Modernism (fr. newest, modern) in literature is a direction, an aesthetic concept. Modernism is associated with the comprehension and embodiment of a certain supernaturalness, superreality. The starting point of modernism is the chaotic nature of the world, its absurdity. The indifference and hostile attitude of the outside world towards a person lead to the awareness of other spiritual values and bring a person to a transpersonal basis.
The modernists broke all traditions with classical literature, trying to create a completely new modern literature, placing above all else the value of the individual artistic vision of the world; the artistic worlds they create are unique. The most popular topic for modernists is the conscious and unconscious and the ways they interact. The hero of the works is typical. The modernists turned to the inner world of the average person: they described his most subtle feelings, pulled out the deepest experiences that literature had not previously described. They turned the hero inside out and showed everything that was indecently personal. The main technique in the work of modernists is the “stream of consciousness,” which allows one to capture the movement of thoughts, impressions, and feelings.
Modernism consists of different schools: imagism, dadaism, expressionism, constructivism, surrealism, etc.
Representatives of modernism in literature: V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov, E. Guro, B. Livshits, A. Kruchenykh, early L. Andreev, S. Sokolov, V. Lavrenev, R. Ivnev.
Postmodernism initially appeared in Western art, arose as a contrast to modernism, which was open to understanding by a select few. A characteristic feature of Russian literary postmodernism is a frivolous attitude towards its past, history, folklore, and classical literature. Sometimes this unacceptability of traditions goes to extremes. The main techniques of postmodernists: paradoxes, wordplay, use of profanity. The main purpose of postmodern texts is to entertain and ridicule. These works, for the most part, do not carry deep ideas; they are based on word creation, i.e. text for text's sake. Russian postmodern creativity is a process of language games, the most common of which is the play on quotes from classical literature. The motive, the plot, and the myth can be quoted.
The most common genres of postmodernism: diaries, notes, collections of short fragments, letters, comments written by characters in novels.
Representatives of postmodernism: Ven. Erofeev, A. Bitov, E. Popov, M. Kharitonov, V. Pelevin.
Russian postmodernism is heterogeneous. It is represented by two movements: conceptualism and social art.
Conceptualism is aimed at debunking and critically understanding all ideological theories, ideas and beliefs. In modern Russian literature, the most prominent representatives of conceptualism are the poets Lev Rubinstein, Dmitry Prigov, Vsevolod Nekrasov.
Sots art in Russian literature can be understood as a variant of conceptualism, or pop art. All works of socialist art are built on the basis of socialist realism: ideas, symbols, ways of thinking, the ideology of the culture of the Soviet era.
Representatives of Sots Art: Z. Gareev, A. Sergeev, A. Platonova, V. Sorokin, A. Sergeev
Online tutors in Russian literature will help you understand the peculiarities of literary movements and trends. Qualified teachers provide assistance in completing homework and explaining incomprehensible material; help prepare for the State Exam and the Unified State Exam. The student chooses for himself whether to conduct classes with the selected tutor for a long time, or to use the teacher’s help only in specific situations when difficulties arise with a certain task.
website, when copying material in full or in part, a link to the source is required.
The article will examine such a controversial cultural phenomenon as modernism. The main attention is paid to the various styles of modernism, in particular, its manifestation in Russian culture and especially literature, as well as those characteristic features that unite all these numerous styles.
What is modernism?
Let's figure it out. Before answering the question of what brings different movements of modernism together, it is worth defining this phenomenon. Modernism is a very general designation applied to the culture of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. However, there are different points of view on the chronological framework of this phenomenon; some researchers believe that modernism is a phenomenon exclusively of the 20th century. This term comes from the Italian word modernismo, which translates as “modern movement”, or, more deeply, from the Latin modernus - “modern”.
Characteristics of modernism
The period of modernism not only in art (although in this area it manifested itself, perhaps, most clearly), but also in philosophy and science, is determined by a sharp break with previous concepts and experience, characterized by the desire to refute outdated principles and establish relevant ones, the emergence of new expressive artistic forms that were distinguished by their generality and schematic character. Sometimes the search for forms of expressing a subjective view of reality was an end in itself to the detriment of the ideological value and aesthetics of the work. All these features of modernism caused its negative perception in bourgeois society. These movements called into question his values. Bourgeois sentiments were reflected primarily in realism, and modernism and realism are directly opposite trends. The denial of cultural traditions, from antiquity to realism, is usually referred to as avant-garde (from the French “advanced detachment”), but this concept already dates back to the 20th century. However, the relationship between the concepts of modernism and avant-garde is still unclear; they are perceived either as interchangeable or as completely opposite.
Modernist culture
Modernism, in essence, was the expression of all the internal inconsistencies and contradictions that exist in bourgeois society. This happened both under the influence of the development of science and technology, and under the influence of global socio-political disasters. Conflicts and discord in society certainly had an impact on changing the psychology of people in the early 20th century, as did the emergence of technological innovations and communication tools.
Cultural and social stratification led to the emergence of two subcultures - elite and mass, the division into which is still present in society. During the same period, the concept of kitsch arose, closely associated with popular culture.
Without touching on art and literature for now, we can talk about modernism in philosophy, where it comes into contact mainly with the so-called philosophy of life, as well as existentialism.
The culture of modernism reflected the so-called decline of Europe, but the essence of this movement is not only in the depiction of the cultural and spiritual crisis, but also in the constant search for ways out of it. And if we talk about what brings different currents of modernism together, then this is, first of all, the fact that they all provide numerous different options for exit.
