LT Modernism

University Mohammed Seddik Benyahia, Jijel
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Department of English
Third Year Classes
Groups: 1-6
Literary Texts
Chapter One
Introduction into Modernism
Teacher: Dr. Houda Bouhadjar
First Semester 2021/2022

1
Literary Texts:
Third year groups: 1-6
Lecture One: Introduction into Modernism in Literature
I. The Realistic Tradition:

Realism dates to the 1850’s but its dominance over the British
fiction reached its peak during the Victorian era. As a movement in
the arts, realism refers to the faithful representation of reality in
artistic and literary production. It is defined as
a common tendency from the early nineteenth
century onwards to represent real life in fiction
and painting, and to do so using common conventions
of representation…Realism is often associated with
representing average experience - the lives of
middle-class characters who do little that is
unusual or exciting; it prefers an objective
standpoint, and is illusionist in that it asks its
readers to forget that they are reading fiction.
(Key Concepts in Literary Theory, 85-86)
In fiction, writers used objective writing that portrays characters in

their ordinary life situations and leads the readers to identify with
them. Characters usually stand for their classes (middle or lower)
and gain more importance than action.
Realistic conventions of writing fiction made it easy for

readers to identify with characters as real people, understand their
motives and anticipate the resolutions of the plots. Such is done
through the following:
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A- Narration:
Victorian writers use omniscient narrators who are ‘all-knowing’

and provide the readers with explanations of the motives behind the
action the fact that allows the readers to make judgments and
predictions while reading the story.
B- The Plot:
Victorian fiction is written in chronological plots that start at a

date and progress to the future with the rising action. When the
action reaches the climax, the resolution is usually logical and can be
easily determined by the reader. Reading Victorian fiction was a
satisfactory entertaining act that gave readers the possibility to
witness the story with the characters that were very close to real
people in their representations.
Story Plot Diagram
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c- The Probability of the Events:
Victorian novelists
constructed their plots in a way
that makes the stories closer to
reality than to imagination. The
probability of action existed in
the majority of Victorian fiction
(despite the use of some
supernatural elements by authors
like Charlotte Brontë in Jane
Eyre, they appear interweaved
within a realistic frame).
Moreover, realistic fiction
presented contemporary life and
issues related to everyday
problems, industrial revolution,
poverty, nobility and family life.
Although some Victorian classics narrate stories that happened

decades before their publication (Vanity Fair (1847-8), Wuthering
Heights (1847), Jane Eyre (1847), the majority of Victorian novels
explicitly addressed the contemporary condition including
Dickens’ Hard Times (1854), Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and
South (1854–5), Charles Kingsley’s Alton Locke (1850) and Benjamin
Disraeli’s Sybil (1845).
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II. Subtypes of the Victorian
Novel:
Writing literature became a

business in the Victorian era and fiction
dominated the literary production. The
major subtypes of the Victorian novel
are mentioned in the following table:
Type of Novel Author Title Publication

Date
-Family Life -Jane Austen -Sense and Sensibility -1795
-Historical Novel -Walter Scott -Waverley -1814
-Social Novel
-(poverty, -Charles Dickens -Hard Times -1854

institutions,
work)
-William -Vanity Fair -1847-8
-(nobility)
Makepeace
Thackeray
-Wuthering Heights -1847
-Romance -Charlotte
Brontë
-William Wilkie
5
-Detective Collins -The Woman in White -1860
Novelists made living by writing fiction. While George Eliot and

Charles Dickens became famous and rich, others such as Mathew
Arnold, Charles Kingsley had to depend on other jobs for living.
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Literary Texts:
Third year groups: 1-6
Lecture Two: Introduction into Modernism
I. The Shift towards Modernism
Many of the
Victorian perceptions
of objectivity and
certainty lost their
value near the end of
the nineteenth century.
A variety of external factors led to a shift in the arts from realistic

conventions of creation to a search for new forms and subjects
adequate to the new era. The major factors that led to the
appearance of Modernism can be summarised as follows:
a- Political and Social Changes:
- Queen Victoria’s Jubilee (1887): The celebration of the

fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign marked a
beginning of a new era of doubt and consciousness among
intellectuals.
- Change in Life Style (1911): By 1911, 70% of the British

population has moved to live in the cities as a result of the
industrial revolution. This led to a loss of the sense of
community and a rise of individualism in society.
- Disintegration of the British Empire: The British Empire that

reached 13 million square miles started to lose some of its
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colonies especially after the Boer War (1899-1902) in South
Africa. Some of the colonies were encouraged to rebel against
the British rule.
- The Change in Parliament: The socialist party grew to exert

