English Literature 1 - appunti completi per l'esame

TIME BOUND ART FORM

Several dates have been proposed for the beginning of modernism, the most used is 1890, but we have also other ideas, hypothesis, formulated by modernist authors, because they perceived a transformation at the end of the century, they recognize that their work were different from the past, there was a change (trasformazione nel sentiment al cambio secolo.)

In 1924, Virginia Wolf proposed 1910 "on or about December 1910 human character changed", describes this transformation in human character, in this year, an important year in which the perception of human character change.

Media focuses on Roger Frye that organize a mostra of post of post impressionist paintings. (percezione della realtà ben diversa dalla percezione realistica). Frye was a member of Bloomsbury Group, a group of intellectuals, influence British art, aesthetics criticism ecc... Virginia also was a member of this Group. It has a big influence on Virginia's way of writing.

This work he express the post wart depression)

“The Ulysses” by Joyce (in this work nothing happen in terms of event, it tell a story of a common man who gets up and start walking around Dublin.)

and “Jacob’s Room” by Virginia Woolf (The novel is an examination of character and the life by series of conversation, internal monologue, and Jacob’s letters to his mother. Jacob studies at Cambridge and travels to Greece. He either idealizes or ignores the women who admire him. At the end of the novel objects in an abandoned room are all that remains of Jacob’s life).

Identify an end is a complex as it is to identify the beginning: different idea about the end of this periods. Some critic thought that it hasn’t got an end, but usually we say that the end is set around 1930, because the works that epitomize modernism had already been published… (1924:Dubliners… and others).

• Before modernism : narrative, description, rational

exposition• Modernism : stream of consciousness, images in poetry, fragmentation 1712 CHARACTERISTICS

There 12 important features that characterize modernist writing.(this period is animated by the motto of Ezra Pound – make it new that implied in poetry the upsetting of metrical convention. Ex. In writing meant the desire to describe the human mind in all it’s complexity. Nuove catergorie per capire e descrivere il mondo: in scrittura sono l’innovazione linguistica, I giochi di parole..)

1. CONCERNED WITH MODERN LIFE: there is an ambiguous attitude towards modern life. Some writers show a positivity and love towards modernity, technologies and the unrealistic movement that pervades modernity (connection with futurism). Some show a more reflexive and negative view concerning the modern life (ex. ugliness of the cities). In common they have idea that the world has changed. And what is the role of the art in this new world?
2. COMPLEX: there are many references (cultural, linguistic…),
lo stesso valore e sono tutte presenti contemporaneamente.5. INTERTEXTUALITY: modernist writers are constantly referring to other texts, they are in a constantdialogue with the past and with other works of literature. They use allusions, quotations, andreferences to create a network of connections between different texts.6. MYTH AND SYMBOLISM: modernist writers use myth and symbolism to convey their ideas and torepresent the complexity of the world. They believe that myths and symbols have a universalmeaning that can transcend time and culture.7. STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: modernist writers explore the inner thoughts and feelings of theircharacters by using the technique of stream of consciousness. They try to capture the flow ofthoughts and emotions as they occur in the mind.8. ALIENATION AND ISOLATION: modernist writers often depict characters who feel alienated andisolated from society. They explore themes of loneliness, despair, and the loss of traditional values.9. FRAGMENTED NARRATIVE: modernist writers often use fragmented narrative techniques, such asflashbacks, multiple narrators, and non-linear storytelling. They challenge the traditional notion of acohesive and linear narrative structure.10. SOCIAL CRITICISM: modernist writers are often critical of society and its institutions. They questionthe values and beliefs of their time and explore themes of disillusionment, alienation, and the breakdownof traditional social structures.

significato se vengono lette simultaneamente. The consequence isthat more attention is required.

5.IMPORTANCE OF THE MYTH: the myth is considered a frame work to contain and control reality.(the reality described by an author).For example: the Ulysse’s by Joyce – the myth is the Odyssey and it’s function is to create a referencepoint for the reader. (if I read a chapter called “Penelope” I can guess it will describe someone’swife). It’s Eliot the one that introduced the “mythical method” to describe Joyce’s technique andsays that Joyce uses the myth to create a link between past and present in order to give shape andmeaning to the modern time.

