Characteristics of Contemporary Literature

The contemporary literature It is the literature that covers the period from the 19th century to the present. There are many writers who participate in this literature, and for obvious reasons it is the most extensive in existence.

The birth of contemporary literature is understood with the industrial and French revolutions; but it must be clarified that characteristics of contemporary literature they are better understood when the world wars arrive, where free speech breaks out and the concepts of free press and freedom of expression are established.

Main characteristics of contemporary literature:

Source.- The origin of contemporary literature is not exact and its arrival can be understood with the nineteenth century, it is possible that more than with the industrial revolution arose with the French revolution and its theories of freedom, which endemically invaded the planet and although the North American independence influenced a lot, it was still under the English regime and culture that was extremely oppressive and conservative.

Western.- This literature applies exclusively to the West, and we must understand it as the set of European and American nations, whether they are Saxon or Latin but this does not imply the existence of oriental literature such as the Russian one with Carlos Marx, Federico Engels and León Trotsky.

Art.- Art fully influences literature, since the total change of colors, music and even the society that surrounded it are directly expressed together with its changes in the new literature. Thus, literature, although it has all the previous facets, expresses itself with the contemporary idiosyncrasy and the cultural changes of this period.

In theater, art influences literature through its various genres:

• Comedies
• Musicals
• Drama
• Intrigue

Realism.- Realism or naturalism is a noteworthy aspect of contemporary literature, as it is one of the processes that the authors exalted, especially for being a direct contradiction to what has already been settled down.

comic.- This is a new branch of contemporary literature, its emergence began with fantasy, children's diffusion and Current issues, although its origin seems posterior to contemporary literature, it is in this period that it fully emerged.

Sleeve.- Manga is another variant of the comic, it already belongs to contemporary literature, it is a variation of the American comic.

Dadaism.- Dadaism is one of the literary lines of contemporary literature, here are aspects not seen before or that were not important, "the absurd", "the color", and so on.

Avant-garde.- It is avant-garde is reflected in the literature of the first half of the 20th century, where everything was clearly reflected what surrounded this period, encompassed many writers and many places, but its duration was relatively short. He used metaphors and symbols that represented ideas of the time and largely lost the metrics, syntax and even punctuation.

Novel.- The novel is the basic and most logical form of expression in contemporary literature, as it expresses the author's idea and can include any genre or idiom of writing; In general, the novel is free but there is also the novel and its variants:

• Historical novel
• Mystery novel
• Police Novel
• Love novel
• Horror novel
• Children's novel etc.

Photography.- The photographs are an integration to the literature, it was only used a little before because before the 20th century at the end of the 19th century, where they began to be integrated into texts, replacing some lithographs.

Poetry.- Contemporary poetry encompasses all Western countries, and involves equally current issues, where the metric system in verses according to daily life and new topics such as technology and social processes of this time. Contemporary poetry has been defined as that which was produced during the second half of the 20th century, it is a mixture of uses and classical lyric with themes current, where free verse is used and some authors lose the use of traditional techniques promoting a new, freer poetic process and even untidy.

Prose.- It is the means of writing par excellence to express oneself, it forms the main basis of texts of almost any kind, clearly excepting those found in verse.

Story.- This is a simple form of expression, that although it can be expressed for adults, it is focused on children or even adolescents. The stories and fables can include a moral and are easy to read.

Story.- History is used to this day from contemporary literature to express its circumstances, either by being expressed by winners or losers and is also a good way to preserve events, whether fantasy or without her.

Cartoon.- This is a means of expression that allows authors to exploit their imagination; It is totally linked to the comic and the manga, which are basically the same but with different influences.

Pamphlet.- The pamphlet is a small booklet, rather a pasquín, in which political ideas were expressed, especially in prose text and that as an economic means of communication came to be used by some authors to diffuse.

Newspaper.- The newspaper widely influenced literature, and from its industrialization to the last dates, the newspaper had its “cultural” section, which is the one that served as a disseminator of information and authors.

Magazine.- This is a medium in which literature is expressed directly, because although it is written in many facets, there were exclusive magazines for this topic.

Best seller.- This is a mercantile situation but it has only existed in contemporary literature, it is a concept of book sale that applies primarily to contemporary novels and some best-seller books.

Historical influence.- Although we have already advanced on this, history widely influenced contemporary literature, since the war and the crises that surrounded it thus such as those known as concentration camps, they fostered a series of surviving literati who expressed the events from their respective prospects. Apart from the influence of the world wars, social movements such as the Spanish Civil War, the independences of many American countries and social upheavals in Europe, influenced the literature contemporary. It was the most accurate means of expression, where protests were included, expressed through pamphlets and newspapers.