20P - Twentieth Century Post Modernism Module Overview

Introduction Postmodern Literature Postmodern Literature does not follow any set rules or patterns and attempts to truly reveal the inner state of consciousness of the individual by incorporating fragmentation, stream of consciousness, and paradox.

The Postmodernism period started developing in the 1950's after the end of World War II, but there is no clear date as to its actual beginning. Continued disillusionment with society created individuals who decided to defy the norms of the past. Postmodernists believe that no absolute truth exists--that truth is subjective, relative, and dependent on the individual; they focus heavily on the inner-workings of the mind. Similarly, literature in the Postmodernist vein does not follow any set rules or patterns and attempts to truly reveal the inner state of consciousness of the individual by incorporating fragmentation, stream of consciousness, and paradox. Most Postmodernism literary themes center on the individual in society and the temporality of human existence, so the texts deal with an unreliable narrator--a narrator who may or may not be trustworthy or believable.

In the Postmodernism module, we will learn to identify and analyze the themes of Postmodern literature to delve into why the writers of today have the ability to write unconstrained by the literary structures and expectations of the previous ages. We will learn the purpose behind stream of consciousness and fragmentation in literature to deeply understand characters and develop a connection to the beliefs of Postmodernists. Similarly, due to the freedom in structure and content, the works in this module present a wide range of styles and themes with the acknowledgement of disorder and the attempt to create a new reality as the unifying notion shared by each.

Essential Questions

  • How might I incorporate textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as draw inferences?
  • How do an author's structural choices contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact?

Key Terms

  1. Stream of Consciousness - A literary style in which a character\'s thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue.
  2. Fragmentation - Literary techniques that break up the text (example time travel, frame narrative.
  3. Pastiche - An artistic work in a style that imitates or combines elements of another work, artist, or period.
  4. Intertextuality - The shaping of a text's meaning by another text.
  5. Temporal Distortion - A literary technique that uses a nonlinear timeline. The author may jump forwards or backwards in time, or there may be cultural and historical references that do not fit.
  6. Metafiction - A literary device used self-consciously and systematically to draw attention to a work's status as an artifact. It poses questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-reflection (Ex. The characters in a story analyze the plot of a different story).
  7. Faction - Literary works that present factual contents in the form of a fictional novel.
  8. Unreliable Narrator - When the narrator is not credible or accurate due to mental state or maturity.
  9. Literary Theory - The various means or tools (i.e. use of morals, intellect, social norms, etc.) for how readers interpret a work of literature.
  10. Reader Response Criticism - The literary theory that claims each reader creates the meaning behind the text--the interpretation is up to the reader.
  11. Feminist Criticism - Using feminist principles and ideological discourses to critique the language of literature, its structure and being.
  12. Psychoanalytical Criticism - Criticism stating that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author.
  13. Historical Criticism - Argues that the text remains based on the historical and social aspects of the time period.
  14. Marxist Criticism - A type of criticism in which literary works are viewed as the product of work and whose practitioners emphasize the role of class and ideology as they reflect, propagate, and even challenge the prevailing social order.
  15. Theatre of the Absurd - The term for particular plays of absurdist fiction (which focuses on the experiences of characters in situations where they cannot find purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless actions) written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work.
  16. Angry Young Men - A group of various British novelists and playwrights who emerged in the 1950s and expressed scorn and disaffection with the established sociopolitical order of their country. Their impatience and resentment were especially aroused by what they perceived as the hypocrisy and mediocrity of the upper and middle classes.

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