The breadth of modernism is very wide, and it's hard to answer the question what it is because of that. There aare lots of different kinds of modernisms that that aren't really very compatible. But they all have a kind of idea in common, and that's an idea of of, what do we do now? What happens now? So, suzanne, in terms of literature, the headline act of 19 to ulysses and the wasteland tell me there a huge read of writers and movements and poetry. Yes absolutely.
Modernism is a cultural and philosophical movement that emerged in the West during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s a complex hydra-headed beast that was pervasive in the arts, but also spread through modern industrial societies influencing architecture and science.
As part of a series of programmes on BBC Radio 3 and 4 celebrating modernism, Kirsty Wark presents an introduction to modernism – how and why did it arise at this time, and its legacy today. She is joined by the cultural historian Matthew Sweet who is presenting a 10-part series for BBC Radio 4 on a crucial year for modernism: 1922 – The Birth of Now.
Suzanne Hobson, from Queen Mary University of London, is an expert on modernist literature, and examines the defining characteristics of the genre, while the musician Soweto Kinch discusses the impact of modernism on music, especially the development of jazz, and how it plays out today.
While innovations in the arts including stream of consciousness, atonal music and abstract art are the headline acts for modernism the academic Charlotte Sleigh looks more closely at what was happening in the sciences, and how innovations in physics, psychology and technology changed the way people experienced the world.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Image: Modulor le Corbusier. Cover template.