Name: John Laurence V. Baluya Course & Yr.

: BSEd English 3

Subject: Subject Professor:

Literary Criticism Dr. Joan Marie E. Rebadomia

Topic: Post-modern

Introduction

Post-modern (1960 - present)

The Postmodern Period in literary criticism emerged in the mid-to-late 20th century,
challenging the foundational principles of Modernism and traditional literary analysis. It is
characterized by skepticism, irony, fragmentation, and a rejection of absolute meanings.
Postmodern critics argue that texts are unstable, meaning is subjective, and literature should
be seen as a playful, self-referential, and intertextual experience. This period was influenced
by Poststructuralism, Deconstruction, and Cultural Criticism, reshaping how literature is
interpreted.

Body

The Postmodern Period in literary criticism rejects the idea of fixed meanings and objective
interpretations, arguing that literature is a constantly shifting and evolving construct.
Postmodernists challenge the traditional assumptions of Modernism, Formalism, and New
Criticism, which sought to establish definitive readings of texts. Instead, postmodern
criticism embraces ambiguity, paradox, and the instability of language, leading to a more
fluid and dynamic approach to literary analysis. This shift was largely influenced by
Poststructuralism, Deconstruction, and Cultural Criticism, which emphasize the role of
language, ideology, and historical context in shaping meaning.

Characteristics of postmodern literature:

Postmodern literature reflects these characteristics through various stylistic techniques.

Some common features include:

 Pastiche: The taking of various ideas from previous writings and literary styles and
pasting them together to make new styles.

 Metafiction: This involves self-referentiality, where the work of literature

acknowledges its own artificiality and draws attention to the process of writing and
reading.

 Intertextuality: Postmodern works often incorporate references to other texts,

blurring the lines between original and borrowed material. (The acknowledgment of
previous literary works within another literary work.)
  Unreliable narration: The narrator's perspective may be biased, limited, or
intentionally deceptive, challenging the reader's ability to discern truth.

 Fragmentation: Postmodern narratives may be disjointed, non-linear, and lacking a

clear sense of closure, reflecting the fragmented nature of contemporary experience.

 Irony and playfulness: Postmodern literature often employs irony, satire, and humor
to subvert expectations and challenge established norms.

 Ambiguity: Postmodern works often resist definitive interpretations, leaving the

reader with multiple possibilities and uncertainties.

 Minimalism: The use of characters and events which are decidedly common and
non-exceptional characters.

 Maximalism: Disorganized, lengthy, highly detailed writing

 Temporal Distortion: The use of non-linear timelines and narrative techniques in a

story.

 Magical Realism: The introduction of impossible or unrealistic events into a

narrative that is otherwise realistic.

 Faction: (Fact + Fiction)The mixing of actual historical events with fictional events
without clearly defining what is factual and what is fictional.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a complex and multifaceted concept that has influenced various fields,
including literature, philosophy, art, architecture, and culture. It is generally characterized by
a departure from modernism and its emphasis on rationality, objectivity, and universal
truths. Instead, postmodernism embraces subjectivity, fragmentation, and the instability of
meaning. It is generally agreed that the postmodern shift in perception began sometime
back in the late 1950s, and is probably still continuing. Postmodernism can be associated
with the power shifts and dehumanization of the post-Second World War era and the
onslaught of consumer capitalism.

Postmodernism in Literature:

Postmodern literature is a form of literature which is marked, both stylistically and

ideologically, by a reliance on such literary conventions as fragmentation, paradox,
unreliable narrators, often unrealistic and downright impossible plots, games, parody,
paranoia, dark humor and authorial self-reference. Postmodern authors tend to reject
outright meanings in their novels, stories and poems, and, instead, highlight and celebrate
the possibility of multiple meanings, or a complete lack of meaning, within a single literary
work.

Postmodernism Authors and their works

1. Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina):

Works: Labyrinths, Ficciones, "The Library of Babel", "The Garden of Forking Paths"

The works contain themes of:

Metafiction: Stories like "The Garden of Forking Paths" explicitly discuss the nature
of narrative and time, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. "The Library of
Babel" is a metaphor for the universe as a potentially infinite, yet ultimately
meaningless, collection of information.

Intertextuality: He liberally borrows and reimagines elements from other texts,

creating a sense of interconnectedness and challenging the notion of originality.

Fragmentation: His stories often lack clear beginnings, middles, and ends, reflecting
the fragmented nature of modern experience.

Unreliable narrators: The reader is often left questioning the narrator's sanity or
perspective, undermining the idea of objective truth.

2. Samuel Beckett (Ireland):

Works: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape

The works contain themes of:

Absurdism: His works depict a world devoid of inherent meaning or purpose, where
characters are trapped in repetitive, meaningless routines. Waiting for Godot
exemplifies this with its cyclical structure and lack of resolution.

Minimalism: Beckett strips language and action down to their bare essentials,
reflecting a loss of faith in grand narratives and the power of communication.

