Modernism

Originating in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, the hallmarks of literary Modernism include an emphasis on the individual rather than society, stream-of-consciousness and other breaks from traditional literary formats, and rich psychological symbolism. This study guide collection summarizes and analyzes titles from some of the most renowned Modernist writers, including but not limited to T.S. Eliot, J.D. Salinger, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, and Katherine Mansfield.

Publication year 1865

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Friendship

Tags Narrative / Epic Poem, Military / War, Modernism, American Literature


Publication year 1880

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Fear

Tags Lyric Poem, Modernism


Publication year 1865

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Place, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology

Tags Lyric Poem, Modernism, Science / Nature


Publication year 1865

Genre Poem, Fiction

Tags Lyric Poem, Grief / Death, Modernism, American Civil War, Transcendentalism, Education, Education, Classic Fiction


Publication year 1992

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Identity: Mental Health, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Self Discovery

Tags Historical Fiction, Existentialism, Psychology, Philosophy, Modernism, American Literature, History: World, Psychology, Classical Period, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

When Nietzsche Wept is a 1992 novel written by Stanford University Professor of Psychology Irvin D. Yalom. Set in Vienna in 1882, the novel imagines a working relationship between the famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the eminent physician Josef Breuer. Breuer believes that Nietzsche’s physical ailments have psychological causes, and he embarks on his newly invented “talking cure”—effectively a precursor to talk therapy and psychoanalysis. Eventually, through an agreement between the two men, it... Read When Nietzsche Wept Summary


Publication year 1919

Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction

Themes Society: Community, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Natural World: Place, Relationships: Family, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality

Tags Classic Fiction, American Literature, Modernism, History: U.S., History: World

Originally published in 1919, Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life, is a short story cycle by American author Sherwood Anderson. Anderson drew inspiration from the Ohio town of Clyde, where he spent his childhood. By the late 20th century, many scholars considered Winesburg, Ohio a seminal text of American Modernist literature.Winesburg, Ohio focuses on the people who inhabit the eponymous town at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Among them... Read Winesburg, Ohio Summary