Modernism Impact on Philosophies and Critical Theories - Essay Example

? Contents Introduction 2 Influence on modernism of philosophies 2 Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse (1927) 3 Imagist poetry 4 Conclusion 5 References 6 Introduction If one attempts to define modernism in its broadest sense, one would come to the conclusion that it is essentially modern thought, practice or character. However, a specific consideration of the term signifies modernism as a movement in the fields of arts, its array of cultural propensities as well as related cultural movements that initially sprang from large scale, far-reaching transformations that occurred to the Western society during the waning of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Many factors in particular had contributed to this transformation such as coming into existence of contemporary industrial societies, the speedy development of cities and last but not least the horror that was the First World War. In art as well as literature, Modernism unequivocally discards the ideology termed realism (Graff, 1973) by utilizing the myriads of past literary works by the application of incorporation, reprise, revision, recapitulation, rewriting, as well as parodying in fresh forms. Modernism also does away with all vestiges of Enlightenment thinking, as also the notion of an omnipotent and compassionate Creator (Lewis, 2000). Influence on modernism of philosophies Friedrich Nietzsche is considered a major pioneer of modernism as his philosophy depicts man’s inner psychological drives, with particular reference to what he termed ‘Will to power’, which remains much more significant than things or facts. He describes that ‘Will to Power’ is human’s main driving force and there is nothing preconceived or decided. Using his philosophy one could argue that there is no metaphysical or divine intervention with respect to what happens in one’s life. A human mind uses the ‘will to power’ to achieve what one wants to. Hence, this influenced past theories of mind and self where mind and self were not considered to be a dominant force in one’s destiny. But his philosophy defined mind and self in an entirely different way. Henri Bergson accentuated the distinction between the logical clock time and the express, subjective, individual experience of time. What he wrote about time as well as consciousness had exerted a salutary influence on the novelists of the 21st century, particularly the modernists who made effective use of the psychological technique termed the ‘stream of consciousness’, such as James Joyce in Ulysses, Dorothy Richardson in Pointed Roofs and Virginia Woolf in Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. Another significant feature of the Bergsonian philosophy is the notion of elan vital, or the life force, that “brings about the creative evolution of everything” (Collinson & Plant, 2006). Bergson also accorded a high value to intuition, at the same time dismissing the importance of the intellect. Hence, Bergson’s philosophy brought in new dimensions to how the mind and self were perceived. In his “Time and Free Will” (1888) Bergson dealt with two different perceptions of time. Historical time, being linear and external was gauged in as spatial distance that is traversed by the hands of a timepiece or even a pendulum, while Psychological time, being both internal and subjective, was reckoned by the comparative emotional intensity of a given moment. Life as subsists within the mind in which psychological time prevails, remains freely moving, untamed, and resistant to conscious will. According to Natalia Gutz, Bergson had provided guidance to writers seeking out to capture the consequences of emotional relativity, because to him “a thought or feeling could be measured in terms of the number of perceptions, memories, and associations attached to it” (Gudz, 2005). Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse (1927) Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse” is considered a landmark in the history of the high modernism genre novel. It manipulates with great skill the psychological as well as the temporal elements of the human condition (Davies, 1989). The novel is deficient in the usual omniscient narrator that is the hallmark of any novel, it also fails to provide a clear guide to lead readers as they are able to do so only by way of character development (Wolff, 1926). Characters in the novel tend to exhibit factors pertaining to modern thought. For instance, the character Mrs. Ramsay belittles Victorian notions of society by questioning not only the existence of a Supreme God but also human goodness. What is more, man’s transience is highlighted as a pivotal theme in conjunction with nature as a perpetual and at times ominous force possessing the all-pervading potential that can consume the whole humanity. Imagist poetry Imagism is a poetical movement that originated at the turn of the 20th century, by a group of poets. This group, led by Ezra Pound, consisted of both American and English poets. It was considered an extremely significant movement in the history of English poetry on the whole, since the Pre-Raphaelites (Hughes, 1931). The movement has as its goal lucidity of expression by means of well defined visual imagery as well as sharp language. The Imagist poetry was written in verses that featured hard outline and dry clarity in which a precise visual image depicted a comprehensive poetical statement. Descended from the Symbolist movement of France which was empathetic to music, Imagism in turn was analogous to sculpture. The inspiration for the formulation of the movement came from T.E. Hulme’s critical views that revolted against the prevailing Romantic optimism and careless thinking as he perceived them. The Imagists were based in London, and they hailed from the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland. Among them, there were also some women writers as major figures. According to T. S. Eliot, the point de repere is the group denominated ‘imagists’ in London about 1910 (Elliot, 1953). The March issue of Poetry presented two articles one entitled A Few Don'ts by an Imagist and Imagism from the pen of Ezra Pound. Imagism spelt out succinctly the position of the poetical group: The “thing” should be subjected to direct treatment whether it is objective or subjective. Every word should contribute creatively to the poem’s presentation. As to rhythm, the poem should be composed not in the sequence of the metronome but in sequence of the musical phrase (Elder, 1998). In his article, Pound defined an image as something that depicts an emotional as well as intellectual complex, within a single instant of time and it is much better to create a single Image in one’s lifetime than pen voluminous works (Pound, 1918). He also stated that Imagism should never be taken as a fixed dogma. On the contrary it is the product of long contemplation. Imagism is not the mere introduction of pictures, but to the manner in which they are presented. Conclusion In short, modernistic philosophers and their critical theories on man’s mind and self profoundly influenced the minds of modernistic writers ranging from James Joyce to Virginia Woolf. This resulted in new ways of portraying characters and life situations by these writers, bringing about a freshness and dynamism to western literature that it was sorely wholly lacking in until then. References Collinson, D. & Plant, K. (2006). Fifty Major Philosophers. NY: Routledge. Davies, S. (1989). Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse. Great Britain: Penguin Books. Elder, R. B. (1998). The films of Stan Brakhage in the American tradition of Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Charles Olson, Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press Elliot, T.S, (1953). Lecture, Washington University, St. Louis. Graff, G. (1973). “The Myth of the Postmodernist Breakthrough”. Triquarterly, 26, Winter, pp. 383–417 Gudz, N. (2005).Concepts of Time in Virginia Woolf, Munich: GRIN Publishing. Pound, E. (1918). “A Retrospect”. In Kolocotroni, V., Goldman, J. & Taxidou, O., eds. (1998). Modernism: An Anthology of Sources and Documents. Chicago, USA: University of Chicago Press. Woolf, V. (1926), The Cinema. [Online]. Available at: http://www.woolfonline.com/?q=essays/cinema/full. Accessed on 23 May 2012. Read More