Introduction
In his acclaimed book Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age, Modris Eksteins manages to examine the realities of the Great War from various perspectives, including a combination of historical and cultural considerations. The author explores diplomatic relationships prominent in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century and identifies potential motives for all the parties involved in the horrors of World War I. While exploring various causes and long-term effects of WWI, Eksteins takes a unique approach identifying war and violence as an integral part of Western culture. He proceeds to comment on the aesthetic of brutality that provided a surrealistic landscape for the battles of the Great War.1 The author explores the themes of culture, violence, and post-war attitudes, but the strongest part of his extensive study is his examination of the soldiers’ perceptions using various primary sources.2 Eksteins believes that modernist culture prompted the War, and his goal with the book is to demonstrate this idea to the readers. While Eksteins constructs a compelling argument on the cultural history of modernism and its influence, he disregards the economic and geopolitical implications of WWI and fails to include examples that would challenge his view.
About the Author and His Inspirations for the Book
Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age is a respectable work of literature because of the author’s scholarly merit and an abundance of historical and literary sources he used to provide unique perspectives on WWI. Modris Eksteins is a Canadian historian who attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and worked as a professor of history at the University of Toronto Scarborough.3 Eksteins’ argument stands out as he combines different primary sources to create a full picture of life during and after the Great War. He further explores the theme of artistic imaginings being linked to the protofascist ideology by using books and personal diaries, which help the author examine ordinary people’s perceptions and individual narratives.
Eksteins draws a lot of inspiration for his study from the artwork The Rite of Spring. The ballet performance shocked Paris in 1913 as it told a story of a maiden performing a pagan ritual.4 The Rite of Spring provides the central metaphor for Eksteins’ book as the maiden dances herself to death while honoring the gods of spring and fertility.5 In the first act of the book, Eksteins introduces the idea that modernist art “transcended reason, didacticism, and moral purpose” (15). History was a mere reflection of culture and the glorification of violence. The Rite of Spring is indicative of the underlying goal of Eksteins’ book, which is to demonstrate how post-modernistic fiction and drama have manifested into deliberate societal changes of the twentieth century. The author exposes broken legal and cultural frameworks of European societies through an array of cultural references that create a nuanced perspective on the causes and effects of the Great War.
Ideas Explored in the Book
Eksteins focuses on exploring the rise of National Socialism in Italy and Germany from a cultural perspective. While some historians argue that culture functions as a reflection of social values and attitudes, Eksteins assures the readers that cultural shifts prompt historical and political changes. In Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age, the author manages to identify the drawback of the Versailles Treaty on German values and perceptions.6 Modernism and primitivism associated with it led to mass dehumanization of people turning the political arena into a nightmare at the beginning of the twentieth century. Eksteins further explores the impact of militarism on German education, culture, and economy. Germany’s efforts towards order and personal freedom clashed with the national identities of Edwardian England and France. The Great War was the beginning of Germans striving to reach their perceived destiny. France and England, on the other hand, were trying to keep their traditional order despising any rebellion.7 Eksteins introduces the idea of modern consciousness is the product of WWI, which is apparent as individual narratives of the War’s victims are discussed in great detail.
Conclusion
Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age deserve literary and scholarly acclaim as Eksteins excels at linking abstraction and lack of sensitivity to the protofascist ideology that dominated Germany and Italy during the first half of the last century. The author examines unresolved tensions and conflicts of WWI and takes a unique approach to the study as he explores victims’ narratives that are often overlooked by historians. In my opinion, despite the book’s potential value, Eksteins’ inability to be coherent in his writing, as well as an abundance of various generalizations, makes the work seem dull and unfinished. Although Eksteins presents multiple interesting perspectives and explores cultural themes in great detail, the book would benefit from an additional point of view, where the author could examine the impact of politics and history on modern art.
Works Cited
Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age. Mariner Books, 2000.
Hewett, Ivan. “The Riot at the Rite: The Premiere of The Rite of Spring.” BL.uk. British Library, 2016.
Latvia Canada Business Council. “Who’s Who: Academics.” LatCan.org.