Group Work Course American – English Literature Topic Introduction To Modern Voice Diversity Of Ethnic Literatures.pdf

Although this time period started off with prosperity, it soonbecame one characterized by two world wars and a severe economic depression.These events ushered in a new age in American li

MINISTRY OF JUSTICEHANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

-GROUP WORKCOURSE: AMERICAN – ENGLISH LITERATURE

Topic:

Introduction to modern voice: Diversity of ethnic

literatures

GROUP: 9MEMBERS: Nguyễn Trần Tường Vân - 442949

Lưu Vũ Hà Phương – 442943 Trần Nguyễn Thảo My – 442932

CLASS: HLU - 4429B (N02)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OPENING 2

CONTENT 2

1 HISTORY/ORIGIN 3

2 THEMES OF MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE 5

3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERNISM LITERATURE PERIOD 7

5.1 WITH BRITISHTREND 12

5.2 WITH OTHER AMERICAN TREND 14

6 BEST AUTHORS AND WORKS 17

CONCLUSION 19

America entered the twentieth century optimistically as a wealthy, strongworld power Although this time period started off with prosperity, it soonbecame one characterized by two world wars and a severe economic depression.These events ushered in a new age in American literature, Modernism, aswriters began to attempt to express modern life with their writings.TheModernist era was an era of boldness and fast-paced living In literature, the erawas characterized by a break away from traditional styles of poetry and other

Although their works were very different, Modern authors shared a commonpurpose, which was to capture the essence of modern life This purpose is whymost modernist literature was written in a pessimistic way Most modern worksreflected the thoughts and confusion of most Americans, especially during theGreat Depression and the two World Wars The chaotic literature revealed theinstability of the American people's mindset as they attempted to understandwhat was going on around them

CONTENT

1 History/Origin

a) The history of modern literature in America:

The history of American literature stretches across more than 400 years It canbe divided into six major periods, each of which has unique characteristics,notable authors, and representative works

 The Colonial and Early National Period (17th century to 1830)1770s-1860s: Slave Narratives

 The Romantic period (1830 to 1870)

1861-1865: Civil war takes place Realism and Naturalism (1870 to 1910) The Modernist period (1914 to 1945)

1914-1918: World War I takes place1930s: The Great Depression takes place 1954-1980: Postmodernism Period

1939-1945: World War II takes place The comtemporary period (1980 to present)

b) Signigicant events that affected the Modernist period

 1914s – WW1 begins President Wilson declares America’s neutrality 1917 – The U.S enters WW1 to “make the world safe for democracy” 1918 – WW1 ends

 1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote 1929- 1930 – The US Stock Market crashes /The Great Depression 1939 – WWII ends

American modernist literature was a dominant trend in American literaturebetween World War I and World War II The modernist era highlightedinnovation in the form and language of poetry and prose, as well as addressingnumerous contemporary topics, such as race relations, gender and the humancondition Many American modernists became expatriated in Europe during thistime, often becoming stalwarts in the European movement, as was the case forT S Eliot, Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein These writers were often known asThe Lost Generation

As a reaction to this trend, many American authors and poets began a trend of‘nativism’, seeking to represent the modern American experience in America.Notable contributors to this trend include William Carlos Williams, WallaceStevens and Marianne Moore These poets were often critical of the works of

expatriate writers such as Eliot and Pound, as evidenced by poems like Springand All.

Influenced by the first World War, many American modernist writers exploredthe psychological wounds and spiritual scars of the war experience Theeconomic crisis in America at the beginning of the 1930s also left a mark onliterature, such as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath A related issue is theloss of self and need for self-definition, as workers faded into the background ofcity life, unnoticed cogs within a machine yearning for self-definition Americanmodernists echoed the mid-19th-century focus on the attempt to “build a self”—a theme illustrated by Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Madness and itsmanifestations seems to be another favorite modernist theme, as seen in EugeneO’Neill’s The Emperor Jones, Hemingway’s The Battler and Faulkner’s ThatEvening Sun Nevertheless, all these negative aspects led to new hopes andaspirations, and to the search for a new beginning, not only for thecontemporary individuals, but also for the fictional characters in Americanmodernist literature

