Modernism/Postmodernism

Modernism:
A revolutionary movement encompassing all of the creative arts that had its roots in the 1890s, a transitional period during which artists and writers sought to liberate themselves from constraints and polite conventions we associate with Victorianism. Modernism exploded onto the international scene in the aftermath of World War I, a traumatic transcontinental event that physical devastated and psychologically disillusioned the West in an entirely unprecedented way. A wide variety of new and experimental techniques arose in architecture, dance, literature, music, painting and sculpture.
As a literary movement, modernism gained prominence during and, especially, just after World War I; it subsequently flourished in Europe and America throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Modernist authors sought to break away from traditions and conventions through experimentation with new literary forms, devices, and styles. They incorporated the new psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Young into their works and paid particular attention to language – both how it’s used and how they believed it could or ought to be used. Their works reflected the pervasive sense of lose, disillusionment, and even despair in the wake of the Great War, hence their emphasis on historical discontinuity and the alienation of humanity. Although modernist authors tended to perceive the world as fragmented, many- such as T. S. Eliot and James Joyce- believed they could help counter that disintegration through their works. Such writers viewed as a potentially integrating, restorative force, a remedy for uncertainty of the modern world. To this end, even while depicting disorder in their works, modernists also injected order by creating patterns of allusion, symbol, and myth. This rather exalted view of art fostered a certain elitism among modernism.
In literature, there was a rejection of traditional realism (chronological plots, continuous narratives relayed by omniscient narrators, ‘closed endings, etc.) in favor of experimental forms of various kinds.
Some Characteristics of Modernism
• new insights from the emerging fields of psychology and sociology
• anthropological studies of comparative religion
• a growing critique of British imperialism, and the rise of independence movements in the colonies
• the increasing threat of fascism and doctrines of racial superiority in Germany
• the escalation of warfare to a global level
• the extension of democracy, without discrimination as to race or sex
• the increasing dissemination, impact, and influence of non-white cultures
• the entrance of women into the broader work force, and the development of social feminism
• the emergence of a new "city consciousness"
• new information technologies such as radio and cinema
• the rise of mass communication, and the growth of newspapers and periodical literature

Major characteristics of Modernism in Literature:
* A new emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity, that is, on how we see rather than what we see.
* A movement (in novels) away from the apparent objectivity provided by features as: omniscient external narration, fixed narrative points of view and clear-cut moral positions.
* A blurring of the distinctions between genres, so that novels tend to become more lyrical and *poetic, for instance, and poems more documentary and prose-like.
A new liking for fragmented forms, discontinuous narrative, and random-seeming collages of disparate materials.
* A tendency towards ‘reflexivity’, so that poems, plays and novels raise issues concerning their own nature, status, and roles.

Postmodernism
Postmodernism: a term referring to certain radically experimental works of literature and art produced after world War II. The postmodern era, with its potential or mass destruction and its shocking history of genocide, has evoked a continuing disillusionment similar to that widely experienced during the Modern Period. Much of postmodernist writing reveals and highlights the alienation of individuals and the meaninglessness of human existence. Postmodernists frequently stress that human desperately (and ultimately unsuccessfully) cling to illusions of security to conceal and forget the void over which their lives are perched.
Some Characteristics of Postmodernism
• There is no absolute truth - Postmodernists believe that the notion of truth is a contrived illusion, misused by people and special interest groups to gain power over others.
• Truth and error are synonymous - Facts, postmodernists claim, are too limiting to determine anything. Changing erratically, what is fact today can be false tomorrow.
• Self-conceptualization and rationalization - Traditional logic and objectivity are spurned by postmodernists. Preferring to rely on opinions rather than embrace facts, postmodernist spurn the scientific method.
• Traditional authority is false and corrupt - Postmodernists speak out against the constraints of religious morals and secular authority. They wage intellectual revolution to voice their concerns about traditional establishment.
• Ownership - They claim that collective ownership would most fairly administrate goods and services.
• Disillusionment with modernism - Postmodernists regret the unfulfilled promises of science, technology, government, and religion.
• Morality is personal - Believing ethics to be relative, postmodernists subject morality to personal opinion. They define morality as each person’s private code of ethics without the need to follow traditional values and rules.
• Globalization – Many postmodernists claim that national boundaries are a hindrance to human communication. Nationalism, they believe, causes wars. Therefore, postmodernists often propose internationalism and uniting separate countries.
• All religions are valid - Valuing inclusive faiths, postmodernists fall towards New Age religion. They denounce the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ as being the only way to God.
• Liberal ethics - Postmodernists defend the cause of feminists and homosexuals.


