Contemporary Literature & Postmodernism

1. Contemporary Literature & Postmodernism 1939 – Present

2. Contemp. Lit - Historical Overview • World War II – 1939 – 1945 • Began when Britain and France declared war on Germany after Hitler’s armies invaded Poland. • U.S. entered the war on Dec. 7 1941, when Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. • The attack on Pearl Harbor killed over 2,395 Americans and destroyed / damaged 21 ships and 323 aircrafts. • Until this attack, the U.S. had remained neutral (although we had provided financial support to those countries fighting Germany, Italy, and Japan).

3. Contemp. Lit – Historical Overview • WW II - U.S. response – Atomic Bomb • The U.S. dropped atomic bombs that obliterated two Japanese cities. • Bomb on Nagasaki / Bomb on Hiroshima – from the U.S. airplane Enola Gay • Infamous and symbolic mushroom cloud represents the triumph of science & technology, the purpose of which was, ironically enough, to benefit mankind, and to make life richer and easier for all. • Many Americans disapproved of the use of the atomic bomb to end WWII, but most agreed with the purpose of the war itself. • Fighting against tyranny and regimes that would destroy the American way of life.

4. Contemp. Lit – Historical Overview • The Cold War – 1945 – 1991 (ideological battle between Capitalism and Communism) • Although the U.S. emerged from WWII an economic and political powerhouse, we did not go unchallenged for long. • The Soviet Union developed nuclear weapons in the 50’s and 60’s – created conflict with the U.S. • Cuban Missile Crisis – 1962 – Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles on Cuba, pointed at the U.S. • The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 • The result = a new Russian republic with democratic aspirations • However, the threat of nuclear violence was still present.

5. Contemp. Lit – The Digital Revolution and Economic Prosperity • Introduction of the computer • 50’s and 60’s – businesses and governments were revolutionized by large mainframe computers • Made quick electronic storage and retrieval of large amounts of data possible in a short amount of time. • 80’s and 90’s – desktop computers appeared in schools, offices, and homes • 80’s – “me generation” • Individual enjoyment and material success seemed to overshadow other concerns. • Late 90’s – internet communication emerged along with wireless telephone technology • All of these innovations fueled a surge in the stock market in the 90’s • Attack on September 11, 2001 – killed three thousand civilians (damaging blow to the countries economy after the surge in the 90’s).

6. Contemp. Lit – The Digital Revolution and Economic Prosperity • Positive effects of science & technology • Increased life spans • Better fed and housed many • Transportation is faster from place to place • Space exploration – e.g. moon missions • Negative effects of science & technology • Computer tech. has made many jobs obsolete • American consumers - many feel that they have become anonymous (known only by a password or credit card number) • American privacy is unprotected • American dreams are shaped by mass advertising, journalism, and entertainment

7. Overall Literary Response • To many writers, the madness of the war-torn world was an inescapable condition of modern life, and the only appropriate response was hard-edged laughter at life’s tragic ironies. • Gallows humor – ironic humor arising from an acknowledgement of the absurd or grotesque • Often used to describe the work of writers who flourished after WWII.

8. Contemporary Fiction • Defined by: Diversity and Vitality • Postmodern – a term used to describe contemporary American culture - still in the process of being defined. • Postmodernism - sees contemporary culture as a change – a development or a departure - from modernism. • Postmodern writers use many of the same tools that the modernists used; although, they are constructing a body of literature that is completely different from that produced by the modernists.

9. Contemporary Fiction • Characteristics of postmodernism • Allowing multiple meanings and multiple worlds • Worlds: realistic, literal, past, and dreamlike metaphorical • Narrators and characters may tell different versions of a story, or a story may deliberately accommodate several valid interpretations. • The postmodern would ask, “Why choose only one version? Why limit ourselves?” • Authors do not abide by conventional rules (e.g. – 9 pages = one sentence / every word in the first chapter begins with “A” … every word in the second chapter beings with “B” etc.) • Intensely self-conscious • Comment on themselves / criticize themselves / take themselves apart / encourage readers to put them together again • Blending of fiction with nonfiction • Uses the past fearlessly (invigorate the old by means of the new)

10. Contemporary Nonfiction • Defined by: Breaking the Barriers • Until this point, nonfiction meant everything that wasn’t fiction. (Many times, nonfiction writers were lumped together with journalists.) • Critics tended to concentrate on the search for the Great American Novel, which was thought to be more important than anything a nonfiction writer could produce. • Since the 70’s, this idea has changed dramatically. • Featured reviews now discuss the art (not just the factual content) of books on computers, architecture, travel, history, etc. • Lists of bestsellers which have always included self-help books, now regularly feature memoirs, biographies, and histories.

11. Contemporary Nonfiction • Two ideas concerning today’s nonfiction: 1.) Does it have to be accurate? • Traditional literary terms do not always apply to nonfiction (setting, theme, point of view, etc.) • Truth or accuracy is often a test applied to nonfiction, with frequently unsatisfactory results. • E.g. – a travel memoir which discusses wildlife in the Himalayas found to be fiction due to the author’s extensive research in a library rather than traveling to the Himalayas.

12. Contemporary Nonfiction • Two ideas concerning today’s nonfiction: 2.) The New Journalism • 60’s – New Journalism (aka literary journalism) appeared • Authors attracted attention by describing contemporary culture and actual events in strongly individual voices. • Used devices (from fiction) including characterization, plot, suspense, setting, symbolism, and irony. • A new journalist did NOT feel obliged to keep his or her opinion and presence out of writing; in fact, presence and participation were often crucial.

13. Contemporary Poetry • Defined by: Varied and Intensely Personal • Decline of Modernism • No longer appropriate for the times! • A generation had returned from war to a country where conformity and material success were the main values. • Acquiring a house and car, and making money were of more immediate importance than ever. • Projective Verse • Led by Black Mountain Poets: Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, and Robert Creeley • Produced poems strongly influenced by Pound and Williams • “Open-form” – treating each poem as an individual entity, creating its own form as it proceeded. • Open-form poems avoided regular meter and rhyme and aimed to imitate the spontaneity and complexity of reality itself

14. Contemporary Poetry • Today, American poetry is characterized by diversity. • Variety in style and attitude has attracted more of an audience. • Poetry performances • Technology (making many available through audio, video, television, and/or website) • Reflects independent quality • Often write in the language of common speech (they don’t hesitate to shock with details of their private lives)