POSMODERN LITERATURE

Created May 11, 2024 by Andrea Puchmüller

Posmodern Literature.
The term Postmodern literature is used to describe works of literature that were produced
after World War II (after 1945). The main objective of postmodern literature is to break away
from conventional traditions through experimentation with new literary devices, forms,
genres, styles etc.
Postmodernism in literature is not an organized movement with leaders or central figures;
therefore, it is more difficult to say if it has ended or when it will end (compared to, say,
declaring the end of modernism with the death of Joyce or Woolf).
Postmodernism springs from a number of variables:
 A reaction against modernism: especially against the distinction between “high art” and
everyday life. That is why postmodernists appealed to popular culture. Cartoons, music, pop
art, and television have thus become acceptable for postmodernist artistic expression.
 A reaction against a totally new world after WWII:
It implies a reaction to significant post-war events: the nuclear bombing and the massacre of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki,the beginning of the Cold War, the civil rights movement in the
United States, postcolonialism, and globalization. Also a reaction against capitalism,
technology and information.
 A reaction against realists:
Realists believed that reality was objective and could be differentiated from the subjective
status of each subject’s vision. Realism believed that language could represent reality, while
postmodernists believed in the randomness of human experience. Postmodernist literature
holds the view that literary language is its own reality, not a means of representing reality.
 A reaction against modernism:
Modernist literature sees fragmentation and extreme subjectivity as an existential crisis, a
problem that must be solved, and the artist is often cited as the one to solve it.
Postmodernists, however, often demonstrate that this chaos is insurmountable; the artist is
impotent, and the only recourse against "ruin" is to play within the chaos. Instead of the
modernist quest for meaning in a chaotic world, the postmodern author eschews, often
playfully, the possibility of meaning, and the postmodern novel is often a parody of this
quest.For instance, whereas modernists such as T.S. Eliot perceived the world as fragmented
and represented that fragmentation through poetic language, many also viewed art as a
potentially integrating restorative force against the chaos that postmodernist works often
imitate (or even celebrate) but do not attempt to counter or correct.
Postmodernist themes:
q Memory
q Loss & death
q The sense of paranoia
q Meaninglessness of human existence
q Alienation of individuals
q Lack of communication
q Feelings of anxiety
q Attachment to illusions of security to conceal the void of our lives
q Fragmentation & discontinuity
q Uncertitude
Postmodernist literary developments defy the conventions of literary cohesion and even
coherence. Postmodernist literature involves a deconstruction of certain already existing
literary forms and genres, and also the invention of new ones.
ü Point of view:
The postmodern point of view becomes more limited. They shift from the omniscient narrator
of Realism to limited point of view, more incoherent and mysterious. The omniscient narrator
is eliminated in order to incorporate other perspectives.
ü Fragmentation:
No linear narration. There is no relation between narration & time, so the narrative is
fragmented, with loops in time. They abandon lineal narration, lineal plots.
ü Intertextuality:
The idea that every text is the result of pre-existing texts whose meanings it re-works and
transforms.
Since postmodernism represents a decentered concept of the universe in which individual
works are not isolated creations, much of the focus in the study of postmodern literature is
on intertextuality: the relationship between one text (a novel for example) and another or one
text within the interwoven fabric of literary history. Intertextuality in postmodern literature
can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or
the adoption of a style. For example, Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose takes on the form
of a detective novel and makes references to authors such as Aristotle, Arthur Conan Doyle,
and Borges.
(See Murfin & Ray, 1998)
ü Pastiche:
Related to postmodern intertextuality, pastiche means to combine, or "paste" together,
multiple elements. In Postmodernist literature this can be a parody of past styles. It can be
seen as a representation of the chaotic, pluralistic aspects of postmodern society. It can be a
combination of multiple genres to create a unique narrative: for example, William S.
Burroughs uses science fiction, detective fiction, westerns; Margaret Atwood uses science
fiction and fairy tales; Umberto Eco uses detective fiction, fairy tales, and science fiction.
Other writers combine elements songs; pop culture references; well-known, obscure, and
fictional history mixed together; real contemporary and historical figures.
(See also Murfin & Ray, 1998)
ü Re-writes:
They are a re-interpretation of canonical texts. They imply an appropriation of the text and the
deconstruction of it, in order to produce a new version that may consist of a prequel, a
sequel or a parody
ü The absurd:
Absurd literature rejects the traditional idea that narratives should tell stories in a logical
way. It is based on the idea that life is absurd –without meaning, point or purpose- and it is
the duty of the writer to present the futility of life in the most striking ways.
Example: Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”.(See Murfin & Ray, 1998)
ü Magical realism
It is a technique popular among Latin American writers (and can also be considered a genre
in itself) in which supernatural elements are treated as mundane (a famous example being
the practical-minded and ultimately dismissive treatment of an apparently angelic figure
in Gabriel García Márquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"). Though the technique
has its roots in traditional storytelling, it was a center piece of the Latin American "boom", a
movement coterminous with postmodernism. Some of the major figures of the "Boom" and
practitioners of Magical Realism (Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar etc.) are sometimes
listed as postmodernists. Some characteristics of this genre are: the mingling and
juxtaposition of the realistic and the fantastic or bizarre, skillful time shifts, convoluted and
even labyrinthine narratives and plots, miscellaneous use of dreams, expressionistic and
even surrealistic description,
ü Political protest literature (postcolonial literature)
Literature produced in countries and cultures that have come under the control of European
colonial powers at some point in their history.
ü Irony, black humor & sarcasm.
Sarcasm: intentional derision generally directed at another person and intended to hurt.
Sarcasm involves obvious, even exaggerated verbal irony, achieving its effect by stating the
opposite of what is meant (for instance false praise) so as to heighten the insult.
Irony: a contradiction or incongruity between appearance or expectation and reality. It is
commonly employed as a “wink” that the reader is expected to notice so that he or she may
be “in on the secret”. It has been called the Subtlest rethorical form, for the success of an
ironic statement depends upon the audience’s recognition of the discrepancy at issue. It
should not be confused with sarcasm, since sarcasm is more obvious, blunt and nastier and
its intent is to wound or ridicule, while irony generally lacks a hurtful aim.
Black humor: a dark, disturbing, and often morbid or grotesque mode of comedy found in
certain modern and postmodern texts. Such humor often concerns death, suffering, or other
anxiety-inducing subjects. Black humor usually goes hand in hand with a pessimistic world-
view or tone; it manages to express a sense of hopelessness in a wry, sardonic way that is
grimly humorous.

