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[Music]
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good afternoon good evening students I
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hope you're doing good welcome back to
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the channel
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today we're back with another lecture
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concerning literature for 30 year
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students as you can see it will be about
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modernism as a literary movement of
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course but you should know that we have
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seen other movements such as romanticism
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like realism and also naturalism of
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course all these lectures can be found
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on this channel all you have to do is
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search and as usual before I start of
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course I invite you to like the Facebook
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page of this channel in order to be
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notified whenever I post something new
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and also subscribe on this channel if
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it's not already done that would
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encourage me to do more and also help
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help you out during the periods of exams
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anyways with that being said we shall
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start with the plan of the lecture first
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which is we're going to start with the
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definition of the movement we are going
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to talk a little bit about the movement
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we are going to give the period of the
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movement of course who are going to talk
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about the factors or the reasons or why
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this movement emerged and we are going
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to talk about the scientific roots of
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the movement then we are going to talk
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about the artistic roots and finally we
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are going to talk about the
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characteristics and within the
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characteristics who are going to bring
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up the plot the plot and themes and also
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the style and even language and at the
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end to round off for this video we are
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going to talk about the some of the
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modernist authors of course we have many
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so I just picked only three and I hope
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it will be enough but of course you can
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find on find others on internet so with
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our be set we shall start with the
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definition modernism first it started in
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the late nineteenth century until the
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mid twentieth century so modernism
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refers to the complete or even the
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radical change from the old beliefs or
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you can say the old artistic movements
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in literature it's a change
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sometimes it's considered to be a change
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or a disruption
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from the Victorian Way of doing or
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morality and it can be a representation
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of the chaotic picture of society so so
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far when you talk about the change from
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the old beliefs and when you say a
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disruption from the Victorian way of
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doing which means before modernism there
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was an era called the Victorian era so
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anything that was related to the era in
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terms of notions IDs in general anything
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that was ready to also to literature
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modernist authors wanted to give up on
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those IDs they wanted to create
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something new something modern okay so
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this is as far as the definition is
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concerned we move to the factors of the
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emergence of this movement who are going
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to talk mainly about three factors the
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first one is industrialization as usual
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industry you should know that Industrial
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Revolution if you want started way
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before the 19th century we all know that
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but it reached its peak in its peak
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sorry in the late 19th century if you
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want when you have such a such good
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industry if you want prosperous industry
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you have what we call the phenomenon of
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urbanization when you have urbanization
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you have a rapid growth of cities and of
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course you have this population is
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growing so fast and the the government
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is trying to satisfy all the needs of
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the population and so on and so forth it
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leads to the world war which leads us to
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the second point that is the horrors of
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the world wars we have two world wars
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the first and the second the first was
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between 1914 and 1918 the second one is
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between 1939 until 1945 so when you talk
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about war which means there is death and
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wood war which means almost all let's
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say armed
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all countries or nations participated in
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these two world wars so the death is
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let's say the the casualties is greater
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so you can say that these are the
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horrors that these two world wars left
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have impacted if you want modernist
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authors so this is what led also to the
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emergence of this movement of course
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after the the end of the world war the
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both world war the two world wars sorry
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um this marked a loss of faith faith in
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what of course faith in God government
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and human goodness you should you should
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remember this the people or the
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population lost faith in God why because
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some some of them might tell you that if
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God exists why did he let such massacres
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happen here we mean the word wars even
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the the population lost faith in the
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government why because these governments
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were supposed to protect the population
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from any harm but sorry there was the
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first who decided to go to war and also
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and so on and so forth
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and finally we have human goodness we'll
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talk about the human goodness which
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means human or human beings are supposed
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to be good are supposed to be kind but
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in time of wars you will find human in
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their most savage image they kill each
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other they destroy each other they
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butter each other they murder each other
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they do not care as long as they want to
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survive so this resulted in a greater
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focus on the individual so these are
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some of the factors that led to the
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emergence of this movement that we call
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modernism now we move to the scientific
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roots when we talk about the scientific
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roots we mainly need to talk about
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Darwin Karl
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fraid and Nietzsche so these four let's
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say men of letters scientists they have
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contributed in the emergence of this
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movement which means they prepared the
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ground for modernism to emerge let's
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talk about Darwin Darwin and Karl Marx I
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mean both of them have contributed in
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the loss of faith see Darwin is that you
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can say that the IDS the theories of
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Darwin are interrelated with the
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movement itself because we said that
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modernism refers to a complete or
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radical change from the old beliefs old
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beliefs darwin was doing so but
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scientifically i mean the natural
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selection of darwin for example since
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this movement was about breaking off
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from the old ways darwin sought to
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overturn previous ways of thinking about
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humans history and the universe which
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means the theories of darwin and the
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principles of modernism are interrelated
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they have the same goal which is to
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overturn or to break our from old
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beliefs the second one is karl marx he
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also contributed in the loss of faith
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for example he denounced the
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exploitation of men whether during the
