Wednesday 2 January 2013

Realism and Modernism: Let the confusion spread:) and pray for clarity

From Grusha:

I've read a little about realism and modernism, and this is what I understand.

Realism attempts to depict life as it is. To make us believe in the realism of the world they depict, realists fill their literature with facts to bolster the reader's feeling that, yes, this place I'm reading about is just like the everyday world I live in. This is what makes Dolls house a realist literature. It is filled with facts about how women are regarded in the society and their lifestyle. Kite Runner is also a realist work because of the facts about the conditions of Afghanistan. Moreover in realism, the character is more important than the plot. This is evident in both the works. So neither Importance of Being Earnest or Pygmalion are realist works because they exaggerated reality. They did not portray life as it was.

Modernism is very similar to realism with one main difference: Realism portrays life as it is. Modernism questions life while portraying it realistically. This makes Death of a Salesman and Blood Wedding modernist works. DOAS questions the American Dream, which was the reality of the time. Blood Wedding questions the concept of "a good husband" and a "good wife" which was "real" for the society then, and explores whether people can be happier by following their hearts. So modernism also looks at "reality" of the time, and explore whether it should be changed and whether it is desirable.

 However what I am not completely sure about is why does modernism reject structured plots? Is it because it leaves the questioning open to the audience? So does modernism portray the world objectively but leaves the questioning to subjectivity?  Or is it just an attempt to give something "new" which was another aim of modernists?

Here is another aspect that I did not quite understand. I read that realism believed in objectivism, a single truth, while modernism emhpasized the subjectivity of reality. I do not see how this fits in with everything else. I think I am missing some link there.

Could you post this on the blog so it is open to discussion?? Oh and could you also provide your insights, in the form of comments or further questions, to help understand the hazy parts more clearly??

Thank you,
Grusha.


the links:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/modernism-vs-realism.html
http://faculty.bucks.edu/docarmos/RealismNaturalism.html

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