an agrarian-based economy towards a more urban
technology-based economy.
Science during this time also emerges as the
most significant
discipline and it is no longer is about a
fascinating subject but it is also about the
one principle
that underlies human existence and redefines
various ways of existence.
Some of the important
discoveries of the early 20th century include
the discovery of DNA, of radio waves, and
theory of
relativity and steam engine and now we know
that all of these things had revolutionised
the way
in which mankind had been beginning to look
at itself in radical revolutionary ways.
However it was not altogether a smooth run
in the 1930s.
Worldwide, the modern economies
were hit with a recession, with an economic
depression which was also a difficult time
during the
World War.
So we notice that this period was at the same
time a period of much promise in terms
of science and technology as well as a rapidly
changing atmosphere.
What made this modernist
period more challenging than ever was the
presence of wars and conflict and violence
throughout.
The wars, specially the world wars fought
between different nations, it was not tragic
on its own
but it was also about the realisation that
man was perfectly capable of destroying what
he had
built and this was a very painful realisation
for most of the thinkers, writers and the
artists of
those times and even the common people began
to see the kind of dimensions with which wars
could affect them.
It was no longer the kind wars that two nations
fought with each other and it
was no longer the greed for power and money
which was driven and triggered by 1 or 2
monarchs or people in power but it had gone
out of proportions and the kind of implications
and
the consequences were also quite uncontainable.
And follow this was the realisation that cruelty
is an integral feature of human psychology.
This
again was something that the modern thinking
man had to come to terms with.
And this
obviously highlighted the fragile nature of
human existence and we also begin to notice
that
around this time, following the scientific
discovery of those times and also the rapid
ways in
which people were trying to conquer each other
through commerce, through trade and also
various forms of colonisation there is also
a subtle realisation that human existence
in spite of all
these powerful strides made ahead, it is a
very fragile form of existence.
So towards the end, what the wars left behind
was not a sense of success or a sense of national
satisfaction but only a sense of the discovery
of hopelessness of courage in the face of
war.
This
was a very new realisation given the fact
that in the early times, if you remember the
discussions
that we have had about the various wars that
England had fought with France or with Spain,
always at the end of the war, there was a
sense of national accomplishment, national
consciousness was getting cemented after every
success that they have reached.
But from the
time onwards, the result of war was not about
success or of happiness but was an inherent
sense
of loss that one had to face with irrespective
of whether one was in the winning side or
in the
losing side.
And keeping in tune with this hopelessness
of those times, the artists preferred to explore
the
mind rather than the real world.
This also allowed them to escape from the
real world which they
found difficult to comprehend and difficult
to negotiate with.
In that sense we also find the
emergence of a literature of escape which
we shall be looking at in detail in the following
sections.
Entertainment industry dominated by various
forms of entertainment such as radio,
cinema and other kinds of mass cultural productions
began to flourish in different parts of
Europe including Britain and this was also
the time that the onslaught of the American
mass
culture was becoming fascinating as well as
quite threatening to the entire world culture.
The publishing industry was also flourishing
in a hitherto unseen manner and we find the
publishers coming up with a number of low
price editions and paperbacks in order to
make
books cheaply available to everyone across
and we also find a growing interest in reading
and
also in procuring books.
The circulating libraries which had begun
in the 19 th-century, they also
began to be state owned and also libraries
begin to define the pride of a nation and
the pride of a
thinking and a reading community.
And we find a lot of revolutionary aspects
being transmitted and carried to different
parts of the
world through the dissemination of knowledge
and books as well.
Again keeping in tune with the
contrast and the complexity that we spoke
about in the beginning, this age continues
to be an age
of contradictions and rightfully this is an
age of ideological conflicts of different
nature.
We find
the world getting divided along capitalist
and communist lines.
There was also the emergence of
Cold War after the Second World War and also
most of the modern nations, we find them
resorting to an excessive form of militarisation.
And this period also witnessed the beginning
of rebellion against the British imperialism.
Accordingly, there is a growing national sentiment
in most of the colonies and there is also
a
progress and a move towards decolonisation.
We find many of the countries in Africa and
Asia
responding to this call and also the emergence
of the Commonwealth and the postcolonial
literatures also follow.
