Friday, April 8, 2011

Realism and Modernism

Realism and Modernism are definitely two interesting times in literary history. Realism, when we were studying it, was a very boring time. I did not really like the pieces we were reading, if we were even reading literature, which I cannot remember. Modernism, however, is much more like how I would like to read and write. Modernism writing is still popular in many authors today because it is using more common dialect, not as dull or boring as many of the Realism pieces. Also, the philosophies themselves vary drastically when you really look at them. Realism deals mainly with a general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in the real life. Realism writers would take a beautiful garden scenery and turn it into a small patch of land, containing disgusting little insects falling all over the colorful plants. To me, it seems like making an real point of view involves searching for the little, pointless things to bring down or negate the wondrous effects of beauty on the human body and soul. Modernism was a revolt against the Realism movement, which had gotten too boring and monotonous for many of the people who liked to read current literature. Now, keep in mind that revolting in literature is not the same as revolting in, let me say, the streets. Creating a riot is actually pretty easy when you have the right opinion and the right amount of shut down against those with that opinion. That would be an example of a public revolt. A revolt in literature, more or less, is a somewhat subtle change in how author's write. For example, one author, let me name him Alfred, would say to himself, "wait a second, this is dumb. Why do I need to keep writing like this? People have changed the way we write before, so why can I not change it just one more time?" So, then Alfred would start creating his own writing style in whatever ways he wants. Later at some time, he would go down the street to get a cup of flour for the loaf of bread he is making, strike up a conversation with his friendly neighbor, Mr. Spenner, and chat with him about his new philosophy of writing literature. Then, Mr. Spenner would say something like, "Oh my, that sounds peachy keen! I think I want to write like that, too! Thank you, neighbor Alfred, for telling me all about your brilliant new plan! I will tell all of my other friends!" But, unfortunately, Mr. Spenner does not have any other friends, but then people would be able to read these kind of works from a multitude of sources. Eventually, more and more writers would be using this technique, and that is how a literary revolt comes about. Of course, there are various versions of how a revolt comes, but that is just an example. Modernism no longer depended on real perceptions of stuff during the day, but it made a brand new concept for writers to take their own spin off of.

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