The Concept of Modernism

by Astradur Eysteinsson

The term "modernism" is central to any discussion of twentieth-century literature and critical theory. Astradur Eysteinsson here maintains that the concept of modernism does not emerge directly from the literature it subsumes, but is in fact a product of critical practices relating to nontraditional literature. Intervening in these practices, and correlating them with modernist works and with modern literary theory, Eysteinsson undertakes a comprehensive reexamination of the idea of modernism.

Eysteinsson critically explores various manifestations of modernism in a rich array of American, British, and European literature, criticism, and theory. He first examines many modernist paradigms, detecting in them a conflict between modernism's culturally subversive potential and its relatively conservative status as a formalist project. He then considers these paradigms as interpretations-and fabrications-of literary history. Seen in this light, modernism both signals a historical change on the literary scene and implies the context of that change. Laden with the implications of tradition and modernity, modernism fills its major that of highlighting and defining the complex relations between history and postrealist literature. Eysteinsson focuses on the ways in which the concept of modernism directs our understanding of literature and literary history and influences our judgment of experimental and postrealist works in literature and art. He discusses in detail the relation of modernism to the key concepts postmodernism, the avant-garde, and realism. Enacting a crisis of subject and reference, modernism is not so much a form of discourse, he asserts, as its interruption-a possible "other" modernity that reveals critical aspects of our social and linguistic experience in Western culture.

Comparatists, literary theorists, cultural historians, and others interested in twentieth-century literature and art will profit from this provocative book.

Genres: Criticism

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently when this came out it made a huge impact. No wonder, for the amount of reading done here is simply tremendous. I must say that I think this is ESSENTIAL for any student of modernism, simply for the COVERAGE that it has. A very thorough job indeed. Eysteinsson covers all the '-isms' you may want to know and which are relevant/ important: surrealism, dadaism, futurism, realism, aestheticism, symbolism, cubism (goodness knows only what else) and if you are having some trouble placing your terms this is the book for you. He also covers many more European writers who may be modernist and pays attention to lesser known writers in the modernist canon. The question of power and the institution looms large in this work -- as the function of aesthetics -- all important questions.

My only quibble with this book -- and it's not a big one -- is that I don't think that there is anything particularly interesting or provocative about his own conclusions. The scholarship is amazing, but I didn't read anything that made me go, yes, goodness I have never realized that before.

[Indrek Ojam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hoomamatu valdkonna kõige hoomavam ülevaade, eriti kontseptuaalsete küsimuste kohta (modernism ja kirjanduslugu, modernismi ja avangardi, modernismi ja realismi suhte kohta). Aga puudutab ainult kirjandust, mitte teisi kunste.

[E. C. Koch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not altogether invested in theories of the Modern period or Modernism which is worth considering as I suggest that this book wasn't great. Such a large percentage of all five chapters are dedicated to a review of the literature, necessitating the recapitulation of others' arguments so thoroughly that you start to confuse them with Eysteinsson's, that Eysteinsson's concept of Modernism gets diluted. Now the Modern is an especially tough beat to work - for one thing there's a lot of material to consider and refer to when establishing your own arguments - so this is, in a sense, a fine bit of academic writing in that it carefully acknowledges the lineage of pretty much every thought relevant to his understanding of Modernism, but his ideas are too frequently overshadowed and lost, making this frustrating to read. His primary conceptual mode is the dialectic, and his concept of Modernism gains definition as he articulates what Modernism is in dialectic opposition to, which for Eysteinsson includes: realist lit., organic lit., postmodern lit., and, most importantly, tradition. This last category leads to what is his most explicit conception of Modernism, referred to as "negativity" (a term he develops from a quote by Terry Eagleton. (It reminded me of Keats' "negative capability," though J.K. goes unmentioned throughout.)). Here, Modern lit. employs negativity in its intentional opposition to tradition (which primarily refers to bourgeois tradition) which, counterintuitively, establishes negativity as a tradition reified by Modern lit. Eysteinsson ends strong with a short meditation on Modernism's semiotics of interruption, meant to cancel the passive reception of art that he - following Jameson - believes aids the acceptance that bourgeois values (perpetuated by realist/organic texts) are natural. And that's great, but at the end of the whole everything this didn't blow my hair back.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iceland is the greatest nation. Frighteningly good, clear-headed scholarship. Basically renders all further metacritical work on the study of modernism superfluous.