This time was a critical period and a period
of crisis for different
populations across the world.
We find a large-scale refugee movement and
genocidal wars happening in different parts
of the
world.
This was also the time of ethnic cleansing
in different tribes and communities across
the
world.
Though this did not affect Britain or the
urban modern economies placed in the continent
of Europe, we find all intellectually responding
to many of these adverse things happening
across
the world.
It was no longer possible to stay aloof from
whatever was happening outside the
geographical territory of one’s own country.
In that sense, Britain continues to be affected
by many of these things happening and we find
the
writers and thinkers, the statesman, the actors
and all thinking people of the island of Britain
responding to many of the things which were
happening.
This was also the time worldwide many
nations were trying to deal with issues such
as racism, poverty and unemployment and this
was
significantly also the beginning and the progress
of civil rights movement in the USA which
also
had a direct implication within Britain.
And gradually, we find the emergence of another
power block together identified as the Third
world and also the beginning of the ideals
of neo-colonialism.
Coming back to the main focus of
our discussion, we come back to take a look
at what exactly Modernism is.
It would be perhaps appropriate to begin by
locating Modernism from the publication of
Darwin’s On the origin of species.
This was the time put the existence of God
into radical
question.
And accordingly, perhaps it is quite right
to say that Modernism is a post Darwinian
phenomenon.
Some critics and historians were also to opinion
that it will be difficult to locate
Modernism without trying to understand the
significances that Darwin and his theory of
evolution had on the history of mankind.
Another important work was the psychological
works of Sigmund Freud and this again adding
to
the helplessness that the mankind in general
was feeling during that time, it gave another
impression that culture in general is driven
by the unconscious and not by human intention.
This
made the human beings a mere passive observance
in the face of many things which were
happening and being dictated by the unconscious
elements of the mind.
Sir James Frazer’s
anthropological writings were also quite influential
in changing the ways in which the idea of
a
culture, of community and mankind in general
was being fashioned.
Frazer’s Golden Bough had since became a
very significant and a definitional work in
trying to
bring about new sorts of changes.
Nietzche, the philosopher, he came up with
this idea that God
is dead and again we find a way in which the
ideals which were being questioned by Darwin
from the 19th century onwards being further
cemented and also a growing interest of the
population from different parts of the world
on the various forms of atheism.
And all of this
again that we reiterate was happening between
the 2 world wars and the world wars also made
it
all the more difficult for the people to engage
with and negotiate with the new sorts of
intellectual challenges which were coming
up in the of psychology, in the form of atheism
and
also in the form of newer forms of anthropological
understanding.
If we try to analyse the term Modernism, it
derives from the Latin term, modo meaning
current.
There are many controversies about the company
and the ways in which the term be defined
and
understood.
And a number of writers have written about
it and they continue to engage with the
various forms of Modernism which was available
for consumption.
Literary Modernism instantly
was spread all over Europe and accordingly
as we stated at the beginning, it is very
difficult to
situate one particular influence or one set
of influences which led to the event of Modernism.
And at this point, it is also very important
to differentiate the term Modernism from that
of
modernity which we will here try to define
modernity based on the understanding given
by
Pramod Nayar’s literary history.
It is yes, modernity is a period in human
history from roughly the Enlightenment which
happened in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
marked by the division of the religious and
the
secular, the increasing mechanisation of the
world, the rise of industrial capitalism,
the increased
role of the state, the increased regulation
of time and space and the discourses of emancipation
of
women, working classes, et cetera.
So we, one should always keep this inherent
distinction in
mind as we progress to discuss Modernism.
Modernism is not modernity.
Modernity is a long-standing phenomenon, a
more abstract kind of thing which a more extract
sort of phenomenon, a term which is used to
talk about the a wide ranging multiple forms
of
influences which began to shape and reshape
the world from the period of Enlightenment
onwards.
But Modernism is a particular period which
could be historically and chronologically
situated just in the beginning of the 20th
century.
So moving on, we need to have a better
understanding of what exactly this term Modernism
is.
It could be understood in 2 different ways.
One, as a historical period and secondly as
a state of
mind.
And we have already noted what the historical
period meant.
