Dada and Surrealist Art vs. Modernist Literature

The Dada and Surrealist movements in art closely mirror the modernist movement in literature happening at the same time. The Dada movement was in reaction to the “senseless barbarities of war” (Harden), namely, World War I and World War II. Dada art was iconoclastic; an iconoclast is a person who attacks cherished beliefs and traditional institutions. Many of the artists in the Dada movement wanted to attack the old iconic art pieces of the past. One example of the Dadaist attack on iconic art is Marcel Duchamp’s decision to color onto the Mona Lisa a black moustache and beard (Harden). Dada artwork had no cohesive aesthetic, in fact many Dada artists utilized the concept of collaging in their artwork (Harden). One artist in the Dada movement, Kurt Schwitters, created collages out of litter, bringing together seemingly unrelated fragments to create a whole work of art. One of his collages is shown here.
Eventually, in the mid-1920s, Dadaism was absorbed by the Surrealist movement, which encompassed many of the Dadaist values and techniques. One major aim of the Surrealist movement was to explore and liberate the unconscious mind’s creative powers. Surrealists attempted to uncover this power by expressing the true functions of one’s thought process without the controlling presence of reason and outside influences (Harden). Picasso was an important painter in the Surrealist movement, and his work illustrates some of the main tendencies of this art movement. The first tendency was to use art to aggravate vision, thereby stimulating the imagination and forcing imaginative inspiration. The second technique was called “frottage,” or “rubbing.” A third technique, “grattage” or “scraping” was also utilized by Surrealist painters. The main effect the artists were striving for was to eliminate the technical, rational mind and free the spiritual, imaginative, inspirational mind within people.



"The Three Dancers" by Picasso

The Dada and Surrealist movements are very similar to modernism in literature. The writers that encompassed the modernist movement in literature also created their art in reaction to the abominations of the World Wars. In response to the horrors of millions of men dying in wars, modernist literature attempted to illuminate the absurdities of human nature, the incomprehensible fact that millions of young men died needlessly. Showing these absurdities was a large part of the modernist movement (White). In addition to showing the true dark nature of man, modernist literature, like Surrealism, attempted to uncover the “inner vision, the inner emotion, of the inner spiritual reality” which modernist authors felt was more important than external reality. Also, modernism is similar to Dadaism in that the writing is fragmented, portraying the psychological impressions of characters. This fragmentation emphasizes the importance of individual perception in the modernist movement (White).


Both Dadaism and Surrealism are reactions to the rational, realist, reason-driven art forms that precede them. Dadaists and Surrealists, in reaction to the absurdities of total, global war--in World War I and World War II--shift focus from reason and order to chaos and fragmentation. Similarly, the modernist literature movement moves from Realism and Naturalism to a disorganized way of writing. Both art movements, as well as the modern literature movement, are attempting to illustrate the internal struggle of man, revealing the complex thought processes and urging viewers and readers to shed their reasoning minds and enter into a world of inner spirituality and inner vision.

Works Cited:

Harden, Mark. "Dada and Surrealism." Mark Harden's Artchive. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/surrealism.html

White, Dr. David L. "An Introduction to Modernism and Postmodernism." Western World Literature II Webpage. http://vc.ws.edu/engl2265/unit4/Modernism/all.htm

Images

Picasso, Pablo. "The Three Dancers." http://www.tate.org.uk/adventcalendar/2007/artworks/T00729_picasso.jpg

Schwitters, Kurt. Collage. http://www.ricci-art.net/img001/229.jpg

Character Evolution Throughout O Pioneers!

Willa Cather’s novel O Pionners! is a novel which describes in detail what life was like for the original settlers of the American frontier. The land in that area was unable to hold crops and was barren almost all of the year round. The people who tirelessly worked the land, such as the novel’s main character Alexandra Bergson, were poor immigrants who struggled to stay alive during the harsh winters. Though O Pioneers! is more of a realist piece than a modernist one, Cather is able to illustrate throughout the novel the changes her main character, Alexandra, undergoes during her life on the frontier.

