Representation of Time in Modernist Literature Essay

Just as time has been a fundamental element in human existence, it has been significant in literature as well. n Every literary writing comprises an aspect of time. For instance, regardless of the actual setting of the story, the time has been presented differently especially through the presentation of information. The actions may include (flashbacks, real-time narrations, flashforwards, chronological developments) among others. In other extents, works of literature comprise of different separate time frames: author time (when the work was initially scripted or published); narrator time (when a narrator supposedly narrates a story); plot time (when the actions actually occur); and audience time (when a reader reads the work). However, in the modernist literature, time is represented differently as it is being used as a literary device by the modernist writers.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

However, in the detail of this paper, it will deliver a description of the modernist literature and time. It will describe how time is represented or manipulated in the modernist literature. Also, it will provide an analysis concerning the importance of time for the modernist writers.

Modernist literature has its origin within a transition in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Literary modernism has been characterized by the break with the traditional ways of writing in the fictional writings as well as poetry. Moreover, the perception of time represents a significant occurrence and motif with the modernist literature. Numerous literary writings address the subjectivity of experiences which include how the readers consider the passage of time and other events. As a result of the post-modernist and modernist literature emphasis on the meaning and style of writing, time has been less and less of an element of setting and developed more into a literary device that interacts with the character in literature and acts upon the structure of the story.

For instance, in the literary writing, "A clean, well-lighted place" by Hemingway (1933), the author manipulates time through different approaches. In the script, time is presented from the beginning of the book with the use on an old man and the idea that the old man prefers visiting the cafe in the night as it was quiet even though he was deaf. Within the modernist literary writing, the author assumes that the readers can understand the chronological development of events as he ensures utilization of direct speech. There is a candid conversation between two waiters concerning the old man. For example, one waiter said, "Last Week he (referring to the old man) tried to commit suicide" (Hemingway, 1933). With the use of such style of writing in insinuates how time has been manipulated to deliver details within modern literature. It shifts the perception of time from just a time frame but utilizes it in delivering the idea between the cafe, the old man, drinking at night, as well as different ages. Also, as the story develops, the waiters continue to argue as per the reason as to why the old man cannot go home and one of the waiter's quote that, "He is lonely. I am not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me." "He had a wife once too" (Hemingway, 1933). Through this, the author maintains a constant view regarding the difference as a result of time development. As the perception and idea of time changes, so does every conception about the future, present, and the past within the literature. Without history, one cannot understand or comprehend the present, leave along imaging the future. In this article, the author has manipulated time to ensure that it provides the audience with objectivity and inform us that something has occurred, something is occurring, and something is about to happen.

On the other hand, time is manipulated in the modernist literature to ensure a shift in the perception of memory as well as the past. For example, in Sandburg (1917) poem "Grass" Sandburg manipulates time by focusing on memory and past. The poem is a call meant to arose feeling about a memory of the wars of the past, battles lost and won as well as the scars that were created and left by the wars. The perception of time is presented through the grass as he quotes, "Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now?" which now effectively erases any signs of the past as it wants to do it job of growing, covering battlefields, mass graves, and lands own battle scars (Sandburg, 1917). In this poem, time is manipulated and presented in a manner that insinuates a sense of hope development as well ensuring a proper recognition of the past and keeping the memories.

Correspondingly, the modern literature manipulates time by shifting and changing the perception of reality. Once time is modified with literary writing, the knowledge of reality is inclined to the concepts of the story mainly in human existence. For example, in the short story, "A haunted house" the author begins with: "Whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting" (Woolf, 1972). Through this, the narrator assumed and represented the involvement of time in the modernist literature by invoking a sense of reality to the audience as well as the readers. As the writing resumes, the narrator, a woman, does not attempt to keep the audience in suspense but ensures that they face reality in line with the message in the passage. In a large section of the writing, the author uses the sense of time like a literary device connecting the concepts and ideas to ensure the readers understand the reality she is trying to deliver. It is clear that the story mentions on the theme if love and relationship; however, the author ensure that time provides the precise literary description of the occurrences.

Additionally, the story "Barn Burning" is a similar writing that evokes the involvement of time in modernist literature. The author evokes feelings within the writing by using time as a factor of influence comparing the present and the past as well as making an impact regarding the present occurrences (Faulkner, 1977). The author also attempts to use long sentences that are interpreted with the use of clauses and insinuate different occurrences within the script. The manipulation of time occurs as the author tries to ensure human understanding of the modernist literature. In the modernist literature "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston, its setting is within a small town (Hurston, 1997). In writing, time is a significant theme particularly with the idea that time is a continuous flow and that the future, present, and past cannot be considered as distinct. Moreover, there is a representation of time in the literature in consideration to its setting since it is based on a real place but delivers facts and fictions.

However, time is essential for modernist writers. In most cases, one may wonder what modernist writers consider different in the scripting of their literary writing. Modernist writers are writers that have adopted the modern point of view in the delivery of their works of literature. The modernist writers have been able to use time as a motif in modernist literature. Also, with the use of time, the modernist writers can deliver emphasis on meaning and style of a story. In the previous set of literature, the time has been used as an element of setting. However, with the modernist writers, consider it essential since they are using and representing time as more of a literary device that interacts with the context, themes, ethos, and pathos, along with character within literary writing. Time is essential for the modernist writers since it also allows them to deliver and confirm the idea of objectivity. Since time is used with objectivity, it offers a precise definition by telling when something occurred. Additionally, the modernist writers consider time important since it helps deliver a perception of reality. Through this, modernist writers can modify time beyond control which sets upon the basis for human existence that depends on time for ambitions, ideas, as well as lessons.

Conclusion

In conclusion, understanding the concept of time in modernist literature is imperative. Since modernist literature originated mainly in North America and Europe in the early 20th century and lath 19th century, it has been characterized by the shift of traditional modes of representation to advances modes. Time is one the changing factor that has characterized the modernist literature especially by shifting it from just an element of setting into a literary device used in line with other literary devices.

Works Cited

Faulkner, William. Barn Burning. United States Information Agency, Television and Film Service, 1977.Hemingway, Ernest. "A clean, well-lighted place." The short stories of Ernest Hemingway (1933): 379-83.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Sweat. Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Sandburg, Carl. "Grass." Seven Arts 1 (1917): 474. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/30370

Woolf, Virginia. A haunted house and other short stories. Vol. 105. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1972.