Modern to the Present
1. What did modernism represent?
Ans: Modernism embodied the tension between traditional values and emerging new ideas, reflecting a fundamental shift in art, literature, and thought as society moved away from established norms towards innovative and often experimental expressions.
2. How did Ezra Pound inspire artists and writers?
Ans: Ezra Pound's call to "Make it new!" encouraged artists and writers to challenge and re-evaluate established cultural, aesthetic, and religious traditions, leading to transformative changes across various aspects of life.
3. What are the various movements in painting between 1890 and 1910?
Ans: Between 1890 and 1910, various art movements emerged, including Dadaism, Surrealism, Cubism, Constructivism, Minimalism, Vorticism, Futurism, and Fauvism, distinguishing themselves from earlier styles like Classicism, Gothic art, Baroque, Naturalism, Realism, and Romanticism.
4. Which was the peak time of modernism in literature?
Ans: Modernism peaked between 1910 and 1930, producing influential works by notable figures such as T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis, Virginia Woolf, Wallace Stevens, and Gertrude Stein in England and Europe.
5. Which period is considered to be the beginning of Postmodernism?
Ans: 1960s.
6. Name the writer of the play, 'Three sisiters'.
Ans: Anton Chekhov.
7. Who are Michael Foucault and Jacques Derrida?
Ans: French Structuralists.
8. Who introduced the term, 'Postmodernism'?
Ans: Jean Francois Lyotard.
9. What do you mean by Meta Narratives and Mini narratives?
Ans: A meta-narrative is a narrative that examines the nature of storytelling itself, highlighting its artificiality and exploring how stories are constructed and understood.
10. What is the meaning of Diaspora?
Ans: A diaspora refers to a population that has been dispersed from its geographic origin, identifying with a specific location while currently living in different regions.
11. Who says, 'The ceaseless posing of the woman question'?
Ans: Christina Crostby.
12. What did the term, 'The New Woman' refer to?
Ans: It refers to a trend in novels focusing on the "modern" woman, addressing themes of women's subjectivity and their roles in both public and private life.
13. Which period is known as modernism in literature?
Ans: The term "modern" refers to the present or recent times, contrasting with the distant past. In the arts—such as literature, visual arts, architecture, dance, and music—Modernism signifies a departure from traditional styles and a quest for innovative forms of expression. This movement became particularly prominent in literature following World War I (1914-18), although the end of the Victorian era (around 1900) also heralded the emergence of new artistic styles across all disciplines.
14. What caused a radical shift both in form and content in the 20th century art and literature?
Ans: Modernists experienced increasing alienation from Victorian morality, characterized by prudery and rigid gender and class hierarchies, along with the era’s optimism and conventions. Influenced by emerging ideas in psychology, philosophy, and political theory, they sought new modes of expression, leading to a radical transformation in both form and content in 20th-century art and literature.
15. Distinguish the time period of both modernism and postmodernism.
Ans: The modern period, roughly spanning from 1900 to 1930, marked a significant shift in artistic and literary movements, while the postmodern period emerged around 1945, following World War II, and gained prominence from the 1960s onward. It's important to note that these movements cannot be strictly confined to specific dates, as artistic and literary developments evolve gradually and do not adhere to a precise timeline.
16. Mention two factors that gave rise to modernism and postmodernism.
Ans: Modernism emerged from several key factors:
(a) The rise of new industrial societies contributed to rapid urbanization, leading to significant social, cultural, and technological transformations.
(b) The devastating impact of the two World Wars, which resulted in widespread destruction and immense loss of life, particularly highlighted the horrors of racism and genocide, prompting a reevaluation of societal values and beliefs.
17. Briefly mention the difference between modernism and postmodernism.
Ans: Postmodernism shares an eclectic approach with modernism, utilizing fragmented forms, aleatory writing, and often lacking an omniscient narrator. However, the key difference lies in their mood, attitude, and outlook. While modernism tends to convey a sense of disillusionment and search for meaning amidst chaos, postmodernism embraces playfulness and irony, often questioning the very concept of meaning and rejecting grand narratives, thereby presenting a more skeptical view of truth and coherence.
18. How is the past treated in postmodernism?
Ans: In postmodernism, the past is revisited with irony rather than being wholly discarded, as seen in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, where the title itself is a pun on "God." The two tramps symbolize a nostalgia for a lost sense of wholeness, waiting for a Godot that never arrives, reflecting a futile longing for faith. Lucky's incoherent speech exemplifies this struggle, parodying the past's certainty in language and religious belief, ultimately illustrating the derangement and ambiguity that characterize the postmodern condition.
19. What is 'Martin Poetry'?
Ans: Craig Raine, along with Christopher Reid, created 'Martian poetry', characterized by unique perspectives on humanity. In "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home," Raine presents observations of human life in puzzling terms that require the reader to decipher their meaning. This playful engagement with the text allows readers to derive enjoyment from unraveling the poet's insights into everyday experiences.
20. How did Jurgen Habermas look at modernism?
Ans: In 1980, German theorist Jürgen Habermas viewed modernism as an extension of the Enlightenment, emphasizing reason, a break from blind adherence to tradition, and the use of rational discourse to reform society. He critiqued French Structuralists, such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, for rejecting Enlightenment ideals, arguing that they undermined concepts of reason, clarity, truth, and progress.
