Postmodernism

1
Postmodernism

• 1946 to present

2
Prosperity and Protest

• The US emerged from WWII as the most powerful
  nation on Earth.
• In 1945, the UN was created in hopes that it
  would prevent future wars.
• However, the Cold War between the US and Soviet
  Union began following WWII.
• 1950s ushers in the era of Sputnik, the space
  race, television, and rock n roll.

3
From Quiet Pride to Activism

• Americans of the 1950s are the silent
  generation.
• They adopted a quiet, somewhat complacent
  attitude toward life.
• Eisenhower is the American wartime hero.

4
Activism 1960s

• In 1960 Kennedy promised to get the nation
  moving again.
• After his assassination, the war in Vietnam
  escalated and a wave of protest followed.

5
Crisis and Confrontation

• Gone were the calm years of Eisenhower and high
  hopes of Kennedy
• What people wanted in the 1960s was rapid
  change, greater relevance in education, more
  progress on civil rights, and an immediate end to
  the Vietnam War.

6
Segregation

• MLK assassinated in 1968
• Robert Kennedy assassinated in 1968
• Supreme Court outlaws segregation in public
  schools
• Riots erupt across the nation in reaction to
  assassinations and segregation

7
Literature of the period

• Viewed WWII, Holocaust and A-bomb as undercutting
  assumptions of lifes meanings
• Influenced by studies of media and language and
  growth of technology
• Loss of trust in the artists ability to access
  the irrational and return with a sense of renewal
  and greater meaning

8
Literature Postmodernism

• Less confidence that the work of art is unique
• Culture endlessly duplicates and copies itself
• Greater interest in the work of art as a process
  that reflects on its own making as it evolves
• Loss of confidence in the Renaissance notion that
  a great work of art is immortal and ensures
  immortality for its author
• Loss of belief in the meaningful dividing the
  line between high culture and low culture

9
Literature continued

• Writers explored new literary forms and
  techniques, composed works from dialogue alone,
  created works that blend fiction and nonfiction,
  and experimented with the physical appearance of
  their work.
• Others captured the essence of contemporary life

10
A Quest for Stability

• The 1970s brought an end to Vietnam, continued
  civil unrest, Watergate, and womens liberation
  despite a desire for the good old days.

11
Present Day

• Reagan becomes president (1980s)
• He is very popular and persuasive re-election in
  1984 - one of nations biggest landslide
  victories in history.
• George Bush (late 80s/early 90s), Clinton (90s),
  Bush (2000s)
• Suburban growth, television, mass media,
  technology, Internetand much more!

12
Authors of the New Era

• Carson McCullers, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud,
  John Updike, Flannery OConnor, Joyce Carol
  Oates, Anne Tyler, Alice Walker, Truman Capote,
  Harper Lee, Sylvia Plath.

• Poets Robert Frost, Marianne Moore, Wallace
  Stevens, E.E. Cummings, William Carlos Williams,
  Ezra Pound, Theodore Roethke, Gwendolyn Brooks.

13
Today

• N. Scott Momaday, Amy Tan, Sandra Cisneros, Julia
  Alvarez, Sherman Alexie, Tim OBrien.plus many,
  many more!