The Modernist Literary period was a time of great exploration and experimentation in art and literature. Some of the most famous works and authors came from Modernism, and their contributions to literature are still studied today. Authors such as Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Franz Kafka have traditionally made up the canon of Modernist authors. While the works of canonized authors are undeniably important, I believe that it is equally important to study the work of those whose voices could not be heard at the time.
This project was inspired by The Modernist Lab, a Digital Humanities project created by Pericles Lewis, a professor of comparative literature at Yale University, to research Modernist writing. The project has a list of authors that are available to read about, however the scope of the writers was small, mostly male and white. While exploring the website, it made me curious as to whether or not a platform dedicated to lesser known minority authors of Modernism exists. While plenty of scholarship is available on the subject, I struggled to find a place where minority authors could be found on a platform dedicated to their life and work. This is where the idea for The Underrepresented Modernist Project started. I wanted to create a website that celebrated the works of authors who have not been widely acknowledged in Western canon, to help in the expansion of scholarship. I aim to decentralize whiteness and maleness within the canonization of the modernist authors, and bring the modern back to modernism.
With the first stage of the project, the goal was to collect a small group of authors and extensively research their lives and works. I began to scour through databases and academic libraries in search of authors who fit the criteria of being not widely known and canonized and belonging to a minority group. After I had collected the first group of authors, I began to write their biographies, as well as a section on why I believe them to be a good fit for the project.
While this project is still in its infancy, I have chosen to focus on quality of research over quantity. As I conduct more research, I want to expand the breadth of the project to include as many people as I can.
For the future of this project, I intend to apply for more grants to be able to grow the project and incorporate more explicit research into their works. While this is the beginning of the project, I am beyond happy with the first phase, and am eager to continue to research these fascinating authors and their work.
The Underrepresented Modernism Project. 