1. Postmodernism 1946-present

2. What is Postmodernism? (No one really knows ) Postmodernism is a term that encompasses a wide-range of developments in philosophy, film, architecture, art, literature, and culture. Originally a reaction to modernism, referring to the lack of artistic, intellectual, or cultural thought or organized principle. Discontinuity, alienation, existentialism, solipsism Peaked around the 1960s and 1970s with the release of Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five

3. Postmodern Literature There are a few similarities to modernist literature. -Like modernist literature, both are usually told from an objective or omniscient point of view. -Both literatures explore the external reality to examine the inner states of consciousness of the characters -Both employ fragmentation in narrative and character construction

4. Postmodern Literature: Common Themes Patiche -Authors often combine multiple elements in the postmodern genre. Paranoia -The belief that there is something out of the ordinary, while everything remains the same.

5. Irony, playfulness, black humor, Antihero, Antinovel, Literature of the absurd

6. Postmodern Literature: Common Themes Metafiction - Writing about writing, often used to undermine the authority of the author and to advance stories in unique ways. Example: In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five, the first chapter is about the writing process of the novel.

7. A blurring of distinction between genres Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings

8. Postmodern Literature: Influential works/authors Catch 22 – Joseph Heller Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon Jorge Luis Borges Samuel Beckett Vladimir Nabokov