Each year UVic faculty, staff, students, alumni, and retirees produce an incredible amount of intellectual content reflecting their breadth and diversity of research, teaching, personal, and professional interests. A list of these works is available here.

The Modernist World, edited by Stephen Ross and Allana Lindgren, is essential reading for those new to the subject as well as more advanced scholars in the area – offering clear introductions alongside new and refreshing insights.

About the Book

The Modernist World is an accessible yet cutting edge volume which redraws the boundaries and connections among interdisciplinary and transnational modernisms. The 61 new essays address literature, visual arts, theatre, dance, architecture, music, film, and intellectual currents. The book also examines modernist histories and practices around the globe, including East and Southeast Asia, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia and Oceania, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the Arab World, as well as the United States and Canada. A detailed introduction provides an overview of the scholarly terrain, and highlights different themes and concerns that emerge in the volume.

This book is part of the Routledge Worlds Series.

About the Editors

Dr. Stephen Ross is an associate professor of English as well as Cultural, Social, and Political Thought at UVic. His specialties are twentieth-century literature, global modernism, and critical theory. His research concentrates on international literary modernism and critical theory. Another of his recent publications is Pointed Roofs, which we highlighted previously.

Dr. Allana Lindgren is an associate professor and Chair of the Theatre department at UVic. Dr. Lindgren was a member of the Executive of the Board of Directors for the Society of Dance History Scholars (a constituent member of the American Council of Learned Societies) from 2007 to 2010. She is the Dance Subject Editor for the Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism.

As part of her community outreach activities, Dr. Lindgren is the creator and principal researcher for the digital Oral History Dance Project. She has hosted post-show chats for the Canada Dance Festival at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. For Dance Victoria, she has hosted pre-show chats and dance salons, and served on the organization’s Board of Directors.

Praise for the Book

The Modernist World is the latest effort in the ongoing and collaborative project of mapping modernisms around the world. Spanning eight geographical regions and covering film, theater, literature, the visual arts, dance, music, and architecture in each region, Ross and Lindgren establish vital convergences and divergences among interdisciplinary modernisms. What emerges is less a singular understanding of modernism than an appreciation of the provisional, strategic and situation-specific nature of the many modernisms. Encompassing a huge swathe of artistic activity, The Modernist World presents modernisms’ many permutations: their different goals, formal strategies, and periodization. This volume makes a truly magnificent contribution to global modernist studies.” – Laura Winkiel, University of Colorado Boulder, USA

The Modernist World is a remarkable and timely volume. Unique in its multidisciplinary and geographical range, this collection of over fifty essays offers a truly global account of modernist cultural production. More than that, it investigates the shifting signification of the term ‘modernism’ itself as it moves across continents and art forms. It will certainly become an indispensable resource for students and scholars working in the ‘new modernist studies’.” – Anna Snaith, Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature, King’s College London, UK

“Over the course of the last decade, scholars have repeatedly urged that modernism should be approached as a global phenomenon rather than just a European or North American accomplishment. And yet incredibly, there has never been a synoptic reference work to which students might have turned to broaden their horizons. The present compilation is thus long overdue: geographically and thematically comprehensive, it will make its mark on the field for many years to come!” – Tobias Boes, University of Notre Dame, USA

“Because of its excellent breadth and variety, this important collection does more to show the reorientation in modernist studies since the turn of the century than any other volume currently available.” – Peter Childs, Newman University, UK