Modernism in art
The term “modern” is usually used to denote modernism in art. It begins to change qualitatively: if earlier authors depicted mainly copied reality, then from the end of the nineteenth century on canvases they convey their own view of this reality, their emotions and feelings towards it, thereby trying to depict the real reality hidden behind the outer shell.
Since the end of the 19th century, a huge variety of styles have emerged, the general term for which is “modernism”. Such a sharp emergence of new stylistic trends may be due to the fact that life during this period begins to change extremely quickly, everything is constantly changing, and along with the development of science, social relations, and politics, various styles in art and architecture arise, disappear and change. The ideas of “art for art’s sake”, “art for oneself” arise, and at the same time art becomes a means for dissecting the surrounding reality and overcoming its contradictions.
Among the most significant and notable are impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism, fauvism, futurism, dadaism, surrealism and abstract art. All these genres are characterized by a break with the image of objective reality, an extremely subjective view, elitism and rejection of the artistic heritage of previous eras - classicism and realism. The latter does not always mean only a complete break with early artistic experience, but also a desire to express aesthetic ideals in a better form.
New styles arose in different periods of time and in different countries, often among artists working in modernist styles. What brings different movements of modernism together if they were so different from each other? In essence, they were often united by nothing except following anti-realist tendencies and the desire to express their vision of the world.
The year of the emergence of the so-called Salon of the Rejected - 1863 - is often cited as the lower limit for the emergence of modernism. The works of artists who were not approved by the jury of the Paris Salon were exhibited there - and it was the main focus of European art of that time. The appearance of this salon is associated with the names of famous impressionists, therefore, this style is conventionally considered the first manifestation of modernism in painting. Modernism began to disappear closer to the middle of the twentieth century, when postmodernism began to appear.
Modernism in literature
As a movement in literature, modernism emerged on the eve of the First World War and reached its peak in the 20s of the 20th century. Just as in art, modernism is an international movement represented by various schools - expressionism, dadaism, surrealism, etc.
Three writers are considered the founders of the modernist movement in literature, who developed new techniques for working with words: D. Joyce, F. Kafka and M. Proust. The philosopher F. Nietzsche and the concepts of Z. Freud and C. Jung had a strong influence on the literature of modernism.
The literature of modernism consists of numerous diverse groups, united by the desire not to describe the surrounding reality, but to express oneself, which ultimately helped direct the focus of public attention to the individuality of each person and had a significant impact on changing the psychology of society.
Russian modernism
Modernism in Russia appears to be an interesting phenomenon. Here it was presented primarily in the literature and has a number of features. In particular, like all modernist movements, he had an interest in ancient mythological images, but in the Russian version of modernism this was reflected especially clearly; a clear focus on mythology and folklore appeared in it. Russian modernism was characteristic of that part of the intelligentsia that was most Europeanized. Just like Western modernism, modernism in Russia was to a certain extent permeated with sentiments of decadence, which especially applies to one of the largest movements - symbolism. And modernism throughout the world was represented by adherents of the coming spiritual revolution.
Modernism in Russian literature
Perhaps Russian modernism is most clearly represented in the literature of the 20th century. Among the main movements it is worth recalling Acmeism, Futurism and Symbolism. All these movements bear the characteristic features of modernism - the search for new ways of depicting reality and the denial of traditional art.
Symbolism
As a movement in literature, symbolism appeared at the end of the 19th century in France. Poetry becomes individual, it consolidates instant impressions, strives to become as sensual and expressive as possible.
According to symbolists, external and internal reality cannot be cognized in a rational way, therefore the artist-creator, through the use of symbolism, is able to understand the secret meanings of the world. Symbolism in Russia arose quite suddenly, and “On the causes of the decline and new trends in modern Russian literature” - an article by the poet D. Merezhkovsky - is usually noted as its starting point. He, Z. Gippius, V. Bryusov and others were one of the representatives of the older symbolists, whose works mainly raised themes of the uniqueness of the creator’s path and the imperfection of the world. The next generation of symbolists - the Young Symbolists - uses the themes of transforming the world with the help of beauty, the combination of life and art, among the representatives were Blok, Andrei Bely, V. Ivanov, this generation of poets can be called utopians. Thanks to the representatives of symbolism, the word in poetry received many additional semantic shades, the language became more figurative and flexible.
Acmeism
This phenomenon arose as a counterweight to symbolism, based on ideas about the clarity and clarity of the view of reality and its corresponding image. The word, in their opinion, should not be ambiguous, it should have its original meaning, the style should be laconic, restrained and expressive, the structure of the work should be strict and refined. The beginning of the existence of Acmeism is associated with the emergence of the “Workshop of Poets,” whose leaders were the poets Gumilyov and Gorodetsky. This movement echoes the literary traditions of the Golden Age of Russian poetry. Among other representatives of modernism one can name A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Kuzmin.
Futurism
Representatives of this most avant-garde of movements sought to create art that would radically change the surrounding reality. They were distinguished not only by the use of experimental forms of creativity, bold poetic structure and language, but often by the fact that they committed shocking acts and led an unusual lifestyle. Futurism was divided into several subgroups: ego-futurism, cubo-futurism, “Centrifuge” and included such famous poets as V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov, D. Burliuk and many others. The time of appearance of this modernist (and even more, avant-garde) movement is considered to be 1910, when the first collection of futuristic poetry, “The Judges’ Tank,” was published.
