UNIT 3: POSTMODERNISM

1. Can we say that all literature produced in the 2nd part of the 20th
century is postmodernist?

Yes and no. There is no consensus on this matter.

For some critics, all literature produced after WWII and until the end of the
20th century can be considered postmodernism; even some critics believe
it continues today. For these critics it is considered a consequence of late
capitalism, and the art characteristic of the economic development of
Western societies is postmodernist.

On the other hand, some critics not all literature produced after WWII can
be considered postmodernist. If postmodernism is understood as literature
with specific characteristics like irony, parody, pastiche, fragmentation,
ex-centric, indeterminacy, then no; some authors and works do not fit into
the category of postmodernism.

So postmodernism could be seen as a political movement and/or an

artistic one. If seen as the former, then it is a political period from the 60s
until the present time. It is marked by the end of the Cold War, ethnic
heterogeneity in American population, growth of suburbs, television and
computers.

If seen as the latter, then it is an art form characterized by pastiche,

different genres and voiced within a single work, fragmented or open
voices that gives the audience the power to determine the meaning of
the work, and irony. However, fragmentary, discontinuous, intertextual are
all characteristics that can be found in literature produced before WWII.

2. Discuss postmodernism in the US as a literary movement.

According to Hutcheon, American fiction is interested in approaching

history but it cannot do it innocently since there is an awareness that both
history and literature are fictions. Hence, the incorporation of intertexts,
both historical and literary, in a parodic way.

According to Bradbury, American literature from the 1960s has been

obsessed with its past, both literary, social and historical. An example is
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, among many others, that addresses
different historical episodes to provide alternative versions of them.

Contrary to the historical novel, these texts do not aim to be faithful

accounts of the actual events, but fictionalize them in such a way that the
readers are aware of the fictional fabrication of history.
 The references to other texts both literary and historical that we find in
postmodernism attest to the relevance of intertextuality. This term is central
to understand postmodernist literature. Critics like Marshall, among others,
think that intertextuality is a narrative strategy typical of postmodernism
literature, however, other critics like Kristeva, Barthes, and others, believe
it is common to all texts as they are all interrelated. According to
Hutcheon, intertextuality in postmodernist literature has a double function:
on the one hand, it revises/questions texts from the past, and on the other
hand, it uses them. The past is reused and demystified, often associated
with parody.

Postmodernist writers do not want to destroy or negate the past, but

instead, as they are aware that the past exists, they want to revisit it, but
from a skeptical position.

3. Explain the relationship between modernism and postmodernism.

The relationship between modernism and postmodernism is not easily

defined. Some believe that postmodernism is a continuation of
modernism, while others believe is completely different. These two
opposite sides have to do with issues of styles and formal experimentation,
connection to popular culture and political stances.

Hasab considers that postmodernism has values that are the opposite of
modernism’s. However, most critics confirm that they are connected, and
even postmodernist writers admit their affinities with Dada and surrealism,
and with modernist authors like Faulkner or Joyce.

According to McHale, what differentiates modernism and postmodernism

is that, modernism focused on questions of epistemology like: how do we
know or perceive the world?, whereas postmodernism is concerned with
questions of ontology: what constitutes identity?

4. Describe the main characteristics of postmodernism literature.

It is an art form characterized by pastiche, different genres and voiced

within a single work, fragmented or open voices that gives the audience
the power to determine the meaning of the work, and irony.

Incorporation of intertexts, both historical and literary, in a parodic way.

Contrary to the historical novel, these texts do not aim to be faithful
accounts of the actual events, but fictionalize them in such a way that the
readers are aware of the fictional fabrication of history. relevance of
intertextuality. This term is central to understand postmodernist literature,
as it has a double function: on the one hand, it revises/questions texts from
the past, and on the other hand, it uses them. The past is reused and
demystified, often associated with parody.
 The conception of the text in postmodernism literature is a collaborative
process between the author and reader. Postmodernism literature is more
interested in the questions of ontology, rather than in epistemology.

According to Javier Coy and Enrique Díaz, postmodernism literature

brought three important changes in comparison to modernism:
1. Metafiction becomes a major concern, as the author is not as
interested in the reality of the work as in the language used to make
the work.
2. Multiplicity of points of view. The principle of coherence is replaced
by a series of voices.
3. Break the genre boundaries. The media has taken over the role of
fiction, so fiction uses some of the resources from the media and
popular culture.

