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

2. 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
Operation Desert Storm
1990s Internet rises as major form of communication

3. 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
Influences: Modernism, Technology
Postmodernism embraces fragmentation and relativism.
Miss Anderson’s metaphor: “Life through multiple windows”

4. 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

5. 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