Modernism in Russian painting
Modernism has significantly manifested itself not only in Russian literature, but also in painting. Among the representatives of modernism in this form of art, it is worth remembering, first of all, M. Vrubel, I. Bilibin, A. Benois, V. Vasnetsov - the list can be continued endlessly, especially if we remember other artists who in one way or another turned to modernism in different time periods . Their work simultaneously revealed similarities with the searches that were taking place in Europe around the same time, but was also noticeably different from them. They are characterized by a certain conventional decorativeness, clear and sculptural faces and figures of characters in the foreground, ornamentation and large-scale planes of colors. All these characteristic features gave the paintings greater expressiveness and tragedy. The main themes that the artists addressed were those of death, grief, sleep, legend, and eroticism. In addition, a certain value in the symbolism of colors and lines appeared in painting.
Common features of modernist movements
So, in the end, we can say that the different movements of modernism are brought together by the fact that they all oppose themselves to realism and the values that realism reflected. Modernist works, regardless of the direction in art, were original experiments, a truly new, unexpected and unusual phenomenon in the culture of the late nineteenth century, constantly in search. Modernism and its stylistic movements sought to become a style in contrast to other styles that arose naturally and organically in world culture, essentially, regardless of the wishes of the creators. Perhaps the reason for such a short-lived existence of this movement was that it placed too much emphasis on individualism.
For a long time now I have been toying with the idea of significantly deepening the topics and issues discussed within this blog. Over the course of three years, a lot of advice has accumulated here, relating mainly to entertaining prose (prose that exists according to its own specific laws, tightly tied to methods of managing human attention), but it is naive to believe that the world of literature is limited only to light and relaxed reading. In the penultimate article we already discussed. So this area of fiction, called “intellectual,” “elite,” and God knows what else, for many inexperienced readers and even authors is an impassable jungle, an area of the dark and unknown, where danger lurks behind every bush. And I’m not here to say anything about danger. Modern intellectual prose often does not promise us pleasant sensations (of course, these stoned graphomaniac perverts only want to push the reader out of their comfort zone). But did anyone say it would be easy? Did someone say that life is honey and sugar, and literature will only bring positive experiences? It seems that this was not the case.
So batten down the hatches and get ready to dive!
But first, I suggest refreshing your memory (or learning, omg) some nuances of the history of literature of the last two hundred years. Carefully trace the stages of the evolution of prose and make sure that it does not stand still. I assure you that this will be useful not only for understanding future articles, but also for understanding the problems facing a modern aspiring author in our country. But there really are problems.
Of course, I do not have the opportunity or proper qualifications to address the issue with academic accuracy. I fully admit that in the course of my free story there may be some inaccuracies. Correct me in the comments, or better yet, kill me. The purpose of this educational program is not so much to teach someone wisdom, but to push novice authors to get acquainted with literature that they did not know.
Realism
I decided to start my story from the first half of the 19th century. Not only because it doesn’t make much sense to consider earlier periods now, but also because of the enormous influence of this period on all subsequent literature. What are we seeing at this moment? The Russian Empire successfully ended the war with Napoleon and is among the most powerful world powers. The military, political and economic prosperity continues in other areas. In particular, a time of such magnitudes is coming in literature that have not been seen either before or since, and which will subsequently be called nothing less than the Golden Age. The main direction dominant in the literature of that time was realism. Having replaced romanticism, realism captured the minds of Russian writers for a long time, so that we will see its representatives even in the progressive twentieth century.
For ease of understanding, realism- this is all the great literature that we were taught at school during the 11th grade, and which we are accustomed to consider as the standard of artistic expression. The list of names looks like a mighty dream team: A.S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, N.V. Gogol, A.S. Griboyedov, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, I.S. Turgenev, A.P. Chekhov, A.I. Kuprin, etc. In the twentieth century it is A.T. Tvardovsky, V.M. Shukshin, M.A. Sholokhov.
You need to understand that literature is closely related to other types of art, so we are not talking about realism as a purely literary phenomenon, no, realism is a direction in art as a whole. The main goal of realism is a faithful reproduction of reality.
Among the many features inherent in the direction of realism, I will try to highlight the main ones:
- Typical situations and conflicts that are well understood by the reader. In the works of realists, you will never see a hero saving the world from an impending disaster or foiling an assassination attempt on the king. Conflicts and themes are as close as possible to reality, clearly tangible everyday life. This is why we often see the so-called. the conflict of an extra person or the confrontation between a small person and society. There is no epicness in these works, but there is a well-recognized truth of life. And even if the reader himself has never found himself in such a situation, he can easily imagine with whom and when it could happen.
- Attention to psychological authenticity of characters. Unfortunately, reality is not always as bright and interesting as the reader would like, so one of the main means of developing the plot is bright and strong characters. It is no coincidence that many of the names of the heroes of that time became household names, they turned out to be so voluminous and memorable. However, we note that strength of character never denies its realism.
- Descriptions of the ordinary and everyday life of the heroes. It is not so important an element for the movement of the plot as it is an important link in the chain of creating a realistic picture.
- No division into positive and negative characters. Another important element that brings a literary text closer to reality. After all, in real life there are never entirely evil and completely good people. Everyone has their own truth.
- The importance of social problems. Well, here, I think, no comments.
The list goes on, but I hope you get the gist. A realist writer strives to depict life in all its details and details, to outline the characters with academic precision, so that the reader literally feels himself in the very setting, with the very people in question. A literary hero is not some kind of fictional demigod, but an ordinary person, just like you and me, who lives the same way of life, faces the same problems and injustices.
