Western Literature Modernist Period - Research Paper Example

Western Literature – Modernist Period Introduction Most of modernism literature is an expression of the tendencies of modernism, with a more intense focus on the high modernism. High modernism marked the final years of modernism and designates the artistic and intellectual eras that are presumably meant to define the consistently developed florid manifestations or characteristics of modernism. It was not only used in literature but also used in music, critics and the visual arts (Gillies & Mahood, p.5). Most of the Western Literature during this period was a reaction to the rapidly changing times. There are those who appreciated the change that was coming, while on the other hand, others wanted to maintain the status quo. The writers of the Modernist period respond to the promise, or threat, of a new century by either welcoming the flux and indeterminacy of a new and "modern" world in which identities, social relations, and meaning structures can be made and unmade according to need, opportunity and desire. Or, they regard the prospect of this modern world, wherein human beings can expect to find neither truth nor certainty with dark pessimism, stoicism, or outright despair. One significant aspect of modernist literature is the focus on such themes as mistrust in institutions such as government and religion; individualism and the discrediting of truths that before then were considered to be the absolute truths. The literary structure was also very different from those of realism and conventionality. One such writer is Luigi Pirandello. Luigi Pirandello Pirandello was a novelist and dramatist from Italy. He was also a short story writer and the Nobel laureate for literature in 1934, for his “bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage” (pirandelloweb.com) He has written several novels and hundreds of short stories. He is also the writer of over 40 plays. Critics and reviewers often say that the works of Pirandello are borne of a climate that was profoundly historical and full of cultural disappointments. It is even stated that the betrayal of Il Risorgimento caused a wound that never actually healed. His disdain for such politics is revealed in one of his novels I Vecci e i Giovanni which translates to The Old and the Young (1909-1913). In this novel, he uses the phrase La Bancarotta del Patriottismo, which translates to The Bankruptcy of Patriotism, an adaptation of Brunetiere’s La Banqueroute de Science, which he uses to describe the attitude he had towards the Risorgimento. Set in Sicily, the novel delineates the failures of the “three myths”, a phrase that has generally been taken to have meant the Risorgimento of unity and socialism, and replaces it with an “emptiness” that lacks the “possibility of redemption”. In his first novel, L’Esclusa, whatever unfolds is very unpredictable and the possibility of anything happening is very likely. Most of the actions in this novel correlate judgment and behavior. This novel reveals a steady and rapidly changing society that Pirandello lives in and cannot explain and believes that the fact of the matter is that any meaning to the changing times could only be explained depending on the moment, circumstance and the sentiments that prevail as at that time. A concept that he uses in several of his novels. This aspect and structure of writing that Pirandello adopts is also seen in his second novel, Il Turno, where the general concept that revolves around several of the main characters is also developed in a similar way. The world is rapidly changing and so are the circumstances and the situations in which the characters find themselves. Some find the promise, of a new century by welcoming the flux and indeterminacy of a new and "modern" world in which identities, social relations, and meaning structures can be made and unmade according to need, opportunity and desire. It is therefore clear that in this work, in all the confusion, man tries to seek answers as to his purpose but still finds his identity to be very uncertain. He does not let himself be taken by the surprises that the unconscious usually holds. He therefore manages to keep a clear plane from himself and the shadows of the times. The commitment that he has as dramatis and as a narrator are clearly illustrated by the emphasis of his work on reconnecting the starting points and the ending points of the century and the society that people are used to, and that is rapidly changing. He reviews the goings on of Sicily and the cruel prejudices that surround it in his plays through a humoristic vision. In his novel Suo Marito (1911). He uses to very contrasting characters, Silvia Roncella, an artist and with his husband Giustino, who struggles to sell his wife’s art, to describe the society that he now finds himself in. his description of the husband is full of disdain and pity. It highly shows contempt for the man and a regard the prospect of this modern world, wherein human beings can expect to find neither truth nor certainty with dark pessimism, stoicism, or outright despair on one hand while he describes the wife as having become the “limpid eye of the world.” This concept of uncertainty and confusion is also revealed in the novel Quadermi di Serafino Gubbio Operatore (1925). This novel reveals the world of cinema. Apparently a world with which Pirandello had problematic and contradictory relationship that not only reflected his sentiments but those of a number of people of this era. The world of cinema fascinated him and several other writers and dramatists but also received condemnation of what he considered a mechanical degeneration of the creative activity of what the capabilities of the artists. In real sense, this reflected the fears that science had brought with it and the effects that technology was having on this era. Conclusion The fears that the literature that this era reveals are derived from the claim that there is an inherent character of individuals to preserve and protect their autonomy and their existence. This is however challenged by the fact that the social forces, historical heritage, the continually evolving culture and the techniques of life keep changing (Simmel, 17) It is this same fears and hopes, and disappointments that Luigi Pirandello manages to capture in his literary work and so do several other writers. This is best illustrated in his novel Six Characters in Search of an Author. This creative novel sums up the powerful vision of a modern world that is fragmented. It deals with issues like the human identity, the search for meaning and the confusion art portends as against real life ad the transitory ways of living that are ever changing. Works Cited Gillies, Mary A. & Mahood, Aurelea D., Modernist Literature: An Introduction, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007 Pirandello Web, Luigi Pirandello (1867 – 1936) Retrieved April 19, 2011 from http://www.pirandelloweb.com/english/pirandelloweb_in_english.htm Simmel, Georg, the Metropolis and Mental Life, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1903 Read More