MODERNIST AUTHORS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
Literature is dynamic. It is changing or progressing from time to time. From stones to digital or e-books. From feathers to keyboards. From trees to steel. From the very first author ever recorded in history to contemporary authors. Truly, the field of literature is evolving. But, what still remains is… literature is literature – an expression or idea from the heart and mind of a man.
Brief History of Literature
English literature was first produced by the people from the British Isles and written in the English language (Mutter, et. al, 2020). History recorded that English literature started from the 7th Century until the modern-day. Every era or period has different authors who contributed something which made an impact on today’s literature. The classical Greek period has Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato. The Patristic Period (Early Christianity) during the Roman Empire has Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, and Saint Cyprian (Wheeler, n.d.). Renaissance Era got the famous author (up until today) William Shakespeare with his renowned piece, “Romeo and Juliet”. And in the modern period, we got arising authors who inspire a lot of people today through their literary works.
According to Oxford Dictionary, modern implies traditional styles or values. There are historical events of the modern period that made an impact on the people and cause them to write about them as a way to preserve what happened. Events such as The Franco-Prussian War, American Civil War, Cold War, black people’s slavery, independence, and many more notable events. It could be a third-person point of view or personal experiences. It could be a motif or the actual events themselves. These authors made ways to reminisce the past through their literary works during the modern period with style and formality in the way they write. These authors are called modernist authors.
Modernist Authors
Modernist means a supporter of modernism (Oxford Dictionary). While Modernist Authors are authors during the modern-day period. The modern period is divided into two – the early modern period and the late modern period. The early modern period is from the middle ages to the post-classical era. The late modern-day period begins in the middle 18th century until the late 1960s. Literary modernism started primarily in Europe and northern South America. It has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The following are five (5) the famous Modernist Authors and their infamous contributions in the field of literature, in no particular order:
- F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
– A famous American novelist and screenwriter. One of his famous novels is The Great Gatsby.
- E. E. Cummings (1894–1962)
– An American poet, playwright, and visual artist. He is a supporter of “Modernist free-form” poetry. His first collection of poetry is entitled Tulips and Chimneys.
- D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930)
– An English poet and writer. He published a lot of novels during his time. He is best known for his novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. His works include Sons and Lovers and Women in Love.
- Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966)
– A writer born in Ukraine. She was a passionate poet. A few of her works are Evening, Poems of Akhmatova, and White Flock. She was the president of the Writer’s Union.
- James Joyce (1882–1941)
– An Irish novelist, poet, writer, teacher, and poet. His literary movement was “Modernism”. He is best known for the novel entitled Ulysses. According to history, the book was officially banned in 1929 in England.
Modernism elements include stylistic, formal, and thematic writing. Do not be confused between “Modernist” authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Contemporary” authors like John Green or Nicholas sparks. According to Britannica, art or literature made after the middle-20th (the 1950s) century is considered contemporary. There’s a distinction between them. Modern literature has movements, such as Expressionism, Imagism, and Symbolism, to name a few of them. While contemporary works are conceptual and minimal.