Now that we have outlined the essence of the movement, I would like to talk about the influence of realism on modern young authors. As I mentioned above, almost the entire school curriculum (if we are talking about prose) consists of works by realists. Yes, these are great things coming from the pens of great people. The heights of the Golden Age will never be reached again, but what does this mean in relation to today's youth? The hypertrophied attention of school education to the literature of the era of realism leads to the fact that young people only vaguely imagine (and in fact do not know at all) what the literature of the twentieth century consists of. The prose of the 20th century for a schoolchild is Sholokhov’s “Quiet Don,” Shukshin’s short stories and “The Master and Margarita.” Isn't that enough for a whole century? Graduates simply do not know how literature developed in the twentieth century; their brains are stuck in the era of realism. Like, there was real literature, and after that there was only fantasy and cyberpunk. And this is a serious problem, don't you think? The colossal gap in the education of young people gives rise to misunderstanding and rejection of the literature of the era of modernism and postmodernism. Yesterday's graduates, and now young authors, rush between the geniuses of the 19th century and modern entertaining fiction and do not know where to apply themselves. They are trying to imitate the luminaries of the century before last, not realizing that they are already writing antiques - over the past century, literature has come such a long way, having managed to renounce the greats and recognize them again, that our newly-minted author looks, at best, like a Neanderthal, showing up in skins to a social reception . And if not for these circumstances, I would now be completely silent and not talk about what every educated and well-read person should know a priori.
Modernism
Who would have thought, but the era of realism did not last forever. And although in Russian prose it still remains the dominant direction until the middle of the twentieth century, abroad the wind of change is already bringing something new and progressive to the surface.
Modernism - this is a direction in literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, characterized by a departure from the classic novel in favor of the search for a new style and a radical revision of literary forms.
Modernism was gaining strength already at the beginning of the twentieth century. The most famous representatives of the movement are: William Faulkner, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf. In Russia, the first significant modernist movement became symbolism. Simultaneously with its birth, the Silver Age of Russian literature begins. But when we talk about the Silver Age, we mean exclusively poetry, while prose here remains literally outside the scope of history. An ignorant layman may even get the impression that modernism is some kind of self-indulgence and nonsense that was used to entertain the West while our socialist realist writers continued, albeit with some degree of ideologicalness, the glorious work of the Russian classics.
Now it is difficult to identify any main difference between the new style and the old - modernism in its various manifestations tends to be different in literally everything. But there are certain, especially striking points that distinguish the direction of modernism:
- Experiments with literary form. Authors of the new generation are trying to move away from the usual form of the novel. The linear construction of the plot is replaced by a fragmentary, fragmentary construction. We can see the narrative from the perspective of several characters who often have opposing points of view.
- Mindflow. This is probably the most grandiose technique that modernism gave writers. The stream of consciousness overturns all ideas about literature and ways of presenting information. It allows you to capture the very movement of thought, to express complex nuances of the internal state that were hitherto inaccessible. And in this we see another aspiration of modernism - to reveal the inner world of the hero as much as possible.
- Theme of war and the lost generation. The beginning of the twentieth century with the First World War and the Great Depression could not but leave its mark on the themes raised in the works of modernists. Of course, the focus is always on the person, but his problems are completely different from those in the novels of the 19th century. The themes of the new century literature are becoming more global.
Another important point that must be mentioned when talking about modernism is a significant increase in requirements for the reader. If the literature of realism often did not imply any reading preparation and revealed deliberately everyday themes, understandable to everyone, then modernism is increasingly gravitating toward elitism. And using the example of the most notable novel of this period - James Joyce's Ulysses - we see that this book is intended exclusively for a trained reader. What does this mean in practice? And the fact is that when we see “Ulysses” at the head of the list of the most significant books of the twentieth century, we are indignant, even though we haven’t read it: “What the hell is “Ulysses”?! After all, there is “The Master and Margarita”: with the devil, a naked woman and a brutal cat! What could be more interesting?!” Dispute.
Postmodernism
In fact, giving a clear definition to the concept of postmodernism is not so easy. This is due to the phenomenal vastness and versatility of this phenomenon, the directions of which often acquire directly opposite features. Therefore, in the end we come to the simplest thing: postmodernism is what came after modernism, grew and rethought it.
Postmodernism is a cultural phenomenon of the second half of the twentieth century, rejecting the basic principles of modernism and using elements of various styles and movements of the past, often with an ironic effect.
The most famous representatives of the postmodernism movement (in our country) are: W.S. Burroughs, H.S. Thompson, F. Dick, G.G. Marquez, V. Nabokov, K. Vonnegut, H. Cortazar, H. Murakami, V. Pelevin, V. Sorokin, E. Limonov.
An important difference between the literature of postmodernism is that while modernism tended towards elitism, postmodernity is in close connection with mass culture, moreover, it has a huge influence on it. This became possible not only because of the simplicity of presentation and wide availability of books, but also because of numerous film adaptations. And this connection with mass culture, although it may seem at first glance to be something vicious, is in fact very important: once written, a work does not disappear somewhere on dusty library shelves, it continues to live and develop - in the form of films and TV series , computer games and numerous references in other books, films, games and even Internet memes. The rules have changed, and they have probably never been so liberal.
Let's talk a little about the distinctive features of postmodernism:
- Irony, game, black humor. The first thing that catches your eye in the literature of postmodernism is a change in the attitude of the authors to the stories they tell, a change in the tone of the narrative. What does this mean? If earlier realist writers raised serious social topics, placing heroes at the center of acute conflicts (personal or social), which often ended tragically, now writers often ironize about the problems of modern society. Many go even further, and tragedies become the basis for black humor. In general, irony is a powerful tool in the hands of a modern author. And not by chance. Irony, in my humble opinion, is the escape of a thinking individual from the immense pathos of mass culture. And although pathos and irony are two sides of the same coin, many readers categorically do not want to identify themselves with mass culture. And a smart author simply knows how to play on this.
