Contemporary Literature &

Postmodernism

1939 – Present
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).
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.
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.
 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).
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
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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
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)