--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For Guy Davenport--whom he told me John…" description: "\"“For Guy Davenport--whom he told me John Barth once called the last modernist--modernism is 'a renaissance of the archaic'.”\" — Lance Olsen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ed/lance-olsen-60119_quote_for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-b_1466835.jpg" --- # For Guy Davenport--whom he told me John Barth once called… ![“For Guy Davenport--whom he told me John Barth once called the last modernist--modernism is 'a renaissance of the archaic'.” quote by Lance Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ed/lance-olsen-60119_quote_for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-b_1466835.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ed/lance-olsen-60119_quote_for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-b_1466835.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ed/lance-olsen-60119_quote_for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-b_1466835.jpg) > ““For Guy Davenport--whom he told me John Barth once called the last modernist--modernism is 'a renaissance of the archaic'.”” [Lance Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-olsen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modernism revives ancient ideas, blending old forms with new expression **In simple terms:** Modernism reimagines ancient concepts for contemporary art Key Takeaway Recognize the value of historic influences in modern work Themes literary theory modernism revival Mood analytical thoughtful Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - Writing workshops - art critiques - design projects - historical research - curriculum development Key Concepts Archaic renewal creative synthesis cultural continuity Questions to Reflect On - What ancient ideas inspire your modern creations? - How can you balance tradition with originality? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on tradition can hinder innovation ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Called Modernist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/called-modernist-5312565/) [Modernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism/) [Modernism Renaissance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism-renaissance-5312567/) [Modernist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernist/) [Modernist Modernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernist-modernism-5312566/) ## Related quotes > [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [I don't much like post-modernism, because post-modernist has become the basket in which every mediocre person can shuffle things and pretend to do something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luca-guadagnino/i-don-t-much-like-post-modernism-because-post-modernist-has-become/) [Luca Guadagnino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luca-guadagnino/) > [The idea that we live in a post-modern culture is a myth. In fact a post-modern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-lane-craig/the-idea-that-we-live-in-a-post-modern-culture-is-a-myth-in-fact-a/) [William Lane Craig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-lane-craig/) > [I think the adjective post-modernist really means mannerist. Books about books is fun but frivolous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/i-think-the-adjective-post-modernist-really-means-mannerist-books/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [Modernism was a big thing for me, coming from a father who was very interested in art, music and culture - and almost always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vito-acconci/modernism-was-a-big-thing-for-me-coming-from-a-father-who-was-very/) [Vito Acconci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vito-acconci/) > [“It was then that Brown took his revenge upon the world which, after twenty years of contemptuous and reckless bullying, refused him the tribute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/it-was-then-that-brown-took-his-revenge-upon-the-world-which-after/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“He is romantic—romantic,” he repeated. “And that is very bad—very bad. . . . Very good, too,” he added. “But is he?” I queried.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/he-is-romantic-romantic-he-repeated-and-that-is-very-bad-very-bad/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Why should we expect modernist taste to be any smarter than premodernist or postmodernist?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hughes/why-should-we-expect-modernist-taste-to-be-any-smarter-than/) [Robert Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hughes/) > [I question: do we really understand the differences between modernist and postmodernist?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-acker/i-question-do-we-really-understand-the-differences-between-modernist/) [Kathy Acker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-acker/) > [I am just postmodern enough not to trust 'postmodern' as a description of our times, for it privileges the practices and intellectual formations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-hauerwas/i-am-just-postmodern-enough-not-to-trust-postmodern-as-a-description/) [Stanley Hauerwas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-hauerwas/) > [“They wanted facts. Facts! They demanded facts from him, as if facts could explain anything!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/they-wanted-facts-facts-they-demanded-facts-from-him-as-if-facts/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Surface is a modernist concept. What surface does is to encourage one to see the painting as object rather than as a window on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-walkingstick/surface-is-a-modernist-concept-what-surface-does-is-to-encourage-one/) [Kay WalkingStick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-walkingstick/) > [When we first did 'Modernist Cuisine,' I think most people in cookbook publishing would have said, 'This is insane.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-myhrvold/when-we-first-did-modernist-cuisine-i-think-most-people-in-cookbook/) [Nathan Myhrvold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-myhrvold/) > [I think Le Carre is a great modernist writer, which is to say, in a godless world, he invokes deep, almost religious ideas of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-farr/i-think-le-carre-is-a-great-modernist-writer-which-is-to-say-in-a/) [David Farr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-farr/) > [I was under the influence of the early modern masters, Fitzgerald and Steinbeck and Hemingway, especially, when I was a kid. I reacted against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-stone/i-was-under-the-influence-of-the-early-modern-masters-fitzgerald-and/) [Robert Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-stone/) ## More by Lance Olsen > [“Everything changes, sweetheart. The universe loves to happen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/everything-changes-sweetheart-the-universe-loves-to-happen/) [Lance Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-olsen/) > [“All this seeing. All this relentless taking in.