- Intertextuality. The origin of this concept dates back to the era of modernism, but intertextuality is only now beginning to truly blossom. From the point of view of literature, this means that borrowing is now not bad form, but an indicator of erudition and a high cultural level. And the more odious the objects of borrowing, the cooler the author himself. Speaking about Pelevin, I already wrote that borrowing reminds me of a game with the reader, when the author pleases his pride by slipping in elements that an intelligent reader will definitely recognize, but whether others will recognize it is not a fact. In general, we have come to a state where repeated images, archetypes and situations roam the media space, which we have all seen a hundred times and will see the same number more. And there is no longer any possibility of passing off the old as new, and we feed others and eat ourselves the same pie, digested a million times and already devoid of any taste. This is where the time for irony comes in - like a good face in a bad game.
- Experimenting with form, mixing genres. In the era of postmodernism, authors did not abandon experiments with form: this is the Burroughs cut-up method, non-linear plots of all stripes, and time distortions. Increasingly, we are seeing a mixture of genres; elements of fantasy are being especially intensively introduced into everyday stories. And sometimes this turns out so successfully that it gives birth to entire trends, for example, magical realism.
- Magic realism. I singled it out separately as an original and very interesting direction, and as an example of the influence of the ideas of postmodernism on motifs that are well known to us.
Of course, it is simply impossible to describe all the diversity of manifestations of postmodernism with this short list, and I do not have such a goal now. But I think that soon we will look at them in more detail and using specific examples.
So what conclusions can we draw from all this?
First of all, the young author needs to realize that he lives in the era of postmodernism. Not in the 19th century among literary geniuses and illiterate serfs, but in the information space of the entire planet, where plots and motifs evolve from form to form and none of them is final. And if so, then he has every right to use all the baggage that was accumulated by the writers before him. Therefore, the primary task of the young author is to get acquainted with the achievements of twentieth-century literature. To independently fill the gap that school education left on his map.
But to understand, to realize all this baggage, it will take a lot of time and a lot of wisdom. Behind the boring, incomprehensible and often nauseating pages, the writer must discern how modernism swept away all the foundations and patterns of classical literature, trying to build its own in their place, and how postmodernism dumped all these rules into a heap and maliciously joked about it all and continues to joke to this day por. Yes, this literature is far from those light, wonderful books that we happily leaf through at night. “But who said…” and further in the text.
Yes, we live in the postmodern era, where literature is closely intertwined with mass culture, and the requirements for the reader are not very different from the requirements of the 19th century (to be able to read at least syllables). But think about it, have the requirements for the writer himself become softer in this “light” era? Does a modern author have the right not to know anything about the experiments and achievements of literature of the last century? Or is the list enough baggage: “Harrison, Tolkien, Strugatsky”?
Well, the main question is: if a writer is no different from an ordinary reader, then what can such a writer give to his audience?
That's all for today. Leave comments, I will be glad to have a constructive dialogue. See you soon!
Modernism is a movement in art characterized by a departure from the previous historical experience of artistic creativity, up to its complete negation. Modernism appeared at the end of the 19th century, and its heyday occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. The development of modernism was accompanied by significant changes in literature, fine arts and architecture. Culture and art are not always amenable to spontaneous change, but the need for modernism as a means of change was already felt at the beginning of the 20th century. Basically, the process of renewal proceeded calmly, but sometimes modernism took militant forms, as was the case with the young artist Salvador Dali, who tried to elevate surrealism to the rank of art without delay. However, culture and art have the property of timeliness, so no one can speed up or slow down the process.
The evolution of modernism
The paradigm of modernism became dominant in the first half of the 20th century, but then the desire for radical changes in art began to decline, and the French Art Nouveau, German Jugendstil and Russian Art Nouveau, which preceded modernism as a revolutionary phenomenon, took a calmer form .
Modernism in art or the art of modernism?
It was up to writers, artists and architects from the entire civilized world to understand the priority of these formulations. Some representatives of the elite in the field of art believed that modernism was a long-awaited change, and it should be placed at the forefront of the further development of the entire civilization, others assigned modernism the role of updating certain trends in the field of art and nothing more. The debate continued; no one was able to prove that they were right. Nevertheless, modernism in art has arrived, and this has become an incentive for its further development in all directions. The changes were not immediately noticeable, the inertia of society affected, as is usually the case, discussions began on new trends, some were for the changes, some did not accept them. Then the art of modernism came to the fore, directors, famous writers, musicians, everyone who thought progressively, began to promote everything new, and gradually modernism was recognized.
Modernism in the visual arts
The main directions of modernism in natural painting, portrait drawing, sculpture and others were formed in the second half of the nineteenth century. It began in 1863, when the so-called “Salon of the Rejected” was opened in Paris, where avant-garde artists gathered and presented their works. The name of the salon spoke for itself; the public did not accept abstract painting and rejected it. Nevertheless, the very fact of the appearance of the “Salon of the Rejected” indicated that the art of modernism was already awaiting recognition.
Directions of modernism
Soon, modernist trends took on concrete forms, and the following trends in art appeared:
- - a special style of painting, when the artist spends a minimum amount of time on his creativity, scatters paints on the canvas, chaotically touches the painting with brushes, and randomly applies strokes.
- Dadaism is works of art in the style of collage, the arrangement on canvas of several fragments of the same theme. The images are usually imbued with the idea of denial, a cynical approach to the topic. The style arose immediately after the end of the First World War and became a reflection of the feeling of hopelessness that reigned in society.
- Cubism - chaotically arranged geometric figures. The style itself is highly artistic; Pablo Picasso created true masterpieces in the Cubist style. The artist approached his work somewhat differently - his canvases are also included in the treasury of world art.