3. Thomas Pynchon (USA):

Works: Gravity's Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49, Mason & Dixon

The works contain themes of:

Fragmentation and non-linearity: His narratives are often fragmented and non-
linear, reflecting the chaotic and fragmented nature of postmodern experience.

Metafiction: Pynchon sometimes self-consciously draws attention to the constructed

nature of his narratives.

4. Kurt Vonnegut (USA):

Works: Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions

The works contain themes of:

 Satire and irony: He uses satire and dark humor to critique social institutions, war,
and the human condition. Slaughterhouse-Five uses time travel and dark humor to
grapple with the trauma of war.

Metafiction: He often inserts himself into his novels as a character, blurring the lines
between fiction and reality.

5. Italo Calvino (Italy):

Works: If on a winter's night a traveler, Cosmicomics, Invisible Cities

The works contain themes of:

Playfulness and imagination: His novels are full of imaginative conceits and playful
experiments with narrative form. If on a winter's night a traveler plays with the
reader's expectations and the nature of storytelling itself.

Metafiction: He often draws attention to the act of writing and reading, blurring the
boundaries between fiction and reality.

Exploration of multiple realities: His works often suggest that there are multiple
ways of perceiving and interpreting the world.

These are just a few examples, and each author brings their unique style to the postmodern
landscape. The common threads include a questioning of grand narratives, a focus on
subjectivity and the instability of meaning, and a willingness to experiment with form and
language. By understanding these characteristics, you can better appreciate the richness
and complexity of postmodern literature.

Postmodern Literary Theorist

Postmodern literary theory can be understood as a method of literary analysis inspired by

postmodern philosophy. Postmodernism does not share the modernist belief in coherence
and rationality, and the idea of grand truths in culture. They attempt to shift focus to
individual narratives and perspectives, doing away with the hierarchy of ideologies and
perspectives

Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004) - Is identified as a poststructuralist and a skeptical

postmodernist. Much of his writing is concerned with the deconstruction of texts and probing
the relationship of meaning between texts.

Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984) - Foucault was a French philosopher who attempted to show
that what most people think of as the permanent truths of human nature and society
actually change throughout the course of history..

Jean-François Lyotard - was a French philosopher and a major figure in postmodern thought.
He is best known for his work on the postmodern condition, particularly his influential book
"The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge."
Jean Baudrillard – Known for his work on hyperreality and the concept of the simulacrum,
Baudrillard argued that in postmodern society, representations of reality (through media,
advertising, etc.) become more real than reality itself. This influences how literature reflects
and shapes cultural perceptions.

Major Schools of Thought in Postmodern Criticism

1. Deconstruction

 Developed by Jacques Derrida, deconstruction questions the stability of language and

meaning.

 Derrida's deconstruction theory emphasizes the instability of meaning and the

inherent contradictions within language. It challenges the idea of fixed interpretations
and explores the multiple meanings that can be derived from a text. It argues that
meaning is never fixed and is always shifting due to binary oppositions and internal
contradictions within texts.

 Deconstructive critics expose how literature subverts itself, revealing multiple, often
contradictory interpretations.

2. Poststructuralism

 Influenced by Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Roland Barthes, poststructuralism

critiques the idea that language directly represents reality.

 Emerging as a response to structuralism, poststructuralism (associated with thinkers

like Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, and Jacques Derrida) rejects the idea that
language and texts have a stable, underlying structure. Instead, it highlights the
ways meaning is constructed through discourse, power relations, and cultural
contexts. This school of thought challenges traditional notions of authorship and
objective truth.

 Postculturalism proposes that culture is dynamic, fluid, and constantly evolving

rather than static or fixed. It challenges traditional views that see cultures as having
pure, unchanging identities and instead emphasizes how cultures are shaped by
historical events, globalization, technology, and cross-cultural interactions.

3. Reader-Response Criticism

 Stanley Fish and Wolfgang Iser argued that texts do not have inherent meanings but
are interpreted differently by each reader.

 Meaning is subjective and depends on the reader’s background, emotions, and

cultural experiences.
  Reader-response criticism shifts focus from authorial intent to the active role of the
audience in shaping a text’s significance.

 Reader-response criticism emphasizes the role of the reader in constructing

meaning. Rather than viewing meaning as residing solely in the text or the author’s
intent, this approach suggests that meaning is created through the reader’s
interaction with the text. Different readers may interpret the same work in multiple
ways, depending on their experiences, cultural background, and personal
perspectives.

4. Intertextuality

 Introduced by Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes, intertextuality suggests that all texts
are connected through references, allusions, and past influences.

 interertextuality argues that no text exists in isolation. Instead, all texts are
interconnected through references, allusions, and shared cultural codes. This
perspective suggests that understanding a text requires recognizing its relationship
to other texts, whether explicitly (through direct references) or implicitly (through
genre conventions and cultural context).

