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opheliac
08-23-2008, 07:34 AM
Here is a sample of some of the notes I have written down about stream of consiousness and Modernist writers, in general. Please add more if you are also studying Modernism/studied it in the past or just have a profound interest. It will help me with my continuing studies, thanks!

- Stream of consciousness is a literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow. One is able to get inside the minds of various characters and it can be more real to find out what they think. It allows for a greater insight into the psychology of a particular character, with their individual impressions and memories.

- Modernist writers were aiming to find a new form of expression to encapsulate experience. A non-linear approach to narrative and interior monologue are common features, and often presented in a fragmentary manner, which can be harder to follow. Virginia Woolf and James Joyce were two of the notable pioneers of Modernism, and willingly broke the mould with their highly experimental language and rejection of the traditional literary techniques of the Victorian novelists.

- High Modernism is a subgenre of literary Modernism and encompasses works that were published between the end of the first world and the beginning of the second. The Great Divide, then, is the chasm between high Art with a capital A and popular culture. Obscurity is typical of High Modernism. It has been criticized for been overly pretentious, elitist, and difficult for the average man/woman to understand.