- Post-impressionism is the rejection of visible reality and the replacement of real images with decorative stylization. A style with enormous potential, but only Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin fully realized it.
Surrealism, one of the main strongholds of modernism
Surrealism is a dream and reality, true fine art, reflecting the most extraordinary thoughts of the artist. The most notable surrealist artists were Salvador Dali, Ernst Fuchs and Arno Brecker, who together made up the "Golden Triangle of Surrealism".
Painting style with extreme shade
Fauvism is a special style that evokes a feeling of passion and energy, characterized by exaltation of color and “wild” expressiveness of colors. The plot of the film is also in most cases on the verge of extreme. The leaders of this direction were Henri Matisse and Andre Derain.
Organics in art
Futurism is an organic combination of the artistic principles of cubism and fomism, a riot of colors mixed with the intersections of straight lines, triangles and angles. The dynamics of the image are all-consuming, everything in the picture is in motion, energy can be traced in every stroke.
Style of Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani
Primitivism is an artistic depiction in the style of conscious and deliberate simplification, resulting in a primitive drawing akin to the creativity of a child or wall paintings in the caves of primitive tribes. The primitive style of a painting does not at all reduce its artistic level if it was painted by a true artist. A prominent representative of primitivism was Niko Pirosmani.
Literary modernism
Modernism in literature has replaced the established classical canons of storytelling. The style of writing novels, novellas and short stories that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century gradually began to show signs of stagnation, and some monotony of presentation forms appeared. Then writers began to turn to other, previously unused interpretations of the artistic concept. The reader was offered psychological and philosophical concepts. This is how a style emerged that was defined as “Stream of Consciousness”, based on a deep penetration into the psychology of the characters. The most striking example of modernism in literature is the novel by American writer William Faulkner called The Sound and the Fury.
Each of the novel's heroes is analyzed from the point of view of his life principles, moral qualities and aspirations. Faulkner's method is justified because it is precisely because of the conscientious and deep analysis of the character of the character that a most interesting narrative is obtained. Thanks to his research style of writing, William Faulkner is one of the “golden five” US writers, as well as two other writers - and Scott Fitzgerald, who in their work try to follow the rule of deep analysis.
Representatives of modernism in literature:
- Walt Whitman, best known for his collection of poetry Leaves of Grass.
- Charles Baudelaire - collection of poetry "Flowers of Evil".
- Arthur Rambo - poetic works "Illuminations", "One Summer in Hell".
- Fyodor Dostoevsky with the works "The Brothers Karamazov" and "Crime and Punishment", this is Russian modernism in literature.
The role of guiding vector forces influencing the writers - the founders of modernism, was played by philosophers: Henri Bergson, William James, Friedrich Nietzsche and others. Sigmund Freud did not stand aside either.
Thanks to modernism, literary forms were radically changed in the first thirty years of the 20th century.
The era of modernism, writers and poets
Among the most famous writers of the modernist period, the following writers and poets stand out:
- Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) - Russian poetess with a tragic fate, who lost her family during the years. She is the author of several poetry collections, as well as the famous poem "Requiem".
- Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is an extremely controversial Austrian writer whose works were considered absurd. During the writer's lifetime, his novels were not published. After Kafka's death, all of his works were published, despite the fact that he himself categorically objected to this and, during his lifetime, conjured his executors to burn the novels immediately after his death. The writer could not destroy the manuscripts himself, since they were distributed among different hands, and none of his admirers was going to return them to the author.
- (1898-1962) - winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature, who became famous for creating an entire fictional county in the American outback called Yoknapatawpha, populating it with characters and began to describe their lives. Faulkner's works are incredibly complex structurally, but if the reader manages to grasp the thread of the narrative, then it is no longer possible to tear him away from the novel, short story or story of the famous American writer.
- Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) is one of the most faithful followers of modernism in literature. His novels and stories amaze with their life-affirming power. All his life, the writer was an irritant to the American authorities, he was bothered by absurd suspicions, the methods that the CIA officers used to attract Hemingway to their side were absurd. It all ended with the writer’s nervous breakdown and temporary placement in a psychiatric clinic. The writer had only one love in his life - his hunting rifle. On July 2, 1961, Hemingway committed suicide by shooting himself with this gun.
- Thomas Mann (1875-1955) - German writer, essayist, one of the most active political authors in Germany. All his works are permeated with politics, but they do not lose their artistic value because of this. Erotica is also no stranger to Mann’s work; an example of this is the novel “Confession of the Adventurer Felix Krull.” The main character of the work resembles Oscar Wilde's character, Dorian Gray. The signs of modernism in the works of Thomas Mann are obvious.
- (1871-1922) - author of the seven-volume work “In Search of Lost Time,” which is rightfully considered one of the most significant examples of literature of the 20th century. Proust is a convinced follower of modernism as the most promising path of literary development.
- Virginia Woolf (1882-1942) - English writer, is considered the most reliable follower of the "Stream of Consciousness". Modernism was the meaning of her entire life for the writer; in addition to numerous novels, Virginia Woolf has several film adaptations of her works.
Literary modernism had a significant impact on the work of writers and poets in terms of improvement and development.
Architectural modernism
The phrase “modernism in architecture” refers us to the term “modern architecture”, since there is a logical connection here. But the concept of modernism does not always mean “modern”; the word “modern” is more suitable here. Modernism and modernism are two different concepts.
The architecture of modernism implies the beginning of the creativity of the pioneers of modern architecture and their activities over a certain period of time, from the 20s to the 70s of the last century. Modern architecture dates from later dates. The designated fifty years are the period of modernism in architecture, the time of the emergence of new trends.