At the beginning of the novel, Alexandra is a small child who is very quiet and reserved. She helped her father work the fields and gave him hope when he began to believe the land would never produce crops. She was much more interested in working on her farmland than on flirting with boys or playing dress up, what would typically be considered the preoccupations of young girls. Near the beginning of the novel, a young boy compliments Alexandra on her lovely hair, and she quickly rejected his flattery: “She stabbed him with a glance of Amazonian fierceness and drew in her lower lip...His feeble flirtatious instincts had been crushed before, but never so mercilessly” (Cather 6-7). Interestingly, Cather uses the word “Amazonian” to describe the young Alexandra, which clearly presents Alexandra to the readers as a parallel to the ancient Amazonian war woman, who were large, powerful women who went into battle without the help of men. Perhaps this reference to Amazonian women and battle is a foreshadow of the battles Alexandra will have to endure throughout her life--she must battle her brothers, the society she lives in, and of course she must battle the harsh and unforgiving land she lives on.

As a young girl, Alexandra is quiet, thoughtful, and hardworking. She seems to have no overwhelming emotions, being a level headed and pragmatic person. When he father is dying near the beginning of the novel, he asks his daughter to do her best for her brothers because once he dies the farm will be her responsibility. “I will do all I can, father” was her even reply to her father (Cather 20).

One of the first instances of Alexandra having strong feelings is when she is making a choice about purchasing property. She has to battle her brothers into agreeing to buy more land, and when she accomplishes her goal, she feels alive and inspired. “She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring” (Cather 54). The land, the one thing Alexandra full understands, is what eventually awakens her to her passions and feelings. Throughout the novel the land and work involving the land is what inspires her and moves her. She also evolves in her relationship to Carl Linstrum.

Carl lived on the land close to Alexandra’s family, and when the two were children they were good friends. They would take a wagon to Ivar’s house to get nets and learn about the wildlife. Alexandra clearly liked Carl, but was too shy and quiet to tell him. Eventually Carl moved from the country into the city with his family to try and make money, and when she hears the news, she shows very little emotion. “Alexandra’s hands dropped in her lap. Her eyes became dreamy and filled with tears” (Cather 38). She never cries, but she does tell Carl that she understands why he is leaving and tells him that she had always hoped he would “get away” from the countryside (Cather 39). 


Years later, when Alexandra and Carl have both grown up, and Alexandra is running a large and profitable farm, Carl returns to the countryside. “‘Can it be!’ she exclaimed with feeling; ‘can it be that it is Carl Linstrum? Why Carl, it is!’ She threw out both her hands and caught his across the gate” (Cather 79). As an older and wiser woman, Alexandra is more at ease being in touch with her feelings. She feels a lot of emotion when she sees Carl again, and has grown up enough to not be afraid to show it.

In addition to her emotions with Carl, Alexandra grew wiser about the land. Sixteen years from the beginning of the novel, Alexandra has developed a vast farming area, “where the furrows of a single field often lie a mile in length...The wheat-cutting sometimes goes on all night as well as all day, and in good seasons there are scarcely men and horses enough to do the harvesting (Cather 58). The land, as well as Alexandra, has grown and matured, yielding bountiful fruits.

Cather creates and expands the character of Alexandra in order to transcend the typical male and female gender roles utilized in most western, frontier literature. Alexandra’s development throughout both her life and the novel “shows that women could do something important besides giving themselves to men” (Quawas). She is a character that embodies all of the strong, positive attributes of male characters in more traditional novels. One of Cather’s main aims is to show the reader the trials of Alexandra’s life, how she reacts to them, and how these situations--situations that can only be faced and endured by a woman in this time period--shaped Alexandra into being the woman she is at the end of the novel. Cather successfully creates a strong female heroine that endures through time, a heroine who is not like the ancient male heroes like Achilles and Odysseus, but a heroine “who triumphs alone over intractable surroundings and adversity, shaping a world of order and coherence and achieving for herself identity, nobility, and even fame” (Quawas). These achievements are goals that any woman, or even man, can relate to desiring. The ability to relate to the very human struggles in O Pioneers! is what enables the novel to remain relevant across a wide range of cultures and contexts.