Linda Hutcheon claimed postmodern fiction as a whole could be characterized by the ironic
quote marks, that much of it can be taken as tongue-in-cheek (characterized by insincerity,
irony, or whimsical exaggeration). This irony, along with black humor and the general
concept of "play" (related to Derrida's concept or the ideas advocated by Roland
Barthes in The Pleasure of the Text) are among the most recognizable aspects of
postmodernism. It's common for postmodernists to treat serious subjects in a playful and
humorous way: for example, the way Heller, Vonnegut, and Pynchon address the events of
World War II.
ü The antinovel:
Postmodern novels are called antinovels because they attempt to present the reader with
experience itself, unfiltered by metaphor or other vehicles of unfiltered interpretation.
Antinovels violate and flout establishes novelistic conventions and norms. Confusion is an
intended result of this type of narrative, also characterized by fragmentation and dislocation
and requiring the reader to assemble and make sense of disparate pieces of information.
ü Metalepsis
(See: “El lector como detective”, de Isaías Gonzalez)

Bilbiography:
Gass, W. (1970) Fiction and the Figures of Life. New
York: Virginia Commonwealth University Library.
Murfin R., Ray, S. (1998) Critical and Literary Terms. Boston: Bedford Books.
Marshall, B. (1992) Teaching the Postmodern. Fiction and Theory. London: Routledge.
Ommundsen, W. (1993) Metafictions? Reflexivity in Contemporary
Texts. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
Scholes, R. (1979) Fabulation and Metafiction. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Waugh, P. (1984) The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction. New York: Routledge.