Prospero | Modernism

The good old days of the new

A festival of talks explores whether modernism is still relevant

By E.H.

IS IT still possible to be a modernist writer? This is the main premise of “Modernism”, a festival of talks and debates that runs until early December at London’s Southbank Centre.

The festival was conceived and curated by Will Self, a novelist whose modernist-inspired novel, “Umbrella”, was shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker prize. Over eight events, writers, academics and well-known philosophers explore themes that range from the relationship between psychoanalysis and literature to the legacy of writers such as David Foster Wallace or the lesser-known British author B.S. Johnson.

Basing a festival on such a broad theme is an audacious move; Mr Self certainly cannot be accused of lacking ambition. Yet the talks so far have not shied away from looking at smaller details. Listening to some of the discussions, it is possible to believe that modernism has a certain resonance 100 years on; that it is more robust than “an affectation—a deviation which can be confined to a 1920s time period”, as Mr Self sees its popular perception.

Events that have already taken place have been animated and occasionally enlightening. These include a discussion between Mr Self and Gabriel Josipovici, a literary critic, and a panel event between Sam Leith, a journalist, David Baddiel, a writer and comedian, and D.T. Max, the biographer of David Foster Wallace.

Yet in certain respects the festival feels slightly disappointing. The event discussing David Foster Wallace was undoubtedly a highlight—even if Mr Max occasionally strayed into hagiography (“David was incapable of writing a boring sentence”). But Wallace is also the only contemporary novelist, apart from Mr Self, whose work is showcased as avant-garde.

Instead, academics such as Jacqueline Rose, John Gray and Owen Hatherley have been brought in to discuss questions of modernity, as though the festival were a university lecture series for the public. Authors like Ali Smith, who writes anti-realistic, playful fiction and has spoken extensively on the subject, were conspicuous by their absence. For a festival that purports to make the case for the continuing relevance of challenging prose in contemporary fiction, it is dispiriting to find that most of its events focus so heavily on the past.

It is true that many successful writers today shy away from being self-consciously difficult, or modernist. Even Mr Self, whose writing manages to tread the fine line between difficult and engaging, professed himself slightly wary of taking up the mantle. “The truth of the matter is [“Umbrella”] is not a modernist novel at all—it has a plot, it has characters—it has just adopted aspects of modernism,” he said in one talk. In many respects, this definition makes too narrow a remit for modernism. Indeed, it would preclude “Ulysses”, which has both plot and characters, and was written by James Joyce (pictured), a standard-bearer for modernism.

This combination of tentativeness and rigidity, alongside Mr Self’s assertion in his talk with Mr Josipovici, that “we don’t want to get too picky with ‘modernism’ or ‘post-modernism’. We’re not interested in that,” left the early events of the festival in something of a limbo. It is neither an academic series that worried consistently over the notion of modernity nor a sustained defence for the continued practice of modernist literature today. “Modernism” had many insightful and enjoyable moments. But the irony is that it is nostalgic about a movement that focused on “making it new”, suggesting that the festival’s theme feels like it has had its day.

"Modernism" is at the Southbank Centre

Discover more

An American musical about mental health takes off in China

The protagonist of “Next to Normal” has bipolar disorder. The show is encouraging audiences to open up about their own well-being

Sue Williamson’s art of resistance

Aesthetics and politics are powerfully entwined in the 50-year career of the South African artist


What happened to the “Salvator Mundi”?

The recently rediscovered painting made headlines in 2017 when it fetched $450m at auction. Then it vanished again