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/all-this-seeing-all-this-relentless-taking-in/) [Lance Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-olsen/) > [“For the last fifty years or so, The Novel’s demise has been broadcast on an almost weekly basis. Yet it strikes me that whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/for-the-last-fifty-years-or-so-the-novel-s-demise-has-been-broadcast/) [Lance Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-olsen/) > [“I'll live to be one year younger, because I can't stand the idea of a world without you in it, and die buried beneath…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/i-ll-live-to-be-one-year-younger-because-i-can-t-stand-the-idea-of-a/) [Lance Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-olsen/) [Explore all 5 Lance Olsen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-olsen/) ## More Modernism quotes > [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) > [A 'modern' man has nothing to add to modernism, if only because he has nothing to oppose it with. The well-adapted drop off the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elias-canetti/a-modern-man-has-nothing-to-add-to-modernism-if-only-because-he-has/) [Elias Canetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elias-canetti/) > [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“The first phase of modernism, which so far as the English language goes we associate with Pound and Yeats, Wyndham Lewis and Eliot and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-first-phase-of-modernism-which-so-far-as-the-english-language/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [A lot of '20s musicals were a hodgepodge of melodrama, mixed with operetta and romance, and then some sense of modernism and some sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-c-wolfe/a-lot-of-20s-musicals-were-a-hodgepodge-of-melodrama-mixed-with/) [George C. Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-c-wolfe/) > [As for critical writing about modernism, its moments of lucidity are but fulgurations illuminating the dark and incomprehensible landscape of its subject's unabashed difficulty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/as-for-critical-writing-about-modernism-its-moments-of-lucidity-are/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [Altermodern is an in-progress redefinition of modernity in the era of globalisation, stressing the experience of wandering in time, space and mediums. The term…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-bourriaud/altermodern-is-an-in-progress-redefinition-of-modernity-in-the-era-of/) [Nicolas Bourriaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-bourriaud/) > [“He was in that familiar state - not that the occasion mattered to seriously to him -- of incoherent ideas spreading outward without a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/he-was-in-that-familiar-state-not-that-the-occasion-mattered-to/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“One of the many innovations of modernism was the new demands it placed on the audience. Music, painting, literature, even architecture, would never again…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-watson/one-of-the-many-innovations-of-modernism-was-the-new-demands-it/) [Peter Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-watson/) > [“Being postmodern, however, is about being complicit rather than virtuous, it is about approaching categories like Good and Evil with a certain ironic skepticism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-hollinger/being-postmodern-however-is-about-being-complicit-rather-than/) [Veronica Hollinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-hollinger/) > [“Postmodernism has turned into this devil's vortex where no matter what you do, your neck will be turned and your face shoved into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-celio/postmodernism-has-turned-into-this-devil-s-vortex-where-no-matter/) [Brian Celio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-celio/) > [Modern paintings often seem to have been made quickly, by comparison with the paintings of earlier centuries, and that seems to give us the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/modern-paintings-often-seem-to-have-been-made-quickly-by-comparison/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [Photography was seen as the enemy of all the values of late modernism... and as things turned out, it was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mel-bochner/photography-was-seen-as-the-enemy-of-all-the-values-of-late-modernism/) [Mel Bochner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mel-bochner/) > [Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/private-information-is-practically-the-source-of-every-large-modern/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [The notion that you could discard the old world and now make a new one. This is what was so bad about Modernism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/the-notion-that-you-could-discard-the-old-world-and-now-make-a-new/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) [Browse all 350 Modernism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“For Guy Davenport--whom he told me John Barth once called the last modernist--modernism is 'a renaissance of the archaic'.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lance Olsen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-barth-once-called-the-last/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Modernism" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-barth-once-called-the-last/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ed/lance-olsen-60119_quote_for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-b_1466835.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ed/lance-olsen-60119_quote_for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-b_1466835.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ed/lance-olsen-60119_quote_for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-b_1466835.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For Guy Davenport--whom he told me John Barth once called the last modernist--modernism is 'a renaissance of…” — Lance Olsen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Lance Olsen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-olsen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“For Guy Davenport--whom he told me...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-barth-once-called-the-last/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-olsen/for-guy-davenport-whom-he-told-me-john-barth-once-called-the-last/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```