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Postmodernism (Part 1)

Postmodernism refers to literature from the mid-1960s to today. It is characterized by a skepticism of grand narratives and an emphasis on representation and self-awareness. Postmodern works often use irony, parody, and references to other works. They see meaning as ambiguous and reality as unstable. In contrast, modernism sought profound truths and a unified vision, while postmodernism celebrates chaos and leaves interpretations open.

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Elaine Cunanan Madula
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153 views3 pages

Postmodernism (Part 1)

Postmodernism refers to literature from the mid-1960s to today. It is characterized by a skepticism of grand narratives and an emphasis on representation and self-awareness. Postmodern works often use irony, parody, and references to other works. They see meaning as ambiguous and reality as unstable. In contrast, modernism sought profound truths and a unified vision, while postmodernism celebrates chaos and leaves interpretations open.

Uploaded by

Elaine Cunanan Madula
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Postmodernism

Positioning and pushback


KEEMPEE VITAL
PART 1:

Literary timeline:
1. Renaissance (1500-late 1600s--Shakespeare, Milton)
2. Enlightenment (1700-1800--Voltaire, Rousseau)
3. Romanticism (1800-late 1800s--Jane Eyre [1847])
4. Transcendental movement (1830-1860--Whitman, Thoreau)
5. Victorian period (1837-1900--George Eliot)
6. Existentialism (1850-today--Sartre, Camus)
7. Realism and Naturalism (mid 1800s-early 1900s--Chekhov’s “Misery”)
8. Modernism (early 1900s-1965--To the Lighthouse)
9. The Beat Movement (1945-1965--Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs)
10. Postmodernism (mid 1965-today--Burroughs, DeLillo)
11. Contemporary works (Annie Proulx, Donna Tartt)

‘Postmodern’: Literature of the last half of the 20th century.


 Postmodern philosophy emphasizes the elusiveness of meaning and knowledge, often
expressed in postmodern art as a concern with representation and an ironic self-awareness.

Epistemology: How do we know what (we think) we know?

 Postmodernism is characterized by the belief that society is no longer governed by history or


progress. Postmodern society is highly diverse, with no "grand narrative" guiding its
development.

Grand narrative: One story that connects and explains all of humanity.

Postmodernism
--Characterized by irony, self-reflexivity, and knowing allusions galore. (Think the Simpsons)

--Often has absurd, playful, or comic aspects, and sometimes makes special use of parody, pastiche, and
of references to other texts and artifacts
Uses of the term ‘post’- Modernism
After modernism

Extends the tendencies already present in modernism, or works out questions and problems implicit in
modernism without a break from core assumptions

Contra modernism

Subverting, resisting, opposing, or countering features of modernism

The historical era following the modern

A historical time-period marker, recognizing cultural, ideological, and economic shifts without a new
trajectory or privileging of values

Artistic and stylistic eclecticism (aesthetic postmodernism)

Hybridization of forms and genres, combining "high" and "low" cultural forms and sources, mixing styles
of different cultures or time periods, dehistoricizing and re-contextualizing styles in architecture, visual
arts, literature, film, photography

"Global village" phenomena: globalization of cultures, races, images, capital, products

"information age" redefinition of nation-state identities, which were the foundation of the modern era;
dissemination of images and information across national boundaries, a sense of erosion or breakdown
of national, linguistic, ethnic, and cultural identities; a sense of a global mixing of cultures on a scale
unknown to pre-information era societies.

Beat movement as pre-cursor to Postmodernism


Consensus

It was becoming a negative label to independent thinkers; it seemed dangerously close to its partial
synonyms: conformity, compliance, and acquiescence

For the beat generation, the main values of democracy

Such as diversity and difference, were endangered by social and cultural phenomena like obedience to
authority, with uniformity and conventionality impeding on the freedom of expression
Consequently, several intellectuals took a dissenting, more critical stance interested in exploring the
impact of mass consumption, material success, and the distribution of power in society.

Modernism vs Postmodernism
 Attempts to reveal profound truths of  Suspicious of being "profound".
experience and life.  Prefers to dwell on the exterior image and
 Tries to find depth and interior meaning avoids drawing conclusions or suggesting
beneath the surface of objects and underlying meanings associated with the
events interior of objects and events.
Modernism vs Postmodernism
 Focuses on central themes and a united  Sees human experience as unstable,
vision in a particular piece of literature. internally contradictory, ambiguous,
 Modern authors guide and control the inconclusive, indeterminate, unfinished,
reader’s response to their work. fragmented, "jagged," with no one specific
 Modernist novels mourn the loss of a reality possible.
coherent world.  Postmodern writers create an "open"
work in which readers must supply their
own connections, work out alternative
meanings, and provide their own
(unguided) interpretation.
 Postmodern novels celebrate and revel in
the chaos of an incoherent world.

“You all passed the exam, except for Gerard, who failed to meet the required
minimum usage of word’ multiplicities’ ”

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