5. Discuss the definition of postmodernism by Linda Hutcheon: “What

we tend to call postmodernism in literature today is usually
characterized by intense self-reflexivity and overtly parodic
intertextuality. In fiction this means that it is usually metafiction that
is equated with the postmodern.”

For Hutcheon, however, there is an important element lacking in this

definition, and it is an equally self-conscious dimension of history. The
references to the other texts both literary and historical that we find in
postmodernism attest to the relevance of intertextuality.

Critics such as Hassan, Marshall, or Fokkema think that intertextuality is a

narrative strategy typical of postmodernist text, while others, such as
Kristeva, Barthes, or Riffaterre see it as a mode that is common to all texts
as they are all interrelated.

According to Hutcheon, intertextuality in postmodernist literature has a

double function: on the one hand, it revises/questions the texts from the
past, and on the other hand, it uses them. The past is demystified and
reused. In this sense, it is often associated with parody.

The postmodernist writers do not want to destroy or negate the past, but
instead, as they are aware that the past exists, they want to revisit it from
a skeptical position.

It is in this sense that we can understand the revision of past myths in poets
such as Adrienne Rich, for instance. The New Feminist literature of the
1960s reflected the demands of women in all aspects of society.
6. Explain the postmodernist relation with realism and mimetic
representations of reality.

Any attempt to define postmodernist literature includes inexorably a

reference to the revolt against realist conventions as one of the
characteristics of this artistic phenomenon.

Hassan describes postmodernism as unrealistic, aniconic art, interested in

the unrepresentable and unpresentable.

Experimentalism implies rebellion against the established values, realist

narrative has been often associated with conformity to the established
system, and therefore, conservatism. Sartre’s realist style has been
criticized in opposition to the praise Beckett and Kafka’s anti-realism works
have received, in the denounce and opposition to capitalist practices.

The relationship between postmodernism and realism is very complex, not

only because of the different conceptions representing the real, but
because of the textual nature of literature, which makes it difficult to
determine what realism is really about.

The idea that everything is constructed by discourse, or by the mind, and

that reality does not exist per se, is a notion to be found in postmodernism
writers and theories of hyperreality. However, in postmodernism there is
also the epistemological crisis of realism, which the assumption that our
access to reality may be fragmentary.

7. Explain Jameson’s critique of postmodernism as an historical

movement and the role of pastiche in postmodernist art.

Jameson sees pastiche as a very important element in postmodernist

culture that he differentiates from parody since he understands pastiche
as the imitation of a peculiar or unique idiosyncratic style, but it does not
have the satiric impulse of parody. It is kind of a blank irony.

Jameson considers postmodernism as a historical period that started after

WWII and that is a consequence of late capitalism. It characterizes the
economic development of Western societies. It is the crisis of the
metaphysical filosofy.
8. Discuss this quotation by Manfred Pfister: “intertextuality is not just
used as one device amongst others, but is foregrounded, displayed,
thematized, and theorized as a central-constructional principle”.

The postmodernist writers do not want to destroy or negate the past, but
instead, as they are aware that the past exists, they want to revisit it from
a skeptical position.

It is in this sense that we can understand the revision of past myths in poets
such as Adrienne Rich, for instance.
 SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE – KURT VONNEGUT
1. What postmodernist characteristics are found in chapter 1?

The text is fragmented. There are long paragraphs mixed with short
paragraphs, and then separated by symbols. It is like if some of the very
short paragraphs were insights into his mind and thoughts “We were
United World Federalists back then. I don’t know what we are now. […]”.

Chapter 1 puts forward that this book is a historiographic metafiction,

which is very characteristic of postmodernist works. The statement that sets
this tone is “All this happened, more or less”. With this statement, Vonnegut
is telling the reader that this will not be a book truthful to history, but it will
not be a complete fictional book either.

Nonetheless, Vonnegut self-consciously comments on the metafictional

structure of the book, and its plot, the bombing of Dresden in WWII of
which Vonnegut was a first-hand witness. Vonnegut takes the reader from
the past to the present repeatedly, and makes reference to events from
the past and of the present, like the Children’s Crusade, WWII, what he
does in the present like calling people late at night, etc. All these historical
facts are blended in together presenting history as a non-chronological
succession of events.

Chapter 1 is more a preface, in which Vonnegut takes an

autobiographical explaining the process he went through to write the
book, mixed with fictional details, rather than part of the story of the book.
This makes it even more difficult to rebuild the history of this past.

