DIDACTIC MODERNISM: THEORY, APPLICATION, AND ERASURE

My project begins by wondering about the historical and cultural influences that have led contemporary criticism to reject the category of the didactic so thoroughly. If we look at twentieth-century artistic and cultural criticism, didacticism is commonly associated with a pejorative connotation reminiscent of a colporteur. We often assume the adage, “Show, don’t tell,” and art that focuses on teaching is deemed artistically impure and/or branded as propaganda. Such assumptions have deep roots in the history of Western aesthetics, especially the tradition of autonomous art. Why is it that many are quick to agree with John Steinbeck’s statement that a “great teacher is a great artist” (142), yet bristle at the correlation of art with didacticism? From whence does this strong reaction stem? My project attempts to reveal the reasons for this and argues that we should rethink the current, pejorative connotation of didactic literature and rediscover a version of didacticism today.

By analyzing the didactic plays of G. K. Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw, T. S. Eliot, and Bertolt Brecht, I argue that modern didacticism was, and is today, an artistic style that is creative, complex, and socially productive. Each of my chapters contests the notion that didacticism is an artistic impurity by showcasing different modernist didactic tactics. These methodologies challenge the myths that didacticism is an impure ethos (Chesterton and Shaw), an impure logos (Eliot), and an impure pathos (Brecht). Analyzing didacticism’s core rhetorical components is one of the most comprehensive ways of elucidating the notoriously obscure nature of didacticism. If we can understand how didacticism functions for the author, reader, and text, we can more easily understand how it might be employed today. The very etymology of the Latin didacticus stems from three Greek words (didaktikós, didaskein, didaktós), which together encompass the author’s skill to instruct, the reader’s teachability, and the text’s aptness at teaching. Taking up this model, my chapters provide a needed perspective on the various modernist approaches to didacticism and its overall benefits to produce human flourishing.