Introduction: Modernity and the Visual

I liked the fact that the Robert Scholes and Clifford Wulfman reading, “Modernity and the Rise of Modernism: A Review,” contextualized modernity. For instance, how “Charles Baudelaire was writing about a ‘Painter of Modern Life’ in the 1860s, in terms that are distinctly modernist,” while also reminding us that “Baudelaire was in Paris, and he was a leader in this new movement” (Scholes, Wulfman 27). I found that particularly intriguing because it reinforced the fact that modernist thought appears elsewhere and much earlier than solely in little magazines. This was a contextualization I had not considered.

I also find the transitional aspect of little magazines very interesting. They are simultaneously late-Victorian and modernist in conception. As such, they are a particularly intriguing subject for further research because they represent the beginning stages of a new movement while still residing in this late-Victorian context. I am excited to explore this aspect further and how the addition of image and visual text falls in line with emerging modernity.

I am also excited to explore the digital tools at hand for us in this course. I have often had to do discussions for previous seminar courses, but they have never incorporated blog posts, wikis, bibliographies, or images. I think that this is a particularly relevant exercise for both our academic and professional writing styles, as well as how we incorporate the visual into writing. Often, research essays make us forget the visual aspect that is, today, so relevant to consumers and creators of media.

Sabrina Pavelic, 14 September 2020