POSTMODERNISM

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POSTMODERNISM
Vincenzo DAngelo 5A
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HYSTORICAL BACKGROUND
After the World War II general rethinking
over the function of literature and arts
characterized the european cultural atmosphere.
REACTIONS
- flourishing of Existentialism (a
philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes
the existence of the individual person as
a free and responsible agent determining their
own development through acts of the will) -
Revitalisation of realism, under the name of
Neorealism. It produces masterpieces in theatre,
fictions and movies
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beginning of a mass protest made by young people
against materialism and consumerism, the protest
of women against inequality, the protest of
blacks against segregation and racism and the
arrival on the literary scene of writers who
wanted to represent the voices of people not yet
englobed in the world of tecnology.
When the effects of the war were over
Modernism reappeared as the important
contribution of the first half of the century to
arts
The great Modernists were revalued and the
avant-gardes entered museum and fame (1960s).
- mass protest made by young people against
materialism and consumerism - protest of women
against inequality - protest of blacks against
segregation and racism - arrival on the literary
scene of writers who represent the voices of
people not yet englobed in the world of tecnology.
Three tendencies appeared in writing
return and revision of Modernism
return of the avant-gardes
insistence on literature as a weapon to reform
society, deconstruct history and demolish
barriers between peoples
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DEFINITION AND FEATURES
POSTMODERNISM
it grew from Modernism
is still alive, it can not be define in
retrospect
Modernism was the previous movement which
rejected the old Victorian standards
- rejects the rigid genre distinctions -
emphasizes parody, bricolage, irony and
playfulness - favors reflexivity and
self-consciousness, fragmentation, discontinuity
and ambiguity
At first the manifestation of Postmodernism are
visible mainly in architeture but later it
involved also other fields like philosophy,
theology and sociology.
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MODERNISM
considered reason sufficient to understand the
nature of life and man
POSTMODERNISM
rejection against the confidence in reason
is a weak tool and cannot lead to truth
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POSTMODERNISM AND CAPITALISM
According to Frederic Jameson, modernism and
postmodernism are cultural formations which
accompany particular stages of capitalism
economic and political system in which a
country's trade and industry are controlled by
private owners for profit, rather than by the
state.
FIRST STAGE particular technological development
and realism
SECOND STAGE electric and internal combustion
motors and modernism
THIRD STAGE nuclear and electronic technologies
and postmodernism
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POSTMODERNISM IN LITERATURE
Postmodernism adopts a post-structuralist and
deconstructive point of view.
To deconstruct to take off the mental
construction considered true
It puts into discussion the idea of a character
as unique self.
ANY CHARACTER IS MIXTURE OF MULTIPLE DIFFERENT
IDENTITIES, IN RELATION TO THE SITUATION THE
CHARACTER IS LIVING.
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A CHARACTER IS WHAT SPEAKS HIM/HER
a reader understands a character in a text from
- what he says - what he does (even from what
he is not aware of) - from the signs in the text
Reality exists only through signs dependent on
systems of communication
There is no real a truth, there are different
truths according to the position of he who looks.
What we think we are is not always what people
perceive of us
THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE THE TEXT ALL TEXTS ARE
THE PRODUCT OF INTERTEXTUALITY