Modernist Literature

Modernist Literature American Studies Barnea/Knowles

Refers to a literary and artistic movement that started in Europe in the late 1890’s, then moved to America around 1910 • Often seen as “pessimistic”; has a sense of alienation, loss, despair

Includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views. • Modernism as a literary movement is seen, in large part, as a reaction to the emergence of city life as a central force in society.

Is marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. • Celebrates the individual instead of society

Given what we have talked about so far in class, why would this make sense? • In other words, why would people start to feel this way?

Modernist artists and writers often played with form-straying from traditional and accepted forms • The following is an example from a well-known modernist artist

Picasso-Three Musicians

Now for today’s author:Sherwood Anderson

Sherwood Anderson • American novelist and short story writer born 1876 in Ohio • Married and divorced several times; never held one job for a long time; writing throughout all of this • His most famous work is Winesburg, Ohio (published 1919) a novel written as a sequential series of short stories that all have the same main character, George Willard

Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and J. D. Salinger among others.

Modernist Literature