Postmodernism

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Postmodernism

• Authors and Literature

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What is Postmodernism?

• Postmodernism is a term that encompasses a
  wide-range of developments in philosophy, film,
  architecture, art, literature, and culture.
• Originally a reaction to modernism, referring to
  the lack of artistic, intellectual, or cultural
  thought or organized principle.
• Started around 1940s, exact date is unknown.
• Peaked around the 1960s and 1970s with the
  release of Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five

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Postmodern Literature

• What is it?
• - Used to describe the different aspects of post
  WW2 literature (modernist literature).
• - There is not a clear and defined definition of
  postmodernism because of the little agreement of
  the concepts and characteristics and ideas within
  postmodernism.

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Postmodernist Literature

• Postmodernist Literature contains a broad range
  of concepts and ideas that include
• - responses to modernism and its ideas
• - responses to technological advances
• - greater diversity of cultures that leads to
  cultural pluralism. (small groups within a larger
  society maintain their culture identity).
• - reconceptualizations of society and history

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Postmodern Literature

• There are a few similarities to modernist
  literature.
• Like modernist literature, both are usually told
  from an objective or omniscient point of view.
• Both literatures explore the external reality to
  examine the inner states of consciousness of the
  characters
• Both employ fragmentation in narrative and
  character construction

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Postmodern Literature Common Themes

• Irony, playfulness, black humor
• - Example The Crying Lot of 49, Pynchon uses
  childish wordplay while discussing serious
  subjects. An example of his wordplay can be found
  in the names of his characters Mike Fallopian,
  Stanley Koteks, Mucho Maas, and Dr. Hilarius.

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Postmodern Literature Common Themes

• PaStiche
• - Authors often combine multiple elements in the
  postmodern genre.
• Example Pynchon includes elements from science
  fiction, pop culture references, and detective
  fiction to create fictional cultures and concepts.

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Postmodern Literature Common Themes

• Metafiction
• - Writing about writing, often used to undermine
  the authority of the author and to advance
  stories in unique ways.
• Example In Italo Calvinos novel, If On a
  Winters Night a Traveler, is about a reader
  attempting to read a novel of the same name. In
  Kurt Vonneguts novel, Slaughterhouse Five, the
  first chapter is about the writing process of the
  novel.

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Postmodern Literature Common Themes

• Paranoia
• -The belief that there is something out of the
  ordinary, while everything remains the same.
• Example In Kurt Vonneguts novel, Breakfast of
  Champions, a character becomes violent when he
  imagines everyone else as a robot and he is the
  only human.

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Postmodern Literature Influential works

• Catch 22 Joseph Heller
• Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut
• Lost in the Funhouse John Barth
• The Things They Carried Tim OBrien
• White Noise Don DeLillo
• Gravitys Rainbow Thomas Pynchon
• The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon

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Postmodern Authors

• Joseph Heller
• Born May 1, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York
• Known for his post World War satires and
  playwrights
• Catch 22 most well-known of his works
• Other works include Something Happened, Good as
  Gold, and Closing Time.
• Also wrote plays We Bombed in New Haven, Catch
  22, Clevingers Trail

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Postmodern Authors

• Thomas Pynchon
• Born May 8, 1937 in Glen Cove, New York.
• Known for his fictional writing over many
  different subjects that include science,
  mathematics, and history
• Known for his early works V, The Crying of Lot
  49, and Gravitys Rainbow.
• Also wrote essays concerning diverse topics such
  as missile security and Watts Riots ( a large
  scale riot that lasted six days in the Watts
  neighborhood of LA).

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Postmodern Authors

• Kurt Vonnegut
• Born November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana
• Known for using Pastiche in his works. Blends
  satire, black comedy, and science fiction to
  create novels, such as Slaughterhouse Five and
  Breakfast of Champions.
• As a former soldier and prisoner of war, many of
  his experiences influenced his later works.

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Postmodern Authors

• Tim OBrien
• Born October 1, 1946 in Austin, Minnesota
• - His career began with the release of If I Die
  in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship me. Wrote
  mainly about his experiences in the Vietnam War
• OBrien uses fiction and reality and blends them
  into his own genre. He labels his works fiction,
  however, he uses his situations he experienced in
  his works.
• Most famous work The Things They Carried

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Your Postmodern Story

• MUST
• Be written in first person or center on one
  character
• Contain at least two examples of pastiche
• Either be dominantly ironic, playful, or full of
  black humor
• Use either Paranoia or Metafiction
• Have some semblance of a beginning and an end.
• Be 750 words