Modernist Fiction: An Introduction / Edition 1

by Randall Stevenson

Overview

To many writers of the early twentieth century, modernism meant not only the reshaping or abandonment of tradition but also an interest in psychology and in new concepts of space, time, art, and language. Randall Stevenson's important new analysis of the genre presents a lucid, comprehensive introduction to modernist fiction, covering a wide range of writers and works.

Drawing on narrative theory and cultural history, Stevenson offers fresh insights into the work of such important modernists as Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, D.H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, Dorothy Richardson, May Sinclair, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce. In addition he discusses the work of Marcel Proust, an important figure in the development of modernism in Europe.

This illuminating book places the new imagination of the modernist age in its historical context and looks at how and why the pressures of early twentieth century life led to the development of this distinctive and influential literary form. This accessible account of modernism, modernity, and the novel will be welcomed by students, scholars, and general readers alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813108148
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	09/24/1992
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Randall Stevenson is professor of twentieth century literature at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author or coeditor of numerous books, including Literature and the Great War.

Table of Contents

Modernism and modernity
Space: Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford
Space: D.H. Lawrence
Space: Dorothy Richardson and May Sinclair
Space: James Joyce
Space: Virginia Woolf
Space: Background and Context
Time: Striking clocks and new chronologies
Time: The time philosophy
Time: Mean time
Time: Fragment or flow
Time: Cracks and chasms: Time and the Western Front
Art: Art and the novel
Art: The value of modernism
Art: Modernism and postmodernism
Value: The end of modernism
Value: The evasions of modernism
Value: The value of modernism

Editorial Reviews

Usefully reveals and illuminates many of the complexities and triumphs of modernist fiction.

D.H. Lawrence Review

A welcome surprise comes in his stirrings into his heady brew of ideas and narrative techniques of the underappreciated Christopher Isherwood and Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

Saint Louis Post Dispatch

"A welcome surprise comes in his stirrings into his heady brew of ideas and narrative techniques of the underappreciated Christopher Isherwood and Lewis Grassic Gibbon." — Saint Louis Post Dispatch

"Usefully reveals and illuminates many of the complexities and triumphs of modernist fiction." — D.H. Lawrence Review

From the Publisher

A comprehensive introduction to modernist fiction. Drawing on narrative theory and cultural history, Stevenson (English, U. of Edinburgh) offers insights into the work of such modernists as James, Conrad, Ford, Lawrence, Woolf, Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Dorothy Richardson, and May Sinclair. He also discusses Proust's role in the development of modernism in Europe. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews