Essay Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Essay - Assignment Example Moreover, the modernism paradigm is inherently intertwined with culture and Eysteinsson and Liska argue that in terms of literary criticism, â€Å"modernism constitutes one of the most prominent fields of literary studies today† (Eysteinsson and Liska, 2007:1). Indeed, leading anthologist Rainey asserts that in literary terms â€Å"modernists were giants, monsters of nature who loomed so large that contemporaries could only gape at them in awe† (Rainey 2007, p.xix) However, whilst modernism is instrumental in approaching literary context, it is evident that â€Å"it is however, a field that stands in a very ambiguous relationship to the present literary and cultural situation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ scholars and critics are seeking to draw a balance sheet with modernism† (Eysteinsson and Liska, 2007:1). The concept of modernism in the cultural consciousness evolved through the end of Queen Victoria’s reign between the nineteenth and twentieth century. Indeed, Gillies and Mahood (2007) refer to publisher Grant Allen’s remarks in 1889 that â€Å"everybody nowadays talks about evolution. Like electricity, the cholera, women’s rights, the great mining boom, and the Eastern question, it is â€Å"in the air† (In Gillies & Mahood, 2007: 3). To this end, it is evident that the cultural transition between the nineteenth and twentieth century towards a modernist socio-cultural model is a central causal factor in explaining the particular distinction of early twentieth century literature in the modernist discourse. For example, if we consider this proposition contextually, Gillies and Mahood refer to Aldous Huxley’s female protagonist Lucy Tantamount in â€Å"Point Counter Point† (1928) comments that â€Å"living modernly’s, living quickly†. Moreover, constant references to â€Å"make it new† meshed â€Å"itself in ever increasingly formalised definitions of