Modernism in literature is said to have its roots in the late 19th century after World War I that took place from 1914 to 1919. Modernism in literary work is a shift from values, religion and tradition to isolation, identity crisis, fragmentation and relative truth. Modernism was catalyzed by World War I, as it led to mistrust in the ability of existing institutions to solve societal problems and maintain order in society. It also changed people’s perception of the world and society. World War I therefore influenced how writers wrote not just in terms of content of their works but also in the forms of writing. For instance, Ford Madox focuses on negative effects of war in his book, “The Good Soldier”, this shows the change in context. James Joyce, a British writer shifts from traditional forms of writing like setting and plot in “Ulysses” by abandoning these traditional notions of writing in his literature.
Modernist literature was therefore characterized by a shift from traditional forms of writing to new forms of presentation and expression, criticism of existing institutions; political, social and religious. Society and the world were also believed to be dependent on perception. Nothing was believed to be absolutely true, everything they argued was relative. The institutions having betrayed and alienated the people, led to modern literature promoting individualism and celebration of self. This consequently enhanced creativity of writers as they sought to express themselves in unique ways and breaking loose from the boundaries of tradition.
The various scholars that influenced modernism include Friedrich Nietzsche, Walt Whiteman, Ernst Mach and Sigmund Freud. Nietzsche, for instance, in his works combines different forms of writing, reconstructs and even destroys some. His thoughts and works are not expressed in systematic forms but in random, personal affirmations. He like other modernists was objected to systems arguing that no system reveals the absolute truth. He pointed out that the world was based on one’s perception and ideas in his concept of subjective idealism. The self through intuition was therefore significant in understanding of all things. This was his main contribution to modernist literature. Modernism is also viewed as a reaction to components of modernization in society that includes industrialization, urbanization and bureaucratization.
Some literary and artistic forms in Modernism include; Futurism; social movement originating in Italy with emphasis on youth and violence, speed, technology, etc. it was keen on modernism as a tool to free Italy the burden of its past. Free verse; poetry that is not restricted by regular rhyme scheme but is still artistic in its expression. Imagery: was commonly used by American and English writers in the early 1900s, they emphasized on use of common speech with precise images. Symbolism is the use of symbols to imply deeper meaning than the literal sense. In symbolism a person, situation or object signifies deeper meaning in the context of the story.
Wole Soyinka, Claude McKay and Edwin Kamau Thrawaite are some of the post-colonial writers who in their unique works contributed to transforming modernism in various ways by re-engineering and reconstructing various modernist forms of writing. They sought to blend modernist literature with their native forms of writing. They achieved this in different ways such as combining vernacular language with English, using African images for imagery and symbolism, construction of rhymes, rhythms using their native speech patterns. Discussions of their specific contributions and works are explained in details below.
Wole Soyinka
In his writings Soyinka has displayed a wide cultural variety and in his poems African culture and literature remains distinct. He argues that African literature must be approached uniquely from Western literature and the need for African writers to be heard as one writer could not speak on behalf of the whole continent. However, in his works he harmonizes western forms of dramatic writing with traditional forms of dramatical performances. Most of his works are critical of Nigerian successive regimes, particularly the dictators in Nigerian governments. He is also critical of tyrants in other countries as well. This is one of the characteristics of modernism as earlier stated; modern writers are against existing institutions. After his second imprisonment most of his works are of despair and “the season of anomy” talks of aftermath of war. Another characteristic of modern theories, they were accelerated by world war and therefore the tendency to have war as the overriding theme in terms of content.
Some Nigerian critics who have propagated decolonization of African literature have viewed Wole Soyinka’s contemporary writings as imitative of European modernism. Soyinka’s book, “The Interpreters” portrays Nigeria under neocolonialism and capital dominance. Nigeria was also characterized by religious and ethnic divisions in its colonial and post-colonial era. In this work, Soyinka uses modernists’ strategies such as interior monologue, myth and stream of consciousness. He uses these strategies to point out the disruption in post-colonial Nigeria that was as result of capitalism. He however changes the techniques and fuses them with traditional styles to fit African context. By doing so he also promotes his ideology of approaching African literature as unique and distinct from western literature. He also shows his disdain for colonialism by not allowing his works to be entirely dominated and influenced by western forms of writing.
Soyinka also in the content of his book shows the bourgeoisie and the elites who are alienated and disinterested in other social groups. Alienation was also another characteristic of modernist literature. Soyinka also shows little interest in other social groups such as the working class in society as his work centers on petty bourgeoisie and society’s elites. Soyinka’s works also changes the notion that modernist strategies are art and technique oriented but also inclusive of politics and on closer study and analysis can actually influence desirable change in society. The style in this novel is quite chaotic as Soyinka keeps shifting back and forth and the characters such as Egbo have to be reconstructed.
Davis et al have criticized Wole Soyinka’s work as not being modernist. They argue that Calling Wole Soyinka a modernists is a mistake of category and confusion of classifications. (Davis et al. 218). They distinguish between modernism and post-colonial era arguing that literary modernism dominated the early twentieth century, after World War I, while post-colonial literature flourished after World War II, which marked decolonization of most states.
Claude McKay
His works cover a broad range from works on peasantry to western authority in Jamaica, from realities of life in Jamaica to fiction. He was generally critical of racism against the blacks by whites. McKay uses sonnet in his poem “If We Must Die” as form of protest for liberation. Sonnet originated in Italy with the intention initially being to write on love. However, Sonnets were increasingly used during World War I by poets who wrote on war. So McKay also modified the sonnet to suite the political temperature of the time and used it as an instrument of political protest for liberation. His motivation was his opposition to racism and the perception that Britain was the mother of civilization and culture. This perception led to induced modernization where institutions were modeled along those of Britain and the British culture gained prominence and acceptance in the name of civilization. McKay therefore reconstructed role of the sonnet which was to express love in the courting context to suit his political ambitions and interests in waging war against white supremacy in Jamaica.
