OR i amma emma em amet ke Modern literature uncovers the perspectives of today’s society. Well, Literature defines different aspects of people's thoughts through poems, dramas, etc. Actually, the modern period has started in the early 20th century from 1900 to 1961. In this period, literature has witnessed industrialization, rapid social changes, and development in sciences and social sciences. According to modernists, they found growing estrangement mismatched with Victorian morality, convention, and optimism. Also, new thoughts in philosophy, psychology, and political theory uncover new means of expression. The Modernist period was marked by a strong and international break from tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political and social views. Moreover, the thoughts that influenced this form of literature were inspired by Sigmund Freud and Charles Darwin. Modernist literature came into its own due to increasing industrialization and globalization. New technology and the horrifying events of both world wars made many people question the future of humanity: what was becoming of the world? Writers reacted to this question by turning toward Modernist sentiment. Modernism seeks to find new forms of expression and rejects traditional or accepted ideas. ‘The characteristics of Modern Literature can be categorized into Individualism, Experimentation, Symbolism, Absurdity, and Formalism. In Modern Literature, the individual is more interesting than society. Experimentation is clear in the sense that Modernist writers broke free of old forms and techniques. The inner workings of consciousness were a common subject for modernists. This preoccupation led to a form of narration called stream of consciousness. Authors James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, along with poets T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, are well known for their experimental Modernist works. Modernist authors depicted this absurdity in their works. Symbolism was not a new concept in literature, but the Modernists’ particular use of symbols was an innovation. They left much more to the reader's imagination than earlier writers. Formalism appears in the writers’ attempts to discover meaning by close reading of a work of literature. Focus is on Form, Organization, and structure, Word choice and language. They Consider the work in isolation, disregarding author's intent, author's background, context, and anything else outside of the work itself. Unlike the Romantic worldview, the Modernist writers care little for nature. The Modernist writers were interested in deeper reality than surface reality in their literary works, Most of the literary works of the Modern Age were influenced by the disillusionment that came after World War II. Irony, satire, and comparisons are used frequently to illustrate points regarding society. Modern Literature with its modern themes and techniques appeared as a reaction against the Victorian Age with its restrictions and traditions. There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative. According to the Modernists, life is unordered. Language is seen as complex. Instead of progress, the Modernist writer saw a decline of civilization. General characteristics of the modern age literature| The end of the First World War has raised all kinds of literary movements or trends. Some of them are cubism 4w The use of characters and events which are decidedly common and non-exceptional characters.. > Maximalism: Disorganized, lengthy, highly detailed writing, In the arts, maximalism, is an aesthetic of excess. > Magical Realism: The introduction of impossible or unrealistic events into a narrative that is otherwise realistic. Commonly found in novels and dramatic performances. > Faction: The mixing of actual historical events with fictional events without clearly defining what is factual and what is fictional. > Reader Involvement: Often through direct address to the reader and the open acknowledgment of the fictional nature of the events being described. Decenteredness of the contemporary world is tragic. Decenterdness is reflected in the fragmentation of the text and disorientation of the reader. It is not possible to have q coherent text anymore because we don't have a coherent life.Examples} If on a winter's night a traveler is a 1979 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. The postmodernist narrative, in the form of a frame story, is about the reader trying to read a book called If on a winter's night a traveler. Each chapter is divided into two sections. The first section of each chapter is in second person, and describes the process the reader goes through to attempt to read the next chapter of the book he or she is reading. The second half is the first part of a new book that the reader ("you") finds. The second half is always about something different from the previous ones. Kurt Vonnegut's celebrated novel Slaughterhouse- Five Or, The Children's Crusade, a Duty-Dance with Death (1969), considered his postmodernist masterpiece, is in part an explicit autobiography (which already marks a departure from novelistic conventions). Vonnegut opens with an account of his experience in Dresden, when the German city was firebombed during World War IT. This horrendous event that destroyed a civilian population for no strategic purpose was seared into Vonnegut's memory. For more than twenty years, he explains, he sought a way to tell the story of his outrage and shame. Trying to convey the significance of what he saw to an Army buddy's wife ds04s53, and recoiling from her accusation that he will tell the story in @ conventional way—another one of those tales of how Americans survived the war—Vonnegut invented a narrative and character that constitute a repudiation of the traditional war novel. Whereas most war novels provide a chronological and panoramic structure with a cross section of representative characters (a good example is Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, 1948), Vonnegut