more power and represent the interests of middle and lower
classes.
- WWI: The damage caused by WWI led to a spread of

pessimism among intellectuals who questioned the nobility of
the war especially when the soldiers in the front lines sent
letters home describing the horror of the war. The destruction
caused by the war led to the appearance of new ideological
attractions such as Marxism.
- Universal Suffrage for Women (1928): Women gained the write

to vote which will set the ground for other achievements in the
public sphere.
b- Cultural Changes:
- Charles Darwin’s On the Origins of Species (1859): The

publication of Charles Darwin’s work came as a shock for it put
into question the existence of God, denied the church its
legitimacy and power and made serious doubts about the human
nature. It also influenced scientific and philosophical thinking
and spread globally.
- Education Act (1870): When education became compulsory for

everyone between 5 and 13, literacy rose quickly, however, the
reading public grew into two distinct classes: the literate
masses who could read newspapers and magazines and the
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intellectuals who understood more sophisticated works that
demanded background knowledge in various fields.
- Split in Literature: The literature produced at the beginning of

the Twentieth century also split into two categories: popular
genres for the masses and more highly experimental genres for
the elite.
- Development of artistic Expression: Other forms of expression

developed including painting, music, TV and cinema. There was
an aesthetic interaction between all the modes of artistic
creation new techniques were borrowed from or by literature.
- New Theories in Psychology: Sigmund Freud’s theories in

psychoanalysis had great influence on intellectuals at the wake
of the Twentieth century. Writers became interested in the
human mind and its workings and aimed to represent it in
literature. Internal lives of characters gained importance over
traditional plots, speech and action.
The aforementioned changes led to a sense of disillusionment,

despair and pessimism among intellectuals who started asking
questions about moral values, humanity and art. Most of them felt
alienated from the masses that were concerned with basic needs of
survival and did not question the directions that political, economic
and social systems took and their devastating results.
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Questions to Consider:
1- In what ways do the realistic conventions of literary production fail
to represent the new era?
2- Did society remain the guardian of morality?
3- In what ways does Victorian stoicism come to an end at the late
Nineteenth century?
Suggested Readings:
“Broken Mirrors: The First World War and Modernist Literature” by Randall Stevenson
https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/broken-mirrors-the-first-world-war-and-
modernist-literature
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References
Bradshaw, David and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. A Companion to British Literature and Culture.
Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
Carter, Ronald and John McRae. The Routledge History of Literature in English: Britain and
Ireland. London: Routledge, 1997.
Parsons, Deborah. Theorists of the Modernist Novel: James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson, Virginia
Woolf. London: Routledge, 2007.
Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. New York: OUP, 1994.
Wolfreys, Julian et al. Eds. Key Concepts in Literary Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 2006
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University Mohammed Seddik Benyahia, Jijel

Faculty of Letters and Languages

Third Year Classes

Introduction into Modernism

Teacher: Dr. Houda Bouhadjar

First Semester 2021/2022

Third year groups: 1-6

Lecture One: Introduction into Modernism in Literature

I. The Realistic Tradition:

In fiction, writers used objective writing that portrays characters in

Realistic conventions of writing fiction made it easy for

Victorian writers use omniscient narrators who are ‘all-knowing’

Victorian fiction is written in chronological plots that start at a

Story Plot Diagram

Although some Victorian classics narrate stories that happened

Writing literature became a

Type of Novel Author Title Publication

-Family Life -Jane Austen -Sense and Sensibility -1795

-Historical Novel -Walter Scott -Waverley -1814

-(poverty, -Charles Dickens -Hard Times -1854

Novelists made living by writing fiction. While George Eliot and

Third year groups: 1-6

Lecture Two: Introduction into Modernism

I. The Shift towards Modernism

A variety of external factors led to a shift in the arts from realistic

a- Political and Social Changes:

- Queen Victoria’s Jubilee (1887): The celebration of the

- Change in Life Style (1911): By 1911, 70% of the British

- Disintegration of the British Empire: The British Empire that

- The Change in Parliament: The socialist party grew to exert

- WWI: The damage caused by WWI led to a spread of

- Universal Suffrage for Women (1928): Women gained the write

- Charles Darwin’s On the Origins of Species (1859): The

- Education Act (1870): When education became compulsory for

- Split in Literature: The literature produced at the beginning of

- Development of artistic Expression: Other forms of expression

- New Theories in Psychology: Sigmund Freud’s theories in

The aforementioned changes led to a sense of disillusionment,

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