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A review by haoyang
Modernism: A Guide to European Literature 1890-1930 by James McFarlane, Malcolm Bradbury
4.0
I believe this is the second book I've read about Modernism and needless to say, most of what's written flew over my head but I did also find myself revisiting various ideas that I had encountered (but perhaps forgotten). This guide to European Literature takes the form of a collection of essays that offers a bewildering breadth of topics, ranging from the historical and geographical context of Modernism to genre-specific discussions of poetry, prose fiction, and drama. Malcolm Bradbury and James McFarlane did a tremendous job in weaving together these disparate essays into a coherent and cohesive whole, and the end result is a stunning presentation of Modernism in all its glory and complexities.
My preliminary introduction to the world of Modernism was a Coursera course offered by Wesleyan University entitled "The Modern and the Post-Modern", and in that course, Modernism was defined as principally the search for 'the really real', in other words, the Truth. Having read up about Modern Art, Modern Classical Music, and Modern Literature, I believe the former two are pretty well-explained by that definition. Post-impressionism and subsequent developments until the 60s/70s were concerned with representing the truth (whatever that meant to the artist), whether it is in Cezanne's manipulation of perspective or Picasso's reduction of reality to two-dimensional forms, whether it is in Matisse's explorations of the flatness of the canvas or Pollock's attempts at manifesting the subconscious. Similarly, in classical music, Schoenberg's experimentation with atonality was perceived as a quest for truth, even if the truth is 'ugly'; this reminds me of Gustav Klimt's Nuda Veritas, the allegorical figure who will show bourgeois society the truth and nothing but the truth. So far, for the visual arts and classical music, the sentiment behind Modernism seems to be pretty clear-cut.
But the picture isn't as simple for Modern Literature. Did Modern writers search for 'the really real'? To a certain extent, yes, because Modernism was part of a reaction against Naturalism, the prevailing literary style of the 19th century. But beyond that, the unifying search for truth does not seem that relevant in discussing Modernist poetry, prose, or drama. Each writer within each movement within each genre dealt with other societal themes (such as the sense of impending doom) as well as its own linguistic form (such as prose writers attempts at bringing metaphor and metonymy together in a form that is predisposed to metonymy). At this juncture, I am reminded of something I read in a similar book; Modernism was a reaction to a set of crises, namely the crisis of representation, liberalism, and rationality.
I shall stop here and not try to distil any of the dense ideas packed in this book, instead hoping that what I have read will somehow stick with me and be reinforced the next time I read about Modernism, which I'm sure will be very soon.
(In my opinion, the Cambridge Introduction to Modernism serves as a better introductory textbook to Modernism which presents its main theses in a more emphatic manner whereas this Guide is better for a relatively well-read student or scholar.)
Anyway, Modernism is so fascinating and I long to savour it in its entirety.
My preliminary introduction to the world of Modernism was a Coursera course offered by Wesleyan University entitled "The Modern and the Post-Modern", and in that course, Modernism was defined as principally the search for 'the really real', in other words, the Truth. Having read up about Modern Art, Modern Classical Music, and Modern Literature, I believe the former two are pretty well-explained by that definition. Post-impressionism and subsequent developments until the 60s/70s were concerned with representing the truth (whatever that meant to the artist), whether it is in Cezanne's manipulation of perspective or Picasso's reduction of reality to two-dimensional forms, whether it is in Matisse's explorations of the flatness of the canvas or Pollock's attempts at manifesting the subconscious. Similarly, in classical music, Schoenberg's experimentation with atonality was perceived as a quest for truth, even if the truth is 'ugly'; this reminds me of Gustav Klimt's Nuda Veritas, the allegorical figure who will show bourgeois society the truth and nothing but the truth. So far, for the visual arts and classical music, the sentiment behind Modernism seems to be pretty clear-cut.
But the picture isn't as simple for Modern Literature. Did Modern writers search for 'the really real'? To a certain extent, yes, because Modernism was part of a reaction against Naturalism, the prevailing literary style of the 19th century. But beyond that, the unifying search for truth does not seem that relevant in discussing Modernist poetry, prose, or drama. Each writer within each movement within each genre dealt with other societal themes (such as the sense of impending doom) as well as its own linguistic form (such as prose writers attempts at bringing metaphor and metonymy together in a form that is predisposed to metonymy). At this juncture, I am reminded of something I read in a similar book; Modernism was a reaction to a set of crises, namely the crisis of representation, liberalism, and rationality.
I shall stop here and not try to distil any of the dense ideas packed in this book, instead hoping that what I have read will somehow stick with me and be reinforced the next time I read about Modernism, which I'm sure will be very soon.
(In my opinion, the Cambridge Introduction to Modernism serves as a better introductory textbook to Modernism which presents its main theses in a more emphatic manner whereas this Guide is better for a relatively well-read student or scholar.)
Anyway, Modernism is so fascinating and I long to savour it in its entirety.