Most of the movements in art and literature were based on the negation of the principles and beliefs of the previous periods. At the beginning of the twentieth century, modernists contrasted their aesthetics to the principles and views of nineteenth-century realists. In the second half of the twentieth century, postmodernists developed some of the modernists’ ideas, reconsidering them, and starting a new movement in the history of literature and art. The difference between the aesthetic of modernist and postmodernist literature can be researched on the examples of the modernist novel The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and the postmodernist novel Cocaine Nights by James Graham Ballard.
Postmodernists did not deny the conceptual system of the previous period but shifted the frames. For this reason, this movement lacks a new term, the prefix “post” was added to the term “modernism”. The definition of the concept “postmodernism” is complicated by its popularity within the last decades. Cahoone (2003) noted that “The term ‘postmodern’ has become a popular label for something about the life and thought of recent decades in the most developed societies” (p. 1). The meaning of this term became much broader than it was initially implied by the philosophers and writers. Works of art sometimes are named postmodernist only for the reason that they were created in the second half of the twentieth century, disregarding the implementation of the postmodernist principles in them. Besides, this term is included in the conceptual systems of Philosophy, Literature, and other related sciences. McKeon (2000) noted that “Postmodern skepticism is the complex product of a historical conjuncture and is constructed as both symptom and critique of the contemporary economic and social formation of Europe and America” (p. 917). Caused by the changes of the socio-economical standards of life, the appearance of modernist and postmodernist movements resulted in alteration of the main themes and methods used in literature and art.
Modernist and postmodernist novelists choose the themes, which allow expressing their attitude to the human ability for cognition of the reality and construct the plots breaking the traditional rules of chronotope, composition of the time and space dimensions in literary works. Postmodernist philosophers deny the existence of a single truth, stating that any attempts to find it are senseless. All people’s views are considered only subjective interpretations of the reality. Hoffman (2005) stated that “While in most modern texts, awareness, understanding, and knowledge are prerequisites of a sense of identity and authenticity, postmodern fiction starts out from the perception that experience and rationalization are not fully (or not at all) compatible” (p. 99). The impact of the twentieth century theories, such as Freud’s Unconscious and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, on the general picture of life, was remarkable. The importance of humans’ awareness and understanding is questioned. Literature, Painting, and Architecture broke the traditional rules and used new original forms and methods for mirroring reality and authors’ views in the works of art. Broadening the gap between the objective reality and the human perception of it, modernists and postmodernists disregard the traditional principles of chronotope. Modernist writers deny the necessity to state some concrete time in the novel, while it is regarded relative and insignificant. Smethurst (2000) stated that “Many modernist writers turned to the plurality of private times, where the private experience of time flows freely in a ‘stream of consciousness’ unbridled by the order of public time or traditional narratival time” (p. 32). Stream of consciousness technique was often used by the modernist writers. Developing the idea of individual interpretation of reality, postmodernists neglected the space parameters as well. Smethurst (2000) noted that postmodernists disrupt the unities of time and location: “Space and time are combined, and space is no longer regarded as a static container in which events occur. Rather it affects and is affected by, events. Events produce space-time as well as occur in space-time” (p. 48). Constructing the plots of their novels, modernist and postmodernist writers give preference to individual interpretations of time and/or spaces, concentrate on the inner life of the characters.
The plots of the modernist novel The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and postmodernist novel Cocaine Nights by James Graham Ballard disrupt the generally accepted rules of literary chronotope. Constructing the novel, Conrad concentrated on the interior life of his characters, disregarding the time parameters of the story that was characteristic of the modernist writing. This was not a stream of consciousness technique; still the inner reasoning and recollection of the characters could cause the unexpected turns of the plot and lead the narration to the past and then back to the future. Conrad used flashback technique, mixing present, past and future in the story, focusing on the character’s consciousness. The novelist’s choice of language devices is predetermined by his aim to construct the plot in accordance with the train of the character’s thought instead of chronological succession of events. Conrad places the narrator at distance from the rest of the characters, still initiating into the intimate thoughts of the others. Halliwell (2006) stated that “The narrative voice conveys the tone of declamation and deflation” (p. 90). Language provides the author with the necessary opportunity to manipulate the time of the novel according to his intention. There are some time holes in time in the novel, it means that Conrad omitted the episodes which he regarded insignificant for the development of events. The effect produced by the structure of the plot is that of the live narration instead of the written book and a well-structured story intentionally prepared for presentation to the reader. Halliwell (2004) noted that “The ironic tone and the formal complexity of the narrative, in which a section in the middle is removed and only pieced together retrospectively, draw attention to the novel as a ‘told’ tale” (p. 96). The technique of the flashbacks makes the plot of the novel difficult to follow for an unprepared reader, it should be viewed through the perspective of the modernist aesthetics.
James Graham Ballard sets the events of his postmodernist novel Cocaine Nights in artificial fictitious location, influencing the character’s perception of reality. It is not even the community but the place itself that influences the plot of the novel, stimulates the development of the events and changes the personalities of the inhabitants. Getting in Estrella de Mar, people forget about their initial purpose of arriving and cannot resist the temptation of the island life. Kitchin and Kneale (2002) noted that “Rather than stressing a sociological, political or psychological imagination, Ballard’s vision is centered upon geography as both the expression and main agent of change in human subjectivity” (p. 91). Dusrupting the accustomed rules of chronotope, when the place is only a minor factor, meanr by the author by chance or neglected at all, Ballard puts emphasis on the place where the events take place. The postmodernist novelist allows location affecting the events and the characters’ behavior. The fact that by the end of the novel Charles Prentice, the main character, finds himself out of control, proves that the place in Cocaine Nights cannot be regarded a static parameter. The parameters of time are not significant in the novel and are subordinated to the parameter of place and main intention of the author. Bentley (2005) noted that “the temporal dimension is gradually hollowed out in the text, to be replaced by a preoccupation with the ways in which space determines identity, the novelist’s attention once again falls on the problem of subjectivity” (p. 49). The time period is not specified, but the dystopian island events, depicted in the novel, could take place in the future period of leisure culture. Working in the frames of postmodernist aesthetics, Ballard disrupts the traditional rules of chronotope, puts emphasis on the location parameter and almost neglects the indicator of time.
