Modern and Postmodern Literature Concepts

Overview: Great Britain governed vast regions, claiming superiority through Protestantism and rationalizing imperialism.
Key Themes: Imperialism, racial superiority, and the ethics behind colonial actions.

Perspective: Written from a first-person view, Marlow recounts his journey through the Congo.
Themes: Critique of European savagery; notable quote: "The horror! The horror!"

Concepts: Introduction of double consciousness; discusses the struggles faced by African Americans.
Key Quote: "The problem of the 20th century is the color line."
Views on Booker T. Washington: Critiques his submissive approach towards race relations (Atlanta Compromise).
Perspective: First person POV, Du Bois

Narrative Style: Limited third-person view focusing on a family’s moral dilemmas.
Themes: Social and economic change; explores options of good and evil.
Speaks of the Snopes family, burns barns, child debates turning his father in for what he is doing, struggle within.

Narrative Style: Blends multiple perspectives, no single narrator; reflective of Harlem Renaissance.
Themes: Beauty and struggles of Southern life; influences of slavery.
Quotes: With blood hot eyes and cane lipped scented mouth, the voices rise.

Characteristics: Fragmented narrative; explores themes of death and rebirth.
Key Quote: "April is the cruelest month." Burial of the dead
Summary: Nature is untrusting, April while it should bring renewal it bring darkness and sadness to the narrator because when new things come the dead is forgotten.

Comparison: Romanticism's revolutionary political views vs. classical notions of goodness.
Key Ideas: Critique on poetry; emphasizes structural order in art.
Summary: Hulme argues that while Romanticism embraces emotional expression and individualism, often leading to a rejection of traditional structures, Classical thought values harmony and order, positioning aesthetic principles as a reflection of universal truths. Church always takes classical view, man is good and man is limited. A poem is a poem unless it is whining.

Key Works: "In a Station at the Metro" by Ezra Pound & "Autumn" by T.E. Hulme.
Characteristics: Emphasis on precision and minimalism; creative depictions of urban life and nature.
“In a Station at the Metro” 3rd person observer. speaks of urban life and natural beauty, speaks of the focus in the crowd and the wet ground.
:”Autumn” 3rd person observer, presents vivid imagery of falling leaves, reflecting the transient beauty of nature and the inevitable passage of time. Describes taking a walk, sees the moon like a sunset. Stars white like the faces of children.

Key Works: "The Mark on the Wall" and "Modern Fiction."
“The Mark on the Wall” 1st person POV focuses on the mark to get mind off of the war, she thinks it is a nail then a leaf. Quotes: “Oh dear me, the mystery of life, the inaccuracy of thought.”
“Modern Fiction” 1st Person POV, we know how to make machines not literature, materialists write unimportant things, lit moves cyclically not endlessly. Quotes: about writing, woman and life.
Themes: Exploration of inner consciousness and narrative experimentation.

Perspective: Third-person omniscient narration focusing on the impacts of colonialism.
Key Themes: The clash of traditional culture with European influence.
Summary: Gender roles, family, religion, culture, Colonialism, Conoco gets exiled and kills himself at the end because things had changed so much he could no longer find his place in a rapidly transforming society, highlighting the devastating effects of colonial rule on individual identity and community cohesion.
Quotes: If a child washes his hands he could eat with lungs.

Focus: Challenges the dominance of Western education and promotes native languages.
Key Themes: Language and its relationship to power.
Quotes: About Africa, decolonizing, “mother tongue”

Perspective: First-person narration discussing colonial violence in Kenya against the British.
The poem powerfully captures the conflict between the colonizer and the colonized, highlighting the profound impact of cultural identity and the struggle for autonomy in post-colonial societies.

Key Works: "Sylvia's Death" and "My Little Girl…" First person POV
Themes: Personal struggle with mental health and complexities of maternal love.
Sylvias death speaks of the suicide of her friend, sexton yearns for death. Quotes: Relating to death.
"My Little Girl…" reflects on the pressures of motherhood and the profound impact of mental illness on the maternal bond. Through vivid imagery and emotional depth, Sexton explores the conflicting feelings of love and despair that often come with raising children. Quotes: Emphasizing maternal anxieties and the weight of expectations. Body, women, growth.

Characterization: Third-person omniscient; critiques cultural chaos through a domestic lens.
2 day lease breaking party, with meatball mulligan vs Castillo and the bird.
Quote: the temp outside. 37 degrees

Focus: Hybrid culture and postcolonial identity through a digital narrative.
Summary: Caliban is the narrator, digital/postcolonialidentity is explored through his experiences and interactions within a hybrid cultural framework, illustrating the complexities of belonging in a postcolonial world.
Quotes: Non English wording

Themes: Digital literature; explores issues of dissociation and women's rights. Robot narrates, shifting voice, ref to human pain, dissociated language, learned to speak, women don’t have many rights.
Quotes: W/slashes/
"But in the machine's slick algorithms, I find the echoes of my own voice…//
"Between the circuits, I weave a tapestry of desires buried beneath human flesh…//
"Women are not just data points in your code; we are the flesh and blood behind your circuits…"

Character Interactions: Explores themes of race, orphanage experiences, and social dynamics. Third person limited. Twila narrates.
Summary: Twila and Roberta orphans at St Bonnys. Race, Maggie story, meet up.
Quotes: Race, Maggie, orphanage.

Narrative Style: Limited omniscient; focuses on themes of abuse and expectations of marriage.
Cleofilas story, abuse, escaping marriage and telenovelas.
Quotes: Telenovelas, La Larona, abuse, expectations.