Modern Literature:
Bertrand Russell
belongs to modern era. The most important characteristic of modern literature
is that it is opposed to the general attitude to life and its problems adopted
by the Victorian writers. This rebellious mood affected the 20th
century literature, which was directed by mental attitudes, moral ideas and
spiritual values diametrically opposed to those of the Victorians. Nothing was
considered certain; every thing was questioned. In the field of literary
technique also some fundamental changes took place. Standards of artistic
workmanship and of aesthetic appreciation also underwent radical changes.
The simple faith
of Victorians was replaced by the modern man’s desire to probe and question.
There was a disintegration of values in the 20th century. The result
was that the modern writers could no longer write in the old manner. The modern
mind was out raged by the Victorian complacency. The social and religious
reforms at first raised this complaint, and they were followed by the men of
letter because they echo the voice around them. But there was felt the need of
a change in the sphere of literature also because the idiom, the manner of
presentment, the play of imagination, and the rhythm and structure of the
verse, of the Victorian writers were becoming stale, and seem gradually to be
losing the old magic. There words fail to evoke the spirit. Thus a reaction was
overdue in the field of literature, because the art has to be renewed in order
to revitalize it. At the end of the Victorian era it was felt that the ideas,
experiences, moods and attitudes had changed, and so the freshness which was
lacking in literature had to be supplied on another level.
Themes of 20th Century Literature:
There was a disintegration of values in the twentieth
century. The result was that the modern writers could no longer write in the
old manner. If they played on such sentiments as the contempt for money, divine
love, natural beauty, the sentiment of home and life, classical scholarship,
and communication with the spirit of the past, they were running the risk of
striking a false note. Even if they treated the same themes, they had to do it
in a different manner, and evoke different thoughts and emotions from what were
normally associated with them. The modern writer had, therefore, to cultivate a
fresh point of view, and also a fresh technique.
The twentieth century has become the age of machine.
Machinery has, no doubt, dominated every aspect of modern life, and it has produced
mixed response from the readers and writers.
One great advantage under which the modern writers labour
is that there is no common ground on which they their readers meet. In the
atmosphere of disillusionment, discontent and doubt, different authors show
different approaches to life. Some lament the passing of old value, and express
a sense of nostalgia. Some show utter despair of future; while others recommend
reverting to an artificial primitivism. Some concentrate on sentiment, style or
diction in order to recover what has been lost. Thus among the twentieth
century writers are sometimes found of aggressive attempts to retain or
revitalize old values in a new setting or, if it is not possible, to create new
values to take their place.
The twentieth century literature which is the product of
this tension is, therefore unique. It is extremely fascinating and, at the same
time, very difficult to evaluate, because to a certain extent, it is a record
of uncoordinated efforts. Though it started as a reaction against Victorianism
in the beginning of the 20th century, it is closely bound up with
the new ideas which are agitating the mind of the modern man.
Bertrand Russell’s contribution in 20th Century
Literature:
Along with G.E. Moore, Russell is
generally recognized as one of the founders of modern analytic philosophy.
Along with Kurt Gödel,
he is regularly credited with being one of the most important logicians of the
twentieth century. His most influential contributions include his defense of logicism (the
view that mathematics is in some important sense reducible to logic), his
refining of the predicate calculus introduced by Gottlob Frege (which still
forms the basis of most contemporary logic), his defense of neutral monism
(the view that the world consists of just one type of substance that is neither
exclusively mental nor exclusively physical), and his theories of definite descriptions and logical atomism.
Over the course of his long
career, Russell made significant contributions, not just to logic and
philosophy, but to a broad range of subjects including education, history,
political theory and religious studies. In addition, many of his writings on a
variety of topics in both the sciences and the humanities have influenced
generations of general readers.
As A.J. Ayer
writes (1972, 127),
“The popular conception of a philosopher as one who combines universal
learning with the direction of human conduct was more nearly satisfied by
Bertrand Russell than by any other philosopher of our time,”
And as W.V. Quine tells us (1966c,
657),
“I think many of us were drawn to our profession by Russell's books. He
wrote a spectrum of books for a graduated public, layman to specialist. We were
beguiled by the wit and a sense of new-found clarity with respect to central
traits of reality.”
Russell spent the 1950s and 1960s engaged in
various political causes; primarily related to nuclear disarmament and opposing
the Vietnam War
(see also Russell Vietnam War Crimes Tribunal). The 1955 Russell–Einstein Manifesto was a document
calling for nuclear disarmament and was signed by 11 of the most prominent
nuclear physicists and intellectuals of the time. He wrote a great many letters
to world leaders during this period. He was in contact with Lionel Rogosin
while the latter was filming his anti-war film Good Times, Wonderful Times in the 1960s. He also became a hero
to many of the youthful members of the New Left.
In early 1963, in particular, Russell became increasingly vocal about his
disapproval of what he felt to be the US
government's near-genocidal policies in South Vietnam USA
Political and social activism
occupied much of Russell's time for most of his life, which makes his
prodigious and seminal writing on a wide range of technical and non-technical
subjects all the more remarkable. Russell remained politically active almost to
the end of his life, writing to and exhorting world leaders and lending his
name to various causes. He was also famously noted for saying "No one can sit at the bedside of a
dying child and still believe in God."
Also noted for his many spirited anti-war and anti-nuclear
protests, Russell remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age
of 97.
References:
http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/russell.htm
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