We have taken a look at the
periodisation, the rough chronological understanding
of the term and also the various events
which were dominating the period in the beginning
of the 20 th century.
Altogether, we also
noticed that historically, it is a period
which called for a radical re-examination
of Western
culture.
One of the oft quoted line from the poet Yeats
would be quite appropriate to talk about
this historical condition, “Things fall
apart; the centre cannot hold”.
So keeping this in mind, we will try to understand
what exactly a modernist state of mind is.
A
modernist mind had much delight in radically
rejecting tradition and it was always trying
out
new things.
And Modernism was completely divorced from
the philosophical, moral and artistic
traditions of the past.
And in that sense, keeping in mind the many
discussions that we have had
about the transition from one age to the other,
we often find that there is a way in which
at least
some of the aspects of the previous age would
come into the following age by enabling us
to
identify certain thread of continuity.
But here the continuity is found in a radically
different way in the sense that Modernism
comes
into being by rejecting whatever had been
happening in the previous decade and in the
previous
century.
Altogether, it was a movement that embraced
the new and also create a lot for
originality.
Most of the times, we also notice that this
craving for the new was also a very
deliberate, conscious decision and it was
not about whether one was capable of making
it new or
not but one had to make it new whatever the
case be.
As Harold Rosenberg puts it, it was the
tradition of the new.
We find how interesting with this race is
coined.
It was not about the existing traditions but
it
was about introducing a new thing which itself
will become a tradition on the whole.
Some of the
historians also used to jokingly point out
that Modernism as a chronological state of
mind, it
could be understood as the beginning, middle
and then end but not necessarily in that order.
So
we also find the modernist writers and artists
challenging the sense of order in multiple
ways and
do not resorting to any form of traditional
understanding of any literary genre or any
form of
writing or any thematic understanding.
The Rucklet’s history of literature, it
has got an interesting description to talk
about the state of
mind in the Modernist period.
It goes like this.
What went out was a narrative, description,
rational exposition; what emerged focused
on stream of consciousness, images in poetry,
a new
use of universal myth and a sense of fragmentation
of both individuality and of concepts such
as
space and time.
So we notice that everything which was traditionally
understood as literature, is
also driven out and in the in its place, we
find uniforms, newer techniques and newer
genres
taking place.
This particular frame of mind which rejected
the tradition did not have any faith in the
idea of
progress which was being defined in the beginning
of the 20th century.
So there was also a radical
rejection of whatever is seen as progressive
and revolutionary and we also find accordingly
a
progressive move towards the idea of fragmentation.
So because a breaking down of all the
traditional systems necessarily had to lead
to a sort of fragmentation and we find a breaking
down and the fragmentation of a lot of things
including ideology, culture and whatever was
traditionally acceptable.
And we find most of the people abandoning
moral, religious and philosophical traditions
as well.
And this is what led to the crisis and dilemma
of the Modernist period.
Here, there is a continuity
that we can begin to identify from the Victorian
era and some of the historians have also pointed
out that Modernism is the logical endpoint
of the Victorian era.
So maybe we begin to sense that this was a
sea of trouble.
It is difficult to identify particular
moments or particular influences but rather,
it is an amalgamation of many different crisis
coming together.
We also accordingly find the coming together
of various literary movements
such as aestheticism, classicism, cubism,
imagism, symbolism, dadaism, vorticism,
impressionism, expressionism, surrealism and
one could certainly come up with a few more
and
this we shall be taking a look at when we
progress with the discussion on Modernism.
The political changes were also varying in
nature.
This was the time of 2 world wars and also
the
Russian Revolution and the German Fascism.
We find that the move towards democracy which
was being celebrated in the Victorian era,
it did not really culminate in a proper democracy
but it
had to go through a very turbulent path leading
to a lot of crisis in many nations.
Many critics have tried to define coherently
this company Modernism.
Malcolm Bradbury, one
of the well-known critics of the 20th-century,
he says Modernism is a whole cluster of
international movements and tendencies, which
are actually often at greater variance with
one
another.
We begin to see how confusing the definitions
also are and altogether, this is a sense of
discontinuation with the past and the awareness
of the corroding effects of the modern
metropolis and monstrous industry and the
failure of Western civilisation.