2 Themes of Modern American Literature:

a) Theme of Alienation and isolation

Alienation is an essential theme in modern literature as it responds to W.W I.modernist writers’ impact on the effects of war in terms of disconnection Forinstance, the speaker in T.S Elliot’s famous poem, “The Waste Land,” wandersaround a barren scene, trying to reassemble the ruins into some coherentmeaning

The kinds of narration additionally reflect alienation that modernist authorsfavoured In addition this thematic element was very common in modernistliterature as the protagonist typically is on the search of knowledge and in doing

so, in alienated or puts himself in isolation to enhance the path to knowledge.The sense of estrangement is also a sub-theme to alienation as it pertains toisolation of the character searching for truth

The theme of isolation shows not only in everyday relationships but as theAmerican people's take on world affairs The U.S desired to remain neutralthrough both World Wars, but eventually were forced into participation “InAnother Country,” by Ernest Hemingway portrays the isolation felt by soldiersand common Americans

b) Theme of Transformation

Poet of critic Ezra Pound’s declaration, “Make it new”, emphasizes theimportance of transformation to the modernist aesthetic Modernist artists areknown for refashioning classical or mythic forms For instance, T.S Eliot’spoem, “The Waste Land,” modernizes Greek mythology by alluding to Greekgods in the context of the modern scene of war

c) Themes of Consumption

Another important theme in modern fiction is consumption In the twentiethcentury, capitalism expanded across the globe, and fiction reflects thisexpansion by portraying consumer culture’s excess Don DE Lillo’s “WhiteNoise” is famous for its critique of consumer culture

The narrative portrays characters who are addicted to shopping—the leadingprotagonist shops in order to avoid thinking about death By assuming consumerculture with distraction, “White Noise” suggests that modern capitalism tries –but ultimately fails to overcome the problem of human mortality

d) Theme of confusion and disillusionment

These themes reflect the mindset of the American people and the feelings thatplagued them throughout the early 1900s T.S Eliot's "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock" is a good representation of the theme of confusion by not onlybeing confusing to read because of its fragmentation, but also by showing a man(Prufrock) who is grappling with decision making and trying to figure out whatclass of society he belongs in like many during this time period did The themeof isolation shows not only in everyday relationships but as the Americanpeople's take on world affairs The U.S desired to remain neutral through bothWorld Wars, but eventually were forced into participation “In AnotherCountry,” by Ernest Hemingway portrays the isolation felt by soldiers andcommon Americans

The theme of disillusionment is arguably the most common theme of theModernist era There was a disillusionment in the American people that the firstworld war would be quick and painless The Great Gatsby displays the theme ofdisillusionment in that he truly believes that he can recreate his past with Daisy.Katherine Anne Porter’s story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” showsconfusion and disillusionment that accompanies growing old and dying.Overall, this widespread disillusionment reflected the loss of values and faiththat suddenly occurred in the American people at the turn of the century

3 The development of Modernism literature period:

a) In Fiction

If one were to search for the writers whose work would be the most directresponse to scientific theories, an obvious choice would be a group of writerscoming to the literary scene in the USA in the 1890s and, some of them,continuing well into the twentieth century – the Naturalists The characters

portrayed in their works resemble direct expressions of Darwin’s evolutionarytheory and seem to embody the application of his concept of the “survical of thefittest” to literature Naturalism is often considered to be the second stage ofrealism; a stage in which the processes of realistic depiction were used topresent even the most ugly and brutal of events in which a protagonist isinvolved They usually include scenes of death, crime and descriptions of aphysical fight for survival In American literature they can be found, mostvividly, in the work of Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser the 1960s itbecame increasingly difficult even to define a mainstream.

In general, the writers and their works during these phrase responded to thechanged social, cultural and economic conditions in the USA, which in turnwere related to what was happening in Europe Their characters were notcarriers of romantic traits, but, as mentioned above, fighters dealing with allkinds of obstacles – from personal enemies and the enemy of the establishment,to almost cosmic forces of inescapable fate They were governed byunmanageable drives – inner and outer

b) In Poetry

This poetry abandoned all traditional form and sought to portray a single imagein time It was during this time that authors began to experiment with differentstyles of writing and earned American international acclaim

In Modernist literature, it was the poets who took fullest advantage of the newspirit of the times, and stretched the possibilities of their craft to lengths notpreviously imagined In general, there was a disdain for most of the literaryproduction of the last century

Leading up to the First World War, Imagist poetry was dominating the scene,and sweeping previous aesthetic points of view under the rug The Imagists,

among them Ezra Pound – who began the Imagist movement - sought to boillanguage down to its absolute essence Imagist poetry was almost always short,unrhymed, and noticeably sparse in terms of adjectives and adverbs At somepoints, the line between poetry and natural language became blurred This was asharp departure from the ornamental, verbose style of the Victorian era Gonealso were the preoccupations with beauty and nature Potential subjects forpoetry were now limitless, and poets took full advantage of this new freedom.