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world war or during the daily life if
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you want you have the famous segment
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fright when we talk about freight we
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mainly I mean the first thing that comes
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into our minds is psycho
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and now so I mean I don't want to go
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into details but if you want to learn
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more but afraid you can you can file
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that on internet but just to give you an
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idea of course you have the the ID that
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represents the desires of human being I
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mean the instinct you have the super-ego
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which means generally it's something
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that gives you the moral
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or I mean everything that is education
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something that you use in order to
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prevent yourself from doing something
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bad and the ego is what we call the
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reality principle and if you want a
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super-ego is there to control the IDS
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desires this is something that is
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related to psychology and of course at
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that time that was something
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revolutionary and it is I mean until
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today some psychiatrist use this and of
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course this leads us to the next
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scientist who is nature so nature wrote
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a book that we call the twilight of the
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idols I recently started to read this
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book I highly advise you to read it it's
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it's an amazing book
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so Nietzsche tells us to destroy the
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ideas we have currently have of course
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in order in order to give birth to the
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Superman inside us and mainly this
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Superman is free so he's talking about
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freedom
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he also criticized so great is if you
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want well this is as far as a scientific
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roots are concerned now we move to the
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artistic roots we start with
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Impressionism it's not in artistic style
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of course it started in friends and
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impressionist Impressionists if you want
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they seek to capture a feeling or
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experience rather than depict accurate
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depiction and perfection so they are
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more into feelings and it's I mean
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experience and all rather than doing the
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things that used to be done by those who
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belong to realism movement because at
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that time they used to depict things as
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they are of course this is among their
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principles instituted to depict exactly
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what they see but Impressionism all
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those who belong to this movement of
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course
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they seek to capture a feeling like I
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said or an experience rather than
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depicting ACK accurate depiction and
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perfection
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the second artistic route that we are
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going to mention is Expressionism it's
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almost the same but not exactly it is an
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art of expression to convey meaning and
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emotion so here we we can say that it is
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stronger than Impressionism but because
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Impressionism sometimes Israel to light
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colors and all and that's I mean it is
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still in literature but it's a different
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field than we were studying currently of
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course each artist when I talk about
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Expressionism each artist has his or her
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of course own way of expressing their
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emotions and of course even
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Expressionism was against depiction then
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we have the third artistic roots that is
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futurism it originated in Italy or we
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can say that it has Italian origins he
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we can say those I mean those who belong
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to this movement discarded the art of
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the past and they celebrated the future
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which means the development like I said
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it is a radical change from the old
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beliefs which means they they neglected
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the old beliefs and they wanted
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something new which is to celebrate the
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future in this case of futurism of
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course then we move to Dadaism so it was
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a reaction to first world war and in
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this in this movement in the in these or
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in its principles if you want we find a
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lot of nonsense in order to show how
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meaningless Modern Life is then we are
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going to go to the last point of the
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artistic roots which is cubism
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Cubism basically it's a rebellion
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against the objective and logical
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emphasis of the previous period it
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places an emphasis on the subjective
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mental experience
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I mean artists include their experience
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within their work it doesn't matter if
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it's in writing or a written work or
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spoken work or even something that is
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related to painting so this this cubism
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is mainly known for the paintings so
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these are the things or the roots by
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with scientific roots and artistic roots
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now we move to the characteristics of
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this so in terms of the characteristics
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we'll start with the plot in the plot we
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find few characters and it is usually
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fragmented which means it doesn't follow
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the chronological order in other words
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for example you start in 1920 for
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example within a story any given story
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you start with 1920 then you go until
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1939 and you come back to 1925 and you
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come back to 1921 or 20 it means it is
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fragment it is it is broken it doesn't
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it doesn't follow the chronological
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order and there is something that I call
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reminiscence which is related to
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memories it's the ability to recall or
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to remember something about the past so
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this is as far as the plot is concerned
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of course you might find something else
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but I for me personally I think it's
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enough to know about the plot then we
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have the themes so past intrusion into
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the present which means some events that
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have happened in the past usually they
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come back in the story the second point
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is
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you will find that the characters of the
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a modernist work they seek the truth
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happiness joy and even comfort and you
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will see that these characters mostly I
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can say usually fail they live in misery
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and usually ends with a death and the
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sitting is mostly like to be like a
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decayed sitting and destroyed one you
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have also paralysis paralysis basically
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it's you know after the war when when
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the war ends nothing moves absolutely
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nothing you have no economy you have no
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house you have no family so everything
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is static nothing moved so what we mean
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by paralysis then we have this illusion
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myth this point is very important
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because you know after the end of the
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wall this will equal the climate of the
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post-war if you want first of I mean
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firstly there's nothing moves of course
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and you know there is something like
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everyone is disappointed because if you
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take the victorious people and those who
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lost the war those who lost the war they
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thought that they will fighting for
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victory and all and at the end they lose
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the war they lose their homes they lose
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their economy there was a lot of things
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so they are disappointing this this
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that's a feeling of disappointment is
