西方文化第十课.docVIP

Division Ten Modernism and Other Trends I. General Introduction Modernism was a complex and diverse international movement in all the creative arts. It was made up of many facets, such as symbolism, surrealism, cubism, expressionism, futurism, etc. Fought between 1939 and 1945, World War Ⅱ was the most destructive war in history. The beginning of the 20th century saw a rapid development in all fields of technology. Einstein, who revolutionized science with his theory of relativity, represented the highest point of this development. The person to whom the modernists were indebted most was Freud, an Austrian physician and neurologist. Sigmund Freud was the “father” of psychoanalysis, a new school of psychology embodying revolutionary and controversial views of human behavior. Sigmund Freud divided human personality into three functional parts—Id, Ego and Superego. Oedipus Complex is a Freudian term originating from a Greek tragedy, in which King Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. II. Contemporary Western Literature Before 1945 American-born English poet and critic, Thomas Stearns Eliot drew people’s attention to two literary influences: the 17th century metaphysical poetry and French symbolist poetry. His major contribution to English poetry is his long poem The Waste Land. As a novelist, Joseph Conrad was concerned with under stress. His novels were marked by close examination of human motives and moral values. David Herbert Lawrence’s first novel was Sons and Lovers, which has been regarded by critics as a brilliant illustration of Freud’s theory of Oedipus Complex. Yeats, an Irish poet, has been considered to be the greatest poet of our time. Irish writer James Joyce’s works are characterized by experiment with language, symbolism and such narrative techniques as interior monologue and stream of consciousness. His masterpiece is Ulysses, which is considered as his most mature work and the single best fiction ever written since the beginn