Unit 5 Introduction: The Modern Era

1914-1918, Europe 1914: A Serbian freedom fighter, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The murder set of a chain of events that led to one of history's greatest conflicts, WWI. It was also called the Great War, and it spread across Europe and the world. It claimed 8 million lives.

dark humor and paranoid characters.

responds to the work and develops his own ideas about it.

The disillusioned authors of postwar Europe.

Explored human psychology, relationships, and vulnerabilities.

Experimented with new structures of drama and poetry, including techniques such as stream of consciousness and nonlinear plots, in an effort to understand their cultural turmoil and feelings of alienation.

Generally disdain the modernist focus on finding meaning. Instead, often imply, primarily through irony, that there is no meaning to be found. Often contains dark humor, a combination of genres, and paranoid characters who fruitlessly search for answers.