Postmodernism by Gianluca Serpi Postmodernist Features Everything is
Postmodernism by Gianluca Serpi
Postmodernist Features Everything is a ‘text’ as differentiated from a ‘work’ Deny special value to literary texts Nothing is central Texts are assemblages of ‘surface’. Literary Studies should be seen as the pragmatics of writing A text that allows pragmatics to be understood as ethics
Postmodernism reaction to modern literature because of its distinction between “high” culture and “low” (commonly lived life) reaction to a world in which all things fetish zed due to advancing technological capitalism reaction to a world in which experiences are simulation & spectacle greater diversity of cultures & mores (pluralism) sense of fragmentation, reality as a pastiche life dominated by uncertainty and indeterminacy It is not possible to view reality objectively scepticism about objective truth and knowledge rejects the idea of a single, unifying history It questions the possibilities of narrative
Differences with Modernism I modernism postmodernism Ordered Chaotic Meaningful Futile Optimistic Pessimistic Stable Fluctuating Faith Loss of faith Morality/Values Collapse of Morality/Values Clear Sense of Identity Confused Sense of Identity and Place in the World
Differences with Modernism II Postmodernism celebrates: fragmentation provisionality irony incoherence The world is meaningless, let’s play with it
Jean-Francois Lyotard postmodernism meant a rejection to previously useful meta-narratives. The loss of meta-narratives means that it becomes difficult to speak about history having a pattern or direction.
Main representatives TOM STOPPARD (B. 1973) ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT EXPONENTS IN HIS USE OF LITERARY PASTICHE J. R. R. TOLKIEN (1892 - 1973) HE FOLLOWS THE TREND OF FANTASY IN FICTION, WITH HIS FAMOUS TRILOGY “THE LORD OF THE RING” ANGELA CARTER (1940 - 1990) SHE MADE USE OF THE BIZARRE AND MARVELLOUS TO CHALLENGE THE TRADITIONAL FIXITY OF WOMEN’S ROLE IN FICTION AND IN LIFE WITH AN EYE OF SOCIAL SATIRE JOHN FOWLES (B. 1926) HE FOLLOWS THE TREND OF METAFICTION THAT IS AN ANALYSIS OF THE NATURE OF FICTION.
- Slides: 7