Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. The Use of Modernist Techniques in the Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald used new modern trends in literature with radical, innovative techniques to create a portrait of the decade.
The Great Gatsby was a breakthrough in modernist writing because it was modern day at a time of prohibition and when trends were sweeping the nation. Materialism became the new way of life with for the first time in history the American population centralised within the cities instead of in the country. These changes were lived through by Fitzgerald and were described accurately in the novel. Modernism evolved from a series of movements involving composers, artists, writers (e.g. Stravinsky, Picasso, Woolf, Joyce, Lawrence) and was marked by a rejection of the conventions of the 19th century with an urge to experiment with new forms.
The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby.