Postmodernism, as the name implies, is the literary period after modernism between 1950 and the present. The most important development of postmodernism is that of multiculturalism. The dominance of the white Anglo-Saxon protestant (WASP) in literature is replaced by a plethora of different races, genders, ages, and voices. Today, many different races adorn the covers of magazines. Fifty years ago, no minorities or women would have been represented on magazine covers. In the postmodern period, literature begins to have voices that articulate what it was like to be colonized by Europeans. Women write about struggling for their place in society. Minorities from all different regions begin expressing their experiences in their own words. In America during the 1950s and 60s drug use rose, breaking many social norms. In the 1960s, segregation was combated and the Civil Rights Movement finally brought African-Americans rights. In the 1970s, the Vietnam War brought America to the boiling point, women fought for equal rights, and President Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment.
In the 1980s, the Russians and Americans developed huge caches of weapons during the Cold War. We now live in a time of computerized everything, with cell phones everywhere. Technology has advanced so far that we have satellites circling planets, cloning is possible, and the average life expectancy is longer than ever. All these advances, of course, influence literature. Postmodernist writers are very experimental in their writing, certainly in terms of narrative--how a story should be told. They often blend fiction and non-fiction--taking actual events and placing fictional characters in those events. They often reject the notion of "truth." What is truth, after all, but an idea dependent on an individual's beliefs and experiences? And, of course, during this time of increasing multiculturalism, postmodernist writers embrace writers from many varying backgrounds and cultures.
Postmodernist writers take experimentation further than the modernist and often describe the act of writing - how the piece is put together, the choices the writer makes are often presented in the work itself. We live in a capitalist/material world and brand names and pop culture are often presented in postmodern work, for good or bad.
POST : In separate 250 word posts, respond to two of the following:
A) In O'Conner's "Good Country People," how are the character's names significant? Is there any symbolism in them? Also, the term "good country people" is thrown around a lot in the story--what does it mean? Do different characters have different definitions?
B) What does the term "entropy" mean and how is this idea presented in Pynchon's short story? How does the form, characters, setting and narrative of the story advance this theme? How is this story demonstrative of postmodernist technique?
C) In "Cathedral," what is the narrator's problem with connecting? Is he connected with his wife? Do they understand each other? What does the blind man's lack of vision represent? How are liquor and marijuana used in this story--what do they help do or prevent from happening? Finally, what is Carver trying to say in the ending when the two men draw the cathedral together? Use specific examples and quotes from the story to support your answer.