Further, the modern novel also focuses on issues of social and historical change and the use of such points-of-view as stream of consciousness. Other typical characteristics of modernism are open form, free verse, discontinuous narrative, juxtaposition, classical allusions, unconventional metaphors and the bringing in of other cultures and languages.
Clearly, the experiences of the Great War had a lasting effect on its generation of writers. Many of them served in the military during the war, such as Ernest Hemingway, and witnessed the atrocities personally. The disillusionment felt by this generation at the notion of so many deaths for no real reason created a mentality of pessisims and questioning of society as it has been. This sense of disillusionment was expressed in...
They incorporated new forms of literary techniques in which to use to present this mentality, such as non-linear timelines, stream-of-consciousness perspectives and controversial subject matters. The result was the creation of the modern novel as we know it, one which continues to assert its influence on Western literature.
Bibliography
Hemmingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.
Hemmingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.
Kasenon, Michael. The Lost Generation. New York: Xlibris Corporation, 2004.
