I.E.S.

AGUILARES PRÁCTICAS DISCURSIVAS EN INGLÉS - 2022

POSTMODERN LITERATURE

Postmodern literature is a type of literature that came to prominence after World War II. Postmodern literature is a form of literature which
is marked, both stylistically and ideologically, by a reliance on such literary conventions as fragmentation, paradox, unreliable narrators,
often unrealistic and downright impossible plots, games, parody, paranoia, dark humor, and authorial self-reference. Postmodern authors
tend to reject outright meanings in their novels, stories, and poems, and, instead, highlight and celebrate the possibility of multiple meanings,
or a complete lack of meaning, within a single literary work.

Postmodern literature also often rejects the boundaries between 'high' and 'low' forms of art and literature, as well as the distinctions
between different genres and forms of writing and storytelling. Here are some examples of stylistic techniques that are often used in
postmodern literature:

Pastiche: The taking of various ideas from previous writings and literary styles and pasting them together to make new styles.
Intertextuality: The acknowledgment of previous literary works within another literary work.
Metafiction: The act of writing about writing or making readers aware of the fictional nature of the very fiction they're reading.
Temporal Distortion: The use of non-linear timelines and narrative techniques in a story.
Minimalism: The use of characters and events which are decidedly common and non-exceptional characters.
Maximalism: Disorganized, lengthy, highly detailed writing.
Magical Realism: The introduction of impossible or unrealistic events into a narrative that is otherwise realistic.
Faction: The mixing of actual historical events with fictional events without clearly defining what is factual and what is fictional.
Reader Involvement: Often through direct address to the reader and the open acknowledgment of the fictional nature of the events being
described.

POSTMODERN FEATURES

• Irony, playfulness, black humor: Though the idea of employing these in literature did not start with the postmodernists (the
modernists were often playful and ironic), they became central features in many postmodern works. It's common for
postmodernists to treat serious subjects in a playful and humorous way.

• Intertextuality: It is 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. In postmodern literature this commonly manifests as references to fairy tales or
in references to popular genres such as sci-fi and detective fiction. 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.

• Metafiction: It is essentially writing about writing. Metafiction is often employed to undermine the authority of the author, for
unexpected narrative shifts, to advance a story in a unique way, for emotional distance, or to comment on the act of storytelling.

• Historiographic metafiction: It refers to works that fictionalize actual historical events or figures; notable examples include The
General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez (about Simón Bolívar), Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (about Gustave
Flaubert).

• Temporal distortion: This is a common technique in modernist fiction: fragmentation and non-linear narratives are central
features in both modern and postmodern literature. Temporal distortion in postmodern fiction is used in a variety of ways, often
for the sake of irony. Historiographic metafiction is an example of this.

• Minimalism: Literary minimalism can be characterized as a focus on a surface description where readers are expected to take
an active role in the creation of a story. The characters in minimalist stories and novels tend to be unexceptional. Generally, the
short stories are "slice of life" stories. Minimalism, the opposite of maximalism, is a representation of only the most basic and
necessary pieces, specific by economy with words. Minimalist authors hesitate to use adjectives, adverbs, or meaningless details.
Instead of providing every minute detail, the author provides a general context and then allows the reader's imagination to shape
the story.

• Fragmentation: It is another important aspect of postmodern literature. Various elements, concerning plot, characters, themes,
imagery and factual references are fragmented and dispersed throughout the entire work. In general, there is an interrupted
sequence of events, character development and action. It can occur in language, sentence structure or grammar.

Many critics and scholars find it best to define postmodern literature against the popular literary style that came before it: modernism. In
many ways, postmodern literary styles and ideas serve to dispute, reverse, mock and reject the principles of modernist literature. For
example, instead of following the standard modernist literary quest for meaning in a chaotic world, postmodern literature tends to reject,
often playfully, the very possibility of meaning. The postmodern novel, story or poem is often presented as a parody of the modernist literary
quest for meaning.