4 Features/Characteristics

4.1 Diversity

a) The Jewish tradition in American fiction

- This is evident in the works of Bernard Malamud; Canadian-born Saul Bellow,and Philip Roth

- Malamud’s The Fixer (1966) tells of the suffering of a Russian Jew who isaccused of ritual murder of a child but refuses to succumb to bitterness.- Saul Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976; many of hisworks revolve around Jewish intellectuals and their quest for self-knowledge

b) African American

- Female writers appeared at the forefront of American literature.- From her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), through Beloved (1988) andParadise (1998), Toni Morrison cast an unblinking eye on slavery and itslegacies while also offering hope, particularly in the strength of bonds amongwomen Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993

- Other African American women whose prose enriched late 20th-centuryliterature were Alice Walker, best known for The Color Purple (1982), and

Gloria Naylor, who received a National Book Award for her first novel, TheWomen of Brewster Place (1982).

20th-d) Asian American

- Much of Asian American literature deals with the inevitable conflictsexperienced by those who bridge two cultures Modernity and Americanizationare typically the realm of youth, while traditional culture and history remain thedying province of their elders

- Woman Warrior (1976) and China Men (1980), by Maxine Hong Kingston,blend the old and new in an interweaving of legend and narration

4.2 Individuality

In Modernist literature, the individual is more interesting than society.Specifically, modernist writers were fascinated with how the individual adaptedto the changing world In some cases, the individual triumphed over obstacles.For the most part, Modernist literature features characters who just kept theirheads above water Writers presented the world or society as a challenge to theintegrity of their characters Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) is especiallyremembered for vivid characters who accepted their circumstances at face valueand persevered

4.3 Experimentation

Modernist writers broke free of old forms and techniques Novelists defied allexpectations Writers mixed images from the past with modern languages andthemes, creating a collage of styles The inner workings of consciousness were acommon subject for modernists This preoccupation led to a form of narrationcalled stream of consciousness, where the point of view of the novel meandersin a pattern resembling human thought Authors James Joyce and VirginiaWoolf, along with poets T.S Eliot and Ezra Pound, are well known for theirexperimental Modernist works

4.4 Absurdity

The carnage of two World Wars profoundly affected writers of the period.Several great English poets died or were wounded in WWI At the same time,global capitalism was reorganizing society at every level For many writers, theworld was becoming a more absurd place every day The mysteriousness of lifewas being lost in the rush of daily life The senseless violence of WWII was yetmore evidence that humanity had lost its way Modernist authors depicted thisabsurdity in their works Franz Kafka “The Metamorphosis”, in which a

traveling salesman is transformed into an insect-like creature, is an example ofmodern absurdism.

4.5 Symbolism

Symbolism was not a new concept in literature, but the Modernists’ particularuse of symbols was an innovation They left much more to the reader’simagination than earlier writers, leading to open-ended narratives with multipleinterpretations For example, James Joyce’s “Ulysses” incorporates distinctive,open-ended symbols in each chapter

4.6 Formalism

Writers of the Modernist period saw literature more as a craft than a floweringof creativity They believed that poems and novels were constructed fromsmaller parts instead of then organic, internal process that earlier generationshad described The idea of literature as craft fed the Modernists’ desire forcreativity and originality Modernist poetry often includes foreign languages,dense vocabulary and invented words

4.7 Significant awards

If Europe has the Nobel Prize in Literature, then America has The PulitzerPrize: the most - wanted prize for American writers The Pulitzer Prize is anaward for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature,and musical composition within the United States It was established in 1917 byprovisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by ColumbiaUniversity Robert Frost, Eugene O’Neill and Carl Sandburg are most PulitzerPrize winners with 4 times winning