Works Cited:
Cather, Willa. O Pioneers!. New York: Signet Classic, 2004. Print.
Quawas, Rula. “Carving an Identity and Forging the Frontier: The Self-Reliant Female Hero in Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!” Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: International Review of English Studies 41 (2005). Web. 15 April 2010.

"Roman Fever" -- Lies and Cruelty

Betrayal. Cruelty. Lies. Edith Wharton’s short story “Roman Fever” encompasses all of these concepts with Ancient Rome as a backdrop. The story is also a struggle between generations. The two main characters, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, have two daughters that are close in age. All four women are in Rome, and the story takes place during a sitting the two older women have. Throughout the story there is a clear distinction between their “Old New York” generation and their daughters’ newer, more forward generation, which is much more carefree. This story explores the difference between the generations through the eyes and experiences of the older women. It is fitting that they discuss these experiences exactly where they happened: Rome. Wharton mentions specific monuments in Rome which foreshadow, mirror, and enhance the largely unspoken history between the two women. The Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum are the three important monuments mentioned.



Palatine Hill-- The Palatine, one of the Seven Hills of Rome, was the place for wealthy and powerful individuals in Ancient Rome, and is where the english word palace originates. The Roman Forum was located on the Palatine, which also had a beautiful view of the city. Today, however, the Palatine hill is almost completely excavation sites and “sad remnants of Roman antiquities” (Thayer).

The Palatine hill today mirrors the lives of Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley in “Roman Fever.” The two women have only the memories and “sad remnants” of their past. As the two women look out from the restaurant onto the Palatine Hill, they reflect almost longingly on their past lives, while noting that their lives have become severely emptier in their old age, very similar to the Palatine Hill.


Roman Forum-- The Roman Forum was situated on the Palatine Hill and was thought of as the economic, political and religious center of Rome. The Forum contained many shrines and temples, as well as holding the Senate House, rostra (the speaker’s platform), and the Assembly. The two women in “Roman Fever” look upon the Forum throughout the short story. The fact that the women reflect upon the important center of the Roman world indicates the importance of their discussion, how the event they are both thinking about is the center, or turning point, of their lives as well as their relationship with each other.


Colosseum-- The Colosseum is obviously the most important monument in the story. The central issue of the short story is Mrs. Ansley meeting up with Mrs. Slade’s husband, Delphin, in the Colosseum back when they were younger. It turns out that Mrs. Ansley’s daughter, Barbara, is Delphin’s child as well. Interestingly the Colosseum is where this turning point in the lives of these women takes place. The Colosseum is still viewed as one of the most extravagant and huge architectural masterpieces ever created. The vastness of the building mirrors the monumental weight of the events that took place within its walls for the women in the story. The treachery, envy, and jealousy that the two women feel towards one another fits in perfectly with the cruel and torturous memories the Colosseum stands for. Gladiators, animals, and many other people were killed within the Colosseum’s walls, largely for the entertainment of spectators. Similarly, the two women are cruel to each other: Mrs. Ansley slept with Mrs. Slade’s husband, and Mrs. Slade destroyed the only sweet memory Mrs. Ansley had of Delphin--a letter he had written her. Mrs. Slade bitterly reveals that she wrote the letter, and leaves Mrs. Ansley devastated.


Wharton created an element of circularity in this short story. The life-changing events for these women happened in Rome, and the truth about what happened back then is also revealed in Rome. In fact, the women are looking at the exact monument in which these events took place when said events are finally revealed. In the end, it becomes clear that these women are independent risk-takers just like their daughters. Perhaps the main difference between their generation and the daughters’ generation is the ability to be up front and truthful about reality, a trait which the older women lack and perhaps the newest generation can attain.



Sources:
Hopkins, Keith. “The Colosseum: Emblem of Rome.” 13 January 2010.

Gill, N.S. “Area and Archaeology of the Forum Romanum.” 13 January 2010

Thayer, Bill. “The Palatine Hill: Two Millenia of Landscaping (sort of).” 13 January 2010

Image of Palatine Hill: http://romeitaly.ca/attractions/palatinehill.html

Image of Roman Forum: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/pictures /generalforum.jpg

Image of Colosseum: http://www.visitingdc.com/rome/colosseum-picture.asp