Another postmodernist trait found in chapter 1 is intertextuality. An

example of intertextuality found in chapter 1 when Vonnegut quotes
Horace in Latin “Eheu, fugaces laburuntur anni”, or the Gideon Bible, or
historical references like George Washington crossing the Hudson River, or
the Children’s Crusade, which is the subtitle of the book itself.

The first chapter of Slaughterhouse-Five embodies what type of literature

the book is, which is clearly postmodernist. In this chapter many, as in the
rest of the book, postmodernist traits are presented. Slaughterhouse-Five
is one of the icon postmodernism’s works of the postmodernism
movement.

2. List examples found in the text where the author questions himself.

He questions his ability to write the book.

He questions what he is the moment he is writing chapter 1: “We were
United World Federalists back then. I don’t know what we are now.”
He asks himself about the present.
3. Look for examples of intertextual references in the text. What is their
function?

Kurt Vonnegut wanted to fictionalize history and make fiction a fact, and
to achieve this he links history and fiction with intertextuality and
narrativity. This historiographic metafiction is established by inserting
quotes from other texts, either historical or fictional books. An example of
a quotation found in the text is when he quotes Horatio when trying to
remember when did he visit Dresden with his friend O’Hare: “Eheu!
Fugaces laburuntur anni”.

To empower this factualization of the book, he comes to explain in

chapter 1, which is more a preface of how the book was written rather
than part of the book’s story, how was the subtitle of the book given. He
explains that in his conversation with Mary, O’Hare’s wife and to whom he
dedicates the book, does not like war. In order to appease her fears
concerning how he is going to write the book, he says that if he writes it,
he'll name it “The Children’s Crusade”. They start looking in “Extraordinary
Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” the true story behind “The
Children’s Crusade”.

Vonnegut introduces in the book documentary work from WWII, as Mary

Endell’s book “Dresden, History, Stage and Gallery”, or even his own
experience, as he witnessed first-hand the bombing of Dresden. To express
the horrors of war, Vonnegut takes on a writing method that is confusing.

Throughout several parts of chapter 1 time is blurred, which is a key factor

in Vonnegut’s work. An example of this is when he mentions in a hotel in
Boston, he has Gilead’s Bible and reads about the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and associates himself with Lot’s wife.

4. Define the meaning of the term “unstuck in time”.

Coming "unstuck in time" means losing the narrative order of one's life.

Vonnegut also uses "coming unstuck" as a way of moving through the

novel he has created. He does not always rely on strict narrative
chronology. Instead, he purposefully disrupts this chronology - he attempts
to tell Pilgrim's story, and the story of the war, and his own life's story at the
same time, using whatever means are necessary, and ignoring the
sequential logic of some accounts. Vonnegut does this not because he
wants to confuse the reader, but because he wants to break down the
reader's expectations for how time, in fiction and in life, ought to function.
5. Discuss the use of the phrase “So it goes”, which appears continually
in the novel.

Indicates that death is a part of life—something that cannot be helped. It

appears in the text when someone dies, or death is named.
It also helps understand the meaning behind the two books that the
narrator takes with him on his and O’Hare’s trip to Dresden.
 DIVING INTO THE WRECK – ADRIENNE RICH
1. The protagonist of the poem goes on a quest: what is it that she has
to do?

“Diving into the Wreck” follows a diver through the preparation and
execution of a dive deep into the ocean in order to see to a shipwreck.
It’s clear early on, though, that this isn’t just a poem about literal diving.

According to Margaret Atwood, the quest is for something beyond myths.

It is for the truth about men and women, or the I and the You, the He and
the She, or even about the powerful and the powerless. This quest is
presented throughout the book in a sharp and clear style, with metaphors
that in themselves turn into myths of their own.

The poem’s quest could be read as an extended metaphor and could be

applied to anything, from delving into one’s own subconscious mind or
confronting a past trauma, a journey of self-discovery, a personal quest
for the poetic persona. Regardless of the interpretation, what the poem
conveys is the value of exploration, power of discovery, and bravery of
vulnerability.

2. Explain the symbolism of the objects the woman takes with her.

The camera is to take evidence of what she finds.

The knife-blade is to defend herself.
The body-armor is to protect herself.
The flippers are to advance along the way.
The mask is to breathe in this unfamiliar milieu.

3. Why is this the poem of a journey and transformation?

The ladder is a symbol to connect one side to another. It could be one

stage in life to another, between the material and the spiritual world. In
the poem’s case it is a threshold to another realm.

