Modernist Culture in America: Introduction

Abstract

study twentieth-century Europe in realizing the importance of Modernist culture. Prior to that time, the reigning assumption held that Modernism was, for the most part, an exclusively European phenomenon that somehow couldn't happen here. To be sure, those writing on specific fields of artistic endeavor like painting, literature, and architecture could not ignore the presence of a strong Modernist influence, but there was little sense that these developments might be related-that what was happening to the modern American novel, for example, might be part of the same underlying cultural movement that was transforming the graphic arts. A surge of recent scholarship has now demonstrated, however, that Modernism did happen here, and that its impact on American culture and society has been far greater than was previously understood. The more the topic has been explored, in fact, the more it has become clear that an extensive research agenda still remains before us. Hence the need for a special issue of American Quarterly to assess what we have learned to date about Modernism in the United States, and, more important, to suggest what questions and issues ought to be dealt with in the future. Each contributor to this symposium began with a particular assignment. Thus, in addition to my own effort to provide a general overview of the subject, John Carlos Rowe was asked to write on the relationship between Modernism and American literature, George Roeder on Modernism and twentieth-century American painting, and David Hollinger on Modernism and scientific thought. Carolyn Burke's task was to focus on the ties between Modernism and feminism, Houston Baker's was the connection with Afro-American culture, and T. J. Jackson Lears' was the relationship to popular culture. Daniel Bell was to explore the present status of Modernism in American society, while Malcolm Bradbury was to view American Modernism from a transatlantic approach.