Mr. Latham’s questions only bring more questions to mind about the definition of modernism. When I was growing up, there were magazines that would tout ads or articles about “the modern man” or the “the modern woman.” The word is bandied about even today in the news and on tv. It seems modern must go through a growing process with every generation, because they want to use the ‘now’ that that comes with word association. One of the writers asserted that modernism was dead, like some artists now claim, ‘art is dead.’ Is it just me, or does anyone think it’s kind of funny to think of a word as something alive? Why do humans associate words or thoughts with life or death, like a breathing creature? 

Also shaping the word modernism is the history that came before, which some modernists wish to reject. Is it right to cut off the past and all that we have learned just to create something new? Are we losing something by only taking in the product of the present? Humanity wants to move forward, always forward. But I think modernism is in many different directions, not just one.