“We know what it is for / we who have used it”. The use of the verb “know”
implies that in this descent there is an epistemological truth revealed, and
an ontological change that is made clear by the transformation of the
speaker as the speaker immerses in the water and “oxygen immerses me”.

Later on, with the color changes written in the poem: “First the air is blue
and then / it is bluer and then green and then / black and I am blacking
out yet” conveys that the speaker is going through a process as the
speaker goes deeper and deeper in the ocean in his/her process of
search. “The sea is not a question of power / I have to learn alone / to turn
my body without force”: power and force, masculine traits, are useless in
 this element. The speaker is transformed and has to become part of the
element.

The diving expedition is a journey of self-discovery, a personal quest for

the poetic persona, but it is a collective quest; it is for everybody.

4. What is the wreck?

It's fair to interpret the entirety of "Diving into the Wreck" as an extended
metaphor. Indeed, from the very first line, which describes the speaker as
"having read the book of myths," it's clear that this probably isn't a poem
about real-life deep-sea diving. This poem is drawn from a collection of
the same name in which numerous poems use metaphor to open up a
discussion about issues of sex, gender, and women's rights.

Accordingly, a number of critical interpretations of this poem view the

wreck as a metaphor that fits into the book's overall themes, though the
wreck itself resists fitting too neatly into one metaphorical idea. The wreck,
for example, could be a metaphor for the entirety of human history.
Perhaps the speaker is unhappy to get information only from the "book of
myths," and so making the dive allows for a deeper and richer
understanding of the past. In this idea, diving into the past helps to better
understand the present—and to separate myths from truths.

Simultaneously, the wreck could represent the treatment of women

throughout human history—specifically, the violence, oppression, and
erasure of women. Perhaps the speaker is seeking to reclaim that which
has been hidden and suppressed about women over the centuries. The
penultimate stanza seems to support this interpretation, describing the
wreck and the speaker as having "breasts [that] still bear the stress"—the
stress, perhaps, of under-representation and unequal treatment. The
mention of breasts, too, perhaps relates to motherhood.

Another possible reading is that the wreck stands in for the inner life or
subconscious, which the speaker feels they must access in order to gain a
better understanding about themselves (and their place in the world).
Viewed this way, the poem could be a metaphor for women needing to
make their stories heard—for their voices to rise above the "myths" about
the sexes that have become so well-established. Finally, the "wreck" might
refer to some personal trauma that the speaker needs to face head on in
order to move forward.
5. What obstacle does the diver find on her way?

The first obstacle the speakers finds on his/her way to the wreck is that the
flippers cripple the speaker. This could mean that either the task is very
difficult, or that the equipment does not fit the speaker. The why the
speaker must wear this specific is unknown, probably because it is the only
outfit that he/she can wear for this task.

Another obstacle the speaker finds is that he/she is alone. This is a task that
must be carried out alone, without help. This can lead the reader to
believe that the speaker is about to commence a journey to the speaker’s
subconscious, but that having to do it alone is not the speaker’s choice.
Later on in the poem, the speaker reveals that this process is collaborative.

During the journey, as the speaker goes deeper and deeper into the
ocean, the sea that surrounds him/her changes color until eventually
turning black, and blacks him/her out. The speaker, in order to survive,
must adapt to the sea, become one with it, as power and force will not
help the speaker in this task.

6. Discuss the function of the “Book of Myths”.

Myths are accounts of gods or superhumans involved in extraordinary

events. They are things that conform our imagination.
The “Book of Myths” is not a real book. It is a symbol. This symbol represents
the narratives that have shaped the speaker’s life; maybe all society.

From a feminist perspective, it is interpreted that the “Book of Myths” is the

historical gender narrative that has placed the woman in a social status
underneath men. The speaker wants to go beyond the “wreck”; wants to
see what is behind the “myths”, to understand the truth of women’s
history. At the end of the poem, it is suggested that the powerful, men, are
those that have written the story, leaving out the powerless, women.

This could also be extended if the poem is interpreted as self-exploring

journey, as myths are also used to shape the origin and past of oneself.

7. Is this poem political, personal, etc…?

This is clearly a personal poem, in which the Adrienne Rich is expressing

her personal view on the importance of exploration, discovery, and
vulnerability. Many critics have associated the poem with a feminist
perspective, and believe that the poem talks about the journey of women
to try to free themselves from men.
8. Discuss the poetic elements of the text and the symbolism of colors.

