Quipper

Lesson 4

Modernism and
Postmodernism
(1920–Present)
1 Identify the characteristics
of European literature
(EN12Lit-IIb-32);

Distinguish the differences

2 between works of
literature from different
literary periods (EN12Lit-
IId-25); and

Demonstrate
3 understanding of the
evolution of European
literature (EN12Lit-IIc-33).
● identify the features of Modernist and Postmodernist
literature; and
● explain the influence of Modernism and
Postmodernism in today’s literature.
How does literary technique
affect the literary texts?
 Modernism (early 1900s–
1965)

● marked by sudden changes in

man’s perspective of the world
● challenged the prevailing order
during its time and focused on
experimentation while self-
consciously breaking away from
traditional forms
Literary Techniques Invented during the
Modernist Era

● Imagism
● Stream of consciousness
● An unreliable narrator
 Postmodernism (1965–Present)

● shows a crisis of identity of the human being in

ethnicity and sexuality, as well as the struggle for
social and cultural acceptance in a hypocritical
society
● does not pretend to be new and original; rather,
juxtaposes the old and the new to contextualize
the literary text in the readers’ minds
 Characteristics of Postmodern Texts

● use of paradox or self-contradictory statement;

● use of fragmentation or incompleteness whether in
form or in content; and
● the unreliable narrator.
 Modernism and
postmodernism is an era
where people break away
from norms. With that in
mind, what are the norms
and tradition that we have
today that you want to
break away from or
challenge? Why and how?