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Titel
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Hemingway & Modernism in literature and painting
Hemingway and modernism: Formål
The aim of the course is for students to gain an understanding of modernism as a cultural and aesthetic movement and to analyse how the break with tradition is expressed in both literature and visual art.
Modernism in art and literature.
Focus on the 1920s. Gertrud Stein, Hemingway, E.E. Cummings and Picasso.
Modernism in Literature: Breaking with Tradition
Modernist writers reacted against 19th-century realism and romanticism, seeking new ways to express the fragmented, uncertain nature of modern life. Here are 6 key ways they broke with tradition:
Style & Grammar
Fragmented Structure: Traditional linear narratives were replaced with disjointed, non-linear storytelling (e.g. James Joyce’s Ulysses).
Stream of Consciousness: Writers like Virginia Woolf and Joyce used interior monologue to capture the flow of thoughts, often ignoring grammar rules.
Minimal Punctuation: e.e. cummings famously played with punctuation, capitalization, and syntax to challenge conventional grammar.
Content & Themes & Hemingway´s short stories
More objective POVs: Instead of an omniscient narrator, modernists often used objective (Hemingway) or unreliable narrators (William Faulkner in The Sound and the Fury).
Alienation & Disillusionment: Themes of existential crisis, loss of faith, and isolation replaced heroic or romantic ideals (T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land).
Urban Life & Psychological Depth: Focus shifted from rural or idealized settings to the complexity of city life and the human psyche.
Modernism in Painting: Breaking with Tradition
Modernist painters rejected the realistic representation of the world and embraced abstraction, experimentation, and new perspectives. Here are 6 examples:
Stylistic Breaks
Cubism (Picasso): Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon shattered traditional perspective and form, reacting against realism and classical beauty.
Abstract Art (Kandinsky): Moved away from depicting objects entirely, focusing on color, shape, and emotion.
Surrealism (Dalí, Magritte): Explored the unconscious mind, dreams, and irrational juxtapositions, breaking with logical representation.
Content & Themes
Rejection of Narrative: Paintings no longer told clear stories; instead, they evoked moods or ideas.
Political & Social Commentary: Picasso’s Guernica is a powerful anti-war statement, breaking with the tradition of art as decoration.
New Materials & Techniques: Artists used collage, mixed media, and unconventional materials (e.g. Braque and Picasso with newspaper clippings).
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