Modernism

One thing noticeable about the literature of the Modern Period is that the meanings and messages of the stories are not as obviously stated as the literature of the late Nineteenth Century.  And, while the authors of this period are just as well-known as those we’ve read up to this point, you have probably noticed that the content is even more convoluted in sections. Some of this comes from our lack of context about what life was like at that time, and what the particular social issues were. But, most of it is a result of the writing style that the modernist writers were developing.

Modernist Writing Style: The emphasis on allusions and revealing information bit by bit instead of using long spaces of narration helps to build these pieces in a new literary form than that of the periods that came before. Cummings’ poetry is perhaps the greatest example of this, as he very carefully chooses words that can have mixed meanings and be read in multiple ways.  Hemingway does this same thing in “Hills like White Elephants”, both with the primary focus on dialogue and with the strong use of symbolism.  These writers require their readers to “do some work” in order to understand the entirety of the pieces, and that can sometimes require that a reader read the piece more than once to really get it.

Politically Charged: The literature of the Modernist Era is politically charged, examining the real social problems of the day. Gertrude Stein dubbed this the “Lost Generation” and much of this came from a sense of alienation. America was in the aftermath of World War I by the time these writers were writing, and the impact of such a significant war with such great devastation in Europe definitely influenced their topics.