Modernism stream of consciousness James Joyce

Modernism is a rather vague term which is used to apply to the works of poets, novelists, painters, musicians between 1910 and the early years after the World War II. “Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Brown” by Virginia Woolf: “ human character changed” Edwardians: Wells, Galsworthy, Bennet Georgians: Forster, Lawrence, Joyce, Eliot

The term includes various trends or schools: Imagism, expressionism, dadaism, stream of consciousness, existentialism, etc.

This is the departure from the conventional criteria and values of the Victorian Age. This departure was prepared for by the aesthetic movement during the later decades of the 19th century, and sped up by the Word War I.

Though England had won the war, many intellectuals were disillusioned with the conditions of their living. They were much influenced by Sigmund Freud (1859-1936) Alienation and loneliness are the basic themes of modernism.

Characteristics of Modernism(1)

From the writing techniques: 1. Complexity and obscurity 2. The use of symbols 3. The use of allusions: 4. The use of irony;

Characteristics of Modernism(2)

From the content: 1. Modernism marks a strong and conscious break with the past; 2. –emphasizing on the need to move away from the public to private; from objective to subjective - elevates the individual, the inner being over the social being; --prefers the subconscious to the selfconscious;

3. –emphasizing the psychic time over the chronological time; past, present and future are one and exist at the same time4. –rejecting realism: throwing away rationalism; casting away all traditional elements in literature, e.g. plot, character, chronological time and narration etc. thus anti-novel…

Stream of consciousness

The stream of consciousness technique takes a reader inside a character’s mind to reveal perceptions, thought, and feelings on a conscious or pre-conscious level.

This technique suggests the flow of thought as well as its content; hence, complete sentences may give way to fragments as the character’s mind makes rapid associations free of conventional logic or transitions. The most representative work is James Joyce’s Ulysses.

James Joyce

James Joyce was an Irish novelist who revolutionized the methods of depicting characters and developing a plot in modern fiction. His astonishing way of constructing a novel, his frank portrayal of human nature, and his complete command of English have made him one of the most outstanding writers of the 20th Century.

Many critics judge that he is second only to Shakespeare in his mastery of the English language. Joyce was deeply influenced by Ireland and wrote all his books about Dublin. But Joyce lived in voluntary exile nearly all his adult life.

Artistic Views

Joyce believed that there are three

stages of literature. The first and simplest stage is produced in the "lyrical" form, which expresses a moment of emotion experienced by the artist; the writer only speaks about himself.

The literature progresses into the second, "narrative" form, which is more complex and no longer purely personal. The writer tells about others as well as himself.

The third, "dramatic" form is the highest, most perfect stage. The artist no longer expresses his own personality, but creates his works objectively, like God, to let his characters live their own lives, in scenes where the writer is invisible. The artist must rise to the position of god-like objectivity.

Joyce believed that the last stage required exile from the ordinary world which is dominated by Philistines. His rebellion and self-imposed exile, seen in this light, were due to what he considered aesthetic necessity.