Literary Modernism and the Temporal Dynamic of the West

Making sense of the past

To make the students aware of the hallmarks of the socio-cultural movement lasting from the turn of the century to around 1950,the Department of English and Literary Studies, Brainware university organised a workshop on “ Literary Modernism and the Temporal Dynamic of the West” on November 3, 2021 from 3 PM. Dr. Subhadeep Paul (Assistant Professor, Department of English, School of Literature, Language and Cultural Studies, Bankura University) was the key speker of this event.

Paul initiated the discussion with the concept of literary modernism in conjunction with the temporal impulse of modernist fiction. To demonstrate his point, he shared paintings of Picasso and Monet that capture the Modernist theme of fragmentation and despair. He also mentioned about the the impact of literary modernism on performing arts and it’s tangible connection with the events in the political milieu.

The speaker explained the concept of time and its impact on texts such as Mrs Dalloway. “Time is in major ways a quantifiable matter and also a qualifiable essence” added the speaker.

For Paul, super realism and profound volatile epiphanic moments of subjective realism in Modernist art point to the existential horror of our lives. Dark colours and dark themes seem to suggest the metaphorical darkness of the milieu. Ultimately literature is a reflection of our lives and in Modernist art we see a glimpse of a time where despair and hope co-existed,” said Paul. The final part of the session was devoted towards addressing students’ questions.