Narratives of Actuality in Early Twentieth Century Film and Literature

Abstract

Transatlantic connections among modernist artists and writers have been well examined and documented. Those connections were due to literary translations, journal articles about books and exhibitions from across the ocean, as well as expatriate artists and writers that traveled from America to Europe and vice versa, and formed artistic groups and alliances. In this context, the cinema experiences radical changes as a new art form in the first decades of the twentieth century, and internationalism appears as one of its most salient traits. In addition, literature and film portray the accelerated travels of the modern world, which were as much for business and industry as for pleasure. This article explores literary and filmic pieces that thematically allude to central topics of the period to observe not only convergent styles and interests in them but also their differences. Djuna Barnes in “The Hem of Manhattan” narrates a boat trip around the island while longing for Europe; Virginia Woolf walks through the docks of London to observe a piece of land that has drastically changed with modern global commerce; Paul Rotha and Humphrey Jennings in their films Shipyard (1935) and Farewell Topsails (1937), respectively, construct two perhaps complementary maritime views and stories. Images from when the world got smaller.