class notes (03.07-03.18)

MODernism!
this movement arises mainly from the disillusionment after world war one is over. it's a cry of the heart, and a striving to "make it new." it's a total break with the present, as writers, artists, playwrights, et cetera, attempt to use more avant-garde methods in their creations.
 writers stretched the boundaries by exploring new methods of narrations:
    multiple narrators
    nonlinear narrators
    biased/unreliable narrators
    stream of conciousness
    minor characters as narrators
       (for instance, nick narrates the great gatsby rather than the title character)

surrealism is a facet of modernism.
  it often relied on unexpected juxtaposition (ie elephants with TUUBA HEADS) or strange/unsettling imagery (anything by salvador dali?) to try and activate ones subconsious. the aim was so reveal truths, and join fantasy with reality.

then, post modernism, which obviously came after modernism. it's basically the same thing, but it asserts the fact that there are no universal truths, and it is rather ironic. 
  post-modernists believe that truth is LOCAL. they blended high and low culture, made self-references, and enjoyed many a simulacrum, (a flawed idea that has been reinforced into reality.... think that circle wagon cowboy indian drawing on the smartboard that one day...)


we read some modern and most modernist works... 
the hollow men and the love song of j. alfred prufrock, both by t.s. eliot.
the former has many hints at sterility and despair, the lord's prayer could not be finished, alludes to guy fawkes- overall, a rather desolate poem.
 the latter seems to want to make a point about something; the lower class wanting to make a point to the upper class. we spent many classes trying to figure this out.
incidentally, i greatly enjoy the quote "do i dare disturb the universe."
anyway, our j. alfred prufrock seems to be enthralled by women and the things that they represent. there are many sexual references... prostitution, eeerectile dysfunction?? and overall sexual frustration.