Modernist Literature As Lucy Tantamount dryly observes to Walter Bidlake in Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point (1928), ‘Living modernly’s living quickly.’1 The scene is not simply an example of disaffected banter between a pair of lovers; it is a skirmish between opposing viewpoints. In Lucy’s estimation, Walter is anything but up-to-date. She is of the opinion that Walter thinks in ‘an absurdly unmodern way about everything.’2 He does not understand that [y]ou can’t cart a wagon-load of ideals and romanticisms with you these days. When you travel by aeroplane, you must leave your heavy baggage behind. The good old-fashioned soul was all right when we lived slowly. But it’s too ponderous nowadays. There’s no room for it in the aeroplane.3 With its attention to speed and rejection of the past, Lucy’s jeering declaration is striking for at least two reasons. First, it suggests the highly self-conscious perception of time and space characteristic of twentieth-century literature and culture. Second, it captures the sense that speed—in particular, the speed with which change takes place—is a fundamental characteristic of modern life. Or as Lucy puts it while also extending the aeroplane metaphor, ‘If you like speed, if you want to cover the ground, you can’t have luggage.