Directions in architectural modernism
Architectural modernism is a separate direction of architecture, such as the European functional construction of the 1920-30s or the immutable rationalism of Russian architecture of the twenties, when houses were built in the thousands according to one design. This is the German “Bauhaus”, “Art Deco” in France, the international style, brutalism. All of the above are branches of one tree - architectural modernism.
Representatives of modernism in architecture are: Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra, Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright and others.
Modernism in music
Modernism is a replacement of styles in principle, and in the field of music, changes primarily depend on the general trends of the ethnographic culture of society. Progressive trends in cultural segments are inevitably accompanied by transformations in the world of music. Modernity dictates its terms to musical institutions circulating in society. At the same time, the culture of modernism does not imply changes in classical musical forms.
XX - EARLY XXI CENTURIES
The development of modernism in literature of the 20th century
Starting from the end of the 19th century, modernism took on a dominant role in the literary process. The main attention in the works of modernist literature of the 20th century. focuses on the expression of the deep essence of man and the eternal problems of existence, the search for ways to go beyond the limits of the concrete and historical, the possibilities of achieving “high universality,” that is, on the discovery of universal trends in the spiritual development of humanity.
The characteristic features of modernist literature are, first of all, special attention to the inner world of the individual; orientation to the eternal laws of existence and art; giving advantage to creative intuition; the perception of literature as the highest knowledge that can penetrate into the most intimate depths of a person’s existence; the desire to acquire eternal ideas that can transform the world according to the laws of beauty; creating a new artistic reality and experimenting with it; search for new formal means, etc.
A modernist work combines the conscious and subconscious, the earthly and the cosmic, which is carried out primarily on a psychological plane. At the center of such a work is a person who is looking for the meaning of existence, listening to his own experiences and becoming like “the naked nerve of the era.”
Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941) is one of the founders of the modernist novel of a new type, the poetics of which had a significant influence on the development of not only this genre, but the entire literary process of the 20th century. Joyce gained worldwide fame as the author of the collection of short stories "Dubliners" (1914), the psychological essay "Giacomo" (1914), the novels "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (1916), "Ulysses" (1914-1921) and "Finnegans Wake" ( 1922-1939).
In his famous novel “Ulysses” (1922), to depict the spiritual life of an individual, the writer used numerous memories, associations, internal monologue, “stream of consciousness”, in which equal elements of the thinking process are intricately intertwined. This work enriched the novel's technique with multi-genres, in-depth intellectualization, equality of forms of subjective language, the use of mythological symbolism, etc. It was thanks to the appearance of this work that the “stream of consciousness” school was formed and became very popular.
“Stream of consciousness” is a way of depicting the human psyche directly, “from the inside,” as a complex and dynamic process. For example, the psychological essay by J. Joyce “Giacomo” is structured as a stream of consciousness of the protagonist, which combines observations, thoughts, memories, as well as excerpts from overheard conversations, quotes from various works, ambiguous symbols, hints, etc. Psychological concentration (the author himself is the literary hero of this work, because Giacomo is the Italian sound of the name James), the experience of strong feelings give the author the impetus to think about the surrounding reality and the place of creative individuality in it. All these reflections are presented through the perception of the lyrical hero, who does not analyze reality, but feels it with all his soul, with all his heart, consciously and subconsciously.
In the novel “Ulysses,” Joyce also reproduces the inner world of a person in all its complexity, unpredictability, interweaving of the logical and illogical, which is difficult to comprehend with the mind, but can be felt, touched with the heart through the perception of various associations, sensory influences, visual and sound images, etc. . For this work, the decisive thing is the combination (similar to the technique of film editing) of the objectively existing and the absolutely subjective, associated with the consciousness of the characters. The novel is structured as a chronicle of one day in the life of two heroes, residents of Dublin - Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom - which correlates with Homer's Odyssey. The writer uses several streams of consciousness simultaneously in Ulysses. Such an experiment gives the author the opportunity to reproduce internal human time. consisting of all the experiences of life, and thus create a holistic epic image of the world.
French writer Marcel Proust is also one of the classics of world literary modernism of the 20th century. The seven volumes of his main work, “In Search of Lost Time,” mark the emergence of a qualitatively new type of novel, different from the one that emerged during the 19th century. thanks to the efforts of such literary artists as Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert or Emile Zola. Marcel Proust abandons the main principle in traditional novelism of an objective attitude towards the depiction of environment and characters. Proust's works, on the contrary, are the embodiment of "subjectivism". For him, only one thing matters - the inner “I” of a person, the relaxed, unpredictable life of consciousness, and not on a logical, but on an intuitive level.
This “subjectivism” of Proust’s artistic worldview determines the entire originality of the structure of his novels. First of all, it is worth mentioning the so-called “plotlessness” of Proustian works, in which there are no life stories of characters presented in chronological order. Instead, the reader is literally engulfed in a chaos of impressions that are simply recorded as they exist in the subconscious. Time for M. Proust and his heroes consists of memory, sensations and experiences.
Proust also reveals the inner world of his heroes in an unconventional way: it is as if there is no single holistic psychology in them, their character and even appearance are very changeable and fluid. This effect is created due to the fact that they are depicted as they appear from within the “I”, for which there is only what it sees at this, given moment in time. It also determines the subjective “I” and the meaning of events in personal and public life. The boundary between the significant and the insignificant disappears completely. “Events” give way to small details, which the writer describes slowly, in detail and with consummate skill.
The originality of Proust's cycle "In Search of Lost Time" lies in the fact that it contains large-scale historical and universal plans - there are no plans. This is an epic that fully reveals the life of a separate individual consciousness. This is the internal monologue of the narrator Marcel, who throughout the works, “remembering” what happened to him in the past, relives his life again.