And what continues to dominate this period
is the conscious sense of new and modern because
there was an understanding with the writers
and thinkers of the time that only if one
moves away
from the past which has not really resulted
in many good things only then perhaps one
could
save humanity from the many perils that were
imminent.
One of the most accepted definitions of Modernism
is by Peter Barry.
Modernism is the name
given to the movement which dominated the
arts and culture in the 1st half of the 20th
century.
Modernism was that earthquake in the arts
which brought down much of the structure of
pre20th-century practice in music, painting,
literature and architecture.
One of the major epicentres
of this earthquake seems to have been Vienna
during the period of 1890-1910 but the effects
were felt in France, Germany, Italy and eventually
even in Britain, in art movements like cubism,
dadaism, surrealism and futurism.
Its after-shocks are still being felt today
and many of the
structures it toppled have never been rebuilt.
Without an understanding of Modernism, then
it is
impossible to understand 20th-century culture.
As Barry points out, this is not something
limited to literature but it had a wide-ranging
impact
and again, as contrary to how we have been
taking a look at the British literary history,
this is
again not something limited to Britain but
a worldwide movement in which Britain is also
instantly a participant.
So this is a way in which some historians
have tried to approach the event
of Modernism.
It is about how to respond when life is continuously
giving you only troubled and challenging
things.
What do you do when life gives you lemons?
You make lemonade.
In the same way, in
the Modernist period, what was one supposed
to do when culture starts to feel increasingly
fragmented, disorganised and chaotic?
The Modernist writers and the Modernist thinkers
embraced this fragmentation, they made it
an aesthetic value instead of lamenting about
it and
they delighted and fragmented things and which
is why we have a series of things which defy
convention and also cannot be placed within
any form of traditional art.
So some examples could
be found in various other art forms.
Just take a look at this painting by Picasso
in 1970.
In this, we find the tremendous influence
of
principles of cubism.
We find that Picasso is deliberately moving
away from realistic depictions
of human figure.
In fact, it is not because we did not know
how to depict realist figures but he
chooses not to go by that form of representation.
Instead, he chooses to depict the artform
in a
more abstract manner.
And here, there is a deliberate tendency to
break away from the tradition
and also experiment with newer methods.
This was another revolutionary moment that
would be helpful to define what Modernist
art is.
And this was a kind of an art installation
by Marcel Duchamp in 1917.
This was titled, the
fountain.
This was placed in an exhibition at the Society
of independent artist.
Marcel Duchamp
was an American artist and painter and he
wanted to deliberately break away from the
conventions of all traditional representative
forms.
So in an art exhibition, he chose to come
with
this men’s urinal which he named as the
fountain and said that this was a form of
art.
And needless to say, this did provoke a lot
of outrageous reaction but nevertheless, it
was a
statement being made that anything could be
made into an art.
That one need not stick to any
particular convention or any traditional form
for it to be accepted as an art form.
So here in
Marcel Duchamp’s fountain, we find a dramatic
rejection of tradition and though not very
explicit, we find similar forms of rejections
happening in different art forms including
literature.
And here we also find him radically changing
the notion of art, forcing us to even wonder
within
which critical framework to place this particular
form that he calls as art.
And what is markedly
different in this piece known as the fountain
is a declaration of hostility towards audiences
and to
art itself.
We do not find a very friendly artist coming
and presenting his work of art but rather
a
very hostile artist who was quite indifferent
to the responses of the audience.
He does not seem
to care for the critic or for the audience
but only is concerned about dramatically rejecting
and
making things radically new.
And another significant factor which also
will eventually get translated into the literary
expressions of the time was that the artist
were capable of finding beauty in unlikely
objects and
in situations.
And this is evident in a lot of other forms
of art as well.
Though Marcel Duchamp’s
was a very revolutionary and a challenging
form of rejection of art, we do find that
this also
inaugurated a different moment in forcing
people to accept art without sticking to particular
forms of boundaries.
So with this understanding of the revolutionary
and the challenging form of
modernist literary form that lies ahead, let
us close this lecture in anticipation of what
lies ahead.
So that is all we have for today.
Thank you for listening and I look forward
to see you in the next
session.
