1. Post-Modernism

3. What is Post-modernism?
Post-modernism is a theory of knowledge.
It embodies a belief that there are no certain single truths about the world.
Instead, every question has an infinite number of answers, each being equally as valid as the others.
Andy Warhol

4. 3 main concepts of PM: Contradictory ideas all true at once:
PM texts do this on purpose.
Brain development—perfect age for PM. Kids wouldn’t get it—too black/white.
Plays with time, assumptions
Self-referential. Metafiction=fiction about fiction. How to tell a true war story.

5. Common characteristics of Post-modernist texts:
Fragmented or chaotic timeline (not in chronological order)
Have questionable narrators (can we trust him/her?)
Paradoxical. Grey area—nothing for certain, everything true at once
Metafiction (fiction referring to itself as fiction—writing a book about someone writing this book)

6. Common topics of Post-modernist literature:
Alienation of the individual
Chance or coincidence (opposite of “everything happens for a reason”)
Futility of “solving” the chaos or restoring order—characters may instead just “play” within the chaos. Chaos and unpredictability are not seen as problems to be solved, no social order to restore.

7. Know any post-modernist movies or books?
Matrix
Looper
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Clockwork Orange
Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut)
Metamorphosis (Kafka)

8. Text unravels into contradictions.
Text reveals more than author intended.
Texts don’t “mean” only one thing, even if author intended it to.
Can support multiple, contradictory readings. All are “true” at same time.

10. What you need to do to be successful?
Keep an open mind
Be okay with ambiguity and some frustration
Pay attention to the craft of writing
Commit yourself to reading every day!
Be persistent. Do not quit!