“Memory,” with the help of which Marcel restores the meaning of what he lived (and this means restoring “lost time”), has nothing in common with the traditional chronological experience of past events. Marcel Proust distinguishes two types of memory: intellectual and intuitive. The first is either "remembering" external events that influenced our choice to do something, or reproducing the past based on documents and historical research. Intuitive memory is “use” in things, in people, in space. It, at first glance, is chaotic and inconsistent; it requires a person to be able to analyze and describe subtle shades of feelings.
M. Proust created a subjective epic (as defined by Thomas Mann), which reflected not events, but primarily psychological processes that determine human behavior and, accordingly, the state of society. “The most important reality” for Proust was the personality with its unique moods, thoughts, and feelings. their movement and constant change determined the originality of M. Proust’s “stream of consciousness” novel. The main attention is paid to the depiction of human consciousness, consisting of a number of associations, impressions, sensations, and memories. The author looks at the world through the prism of the human soul, which is for him the object of the image and the angle of view at the same time.
Outstanding Austrian writer of the early 20th century. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) created a surreal, fantastic world in which the absurdity of a monotonous and gray life is especially clearly visible. In his works, a protest breaks out against the circumstances of the life of the loneliest writer who suffers. The “glass wall” that separated the writer from his friends and loneliness created a special philosophy of his life, which became the philosophy of Kafka’s work. The invasion of fantasy in his works is not accompanied by interesting and colorful plot twists; moreover, it is perceived by the characters in an ordinary way, without surprising them.
His works are considered as a certain “code” of human relations, as a unique “model” of life, valid for all forms and types of social existence, and the writer himself is considered as a “singer of alienation”, a myth-maker who forever cemented the eternal features of our world in the works of his imagination . This is the world of disharmony of human existence. The writer sees the origins of this disharmony in the fragmentation of people, in the inability for them to overcome mutual alienation, which turns out to be stronger than anything - for family ties, love, friendship.
In the works of F. Kafka there is no connection between man and the world. The world is hostile to man, evil reigns in it, and its power is limitless. The all-pervasive power of evil separates people; it instills in a person a feeling of empathy, love for one’s neighbor and the desire to help him, to meet him halfway. A person in Kafka's world is a suffering creature, and the origins of her suffering and torment are in herself, in her character. She is not the ruler of nature, the world, she is unprotected, weak, powerless. Evil in the form of fate, fate lies in wait for her everywhere.
The writer confirms his thoughts not so much by the psychology of the characters, because the characters of his heroes are always psychologically poor, but by the situation itself, the position in which they find themselves.
F. Kafka's novella "Reincarnation" (1904) begins simply and terribly - waking up one morning, the main character of the work, traveling salesman Gregor Samsam, discovered that he had turned into a disgusting insect. Gregorov wanted to fall asleep again, so that he could wake up and make sure that it was his imagination. And then he realized with horror that he had overslept the five o’clock train. Zamzam works long and hard, delivering tissue samples around the country, gets tired, doesn’t get enough sleep, and eats poorly and untimely. He endures this work, hoping to pay off his father’s debt in the coming years, and then he can think about his own life.
A faithful servant, disciplined and obliging, Gregor fears the consequences of being late for work, and the transformation that befell him is only an inconvenience. Reality presses on the hero, preventing him from realizing the fantastic nature of his transformation. Gregor is afraid of the wrath of his superiors for being late, he is afraid of appearing to his parents in this form, he is madly looking for a way out of the situation in which he has found himself - this is the essence of his experiences. He cannot realize that all this is vanity of vanities, and his misfortune is irreparable.
Gregor's conflict with the surrounding reality is growing. Those close to him treat his misfortune without compassion or understanding. His father treats him like a disgusting cockroach, using a stick and kicks to drive him into the room, causing numerous injuries. The mother is frightened by the unusual image of her son. Only my sister expressed some semblance of pity in the first days, but then she too becomes indifferent. So Gregor, who was the breadwinner and support of the family, turns into a heavy burden for everyone: “We need to get rid of him - this is the only way out... we just need to forget that this is Gregor.”
Gregor tries not to disturb his loved ones, having made the following decision for himself: “... He must for now remain calm and with patience and the greatest prudence, ease the family’s troubles, which he was forced to inflict on them due to his current condition.” However, the “intolerance of the situation” of his loved ones is completely different - now they themselves have to look for a means of subsistence.
Alone, suffering from the wound inflicted by his father, from hunger and remorse, Gregor dies. The fantastic plot used by the author highlights the hero’s conflict with the outside world. Kafka emphasizes that man is a small insect in front of the circumstances of life and cannot resist them. Other people, even relatives, will not help; they are connected to each other only by the need to live and eat together.
The ending of the novel sounds like a contrast to Gregor's sad life. For many months of unbearable existence, the family decided to reward themselves with a country pleasure trip. The people closest to Gregor did not feel guilty that the maid threw out the “dead bug” along with the trash. They are enjoying a warm, sunny spring day, rejoicing at their beautiful daughter, who “has recently blossomed and become a good, beautiful girl.”
The work of the brilliant artist reflects the complex world of human relationships. He does not copy this world, but accumulates its burden within himself, experiences its evil and indifference, inventing a capacious and figurative metaphor to show what kind of person he is. In this case, the name of this metaphor is “Reincarnation.”
Pain and suffering, bitterness and fear permeate the work of Franz Kafka, and not a drop of optimism or hope. The tragic worldview of the Austrian writer is the worldview of a person at the beginning of the 20th century, a stormy and cruel century. A worldview in which there is no place for the belief that the world can be rebuilt, to provide it with harmony.
