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MODERNISM Argued for cultural relativism, (Cultural relativism is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture- specific; what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality exists, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs. And believed that people make their own meaning in the world.
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Modernism
1918-1945
What is Modernism?
What is Modernism?
MODERNISM Argued for cultural relativism, (Cultural relativism is
the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture-specific; what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality exists, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs.
And believed that people make their own meaning in the world.
Value Differences in the Modern World
Pre-Modern World Modern World (Early 20th Century)
Ordered Chaotic
Meaningful Futile
Optimistic Pessimistic
Stable Fluctuating
Faith Loss of faith
Morality/Values Collapse of Morality/Values
Clear Sense of Identity Confused Sense of Identity and Place in the World
World War I:1914 (1917-1918)
WWI: Doughboys and Air Fights
WWI: Trench War Fare and Poison Gas
Russian Revolution: 1917
Social Snapshot of the Times
Result of Political Turmoil Revolutionary Ideologies Rise
Fascism The separation and persecution or denial of
equality to a certain group based on race, creed, or origin
Nazism Socialism featuring racism, expansionism and
obedience to a strong leader Communism
Control of the means of production should rest in the hands of the laborers.
Fascism and
Nazism
Communism
Social Snapshot of the Times
Scientific Revolution Quantum theory
Explains the nature of matter and energy on the atomic and subatomic level
Principle of Uncertainty In quantum mechanics: increasing the
accuracy of measurement of one observable quantity increases the uncertainty with which another may be known
Snapshot of the Times: Implications for Nature of Reality
Many-worlds (multi-verse) theory As soon as the potential exists for any object to be
in any state, the universe of the object transmutes into a series of parallel universes equaling the number of possible states in which an object can exist. Stephen Hawking posits the possibility for interaction between universes.
Copenhagen interpretation: nothing exists until it is measured: Schrödinger's cat (dead and alive)
Schrödinger's cat
Forces Behind Modernism
The sense that our culture has no center, no values.
Paradigm shift from the closed, finite, measurable, cause-
and-effect universe of the 19th century to an open, relativistic, changing, strange universe;
Characteristics of Modernism in Literature
Literature Exhibits Perspectivism Meaning comes from the individual’s
perspective and is thus personalized; A single story might be told from the
perspective of several different people, with the assumption that the “truth” is somewhere in the middle
Characteristics of Modernism in Literature
Inner psychological reality or “interiority” is represented
o Stream of consciousness—portraying the character’s inner monologue
Characteristic of Modernism in Literature
Perception of language changes: No longer seen as transparent, allowing us
to “see through” to reality; But now considered the way an individual
constructs reality; Language is “thick” with multiple meanings
and varied connotative forces.
Characteristic of Modernism in Literature
Emphasis on the Experimental Art is artifact rather than reality; Organized non-sequentially
Experience portrayed as layered, allusive, discontinuous, using fragmentation and juxtaposition.
Ambiguous endings—open endings which are seen as more representative of reality.
Cubism
Cubism—1909-1911 Art in which multiple views are presented
simultaneously in flattened, geometric way.
Futurism
Futurism—grew out of Cubism. Added implied motion to the shifting planes
and multiple observation points of the Cubists;
Celebrated natural as well as mechanical motion and speed.
Glorified danger, war, and the machine
Modernism Timeline
1914: Outbreak of WWI
1917: US enters war, Russian Revolution
1919: WWI ends, Einstein’s Relativity
theory confirmed, Prohibition begins
Modernism Timeline
1920 League of Nations
begins; 19th Amendment
granting women the vote
1921—Irish Free State proclaimed
1922—Fascists march on Rome under Mussolini
1923—Charleston craze
Modernism Timeline
1925— Image of human
face televised Hitler published Mein
Kampf 1927
Lindbergh flies solo across Atlantic
Al Jolson, first talkie
Modernism Timeline
1929—US stock market crashes;
1933 Hitler appointed
Chancellor of Germany
First German concentration camps
Prohibition ends in US
Modernism Timeline
1934—Hitler becomes dictator
1936—Civil War in Spain begins
1938—Germany occupies Austria
1939 Hitler and Stalin make
pact; Germany invades
Poland Great Britain and
France declare war on Germany
Modernism Timeline
1941 Germany invades
USSR Japan bombs Pearl
Harbor, US enters war 1942
Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Midway;
T-shirt invented 1944—D-Day invasion of
France
Modernism Timeline
1945 End of war in Europe Atomic bomb
dropped on Japan First computer built Microwave oven
invented United Nations
founded