POST MODERNISM

dr. vineeth radhakrishnan

SATHIYASEELAN S
RESEARCH SCHOLAR
20PHD1062
Modernism
 Modernism denotes a movement covering all creative arts,
especially poetry, fiction, drama, painting, fiction, music and
architecture beginning around the onset of the 20 th century.

 It is widely used to identify new and distinctive features in the

subjects, forms, concepts, and styles of literature, but especially
after world war I (1914-18).- M.H. Abrams.

 Beginning of the modernist revolt as far back as the 1890s, but the
period of high modernism is definitely placed after the start of first
world war and before the 1960s, when postmodernism took over.
 The period of high modernism was about 1910 to 1930
 Important Modernist Writers
 T.S. Eliot
 James Joyce
 Wallace Stevens
 Virginia Woolf
 William Faulkner

 French and German Modernist

 Marcel Proust
 Andre Gide
 Franz Kafka
 Rainer Maria Rilke

 Origin of Species in 1859 – Charles Darwin

 Industrial Revolution and Technical Development
 Stream of Consciousness – Virginia Woolf and James Joyce
 The intellectual roots of modernism are traced to the transcendental
idealism of German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in
Critique of Pure Reason.

 Schopenhauer’s (1788-1860) nihilism and his disciple Nietzsche’s

(1844-1900) rejection of both reason and conscience.
 Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) ‘Exploration of Inner reality in Modern
Art.
 His discovery of a chaotic unconscious alienated
from the conscious mind became an important
theme in modern literature.
 The French term ‘avant-garde’, etymologically, it stands for the
‘advance guard’ or ‘vanguard’ in military.
 Artistic movements like cubism, dadaism, vorticism, etc. are clubbed
under it.
 Bloomsbury Group:
 Virginia Woolf
 Leonard Woolf
 E.M. Forster - Novelist.
 Clive Bell
 Venessa Bell
 Roger Fry
 Duncan Grant - Art Critic & Painters.
 John Maynard Keynes
 Lytton Strachey
 Molly MacCarthy -Economist & Biographer

Major Literary Works

Ulysses - James Joyce

The waste land – T.S. Eliot
Jacob's Room – Virginia Woolf

The waste land has fragments of utterances and allusions

This discontinuity of narrative takes the form of Stream-
of-consciousness in the works of James Joyce and
Virginia Woolf.
Techniques like Surrealism, Impressionism and
Expressionism were used to advantage.
Post Modernism
 The first use of the form ‘Postmodernism’ was made in 1947 by
Charles Jenks with regard to architecture
 According to Cuddon, the term ‘Post Modernism’ is used to refer to
“changes, developments and tendencies which have taken place
(and are taking place) in literature, art, music, architecture,
philosophy etc.

 After world war – 2

 Specifically after 1960
 Rejected ‘ Meta Narrative’ tendency
 Hyper Reality
 Multi – Ethnicity
 Deconstruction/ Post Structuralism can be consider as Post
Modernism
Post Modernist Philosophers
 Michel Foucault
 Jacques Derrida
 Jean Baudrillard
 Richard Rorty
 Roland Barthes

 Jean – Francois Lyotard

 French Philosopher
 Works
 ‘The Postmodern Condition’-1979
 The Different-1983
 Lyotard defines postmodernism as “Incredulity towards
metanarrative”
 His “The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge” has
become something of a manifesto of postmodernism.
Historical Background
 USA became the super power
 Cold War between countries (global conflict, nuclear destruction,
genocide)
 Technological Advancement & Space Exploration
 People accepted the fragment and disoriented world
 Multiple Meanings: there can be endless interpretations of a literary
work(Post Structuralist)
 Post Colonialism: Study of the cultural legacy of colonialism. It
focuses on the consequences of the control & exploitation of
colonized people and their lands.
Literary Features
 Theatre Act of 1968: It abolished censorship of the stage in Britain

 Theatre of the Absurd Literary movement in Britain pioneered by

Samuel Becket & Harold Pinter. These playwrights followed the theory
that Albert Camus gave in his work ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’
a) The common man’s struggle to understand the world is similar to
that of Sisyphus.

b) In the Theatre of Absurd plays, actions of characters are not logical.

c) Time & Space are not clear. Ending is often not conclusive. Long
pauses amid dialogues

 the
Angry Young Man Theatre

 Literary movement in Britain after WWII. It was a

revolt against social inequality.
 John Osborne wrote the play ‘Look Back in Anger’
 Confessional Poetry:
 Literary movement that emerged in America
during 1950-1960.
 The poems are personal confessions of the poet.
 Themes: Divorce, sexual abuse, depression,
death(Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton)
Pastiche
 Combination of Multiple genre to create a
unique narrative.
 William S. Burroughs combined science fiction

with detective fiction

Inter- textuality:
Interconnection between similar or related
literary works. Jean Rhys wrote ‘Wide Sargasso
Sea’ a prequel to charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’
The term ‘intertextuality’ was coined by Julia
Kristeva.
Magic Realism
 Types of fiction that shows a realistic view of the modern world while
also adding magical elements.(Midnight’s Children by Salman
Rushdie, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Faction
Combination of fact and fiction. A type of historical novel that
shows actual events & historical figures woven with fictional events.
 Metafiction

 Art of writing about writing. The author reminds readers that they are

reading a fictional work. Ted Hughes wrote a poem ‘The Thought Fox’
which is about the process of writing poetry.
 Temporal Distortion:

 Narrative with a non linear timeline. The story does not follow a

chronological order. (Catch 22 by Joseph Heller)

 Debates and theorization of Post Modernism took place in
1980s only.
 There are three phases:
a) The current phase dominated by multinational corporations
thriving on mass media advertising and information
technology is an extension of capitalism.
b) The term denotes Psychological, Social or Political
tendencies in that economics now moulds relationships,
social structures and international political decisions.
c) In the sphere of Literary and Cultural theory, the term ‘Post
Modernism’ have been applied to the works of numerous
writers such as; Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Julia
Kristeva, etc. who have also been labeled ‘Poststructuralist’
 The spirit of postmodernism which found expressionism in art,
architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications,
fashion, and other fields, was sought to be theorized by both Jean
Francois Lyotard (1924-98) and Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007)

Jean-Francois Baudrillard is fascinated by the ‘simulacra’ of

postmodern life which have taken the place of real objects.
 The simulacrum is the copy that is so close to the original is no

longer important.
 He is regarded as ‘The high priest of Postmodernism’
Michel Foucault
 He defines postmodernity in terms of discourse and discourse is
interpreted through power.
 works
o The order of Things (1966)
o Discipline and Punish (1975)
o The British of the Prison (1975)
o The history of sexuality
 Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)
 French philosopher
 Founder of Deconstruction
 Derrida rejects the metaphysical history
 Works
 ‘Structure; Sign and Play’