American writer Harold Rosenberg was described Modernism as "the tradition of the new." If we take this as a starting point we then have to consider in terms of literature what is meant by new? The "Twilight," series is new but other than being perhaps the biggest affront to modern literature, is certainly not modernist. Therefore if Modernism does not refer to new as in an event in a chronological time frame, then "new," can be considered to be a break from the old.
The old, in terms of Modernism is Realism, a way of writing that recounts events in a believable and accurate fashion, a form of prose that holds a mirror up to our own lives. Arguably realist texts in their broadest sense form the bulk of novels in circulation; it is not hard to find examples of texts that reflect real life. Some examples include; Don Quixote by Cervantes, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and in more recent times books such as Saturday by Ian McEwan. Therefore what Modernism does through writing in a way that is different from Realism is writes in a way that does not hold a mirror up to our lives. Works that find their base in metaphor and complex allusions. Modernism is more like a projector, it takes the real world and beams it back to us in a way which we can relate to but don't immediately recognise.
T.S Eliot's The Waste Land is seen as the avante garde Modernist text. Set around the centre of London we are provided with a series of complex metaphors that are purposefully obtuse. Lines such as "This music crept by me upon the waters And along the Strand, up Queen Victoria Street," illustrate how on the one hand we are presented with the familiarity of the streets of London but at the same time offered a complex metaphor in "music crept by me upon the waters," in my opinion showing how Eliot believed the war had attributed sinister faculties to sweet things such as music.
Modernism is complex, it is obtuse but it is certainly interesting. I hope my extremely brief overview has been of some use and of some interest. I can't recommend enough going out and reading some modernists texts for yourself.
Please comment to let me know what you thought, I am a bit short on reading material at the moment so any suggestions would also be hugely appreciated :)