Some differences between modernism and postmodernism
Differences between modernism and postmodernism:
* Both give great prominence to fragmentation as a feature of twentieth-century art and culture, but they do so in different moods. The modernist feature it in such a way as to register a deep nostalgia for an earlier age when faith was full and authority intact. For the postmodernist, by contrast, fragmentation is an exhilarating, liberating phenomenon, symptomatic of our escape from the claustrophobic embrace of fixed systems of belief. In a word, the modernist laments fragmentation while the postmodernist celebrates it.


* In terms of tone and attitude: an important aspect of modernism is a fierce asceticism which found the over-elaborate forms of the nineteenth century deeply offensive and repulsive. By contrast, postmodernism rejects the distinction between ‘high’ and ‘popular’ art which was important in modernism, and believes in excess, in gaudiness, and ‘bad taste’ mixture of qualities. It disdains the modernist asceticism as elitist and cheerfully mixes, in the same building, bits and pieces from different architectural periods.

Literary Criticism/ Literary Theory

Literary Criticism: is a disciplined activity that attempts to describe, study, justify, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of art.

Literary Theory is set of principles or assumptions (conscious or unconscious) that undergirds one’s understanding and interpretation of language, the construction of meaning, art culture, aesthetics, and ideological positions. It is concerned with our understanding of the ideas, concepts, and intellectual assumptions upon which our interpretation of a text is based.

Syllabus

College of Arts Al-Hussein Bin Talal University Dep. of English
English Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory (0202412) Sun/Tues/Thur. Arts 207
Second Semester 2009/2010 Instructor: Dr Zaydun Al-Shara
Course Description:
This course aims at developing the students’ ability to criticize literary works through reading, discussion, interpretation, and evaluation. Students are introduced to theories pertaining to literary criticism, namely the traditional and the modern schools. The course focuses on the critical knowledge found in literature, philosophy and culture. Also the course examines the criticism’s influence by the factor of people, their ethical, religious and intellectual variables.
Attendance:
I expect a significant level of class participation. It is important that you be present during class time for lectures, discussions and group work. If you are absent from class, you may miss some required in-class reading assignments as well as quizzes, which means failure of these tasks.
Class Blog: for this class you will maintain your own academic blog posting every week and reading and responding to the blog of other student in this course. Your blog be created at blogger.com, and all the blogs will be connected from my blog at:
http://literarycriticismahu10.blogspot.com/

Evaluation: Office Hours:
5% attendance and participation Sunday/Tuesday 11.30-12:30
5% responding to the blogs Mon/Wed 2-3
20% first exam (within week 6)
20% second exams (within week 12)
50% final exam (week 16)
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1 Introduction, syllabus, etc.
Week 2 Theory before theory-Liberal Humanism
Week 3 Structuralism
Week 4 Poststructuralism and Deconstruction
Week 5 Postmodernism
Week 6 Psychoanalytic Criticism
Week 7 Feminist Criticism
Week 8 Lesbian/Gay Criticism
Week 9 Marxist Criticism
Week 10 New Historicism and cultural materialism
Week 11 Postcolonial Criticism
Week 12 Stylistics
Week 13 Reader Response Theory
Week 14 Narrative Theory
Weeks 15-16 Revision an final examinations
References
Barry, Peter, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002) [the course's textbook]

Eagleton, Terry, Literary Theory: An Introduction (London: Blackwells, 1997)

Selden, Raman, Practicing Theory and Reading Literature (London: Longman, 1989)

Welcome to literary criticism class

I would like to welcome you all to my literary criticism class at AHU. This class will be interesting with your active participation and valuable discussions.