focuses on a single protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, who is not merely a product of his place and time. Indeed, Pilgrim is introduced as a person who has “come unstuck in time.” | Powe cen acacia iecaeanc lh onGann cuca Cini emrentctt be defined from different angels. Tllustrate| - Pee aeeie na ems Oh China Peiaeneee en imetanarrati J} ‘The Modernist belief in order, stability and unity is what the Postmodernist thinker Lyotard calls @ metanarrative. Modernism works through metanarratives or grand narratives, while Postmodernism questions and deconstructs metanarratives. A metanarrative is a story a culture tells itself about its beliefs and practices. Postmodernism understands that grand narratives hide, silence and negate contradictions, instabilities and differences inherent in any social system. Postmodernism favours “mi that explain small practices and local events, without pretending universality and finality. Postmodernism realizes that history, politics and culture are grand narratives of the power- wielders 541 xi, which comprise falsehoods and incomplete truths. Having deconstructed the possibility of a stable, permanent reality, Postmodernism has revolutionized the concept of language. Modernism considered language a rational, transparent tool to represent reality and the activities of the rational mind. In the Modernist view, language is representative of thoughts and things. Here, signifiers always point to signifieds. In Postmedernism, however, there are only surfaces, no depths. A signifier has no signified here, because there is no reality to signi narratives,” stories ean Baudrillard (philosophical) Biatieveren) Hee-sseepces) The French philosopher Baudrillard has conceptualized the Postmadern surface culture as a simulacrum. A simulacrum (he coined it) is a virtual or fake reality simulated or induced by the media or other ideological ‘apparatuses. A simulacrum is not merely an imitation or duplication—it is the substitution of the original by a simulated 4, fake image. Contemporary world is a simulacrum, where reality has been thus replaced by false images. This would mean, for instance, that the Gulf war that we know from newspapers and television reports has no connection Setewhatsoever to what can be called the “real” Iraq war. The simulated image of Gulf war has become so much more popular and real than the real war, that Baudrillard argues that the Gulf War did not take place. In other words, in the Postmodern world, there are no originals, only copies: no territories, only maps; no reality, only simulations sks ssa, Here Baudrillard is not merely suggesting that the postmodern world is artificial; he is also implying that we have lost the capacity to discriminate between the real and the artificial. ‘Just as we have lost touch with the reality of our life, we have also moved away from the reality of the goods we consume. If the media form one driving force of the Postmodern condition, multinational capitalism ‘and globalization is another. Fredric Jameson has related Modernism and Postmodernism to the second and third phases of capitalism. 1- The first phase of capitalism of the 18th -19th centuries, called Market Capitalism, witnessed the early technological development such as that of the steam-driven motor, and corresponded to the Realist phase. 2- The early 20th Century, with the development of electrical and internal combustion motors Gis! cis a+ ius, witnessed the onset of Monopoly Capitalism and Medernism. 3- The Postmodern era corresponds to the age of nuclear and electronic technologies and Consumer Capitalism, where the emphasis is on marketing, selling and consumption rather than production. © The dehumanized, globalized world, wipes out individual and national identities, in favour of multinational marketing. exposition that there are at least three different directions taken by Postmodernism, * Postmodernism also has its roots in the theories Habermas and Foucault, Furthermore, Postmodernism can be examined from Feminist and Post-colonial angles. Therefore, one cannot pinpoint the principles of Postmodernism with finality, because there is a plurality in the very constitution of this theory. Postmodernism, in its denial of an objective truth or reality, forcefully advocates the theory of constructivism Glska sly 4i5—the anti-essentialist argument that everything is ideologically constructed. Postmodernism finds the media to be a great deal responsible for “constructing” our identities and everyday realities. Indeed, Postmodernism developed as a response to the contemporary boom in electronics and communications technologies and its revolutionizing of our old-world order. Constructivism invariably leads to relativism. Our identities are constructed and transformed every moment in relation to our social environment. Therefore, there is scope for multiple and diverse identities, multiple truths, moral codes and views of reality. The understanding that an objective truth does not exist has invariably led the accent of Postmodernism to fall on subjectivity. Subjectivity itself is of course plural and provisional +s <4, A stress on subjectivity will naturally lead to a renewed interest in the local and specific experiences, rather than the universal and abstract; that is on mini-narratives rather than grand narratives. Globalization, nuclear weapon, multi-cultural technology and social media led to the lack of unified objective truth. Through intertextuality and metafiction, I will insert mini narratives to the grand narrative. Finally, all versions of Postmodernism rely on the method of Deconstruction to analyze socio-cultural situations. Postmodernism has often been vehemently criticized. The fundamental characteristic of Postmodernism is disbelief, which negates social and personal realities and experiences. Deconstruction leads to mini narratives. Postmodernism generates a feeling of lack and insecurity in contemporary societies, which is essential for the sustenance of a capitalistic world order. eShe