History of American ...

     Although modernism, like romanticism and realism, emerged as a global literary and cultural movement, its most prominent expressions are typically linked to Europe and the United States regions where profound civilizational shifts transformed nearly all facets of life. Modernism is defined by T.S. Eliot as “a way of controlling, of ordering, of giving a shape and a significance to the immense panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history… instead of narrative method, we may now use the mythical method. It is, I seriously believe, a step toward making the modern world possible for art” (from Review of Ulysses). Rooted in the traditions of romantic individualism and subjectivity, modernism developed in response to rapid social, technological, and philosophical changes that redefined human experience. (Pokrivcav 6)

     Life was undergoing rapid transformation, driven in large part by developments in science. Key figures such as Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud played pivotal roles in challenging long-held beliefs. Darwin's theory of evolution disrupted traditional religious views, suggesting that humanity was not the product of divine creation but rather a result of natural processes. Similarly, Freud shifted attention to the workings of the human mind, arguing that the unconscious was governed by natural instincts and drives rather than divine or purely rational forces.

     None of these sweeping changes left the human subject unaffected. In fact, they often led to its profound dislocation, as many previously accepted truths were challenged. This upheaval compelled individuals to seek refuge in interiority and subjectivity. The transition from traditional communal structures, with their clearly defined social roles, to new, fluid relationships shaped by emerging modern conditions, elicited strong reactions. As Howarth observes, even the notion of what is considered “normal” defined by the industrialized, Western model of modernity with its rigid schedules and mechanized patterns of life was called into question (9–10). In response to this existential uncertainty, modernist art sought to reassert and redefine the place of the human being within an increasingly fragmented and alienating world.

     The United States arguably epitomized the emerging modernist impulses more fully than any other nation, largely due to its relative detachment from traditions. In contrast to the preceding two centuries, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a profound transformation in America, as it evolved from a rural and agrarian society into an industrial power. The rapid urbanization of its landscape created fertile ground for the development of modernist ideals and innovations. This spirit of progress and renewal was captured by Senator Albert Beveridge, who confidently proclaimed, “[t]he twentieth century will be American […] The regeneration of the world, physical as well as moral, has begun” (qtd. in Ruland and Bradbury 239).

     Literature responded to these sweeping changes by producing works that highlighted complexities of modern life and explored their impact on human consciousness. Many literary texts shifted away from broad ethical inquiries framed through detailed depictions of characters and their societal roles, moving instead toward subjective portrayals of historical and sociological realities. These narratives often reflected a fragmented, individualized perspective sometimes to the point of obscurity or incomprehensibility as they sought to capture the disorientation of emerging existential conditions. (Pokrivcav 8-9)

     In American literature the transition was not so extreme and sharp, since the first signs of modernistic consciousness emerged there maybe even earlier than in Britain, mostly in the poetry of Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman. Whitman and Dickinson, as the early American modernist poets, brought new poetic expressions suited to a fragmented and broken consciousness.