Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1900-1950 S
DEFINITION
• Modernism is the reaction of
artists and writers to the new
society formed because of
industrialization.
THE WORLD AS A
WASTELAND
WORLD AS A WASTELAND
BEFORE WWI
WORLD AS A WASTELAND
AFTER WWI
CHARACTERISTICS OF
MODERNISM
1. Instability 2. Futility
3. Pessimism
5. Loss of faith (nihilism,
3. Pessimism 7. Disillusionment
4. Chaos
IDEAL AMERICAN DREAM
Endless Opportunities— “New Eden”
1. In this period, the chief characteristic of the self is one of alienation. The
character belongs to a "lost generation" (Gertrude Stein), suffers from a
"dissociation of sensibility" (T. S. Eliot), and who has "a Dream deferred"
(Langston Hughes).