6. MAN IN HIS PRIMITIVE STATES: not seen as a return to the myth of the “Nobel Savage” byRusseau, but we are dealing with scientific curiosity regarding native cultures and languages. Theseelements are connected with the diffusion of British empire so related to the

colonialism and imperialism. On the one hand, we have a positive approach to this native culture because it is the real essence of human being. The writer believes in the authenticity of primitive culture. On the other hand, it has a negative connection because natives are violent and wild. It is presented in "Heart of Darkness" by Conrad: it's ambiguous because it's not the savage man to be negative, but the white men's travel and the consequences on the occidental culture. 187. It is more concerned with the mind than with the body: modernist literature focuses on the representation of the inner workings of the mind and its influence on the body. In this sense, modernist literature shows an awareness of the fluidity of consciousness and the force of the unconscious, as well as the division between the conscious and the conduct (social self). This awareness is represented in literature with the use of free indirect speech, free direct speech, interior monologue, and stream of consciousness.

consciousness. Dramatic monologue is a specific Victorian poetic form. It is a bridge between Victorian period and modernism. In anticipated modern narrative forms and gives the continuity between Victorian and modernist literature techniques. It was created by romantic poets.

Browning my last duchess in this monologue we have a full portrait of the duke in fact we are in the mind of the character and it is particularly important because we have only the description of the mind of the character. The role of the author is not to suggest a moral role but give an interpretation of this character. Were influenced by romantics poets but in their romantic monologue we have the description of the character in a psychological way and thanks to it we can understand the working of character's mind.

The stream of consciousness is the new form, the other techniques are frequently used but they are not new. On interior monologue and stream of consciousness there are two different approaches: in the

First position, there are two techniques of modernism:

• Free direct speech:
  • We don't have a shift between dialogues and narration.
  • There's no evidence of the presence of a narrator's voice.
• Free indirect speech:
  • Usually, we have the verbs which are back shifted in tense.
  • No reporting clause.
  • Presence of direct questions.
  • Use of colloquialism because characters' thoughts are described as the character speaks.
  • Interior monologue:
    • It is the language of thoughts.
    • Less attention to punctuation and syntax.
    • The structure of the sentence is rational and logical.
  • Stream of consciousness:
    • We don't have a logical passage between the parts. We have associating leaves.
    • Evolution of the interior monologue, the best way to describe the flow of thoughts in the mind.
    • Stream of consciousness and interior monologue are both used to translate a thought, but while the interior monologue uses a rational scheme, the stream of consciousness doesn't.

8. Dichotomy between self and mass: during the Victorian period

Great importance is given to the mass (the purpose is to teach), for the modernists in modernism there's a fissure between the artist and the mass: the artist was conceived as a part of the elite. There is a profound contempt for the mass-market considered as responsible of trivialisation of literature. In order to describe this was introduced the term ivory tower to represent this gap. It is the contrary of the perception of Victorian period.

ABSTRACTION vs ABSTRACT

ABSTRACTION is a procedure or a voluntary process that the artist uses to eliminate the traditional reference points in his work.

ABSTRACT is the distance between oneself and the concreteness of reality.

9. IT PREFERS ABSTRACTION TO EMPATHY: Victorian brings empathy (characters are similar to real people and they experience similar things because the aim is to teach). In modernist novels we don't find technical devices used in Victorian period because modernist authors want to

10. IT PREFERST THE CONCRETE TO THE ABSTRACT: concrete is the attention to peculiar because represents the complexity of reality. Dal particolare nasce il flusso di pensiero e la conoscenza delse.

11. CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECT MATTER: modernist authors were victims of censure because they work on taboos and thy don’t belong to formal frame.

In the modernist period there is a distinction between READERLY (based upon shared conventions between readers and writers, Victorian conception) and WRITERLY (experimental, denies and refuses conventions. It asks the reader to be more productive in creating the meaning of the text, modern, post modern, post post modern).

All these transformations didn’t arrive all at the same time, but it’s been gradual.

Harry James

Is a bridge author (Victorian – modernist). His works are based on the Victorian conventions but he→PSHYCOLOGICAL →creates something different REALISM he focuses on the characters

and he portrays their moral values. He plays with the point of view in o