Theatre of the Absurd The theatre of Absurd is a reaction against the horrible events of the World War II and how it affected the ne dramatic works of certain European and American dramatists of the 1950s and a ‘60s who agreed with the Existentialist philosopher (Albartamnas's assessment, in his essay “The (1942), that the human situation is essentially absurd, devoid of purpose. The term is also loosely applied to those dramatists and the production of those works. Though no formal Absurdist movement existed as such, dramatists as dive as Samuel Beckett, Eugéne Ionesco, Jean _Genét, Arthur Adamov, Harold Pinter, and a few others shared a pessimistic vision of humanity struggling vainly to find a purpose and to control its fate. Humankind in this view is left feeling hopeless, bewildered, and anxious. ‘Gisela is essentially about the human situation which is essentially absurd like The Myth of Sisyphus”; why are we struggling day by day if we are destined to die at the end and it is already known whether we are going to stay in heaven or in hell. Why we struggle. Why? The ideas that inform the plays also dictate their structure. Absurdist playwrights, therefore, did away with most of the logical structures of traditional theatre, There is little dramatic action as conventionally understood; however frantically the characters perform, their busyness serves to underscore the fact that nothing happens to change their existence. Tin Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1952), plot is eliminated, and a timeless, circular quality emerges as two lost creatures, usually played as tramps, spend their days waiting— but without any certainty of whom they are waiting for or of whether he, or it, will ever come. eee ee el Absence. Emptiness. Nothingness. Unresolved. Mysteries. Questions of Existence. Distrust in Language. Ilogical Speeches and Meaningless Plots. Re-establishment of man's communion with Universe. Emphasize on Abstract Values of Life. Vagueness about Time, Place and Character. Lack of communication amid characters. Hungarian-born British critic, Martin Esslin invented the term ‘Theatre of Absurd’ in his most famous critical essay “The Theatre of Absurd” which was published in 1960. In this essay, Esslin primarily focused on playwrights r, Eugene Ionesco, and Arthur Adamov. Esslin points out that their plays have ‘one common identifying characteristi ‘Absurd plays capture the form of ‘man's response to a universe evidently without meaning, or man as a non-living thing governed and dominated by invisible external powers. Basically, all absurd plays describe man’s existence as irrational, senseless, and meaningless. This belief was a response to people's loss of faith in science, art, religion, and politics after the destruction and killings of the First and Second World Wars. The Theatre of Absurd was massively influenced by existentialism. It coordinates most effectively with the idea in Camus’ essay “The Myth of Sisyphus”. In this essay, Camus employs the mythological reference of Sisyphus, who was doomed to move a boulder up a mountain, only to have that boulder come down. Sisyphus PPMP eS)repeats this action forever, Camus ends the essay with a remark that: “One must imagine Sisyphus happy”. (Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus.) we live in a meaningless world and if anyone wants to give meaning to his or her life then he or she can give it himself or herself; no societ cal system, or religion can giv meaning or control curves. nah chtfory, This of Hhelabaind fers ftom exsbtalion, The absurd playwrights did not fix the issue of man's illogical, meaningless, and absurd existence. Absurd dramatist does not provide any solution to problems, according to them, there is no answer to this meaningless and purposeless existence. MAI Eoce een enc Against the backdrop of conventional theatre, Waiting for Godot represents irony in extremes. Unlike conventional forms in which everything on the stage exists for a larger purpose, the world of Godot is a world without meaning: bare in both matter and form. With its extreme scarcity of action, Godot confronts the theatre-goer with an experience of failed expectations: nothing happens, Godot never comes. In this sense, Godot presents a brilliant simulacrum sso of real life in which desire is continually frustrated by the boring facts of the everyday. LURES ISOs ome ets rhats eye Absurd dramatists foreground the separation or seclusion of the individual or man’s potential to associate with others. “Waiting for Godot”, a popular drama from the absurdist movement accurately presents this theme. The central characters of the play, Vladimir and Estragon, spend their entire time in an outdoor space away from society. Although they live together, concurrently they are separated from one another. One evidence of this is that they are not for a moment able to sufficiently interact; their exchange or discussions si in circles. The absurd playwrights observed that formal language is not sufficient to communicate. That is why the action of the characters on stage frequently differs from their utterance or dialogue. For instance, act one and act two of “Waiting for Godot” end with the words “Yes, let’s go” but both Vladimir and Estragon do not move. By this, the absurdist playwright Samuel Beckett wanted to show a discontinuity or disruption between dialogue and action, meaning and reality. Furthermore, the absurd dramatists reveal how inconstant Lack of plot is an important aspect of absurd dramas. Absurd plays do have a proper plot nor a beginning or a proper end. There is normally a retelling and reiteration of both action and language. For instance, in “Waiting for Godot’ Vladimir and Estragon all the time in motion; they over and over again dig through their pockets and peep into their headpiece. These actions are repeated so many times that the spectators feel that they are seeing the same situation again and again. These actions could be defined as stable actions as these actions add