Modernist Parody: Imitation, Origination, and Experimentation in Early Twentieth-Century Literature

Parody is essential to the development of modern art, as it allows writers to learn their craft, sharpen their historical sense, define themselves as post-Victorians, and respond to sources of inspiration. It is double-coded and a powerful weapon in the culture wars, exposing the limitations of naïve mimesis and foregrounding the relational structures that underwrote the modernists' paradoxical claims to originality and modernity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 20 July 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Parody, a form of artistic expression, has often faced accusations of producing derivative art lacking in taste and skill. However, in the hands of influential writers like Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Ford Madox Ford, and Virginia Woolf, parody emerged as a powerful tool that fostered revolutionary self-reflexive, critical, and creative practices. This book argues that the essence of high modernism is fundamentally parodic, extending its influence to seemingly earnest movements like Imagism and beyond the extreme avant-garde antics of Dada.

As a literary technique, parody played a crucial role in the development of modernism. It provided a platform for writers to learn their craft, refine their historical sensibilities, define themselves as post-Victorians, and respond to various sources of inspiration while composing. Parody offered a means to laugh at folly, amuse friends, critique opponents, poke fun at enemies, and challenge conventions. Its double-coded nature made it a potent weapon in the culture wars, allowing modernists to present and simultaneously challenge prevailing ideologies in their intricate and complex manifestations.

Parody's fundamentally dialogic and palimpsestual form exposed the limitations of naïve mimesis, emphasizing that literature is always in a state of unstable play. At the same time, it foregrounded the relational structures that underpinned the modernists' paradoxical claims to originality and modernity. As a principle of continual genesis, parody served as a catalyst for the production of more forcefully experimental art. It encouraged modernists to negotiate their position within literary culture and reshape it in innovative ways.

In conclusion, parody played a vital role in the development of modernism, providing writers with a means to explore new artistic possibilities, challenge conventions, and push the boundaries of artistic expression. By embracing the parodic mode, modernists not only created innovative and influential works of art but also contributed to the shaping of literary culture and the development of a more complex and nuanced understanding of the human condition.

Weight: 582g
Dimension: 240 x 163 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192849243