5. Metafiction

 Metafiction refers to literature that self-consciously reflects on its own nature as

fiction.

Metafiction refers to fiction that is self-aware and challenges traditional storytelling by

drawing attention to its own constructed nature. Authors like John Barth, Jorge Luis Borges,
and Italo Calvino use metafiction to blur the line between reality and fiction, often by
breaking the fourth wall, using unreliable narrators, or including stories within stories. This
approach questions the nature of storytelling and the reliability of narrative structures.

Example: In If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino involves the reader directly,
making them part of the story and questioning the nature of authorship.

6. Feminist Literary Criticism

 Elaine Showalter, Judith Butler, and Simone de Beauvoir examine how gender and
power dynamics influence literature.

 Feminist criticism examines literature through the lens of gender, exploring how
texts reinforce or challenge patriarchal values. Thinkers like Simone de Beauvoir,
Judith Butler, and Elaine Showalter analyze how women have been represented (or
misrepresented) in literature and seek to highlight female voices and perspectives.
Feminist criticism intersects with deconstruction and poststructuralism by
 questioning fixed gender roles and the power dynamics embedded in language and
culture.

Example: A feminist reading of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman explores
themes of women’s oppression, mental health, and autonomy.

7. Postcolonial Criticism

 Influenced by Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak, postcolonial criticism
analyzes literature through the lens of imperialism, race, and cultural identity.

 It critiques how Western literature portrays colonized societies and reclaims the
voices of marginalized groups.

 Postcolonial Criticism is a literary and cultural theory that emerged from the
struggles of formerly colonized nations to define their own identities and resist
Eurocentric narratives. In the postmodern period, this school of thought became
more complex, incorporating ideas from poststructuralism, deconstruction,
feminism, and cultural studies.

 It questions power, identity, language, and representation, focusing on how colonial

history continues to shape literature and culture. Postcolonial critics argue that even
after independence, colonized societies still experience cultural, economic, and
linguistic oppression, often referred to as neocolonialism.

Example: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is often studied through postcolonial criticism,
highlighting the effects of colonialism on African identity.

8. Cultural Criticism

 Cultural criticism extends literary analysis beyond traditional texts to include popular
culture, media, and social discourse. Thinkers like Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall,
and Fredric Jameson explore how culture shapes and is shaped by literature,
ideology, and power structures. This approach examines how texts reflect social
struggles, economic conditions, and historical contexts, making it an interdisciplinary
field that intersects with sociology, philosophy, and media studies.

 Cultural Criticism is a broad field of literary and media analysis that examines how
culture—especially mass media, popular culture, and everyday life—shapes and
reflects power, ideology, and identity. Unlike traditional literary criticism, which
focuses mainly on literature, Cultural Criticism explores a wide range of cultural
artifacts, including films, television, music, advertisements, social media, and
consumer products.

Example: A cultural critique of Harry Potter might examine its impact on consumerism,
fandom culture, and political allegories.
Conclusion:

Taking evrthing into account, postmodern literary criticism represents a profound shift in the
way literature is analyzed and understood. It challenges traditional notions of fixed meaning,
objective truth, and stable narratives, instead embracing ambiguity, fragmentation,
intertextuality, and self-referentiality. Postmodern literature reflects this shift by
experimenting with storytelling techniques, blurring the boundaries between fact and
fiction, and questioning the reliability of language and narrative structures.

The major schools of thought within postmodern criticism—including Deconstruction,

Poststructuralism, Reader-Response Criticism, Intertextuality, Metafiction, Feminist Literary
Criticism, Postcolonial Criticism, and Cultural Criticism—have reshaped literary analysis by
emphasizing the role of the reader, power structures, historical context, and the fluidity of
language and identity. These theories reject grand narratives and universal truths, instead
promoting multiple perspectives and subjective experiences.

While postmodernism’s rejection of fixed interpretations can sometimes be viewed as

destabilizing or overly skeptical, it encourages critical thinking, challenges dominant
ideologies, and expands the boundaries of literary expression. By embracing the
complexities of language, culture, and human experience, postmodern literary criticism
offers a dynamic and evolving framework for understanding literature in the contemporary
world.

References:

“Postmodern Literary Theory: Definition & Fact | StudySmarter.” StudySmarter UK,

www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/english-literature/literary-criticism-and-theory/
postmodern-literary-theory/.

Salberg, Daniel, et al. “Postmodernism and Its Critics.” Anthropology, 24 Apr. 2017,
anthropology.ua.edu/theory/postmodernism-and-its-critics/.

Masterclass. “Postmodern Literature Guide: 10 Notable Postmodern Authors - 2024 -

Masterclass.” MasterClass, 2020, www.masterclass.com/articles/postmodern-literature-
guide.
Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Postmodernism.” Literary Theory and Criticism, 31 Mar. 2016,
literariness.org/2016/03/31/postmodernism/.