Choosing similar story lines of a crime investigation for their novels, Conrad and Ballard, influenced by modernist and postmodernist principles correspondingly, reflect their views concerning the human ability to find out the truth in their novels. The main themes illuminated by Conrad in his novel The Secret Agent, such as alienation, cognition, and breakdown of communication, need to be evaluated through the perspective of the modernist principles. For example, the choice of the theme of alienation in the society may be explained by the modernist principle of individual perception of the objective reality. Walkowitz (2006) noted that “In The Secret Agent, Conrad shows how social processes of classification create the physical characteristics of foreigners” (p. 6). Verloc, the main character of the novel, the secret agent and entrepreneur at the same time, discusses law, politics and communist revolution with his comrades. The fact that the communist ideas are illuminated in the novel is predetermined by the period, in which the work was written, at the beginning of the century communism was the burning issue of the day. Influenced by these theories, Conrad even classifies his heroes according to the communist categories: “I defy the ingenuity of journalists to persuade their public that any given member o f the proletariat can have a personal grievance against astronomy” (p. 21). Verloc’s brother-in-law Stevie has got a mental disability, and consequently his life views are distorted. Using this motif the author emphasizes the human inability to find out the truth, while Stevie’s picture of life demonstrates the possible difference between the reality and the person’s perception of it. Conrad does not attempt to make his characters realistic, they were only his marionettes, executing the author’s will. Wollaeger (2006) noted that “In The Secret Agent the narrator polices characters who threaten to grow into full-blooded Forsterian roundness by flattering them into satiric reductions. Verloc, for instance, opens a door ‘woodenly, stony-eyed, like an automaton whose face had been painted red’” (p. 52). The themes of terrorism and experiments with bombs get the new meaning nowadays, while the novelist at the beginning of the century raised the question of this evil. Conrad’s characters have difficulties in investigation process, and this fact may be explained by the modernist ideas of human inability to find the truth, individually interpreting the reality.
The questions of alienation and meaningless existence are touched upon in the postmodernist novel Cocaine Nights by James Graham Ballard. The novelist reappraises the old values. He chooses his own indicators for evaluation of the events, tries to predict the possible consequences of the present way of the present day progress and manages to identify positive impact of some negative phenomena. Haig (2004) noted that “Contemporary philosophers and novelists have identified that leisure and distraction are becoming the driving economic forces of modern society. In his novel Cocaine Nights Ballard even anticipated a ‘future without work’” (p. 52). Gasiorek (2005) stated the pre-conditions causing the dystopic state of affairs depicted in the novel: “All human needs have been anticipated, and the entire social mechanism has been calibrated to minimize friction and disturbance” (p. 21). This motif is aimed at criticizing the current level of development of the society. Ballard develops his theory in the novel: “People will work, or rather some people will work, but only for a decade of their lives. They will retire in their late thirties, with fifty years of idleness in front of them” (p. 180). Ballard criticizes setting the priorities on entertainment and leisure, and ironically or seriously states that only crimes can unite the communities, as only reflection to this negative social phenomenon is unanimous. Seltzer (2007) noted that “Only one thing is left which can rouse people, threaten them directly and force them to act together. … Crime and transgressive behavior” (p. 53). Reappraisal of the old values in the novel Cocaine Nights is characteristic of the postmodernist aesthetics.
The novels The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and Cocaine Nights by James Graham Ballard are examples of the modernist and postmodernist literature correspondingly. Working in the frames of the movement, the authors disrupted certain parameters of chronotope and reappraised the old values, illuminating the themes of alienation and cognition.
References
- Ballard, James Graham (2010). Cocaine Nights. 2-nd edition. Counterpoint.
- Bentley, Nick (ed.) (2005). British Fiction of the 1990s. Routledge.
- Cahoone, Lawrence (ed.) (2003). From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Gasiorek, Andrzej (2005). J. G. Ballard. Manchester University Press.
- Conrad, Joseph (2001). The Secret Agent. Dover Publications.
- Haig, Matt (2004). Brand Royalty: How the World’s Top 100 Brands Thrive and Survive. Kogan Page Limited.
- Halliwell, Martin (2004). Images of Idiocy: The Idiot Figure in Modern Fiction and Film. Asgate Publishing.
- Halliwell, Martin (2006). Transatlantic Modernism: Moral Dilemmas in Modernist Fiction. 2-nd edition. Edinburgh University Press.
- Hoffman, Gerhard (2005). From Modernism to Postmodernism: Concepts and Strategies of Postmodern American Fiction. Postmodern Studies.
- Kitchin, Rob, James Kneale (2002). Lost in Space: Geographies of Science Fiction. Continuum.
- McKeon, Michael (ed.) (2000). Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Seltzer, Mark (2007). True Crime: Observations on Violence and Modernity. Routledge.
- Smethurst, Paul (2000). The Postmodern Chronotope: Reading Space and Time in Contemporary Fiction. Postmodern Studies.
- Walkowitz, Rebecca (2006). Cosmopolitan Style: Modernism Beyond the Nation. Columbia University Press.
- Wollaeger, Mark (2006).Modernism, Media, and Propaganda: British Narrative from 1900 to 1945. Princeton University Press.