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called this illusion meant and it is
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found in the modernist works and we have
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another point that is madness madness I
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don't know if you have read some of the
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poems of William Faulkner I remember
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that I mean I do paraphrase of course I
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do not remember the exact words but
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there was someone's mom who died and
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seen her on in the coffin of course
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floating on the water the person
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says my mom is a fish of course I might
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think that it's absurd and of course
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absurd is also the another another theme
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found in sorry in in modernist works so
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he said that my my mom is a fish of
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course for the character I mean the
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character here is insane but it leads to
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something else
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not only the theme here is madness
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but it is symbolic symbolism is let's
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say it's it is included in the style are
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going to talk about it later on but it
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is also absurd and absurd is another
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theme to something that is absurd is
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something that cannot be accepted by
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your mind something that is irrational
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it's not logical
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it cannot be accepted and among the
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minor themes as well they have the loss
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of faith like I said you will find
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characters a losing faith in God
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government and even I mean even in human
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goodness then you have rebellion because
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since the the movement itself is a
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rebellion so you will find rebellions in
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the themes and of course you have you
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have alienation so when it comes to
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alienation or in French alienation
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it means like you will find some of the
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characters they change their point of
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view or their feelings about something
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for example they used to love someone a
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character used to love someone and then
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they change they're not loving that
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person anymore or maybe they used to
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feel good with their families for
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example man one day they're not and then
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they leave the house and you will have
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plots subplots and all and so forth and
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so on and so forth so this is alienation
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you have fragmentation like I said
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something that is broken something that
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does not follow the chronological order
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and of course you have primitivism
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primitivism basically it's the famous
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the famous thing they said
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if we understand the primitive men we
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will understand the modern man if you
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want then you have legends are also
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found legends basically might be found
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in in every movement not all of them but
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basically then you have the absurd like
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I said something that cannot be accepted
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by one's mind then we move to the style
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we'll talk about the style the the
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writer uses flashbacks so the use of
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flashbacks if you want sometimes the
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story starts in the past I mean they
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start with something that is not set in
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the time of the story itself for example
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the story happens between for example
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1960 and I don't know like let's say
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1920 and 1930 but the beginning of the
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story will start for example in not in
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1817 for example so this is what would
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we mean by a flashback you go back into
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the past but this has a purpose of
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course in order to give you a piece of
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information if you want and we have the
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second point that is unreliable narrator
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so sometimes the narrator has a problem
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with a character in case the narrator is
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within the story so you cannot trust the
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narrator because he doesn't like or he
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has let's say a distorted opinion about
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something about an event so they might
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change it this is what leads to not
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another point that is the readers
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contribute to the meaning of the story
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for example when you know that you
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cannot trust the narrator which means
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you have to deduce the meaning this what
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leads also to multiple narrators as well
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you have a lot of narrators of course um
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this in order to give you or to give the
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reader different point of views then we
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have repeat
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I mean many things are repeated during
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the I mean doing the overall story and
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something about the hero the hero is
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usually lonely or you can say that
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withdrawn and sometimes his psychotic
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and an intellectual at the same time
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this hero usually struggles and fights
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but at the end they fail and of course
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when you talk about the move of the
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story you will start with a hard
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situation then there's a struggling
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misery and at the end there is failure
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and of course like I said there is
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symbolism same example with William
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Faulkner who said that his I mean the
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character in his poem says or said my
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mom is is a fish so for us let's say the
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first time we hear about this we can say
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this it's absurd it's also madness but
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it symbolizes something this is what we
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mean by symbolism and at the end we are
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going to talk about the language and it
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is something that it's not long language
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is complex language is dense and also
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elliptical and very difficult why do
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they use this kind of language in order
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to search for new artistic ways then
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finally to Randolph who are going to
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move to some of the authors of the
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movement the first one that are going to
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mention is TS Eliot if you want and we
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will all agree that Eliot was very smart
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and talented his his poems are amazing
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outstanding if you want he wrought
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Hollow Men The Waste Land
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which is absolutely related to modernist
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literature if you want if we tie for
00:24:37
example any on internet The Waste Land
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it will directly lead you to modernist
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literature it is
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known for modernism is also low known
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for this this piece of work we have
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another Arthur if you want we have James
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Joyce who is an Irishman from Dublin
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Joyce is mostly known for his novels
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though he'll write poetry sometimes
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plays and essays if you want
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he also wrote he wrote The Dubliners
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finding in his wake
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pollicis so he's one of the most
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important writers of the movement of
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course then you have the famous Virginia
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Woolf Woolf was an important pioneer of
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the stream-of-consciousness technique
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though the mind of an average person was
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not considered interesting or important
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enough by earlier writers to merit
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elevating it to I mean to elevate this
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this concept to art for Woolf and for
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other modernists it was the most
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important thing the best subject a
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writer could choose
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she wrote a Room of One's one's own
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Sherrod Orlando as well and many other
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of his works her work sorry can be found
00:26:03
on internet well this would be it for
00:26:06
today's lecture I hope I made things
00:26:08
clear for you and I hope you have quest
00:26:12
something and if you have any kind of
00:26:15
questions feel free to ask them in the
00:26:16
comments below otherwise I tell you see
00:26:19
the next video peace
00:26:20
[Music]
