Essay about Toward a Definition of Modernism - 2672 Words

Toward a Definition of Modernism Lawrence B. Gamache’s article â€Å"Toward a Definition of Modernism† encapsulates in its title the challenges critics meet in their attempts to formulate a coherent theoretical modernist model, though the quintessential modernist works –even at the time of this 1987 article – are over sixty years old. Indeed, the sheer number of scholarly books and articles that discuss or contribute to the debate surrounding the definition of modernism indicates the extent to which modernism is a term whose only non-contentious consensus is that it its meaning is fraught with ambiguity. Susan Stanford Friedman’s contribution to the debate summarizes the theoretical crises thus: As terms in an evolving scholarly†¦show more content†¦But the latter two dramatists are as often classified post-modernists as they are classified modernists (Faulkner 22, Abrams 168). Faulkner remarks, â€Å"It is in poetry and the novel that Modernism can first be most clearly discerned [†¦] developments in drama followed a different course† (21). Opera, or music in general, for that matter, is rarely commented upon in terms of modernism outside of musicology, saving the usual passing references to Stravinsky and Schoenberg, who have seemingly become the genre’s representative modernists (Abrams 168). But it is my contention that early twentieth-century composers and their librettists could not have been immune to the great surge of creative energy that erupted when the modernists burst on to the scene. Therefore, against a hypothesis that insists that for a work to be considered modernist, it must find traditional forms incapable of expressing â€Å"n ew† or particularly twentieth-century sentiments, and thereby must self-consciously experiment with new forms, I will examine three seminal twentieth-century operas: Strauss/Wilde’sShow MoreRelatedAnti-Rationalism : John Cages Anti-Rationalism974 Words   |  4 Pageshis purpose is to â€Å"eliminate purpose†, in which sounds could â€Å"just be†. In 1938, he interested in exploring music upon the absolute time rather than musical time. It is really hard to define Cage’s aesthetic style, but it was a new direction of modernism. E.g. 4’33’’ (both in music and installation) Rather than a musical composition or visual installation, the work 4’33’’ is a concept in art history. Therefore, I think there is no need to separate music and visual art. To be honest, 4’33’’ isRead MorePostmodernism And The Future Of Literature1214 Words   |  5 Pages19th century until the end of World War II as modernism and literature after World War II as postmodernism. Although there are no explicit definitions, common traits can often be found that distinguished these two categories. In this paper, I will be examining modernism and postmodernism literature, as well as whether postmodernism still continue until now, focusing on Italo Calvino’s If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler and Anne Carson’s Nox. Modernism is often described as experimental trends in literatureRead MoreThe Four Noble Truths Of Buddhism1635 Words   |  7 Pagesmodernist figures, Kaneta Taio and Che-Un Sunim, have worked in Japan and Korea respectively to help relieve the suffering of their people. Moreover, by evaluating the lives of Taio and Che-Un, we are able to identify limitations in the definitions of Buddhist modernism outlined by authors we have studied in class such as David McMahan and Anne Blackburn. Kaneta Taio is a zen priest known for his efforts to help the Japanese community after the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in 2011. MoreRead MoreModernism and Symbolic-Interpretivism Theory Organizational Effectiveness742 Words   |  3 PagesAbstract The basic definition of an organization is an assembly of people working together to achieve common objectives through a division of labor. According to Mote (2012), an organization provides a means of using individual strengths within a group to achieve more than can be accomplished by the aggregate efforts of group members working individually. This proposal will look at modernism and symbolic interpretivism (SI) theories and how they apply to organizational structure. The organizationRead MorePostmodernism : Modernism And Postmodernism1472 Words   |  6 PagesModernism and Postmodernism are both two important eras in design. Postmodernism takes a lot of concepts from the modernism era. Both modernism and post modernism focus on Style, Social analysis, Cultural Context, Philosophy, Politics, Human experience, Machine aesthetics, and the constant transformation of the â€Å"New†. An interesting fact of the Modernism and Postmodernism is the use of the psychology and philosophy themes 1. Subjectivity 2.History 3. Culture and 4. Theoretically divers aestheticsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Of A Salesman And Millers And Williams Plays1102 Words   |  5 PagesRoss, Six Degrees of Separation, and The Heidi Chronicles to support my claim. To start off, I will come up with working definitions of modernism and post-modern ism. Modernism is a movement in culture that seeks to set an ultimate grand narrative of society. It provides the lenses through which we should view and judge societal operations. Essentially, it creates sweeping definitions for everything in society that should be referred to by everybody. â€Å"This is what success looks like†, â€Å"These are theRead MoreThe Emergence Of The New Literary Movement1072 Words   |  5 Pages It seems every few decades the literary ground shifts. Romanticism and Realism dominated the latter 18th century well into the 19th century. Next came Modernism, arising in the 1900s. Soon after, postmodernism took stage in the 1950s. Now into the 2000s, authors have performed remarkable feats of literary creativity and diversity. Authors are evoking occurrences from the turn of the millennium—events and conflicts that are specific to the twenty-first century. The new forms, tropes and theoreticalRead MoreEssay on Modern and Post-Modernism Architectur e 1070 Words   |  5 PagesThere is often some confusion when people start talking about the post-modernism and modernism in architecture in terms of   their philosophical terminology differences. Modern architecture is known for its minimalism (Linder, 2004); buildings were functional and economical rather than comfortable and beautifully decorated. The post-modernism architecture, however, is called a â€Å"neo-eclectic, significantly assuming the role of a regeneration of period styles for designing houses, and a never-endingRead MoreAssessment of the Contribution of Postmodernism to Our Understanding of Society1025 Words   |  5 Pagesbureaucratic forms of organisation. 3. Culture: A challenge to traditional forms of thought by rationality, and an emphasis on scientific and technical knowledge. Sociology, as a discipline, is a product of the cultural aspect of modernism. Modernism is a distinct way of thinking about, categorizing, and describing and explaining the world. The origin of modern thinking, and of sociology, was the enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. On this basis we can look at PostmodernismRead MoreBody Mods Are Civil Disobedience Essay752 Words   |  4 Pagesconsidered likely that the scarification techniques initially used were learned from naturally occurring scars due to accidents, animal attacks, and warfare. There is some archaeological evidence of tools associated with natural pigments that points toward tattooing occurring at least since 30,000 BCE. The oldest preserved skins with tattoos (aged 3000 – 6000 years) come from mummies from Egypt and peoples from the north that were trapped in glaciers. Autopsy of the â€Å"iceman† inferred that some of