The History and Concept of Modernism

The goal of the current study is to identify literary innovations that have been influenced by significant worldwide social and cultural developments. The term modernism is the most difficult to describe. While for some commentators’ modernism began with the Renaissance, for others it did so with the publication of Joseph Conrad's “Heart of Darkness” in 1895. Virginia Woolf saw the evolving nature of the human being: “in or about December, 1910, human character changed” (Woolf in Collected Essays, Hogarth Press, London, 1966, 320). Modernism is a term used to describe newness in literary devices and techniques. One of the most significant areas of literary and cultural study is modernism. However, given the literary and cultural context, the phrase is quite ambiguous. Although critics and academics make various definitions of modernism, none of them is  complete or includes all of its facets. For some critics, the year 1930 marked the end of modernism. It is a product of tradition and the past. Though, there are critics who view modernism as “dominant but dead” (Foster in The Anti-aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture. Bay Press, Port Townsend, WA, ix). However, this definition is incorrect. Modernism is still very much alive. The notion of modernism is used to address and study aesthetic, ideological, and historical challenges. As a result, modernism is in demand rather than obsolete. The goal of the current research article is to examine modernism's emergence, growth, and impact on contemporary literature. It also explores the poetics of literary modernism from an aesthetic and cultural perspective.