Modernist Literature: Key Authors and Their Masterpieces
James Joyce: Father of Modernism
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) offers a distanced, selectively framed treatment of its subject. The central figure is Stephen Dedalus, whose name evokes the mythical Greek craftsman, serving as an image of the artist. “Fight” is a key motif throughout the novel.
Ulysses (1922) chronicles the events of a single day in the lives of two heroes. Incidents are elaborated, paralleled, and parodied, creating a comprehensive portrait of Dublin city. Leopold Bloom represents Ulysses in the Homeric epic, while Stephen Dedalus stands for Telemachus. The novel delves into the characters’ minds, allowing readers to identify with them and place them in a broader perspective. A notable technique employed is the stream of consciousness. Other works include Dubliners, featuring the short story “The Dead”.
E.M. Forster (1879-1970)
An English novelist, short story writer, and essayist, E.M. Forster crafted ironic and well-plotted novels that examined class differences and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. A Passage to India provides a lasting fictional analysis of the effects of colonialism.
Joseph Conrad
A Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language, Joseph Conrad was a precursor of Modernism. Obsessed with Africa, he penned the renowned novella Heart of Darkness.
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf masterfully conveys the sensation of living from moment to moment. In the realistic novel To the Lighthouse, she draws upon experiences from her own childhood, infusing the narrative with warmth and depth. The novel is based on profound memories of the sense of community within her family. As the daughter of Victorian scholar Leslie Stephen, Woolf was acutely aware of the rewards and responsibilities of belonging to a privileged class. Her rationalism was both firm and melancholic.
Woolf was a member of the Bloomsbury Group, a small association of artists and intellectuals from the Bloomsbury area of London. They met to engage in conversations and companionship, united by a shared philosophy of an ideal society. While not overtly political, they were inspired by the philosophical methods of G.E. Moore, who posited that good and pleasant states of feeling were the only things ultimately valuable. Other notable works by Woolf include Between the Acts, The Waves, and Mrs. Dalloway.
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley’s characters are often painters, artists, or writers. In Point Counter Point, he explores a mystical path to salvation, advocating for the renunciation of ordinary human passions and egoism. Brave New World is a satirical fantasy, a utopia based on Pavlovian conditioning and licensed, harmless promiscuity.
D.H. Lawrence
The son of a miner and a mother of a higher class, D.H. Lawrence often depicted the tension between his parents in his works. His father resented his mother’s refinement, creating an atmosphere of struggle for dominance. This dynamic led Lawrence to explore the theme of a man of little education and few words who dominates a woman through the sheer force of his masculinity. Both his prose and poetry assert his working-class origins, characterized by short sentences, abrupt stops and starts, and the repetition of key words or symbols. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a plea for tenderness and an exploration of the pathos and dignity of the male animal. Other works include The White Peacock, Sons and Lovers, as well as short stories, travel books, and letters.
George Orwell
In Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell provides graphic accounts of life among the poor and oppressed. Animal Farm is a social allegory, a short satirical fable critiquing dictatorship, with Stalin as a central figure.
War Poets
- Rupert Brooke: Known for his short sequence of sonnets titled “1914”, which convey a sense of exalted personal and patriotic dedication.
- Wilfred Owen: Preoccupied with the deaths of young men, Owen focused solely on war as his subject. His work highlights the deep alienation between the fighting man and the civilian, contrasting the world of the trenches with the careless life in England.
T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, comprising “Burnt Norton”, “East Coker”, “The Dry Salvages”, and “Little Gidding”, are organized into five sections, with the fourth always being a lyric. The titles refer to places of significance to the author. These poems are a series of meditations on the nature of temporal experience and how it can be transcended. They follow the classical Greek style, incorporating elements of chorus and pathos.