Modernism: A Very Short Introduction

Christina Stead Week is a very good week to explore modernism, and so you can just imagine how pleased I was when The Spouse staggered home from the post office with a great big box full of Very Short Introductions from Oxford University Press. LOL I am hoping to develop a whole new level of expertise here at ANZ LitLovers now that I have this mini library of Very Short Introductions to
•Modernism
•Postmodernism
•Existentialism
•Contemporary Fiction
•Literature: Chinese; Spanish; German; French; Russian and Italian;
•Goethe
•the New Testament; and
•Film.

modernism-a-very-short-introductionSo, to Modernism, A Very Short Introduction first of all, because Christina Stead is a great modernist and most of us could use a little help show more in understanding her work. Alas, she does not get a mention in this little book of only 102 pages, so you will have to make do with my interpretations and extrapolations…

Nevertheless, Christopher Butler endeared himself to me immediately by choosing James Joyce’s Ulysses (1918) as the text to exemplify modernism in literature. (To fit with his unifying motif of the city, he chose Fernand Leger’s La Ville (1919) to exemplify modernist painting; and The Threepenny Opera (1928) by Bertolt Brecht to exemplify a musical example). He begins by telling us that modernism is not just about modernity, that is, in the period 1909 to 1939

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/11/17/modernism-a-very-short-introduction-by-chris... show less

Not the best introduction, as the book results in a fragmented collection of short essays not completely liked one to the other (and not complemented by a solid image repository).