Facts about Modernist Literature Defining Features
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The rejection of realism in favor of subjective, interior experience is a core principle distinguishing modernist literature from its nineteenth-century predecessors.
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A defining feature of modernist literature is its use of myth and symbol as structural frameworks, exemplified by T.S. Eliot's use of the Fisher King legend in The Waste Land.
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Modernist literature frequently employs multiple perspectives within a single work, rejecting the omniscient single viewpoint dominant in Victorian fiction.
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Unreliable narration is a key modernist device, undermining the Victorian assumption that a narrator could objectively convey a stable, knowable reality.
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Fragmented narrative structure and the rejection of chronological plot are hallmarks of modernist literature, reflecting a distrust of traditional storytelling conventions.
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Stream of consciousness, a narrative technique central to modernist literature, attempts to replicate the continuous flow of a character's inner thoughts.