There was optimism for the first time in a long time. Commercialism,
publicity, and the popular audience were finally embraced, not shunned.
Alienation became boring. True, the influence of Modernist literature
continues to be quite astonishing. The Modern poet-critics changed the
way people think about artists and creative pursuits. The Modern
novelists changed the way many people perceive truth and reality. These
changes are indeed profound, and cannot easily be replaced by new
schemas.
