The Modernist period in English Literature occupied the years from shortly after the beginning of the

20th century. The Modernist period was marked by a strong and international break with tradition.
This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political and social views. In art,
modernism breaks away with the ideology of realism and makes use of past through the use of
flashback, recapitulation, and incorporation. Modernist writers broke free of old forms and
techniques. Poets abandoned traditional rhyme schemes and wrote in free verse. Moreover, the
thoughts that influenced this form of literature was influenced by Sigmund Freud and Charles
Darwin.

According to German philosopher Jurgen Habeiman, the word modernism traces back to 5 th century
—it is derived from a Latin word ‘’modernus’’ which means ‘’ of time’’. It refers to anything that come
in opposition to tradition.

Heged introduce the term ‘’Zeiteeist’’ which means the spirit of age. Every period of time is
obsessed with a certain spirit and the spirit of this age is decaying—linguistically, psychologically,
physically, anxiety and isolation. This is because of the time—in that time WW occurs which results
into millions of deaths.

Factors responsible for the rise of Modernism: they are;

 World wars: In that time world occurs which results in millions of deaths. And the horrors of
world wars play important role in the rise of modernism movement.
 Development of modern industrial society and rapid growth of cities.
 Disillusionment + Questioning: they question religion for the first time consciously or
intentionally because world wars result into loss on ideology of humanity—human by nature
is good. The concept of humanism comes from Greek and dominated or ruled over 2000
years on west and for the first time this concept was questioned. They questioned religion by
saying like, @’why God did not come to rescue?’’ and they represent this view in their
writings.
For example, Waiting for Godot, Ulysses, wasteland etc.,

The role of three thinkers:

The three thinkers who came in 20 th century and have a great impact on their generation are;

1. Nietzsche
2. Einstein
3. Freud

Their primary target was religion as religion give facts.

1. Nietzsche: he states that ‘’there are no facts, but only interpretations’’—there are different
religions and every religion is a kind of effort to understand the world that how it begins and
how it will end.
According to him facts makes us narrow minded like,
Human being—Muslims—Sunni—Deobandi—Pakistani—Pashtun—Khattak
These are facts but actually these are interpretation that we consider as facts.
2. Einstein: he gives the theory of relativity—nothing is absolute (anything that you support
with logic is truth).
For example: definition of poverty varies from individual to individual. For some lack of basic
necessities of life is poverty, for some lack of luxurious life is poverty and for some lack of
faith is poverty.
 According to modern historian, ‘’ it formed a knife, inadvertently wielded by its author to cut
society adrift(separate) from its traditional mooring (thinking) in the faith and moral of
Judeo-Christian culture.’’
It means theory of relativity proves become a knife and cut the individual from society or
tradition and brought alienation (a drift) in modern world.
3. Freud: from Greeks till the modern age people believe that man is rational(real) animal but
according to Fraud man is not a rational human being but all over actions, thoughts, feelings
etc., are driven by our unconsciousness and man tries to become rational because of the fear
of society or tradition.
For Example: James Joyce, Virginia Wolf go into the mind of character and then do not follow
any plot and moves in the direction of mind.

The Main Characteristics of Modern Literature:

The characteristics of the Modern Literature are;

 Individualism: Modern age literature focuses on individualism—focus is on personal life and

personal freedom

3-Absurdity

The carnage of two World Wars profoundly affected writers of the period.

Several great English poets died or were wounded in WWI. For many writers, the

world was becoming a more absurd place every day. Modernist authors depicted this

absurdity in their works.

4-Symbolism
The Modernist writers infused objects, people, places and events with

significant meanings. The idea of a poem as a riddle to be cracked had its beginnings

in the Modernist period. Symbolism was not a new concept in literature, but the

Modernists' particular use of symbols was an innovation. They left much more to the

Reader imagination than earlier writers.

6-In their literary works, The Modernist writers were interested in deeper reality

than surface reality.

7-Most of the literary works of the Modern Age were influenced by the

disillusionment that came after the World War II.

8-Irony, satire and comparisons are used frequently to illustrate points in regard to

society.

9-Modern Literature with its modern themes and techniques appeared as a reaction

against the Victorian Age with its restrictions and traditions.

-There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative.

8-According to the Modernists, life is unordered.

-language is seen as complex.

10-Modernist fiction spoke of inner self and consciousness, and many writers of that

age adapted the stream of consciousness technique in their writings, such as James

Joyce in his literary work: Ulysses.

11-Instead of progress, the Modernist writer saw a decline of civilization.

-whereas earlier, most literature had a clear beginning, middle, and end (or

introduction, conflict, and resolution), the Modernist story was often a more of a

stream of consciousness.

plot:

Most of the plots of the Modern literature are different from that of the ancient

works. The Modernists did not use plots with sudden climactic turning points and clear

resolutions. Instead they used plots with open unresolved endings.

Style:
In their literary works, The Modernist writers adapted the stream of conscious

technique. Virginia Woolf and James Joyce are regarded as the master of using this

literary technique in writing.

Finally, Modernism also abandoned one of the most fundamental types of

character: the hero. What constitutes heroism has always aroused debate. The

typical protagonist of modernism having lost faith in society, religion and the

surrounding environment, seem also to have lost any claim to heroic action.

Some of the most famous works of this era in literature were Ulysses by James Joyce that invented
new notions of plot, setting, characters, and form. Virginia Woolf in her work, To the Lighthouse
explored the stream of consciousness method. Aldous Huxley with his Brave New World spoke about
the dangers that city life and modern world can bring upon us as a society. The Wasteland by T.S.
Eliot expressed his disillusionment with industrialization and the emptiness that it brought. In his
work, The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway talks about the lack of meaning in the lives of the Lost
Generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous work The Great Gatsby focuses on the corruption of the
American Dream