A look at the importance of art in the literature of the modernist period, concentrating on Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse", D.H. Lawrence's "Women in Love" and James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man."
Abstract This paper looks at the treatment of art in Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse", D.H. Lawrence's "Women in Love" and James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by examining the way in which Gudrun, Stephen Dedalus, Lily Briscoe and other characters in the novels view art. It discusses whether art is truly the central priority of the modernist era by looking at it as a means of making life eternal and explores how art is used to "capture the moment" forever and how this is one of the main themes of modernism.
From the Paper "What comes across most strongly in To the Lighthouse is its attempt at permanence, or the character's struggle for permanence. As Mrs. Ramsay watches the sea beat at the rocks, prompting her to think that "It was all ephemeral as a rainbow" (20) and her husband paces to and fro, musing on the nature of fame and immortality, and conceding in anguish that ?...the very stone one kicks with one's boot will outlast Shakespeare? (41), we think of Woolf herself. Was the author using this, her most autobiographical work, as an attempt to make life (which is transitory) eternal, or crystallised through art?"
Abstract In this essay the writer notes that growing up in a negative social environment can influence a person's behavior and attitudes significantly. For example, the writer explains that this experience can cause a child to hold antisocial attitudes and to exhibit antisocial behaviors. On the other hand, antisocial behaviors can also arise quite spontaneously of external pressures, apparently simply because a person has a naturally wicked nature. This can be seen in a comparison of the two short stories, 'The Scream' by H. Briscoe and Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'.
From the Paper "It is possible for a negative social upbringing to cause bad behaviors, but it is also possible for bad behaviors to happen not because of the environment, but because the person is naturally wicked."
Reviews both American non-fiction and American fiction works of art to support the notion that the American spirit is reflected in both types of literature.
1,150 words (approx. 4.6 pages), 4 sources, 2002, $ 44.95
Abstract One of the most poignant quotes in American literature comes from Donald Briscoe, who stated that "To understand American Literature, it is necessary to examine both its fiction and its non- fiction because the key to the American Spirit can be found in both." This paper assesses Briscoe's quote through addressing two works of American fiction and two works of American non- fiction with the intent of proving how the spirit of the American people is reflected in both types of literature.
