Postmodernism Authors and Literature What is Postmodernism? - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Postmodernism

Authors and Literature

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

• r organized principle.
• Started around 1940s, exact date is unknown.
• Peaked around the 1960s and 1970s with the

release of Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five

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.

Postmodernist Literatu terature re

• 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

Postmodern Literature

• There are a few similarities to modernist

literature.

• Like modernist literature, both are usually told from an
• bjective 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

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.

Postmodern Literature:

Common Themes

• Patiche
• 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.

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 Calvino’s novel, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler, is about a reader attempting to read a novel of the same name. In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five, the first chapter is about the writing process of the novel.

Postmodern Literature:

Common Themes

• Paranoia
• The belief that there is something out of the
• rdinary, while everything remains the

same. Example: In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Breakfast of Champions, a character becomes violent when he imagines everyone else as a robot and he is the

• nly human.

Postmodern Literature:

Influential works

• Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
• Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
• Lost in the Funhouse – John Barth
• The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
• White Noise – Don DeLillo
• Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
• The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon

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, Clevinger’s Trail

Postmodern Authors

• Thomas Pynchon
• Born May 8, 1937 in Glen

Cove, New York.

• Known for his fictional writing
• ver many different subjects

that include: science, mathematics, and history

• Known for his early works: V,

The Crying of Lot 49, and Gravity’s Rainbow.

• Also wrote essays concerning

diverse topics such as missile security and Watts Riots ( a large scale riot that lasted six days in the Watt’s neighborhood of LA).

Postmodern Authors

• Kurt Vonnegut
• Born November 11, 1922 in

Indianapolis, Indiana

• Known for using Patiche 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.

Postmodern Authors

• Tim O’Brien
• 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

• O’Brien 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

References

• "Joseph Heller." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 19 Mar 2008, 05:42 UTC.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 Mar 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Heller&oldid=199280810>.

• "Kurt Vonnegut." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Mar 2008, 18:26 UTC.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 Mar 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kurt_Vonnegut&oldid=199877168>

• "List of postmodern authors." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 10 Mar 2008, 12:37
• UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 Mar 2008

<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_postmodern_authors&oldid=19721 5707>.

• "Postmodern literature." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Mar 2008, 16:46 UTC.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 Mar 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Postmodern_literature&oldid=199856493>.

• "Thomas Pynchon." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 15 Mar 2008, 14:23 UTC.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 Mar 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Pynchon&oldid=198410127>.