The poem is written in free verse. It is divided in ten stanzas, each of

different length. The poet wants to be free from any formal constrictions
and does not use any rhythmic or rhyming pattern. The number of syllables
of each line is different too, which allows Adrienne Rich to be free and
emphasize the fluidity of language.

Despite trying not to stick to any constriction, Adrienne Rich does use
poetic devices. Throughout the poem she uses Alliteration, which allows
her to make the reader focus on certain words.
This is seen in line 5 with the sound /b/ in body-armor and black. This sound
evokes the sound of putting on a wet rubber diving suit. Later in the same
stanza, there is alliteration with the sound /s/ “sun-flooded schooner”,
which evokes the sound of the waves.

Assonance is also found in the poem. In the first stanza in “checking the
edge” the repetition of the sound /eh/ makes the reader focus its
attention on the knife. The next key example is also related to the speaker's
equipment.
In line 29, the speaker states that "my flippers cripple me." The closeness of
the sound between "flippers" and "cripple" (in terms of both assonance
and consonance) suggests the clumsiness of the speaker's flippered feet
(indeed, the two words make a pair like the feet themselves).

Allusion appears in the first stanza, when the speaker makes it clear that
this dive is a solitary one completely different from those made by the
famous French explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Consonance is used throughout "Diving into the Wreck." As with alliteration

and assonance, the poem's consonance helps to emphasize certain
words and phrases. For example, note the many /r/, /b/, /k/, and /d/
sounds in the description of the speaker's diving outfit in the first stanza.

It's fair to interpret the entirety of "Diving into the Wreck" as an extended
metaphor. Indeed, from the very first line, which describes the speaker as
"having read the book of myths," it's clear that this probably isn't a poem
about real-life deep-sea diving. This poem is drawn from a collection of
the same name in which numerous poems use metaphor to open up a
discussion about issues of sex, gender, and women's rights. Accordingly, a
number of critical interpretations of this poem view the wreck as a
metaphor that fits into the book's overall themes, though the wreck itself
resists fitting too neatly into one metaphorical idea.
Anaphora appears throughout the poem as well, Lines 5-7 repeat "the,"
forming a methodical list of the speaker's diving equipment, and thus give
the reader a sense of the step-by-step preparation process. In lines 24-26,
anaphora similarly evokes the increasing depth of the speaker's descent
into the water (first through "our human air").

The colors of the surrounding world changing—getting steadily darker as

the speaker goes deeper, and as sunlight stops filtering through the water.
The poem borrows from the genuine dangers involved in deep diving to
suggest that the speaker's metaphorical task—perhaps going deeper into
history, or into the speaker's own subconscious—is a treacherous
undertaking.
 SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT – URSULA K. LE GUIN
1. Discuss the postmodernist characteristics in the short story.

Postmodernist literature was influenced by several movement of the 20th

century, one of them being surrealism. This certainly seems true in
Schrödinger’s Cat, as everything from the beginning seems surreal: the
speaker, whose gender is unknown even for himself/herself (from now on,
I will use itself as it may even be a thing who is speaking), a married couple
that literary comes apart, a cat that arrives wherever the speaker is, a
talking dog that seems to know a bit about physics, as it proposes the
speaker to carry out Schrödinger’s experiment.

As the wife’s person falls into a heap of limbs, the husband wryly observes,
“My wife had great legs.” Horror mixes with comedy here. The pile of
fragmented parts seems to challenge the reader to put the pieces
together in some new way. “Well, the couple I was telling you about finally
broke up,” our narrator says, and then gives us a horrific image of the pair
literally broken up

As a postmodern work, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Schrödinger’s cat embraces

randomness and disorder. We can see an example of this right at the
beginning of the story: the narrator tells us he/she has come here, in his/her
way he/she meets with a couple, and then a cat interrupts her. These, do
not make any sense together. They seem random comments, and are
completely disorganized, as the narrator jumps from the past, to further in
the past, to the present again.

We can find some intertextuality in the text, as another postmodernist

characteristic. Besides the evident recurring theme of carrying out
Schrödinger’s experiment, there are references to Michelangelo’s Last
Judgement and to Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier”.

