Literary Movement: Contemporary Literature 1950 to Present “Life through multiple windows”

Historical Context 1953 Korean War ends 1957 Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik I begins the “space race” with the U.S. 1963 Martin Luther’s “I have a dream” speech 1963 JFK’s assassination 1965 U.S. escalates involvement in Vietnam War 1969 First humans walk on the moon 1974 Watergate scandal forces President Nixon’s resignation 1987 U.S. stock market crashes 1990-91 Operation Desert Storm 1990s Internet rises as major form of communication

Worldview The second half of the twentieth century has seen the rise of postmodernism: “A philosophical stance which claims that it is impossible to make grand statements—meta-narratives—about the structures of society or about historic causation, because everything we perceive, express, and interpret is influenced by our gender, class, and culture; knowledge is partial and situated, and no one interpretation is superior to another.” from www.answers.com Influences: Modernism, Technology Postmodernism embraces fragmentation and relativism. Miss Anderson’s metaphor: “Life through multiple windows”

Common Elements of the Literature Diversity! Diversity in genre (non-fiction, fiction, poetry), style, form, subject matter, and authors’ cultural and religious backgrounds Allowance for multiple meanings and multiple worlds, even within a work of literature Flourishing of creative non-fiction New Journalist writers began to incorporate personal opinion and experience into nonfiction writing. Flourishing of poetry Move from the impersonal, academic tone of modernist poetry toward personal themes Beat Poets and Confessional Poets

Famous Authors Fiction: John Updike, Amy Tan, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker Non-fiction: Truman Capote, Annie Dillard, Jack Kerouac Poetry: Allen Ginsberg, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Billy Collins