He also goes beyond the limits and boundaries of the sonnet form to include traditional forms, and blends Standard English with native language in poetry. His poem-“If We Must Die” is a call to the blacks to fight with resilience against the oppression and discrimination they are being subjected to. The poem was a reaction to the riots that emerged after a black trespassed by swimming in a “whites only” zone and ended up being stoned and drowned by the whites. McKay further increased the tension in the sonnet so as to symbolically point out to the tensions between the blacks and whites and the instability of the British Empire and its dominance over the blacks and its ideals. The red summer saw to it that even the black Americas joined the black Africans in fighting against violence based on racial discrimination.
Using Lunn’s four elements of modernism, simultaneity, self-reflexivity, uncertainty of meaning and dehumanization, McKay’s poem meets the logic of modernist literature in the following ways; according to Waltz, dehumanization is any factor that is external to the human being but has an influence on the individual’s emotions, beliefs and behavior. In his poem, the writer and his people are under threat of demise and have been stereotyped as hogs- “if we must die, let it not be like hogs/hunted and pegged in an inglorious spoto! Kinsmen, we must meet the common foe, (McKay 238). He then urges them to rise above the stereotype and unite in the fight against their oppressors. To enhance simultaneity, McKay interlinks Petrarchan and English Sonnets. He employs internal structure of the former and rhyme scheme of the latter. His poetry also shows that modernist literature was not a preserve of the British only but was all inclusive.
McKay is therefore a recognized modern theorist but more so of the modernist movement known as Harlem Renaissance. This is a social movement that brought together musicians, black writers, scholars and artistes of various genres in Harlem, New York in the 1930s. it also included African-Americans affected by the great migration in the United States artistically expressing themselves. The movement marked the rebirth of African-American art and greatly influenced African and Caribbean writers despite being based in Manhattan, New York. In 1919, Claude McKay’s military sonnet, “If We Must Die” contributed significantly to the Harlem culture by introducing a political perspective to cultural heritage and urban life of Africans (Claude 741).
Kamau Brathwaite
He is a celebrated Caribbean writer who is well known for exploring the cultural life of blacks both in Africa and diaspora. The Caribbean had no distinctive form of writing and so most of their writing styles were an imitation of Britain, Spain, France and other states that they had interacted with. This went on till the early 1900. During this period, the Caribbeans were becoming aware of their environment and culture. They were breaking away from their colonial masters and their ideals and instead started identifying themselves with the western Indians. This resulted in reconstruction of poetry forms such as the rhythm, rhyme and tonal elements that expressed the island’s rituals and speech patterns with the help of T.S Elliot. While McKay’s overall motivation was fighting against discrimination, Braithwaite’s motivation in his poetic works was repossession. He called upon West Indians and more specifically the Caribbean to repossess themselves and their past by embracing their cultural identity and African heritage. In his work “Veve” from “The Arrivants” he uses imagery of West Africa. He talks of “possessions of fire/possession of dust/sundered from your bone” (Brathwaite 37). This implies that the West Indians once possessed the African culture but it was stripped from them and suggests they need to repossess it from their oppressors-their colonial masters.
Brathwaite has also employed the verse novel which is a narrative poetry in which a narrative instead of being told through prose is told through a poetic medium. It is often characterized by multiple voices as they are told by multiple narrators, action, dialogue and description. This form of writing was common in Caribbean in the 1980s and was used by a number of other Caribbean writers like Walcott, George Elliot et al. Verse novels however, declined for a while with modernism after which it emerged again.
Brathwaite also writes in the Barbajan poems of the period of transition from colonialism to independence and to the present world order.in the Barbajan poems all his works are put together. Brathwaite in the early 1960s reformed the creole as a foundation for Caribbean arts; poetry and culture. He also intended to introduce some elements of orality in his written and printed poetry. In dream stories he uses broken images and half old stories to enhance simultaneity. He is keen on creating native images because he felt that their cultural identity was destroyed and to him, a person abandoning his/her nativity is a sign of slavery.
There has been the general criticism of post-colonial writers rejecting literary modernism because of their reconstruction of various modernist forms of writing. However, one can conclude that their works have been heavily influenced by literary modernism, and in whatever ways they have sought to develop those styles to fit their context, they have actually build on the foundation of literary modernism. Other scholars argue that the logic behind this could be that post-colonial writers are also influenced by the modern world that they live in rather than modernist literacy. Post-colonial literature like modernist literature is a response to modernization.
Works Cited
Brathwaite, Kamau. DS (2): dreamstories. Vol. 2. New Directions Publishing, 2007.
Ramesh, Kotti Sree, and Kandula Nirupa Rani. Claude McKay: The Literary Identity from Jamaica to Harlem and Beyond. McFarland, 2006.
Soyinka, Wole. An economic history of Ghana: reflections on a half-century of challenges & progress. Eds. Ivor Agyeman-Duah and Christine Kelly. Ayebia Clarke Pub Limited, 2008.
Soyinka, Wole. Jero's Metamorphosis. Alexander Street Press, 2010.
Taylor, Eric Robert. If We Must Die: Shipboard Insurrections in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Vol. 38. LSU Press, 2006.