nothing to the progress and development of the play. Most of the time absurd plays ended where they started. The composition of absurd plays is commonly rounded, with the ending point similar to the beginning point. Rational conversation leads to unreasonable and senseless speech and to the eventual endinj In the famous play by Samuel Beckett, Vladimir and Estragon, the two main characters sit in a field waiting for Godot to show up. They keep each other’s company as they spend days on end waiting for the arrival of this mysterious character to resolve their problems. They converse, not to find solutions to their problems, but to mute the agony inhabiting the silence that would otherwise befall them. The play comes to an end with Vladimir and Estragon waiting for Godot, not moving, not giving up, and not one step closer to finding a solution to their problems. By waiting for him, they succeed only in wasting precious time that could have been better utilized for finding a solution to their problems. He never shows up. They essentially waited for hope, and hope never came. Towards the end of the second act of Waiting for Godot, Vladimir looks at the sleeping Estragon and muses about his ability to close his eyes while ‘the air is full of cries’, concluding that ‘Habit is a great meer ReunenTn deadener’, Yet this philosophical insight solves nothing, and he bursts out ‘I can’t go onl’. Morad Hassan’s "painful rendering of this speech in the revival of the Arabic-Hebrew version of the play seemed to speak for all the audience in the room. The bilingual staging of Waiting for Godot remains a well-known example of a political performance of Beckett's work. ‘The image of Hebrew-speaking Pozzo tormenting an Arab-speaking Lucky explicitly evokes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while the stage design, which resembles a construction site, echoes the economical disenfranchisement of a population pushed into low-paying manual work at the service of Jewish masters. Moreover, the dominance of the Arabic language in the play creates its own challenge to the Jewish hegemony. The Palestinians have been forced to let waiting be part of their national and cultural life. The forced displacement has scattered many Palestinians in exile around the globe. These Palestinians in diasporas have been waiting to return home one day and this perpetual state of waiting is one of the greatest tragedies of our time, The Palestinians’ experience of time and waiting are quite different from most parts of the world, The linearity of time seems to break its rhythm when it enters Palestinian lives. The temporality appears to have multiple dimensions when it comes to Palestine. There are times when the clock is not the reference point of Palestinians’ time, and hours and minutes can no longer gauge their waiting. They have given anew meaning to time, waiting and exile through not only the physical existence of their being, but also through their literature and art. A closer look at the events and actions of the Arab regimes since, showcase a history filled with betrayal, lack of unity, and preoccupation with their self-interests. The Palestinian cause has been mostly instrumentalized to harness public support for Arab regimes, Evidently, Arab armies would sooner fight against one another than threaten war against Israel. In the play, the two main characters wait for Godot while they fill their time with pointless chatter because waiting offered a chance of escapism. It was easier to wait for Godot than to take matters into their own hands. The Palestinians need to stop waiting. Haven't we realized that our real savior can only come from within? It can only happen with unity and a shared vision for a Palestinian future that includes the diaspora, and the refuge ture of the progress of the human mind written by of Morals by written Condorcet's Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Spirit was perhaps the most influential formulation of the idea of progress ever written, It made the Idea of Progress a central concern of Enlightenment thought. He argued that expanding knowledge in the natural and social sciences would lead to an ever more just world of individual freedom, material affluence, and moral compassion. He argued for three general propositions: that the past revealed an order that could be understood in terms of the progressive development of human capabilities, showing that humanity's "present state, and those through which it has passed, are a necessary constitution of the moral composition of humankind’; that the progress of the natural sciences must be followed by progress in the moral and political sciences "no less certain, no less secure from political revolutions"; that social evils are the result of ignorance and error rather than an inevitable consequence of human nature. ‘The Natural History of morals is a book about the history of ethics and about interpretation. Nietzsche rewrites the former as a history of cruelty, exposing the central values of the Judaeo-Christian and liberal traditions - compassion, equality, justice - as the product of a brutal process of conditioning designed to domesticate the animal vitality of earlier cultures. The result is a book which raises profoundly disquieting issues about the violence of both ethics and interpretation, Nietzsche questions moral certainties by showing that religion and science have no claim to absolute truth, before turning on his own arguments in order to call their very presuppositions into question. The Genealogy is the most sustained of Nietzsche's later works and offers one of the fullest expressions of his characteristic concerns. This edition places his ideas within the cultural context of his own time and stresses the relevance of his work for a contemporary audience. His theory is against moralists, such as Kant:” moral systems are only a sign-language of emotions”. Nietzsche believes that moral systems are against Nature and Reason: they constrain freedom and narrow perspectives. Se