We do not know where the narrator is, or even if “here” is a place or a

state of mind; maybe dreaming. As in the real world it is impossible for
people to “come apart” as the speaker describes the married couple. The

2. Look for examples in the text of linguistic ambiguities.

An example of linguistic ambiguity is when the married couple is

introduced, Le Guin uses the expression “coming apart”, which is used
when a married couple is having troubles in their marriage. However, she
means it literary: the couple is physically breaking down into pieces and
not figuratively.
 Le Guin peppers her story with little cat jokes that highlight the instability
of language: “They reflect all day, and at night their eyes reflect.” As the
thermodynamic heat of the universe cools around our narrator and the
feline, the narrator remarks that the story’s setting is cooler— “Here as I
said it is cooler; and as a matter of fact, this animal is cool. A real cool
cat.” In “Schrödinger’s Cat,” Le Guin doubles her meanings and language
bears its own uncertainty.

3. How does the narrator manage to create uncertainty in her

narration?

She gives us a story about radical uncertainty by creating radical

uncertainty in her reader, who will likely find the story’s trajectory baffling
on first reading. Le Guin doesn’t so much eschew as utterly disrupt the
traditional form of a short story in “Schrödinger’s Cat”: setting, characters,
and plot are all presented in a terribly uncertain way.
The opening line points to some sort of setting and problem. Our first-
person narrator tells us: “As things appear to be coming to some sort of
climax, I have withdrawn to this place.” The vagueness of “things,” “some
sort,” and “this place” continues throughout the tale, but are mixed with
surreal, impossible, and precise images.

The first characters the narrator introduces us to are a “married couple

who were coming apart. She had pretty well gone to pieces, but he
seemed, at first glance, quite hearty.” The break up here is literal, not just
figurative—this couple is actually falling apart, fragmenting into pieces.
(Although the story will ultimately place under great suspicion that adverb
actually). Le Guin’s linguistic play points to language’s inherent
uncertainty, to the undecidability of its power to fully refer. As the wife’s
person falls into a heap of limbs, the husband wryly observes, “My wife
had great legs.”

Like the first-time reader, our poor narrator is still terribly awfully
apocalyptically uncertain. The narrator briefly describes the great minor
uncertain grief she feels, a grief without object: “…I don’t know what I
grieve for: my wife? my husband? my children, or myself? I can’t
remember. My dreams are forgotten…” Is grief without object the
problem of the postmodern, post-atomic world? “Schrödinger’s Cat”
posits one version of uncertainty as a specific grief , a kind of sorrow for a
loss that cannot be named. The story’s conclusion offers hope as an
answer to this grief—another kind of uncertainty, but an uncertainty
tempered in optimism.
4. Explain the use of intertextual references in the story.

An intertextual reference in the story is the one to Michelangelo’s Last

Judgement painting. Optimism has to thrive against a surreal apocalyptic
world, a world that moves too fast to comprehend. She uses the painting
to say: “He observes. Indeed, one wonders if Hell would exist, if he did not
look at it”. With this comment, Le Guin summarizes Erwin Schrödinger’s
thought experiment.

The main intertextual reference is actually Erwin Schrödinger’s experiment.

It is the thread of the story. Schrödinger’s Cat experiment allows Le Guin
to emphasize even more the conflict certainty -uncertainty that is the
theme of this story. According to Erwin Schrödinger’s thesis, the universe is
uncertain, and therefore, she cannot write a coherent story. The first few
lines of the story do not make any sense at all: people that are literary
falling apart, going from there to here, but the reader knows where there
and here, the stove is hot although it is not on, etc… many surreal elements
are put forward by Le Guin at the beginning of the story.

5. How does Schrödinger’s theory structure the story?

Erwin Schrödinger was a quantum physic, and postmodern culture and

art found inspiration in these fields. Erwin Schrödinger’s theoretical
experiment was trying to demonstrate that reality is obtained filtered
through the perception of the observer. Therefore, nothing is certain or
uncertain until one observes.

This theory allowed Le Guin to structure the story’s theme around it.
According to Erwin Schrödinger’s thesis, the universe is uncertain, and
therefore, she cannot write a coherent story. Reality only is certain once
observed, and it is filtered through the perception of the observer.
According to this, there are an infinite number of perspectives that make
the world certain.

If one extends this towards life, one can argue that Le Guin’s message was
that one must live one’s own life with entropy and correct it as it goes, as
there is no certain established canon on how to live it. Consequently, one
must enjoy life while one can, in spite of life’s uncertainties.

6. How do you interpret the last sentence: “I wonder if he found what it

was we lost”?

The revelation though is a revelation of uncertainty. In the final line, the

narrator, musing that she will miss the cat, wonders “if he found what it was
we lost.”
What I think Le Guin points to here as the “it” that we lost in these hot and
fast times is the radical uncertainty of hope.