Breaking with the Continuum: Modernism and Post-Modernism - Essay Example

Breaking with the Continuum Modernism and post-modernism are terms used to refer to differing aspects of art. These include fiction, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, but are not in any way limited to these particular genres and styles. Furthermore, modernism and post-modernism should not be limited to the view of different schools of though as they are complete modes of thinking from which these different aspects of the artistic world rose from. The advent of modernism did not come to be because people were merely reacting against classical modes of artistic expression, but they were reacting the type of thinking that brought about these classical modes. Aspects of form that were considered fundamental were rejected or replaced: “melody and harmony were put aside in music; perspective and direct pictorial representation were abandoned in painting, in favour of degrees of abstraction; in architecture traditional forms and materials were rejected in favour of plain geometrical forms” (Barry 81-82). However, some people and artists felt that there were assumptions made in these new modes of artistic expression that were contradictory. Post-modernism can be seen as a reaction against these contradictions that attempted to push boundaries even further in order to solve these contradictions. By comparing and contrasting different examples from each period, we can see exactly how these different modes of thought are a reaction to and from what came before them. The poem “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot can be viewed as an exemplary text of modernism. It features many of the devices that define modernism, such as fragmentation, allusions to demonstrate recurrent patterns or motifs, and an emphasis on subjectivity and impressionism. The poem is split into five sections, “The Burial of the Dead,” “A Game of Chess,” “The Fire Sermon,” “Death by Water,” and “What the Thunder Said.” Each section of the poem lacks any sort of inherent chronological flow. Rather, what we get is a series of vignettes which eventually demonstrate the poet’s point of view, that we live in a “waste land.” As everything is fragmented, this implies that the poet felt that there a whole or unity was lacking to the lives of modern people. This can be seen as a reaction against pre-modernism ideas that in order to make a point, a chronological and cohesive representation must be used. Also, each of the five section titles is an allusion to some literary piece. Furthermore, if we are to read all of the notes included by Eliot, we can see how almost every single vignette within the larger sections are also allusions to everything ranging from Dante’s Inferno, different religious texts, Shakespeare, and a myriad of other sources. What this implies is that there are patterns to be found which are recurring throughout history, and nothing ever really changes because these patterns just continue to repeat. This is part of what leads “The Waste Land” to its desolation. It is this desolation that has led the poet to put forth this image of the world, for how can the world be viewed as a positive and whole if the same sort of events continue to take place over and over throughout history. While classical forms of painting eventually led to a more and more realistic forms of representation, modernist painters felt no need to adhere to realism. Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” can be seen as the first truly modernist painting (Appignanesi 12). Picasso used sharp angles and perspectives that showed a side view of a face from the front, creating deformities of what we traditionally viewed as normal perspectives. Part of this desire to not portray objects through realism came from the rise of photography. While previous painters attempted to capture faces through their art more realistically, photography did more exact job than any paint brush ever could: “Painting pictures of ‘reality’ had simply become obsolete” (13). With realism portrayed more accurately through photography, painters turned to unrealistic representations in order to capture images and ideas that couldn’t be captured through photography. Photography’s authority over realism, thus forcing painters to turn to surrealism, cubism, dadaism, etc., canbe viewed not as a reaction against the former classical modes but a reaction as an extension of these forms. A main aspect of post-modernism is the “disappearance of the real” (Barry 91). Post-modernists felt that certain assumptions made by modernists were not followed through far enough to their logical end. This logical end meant that the universe became “de-centered” (62), and notions of truth were cast in doubt. Accordingly, many aspects of post-modernism reflect this, such as the blending of genres. Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, for instance, blends science fiction and detective genres while at the same time questioning what exactly is reality. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon is another example of post-modern art. The novel follows Oedipa Maas as she attempts to discover the truth behind Tystero, a supposedly suppressed, secretive postal service. The problem is, however, that she never discovers the truth behind the conspiracy, and we are left wondering if Oedipa is suffering from a nervous breakdown, an over-active imagination, or if an ancient postal service really was after her. This sort of conclusion would not have been acceptable in previous modes of thought, but this falls within the boundaries of post-modern thought. Since the universe has been “de-centered” and notions of truth have been done away with, there is no reason why a novel should contain a “satisfactory” ending in which the characters discover the “truth” and everything is solved. Since notions of truth are being challenged through post-modernism, a method used to portray this is to use “unreliable narrators,” narrators who we are never sure if they are being honest with the reader. For instance, Gunther Grass employed this technique in his WWII novel “The Tin Drum.” The novel follows Oscar Matzerath, a midget that is able to shatter glass with his voice. There are many other fantastical aspects of the novel which are hardly believable, and the veracity of the narrator, Oscar, is called into question many times throughout the novel. For instance, at one point Oscar dictates his story to a nurse at a psychiactric hospital, Bruni Munsterberg, who injects his own opinion of the stories that he is being told by Oscar: “My patient claims that he grew three and a half inches between Danzig-Gdansak and Stettin” (407). It is obvious here that Bruno doubts this story, and we are readers are lead to question how many of the other stories were exaggerated or made up. If we are not sure whether or not the information being given to us as readers is correct, how could we ever hope to discover any sort of truth from the work. Of course, that is precisely the point that post-modernism is trying to make. As post-modernism questions ideas of truth, it questions such tendencies to create binary oppositional terms. For instance, it questions people’s tendency to differentiate between “high” art and “low” art. Marcel Duchamp attempted to demonstrate this when he displayed a “porcelain Urinal signed by R. Mutt” (Appignanesi 35). While anything concerned with bodily functions might have been considered inappropriate to even mention at certain points in history, Duchamp was the first to think that by separating mass-produced objects from their normal settings would turn them into art. In other words, anything had the tendency to be art. Art was no longer relegated to the terms adhered to by previous artists and critics from that relied upon classical modes of thought. While modernists might have felt that their work was superior to something that was used in the disposal of bodily wastes, post-modernism posited that they were on equal terms because there was no separation between “high” and “low” art. As with any conflicting modes of thought, there are bound to be conflicts. Post-modernism, with its “de-centered universe,” has been accused of nihilism and promoting moral relativism. As modernism was a reaction against classical modes of thought, and post-modernism, not simply “post” because it came after,” was a reaction to modernism because its advocators did not feel that modernists followed through with their ideas to their logical end, there is bound to be yet another mode of thought that will come as a reaction to post-modernism which will have its own answer to or trouble with accusations of nihilism and moral relativism. Any modes differing modes of thought are bound to have objections to one another, and it is through all sides attempting to explain these accusations that human thought is furthered to the point that we can even have “new” modes of thought. Works Cited Appignanesi, Richard, Introducing Postmodernism. Totem Books, Cambridge, 2005. Barry, Peter, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press, New York, 2002. Eliot, T.S., “The Waste Land.” Twentieth-Century American Poetry, eds. Gioia, Dana, Mason, David, Schoerke, Meg, Mc-Graw Hill Higher Education, Boston, 2004. Grass, Gunther, The Tin Drum, Vintage, London, 2005. Pynchon, Thomas, The Crying of Lot 49. Bantam Books, New York, 1966. Read More