Postmodern art decided to make revolutionary break with past and questioned previous theories known as “big narratives” of art, politics, economics and overall culture in order to create new theories. The big part of postmodern theory deals with the belief of preexistence of the art all around us. The artist is the one who can recognize these elements of art around as and synthesize them into the art work. This art work becomes object of interpretation which inevitably varies among different generations, social groups, national group, religious groups, and depends on some extent of the educational level of the observers and it is also different in the same individual in different times or environments. The different interpretations of the same art work give different meaning to it. Artists' creation is influenced by the time and place where he/she is creating, but interpretation of their work also depends on the context in which the art work is interpreted.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899- 1986,) (the Modern World) one of the greatest artist of modern time wrote in 1941short story titled “Pierre Menard, Author of the Don Quixote”. In his work, Borges made up the character of Pierre Menard, young French writer, who decided to “rewrite,” or to say recreate Don Quixote, the famous novel written by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616,) (The Literature Network: Online classic literature, poems, and quotes. Essays & Summaries) in the dark period of inquisition in the 17th century. Borges took the role of newspaper critic of the Menard’s work. Borges' idea was creative and “original” way to communicate his own point of view, his philosophy and his ideas about constant problem throughout the entire history of art: what is original, what is ...
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...ted in his short stories (5) and novels (6) magnificent, deeply artistic testimony of human suffering throughout the European history culminating in fascistic and communistic crimes. Despite Borges’s assertion (through Pierre Menard) Kis showed that there is no exercise of the intellect which is not in the final analysis useful.
Works Cited
Ruch, Allen B. "Borges - Biography of J.L. Borges." The Modern Word. 21 Sept. 2004. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. .
Merriman, C. D. "Miguel De Cervantes - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss." The Literature Network: Online Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries. 2007. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. .
Miočinović, Mirjana. Danilo Kis Home Page. 21 Sept. 2004. Web. 06 Mar. 2011. .
Swanson, Philip. "The Critical Reception of Garciá Márquez." The Cambridge Companion to Gabriel Garciá Márquez. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. 25-40. Print.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) was an Argentine short-story writer and essayist best known for his fiction that focused on the interconnected themes of labyrinths, dreams, religion, and time. Specifically, the idea that time can bifurcate, and that all time is occurring simultaneously are pivotal to a large portion of his writing. This essay will focus on this ideas, along with other temporal themes, providing an in-depth analysis of time throughout the body of his works, with a specific focus on The Garden of Forking Paths. Further, this essay will endeavor to answer the question of whether or not Yu Tsen’s and Stephen Albert’s views on time are in accordance with the conclusions pertaining to Borges’ time.
Don Quixote is considered as the first modern novel and one of the most important modernist elements available in the novel is the exploration of characters’ inner worlds, especially of Don Quixote’s. Through inner exploration of the main character, the readers observe that the real and the illusionary are interoperable within Don Quixote’s perceptions of the outside world. In that sense, a post-modern concept which suggests that truth is multifaceted and it’s a creation of mind emerges in the novel. In postmodernist sense, the notion of truth still exists, however it is no longer a problematic issue and assumed to be self-evident and self-justifying as Hutcheon argues (34). Similarly, the notion of truth is there throughout Don Quixote, but it is taken beyond everyday perceptions of the real world. It represents what Erasmus claims in In Praise of Folly: “The reality of things depends solely on opinion. Everything in life is so diverse, so opposed, so obscure, that we cannot be assured of any truth” (as cited in Fuentes, viii). Dissolution of boundaries between truth and untruth, leads to the elimination of an absolute truth and that is reflected as a postmodernist theme in Don Quixote.
Don Quixote is a parody of comedic relief and historical reference written by Miguel de Cervantes. The storyline follows the misadventures of a manic Don Quixote in his distorted view of reality. Cervantes uses the trajectory of Don Quixote’s madness to reveal that there is lunacy in everyone.
In 1944, Jorge Luis Borges published “The Secret Miracle”, a short story describing Jaromir Hladik, a Jew living in the Second World War. Jaromir Hladik is taken away by the Germans to a jail by the Germans to be executed shortly after. While in jail, he ponders on all the ways he could be killed and later realizes that he still has yet to finish his play “The Enemies”. He prays to God, begging for a year to be granted to him so that he can complete his last masterpiece. In a dream, he is granted that year. When the Germans pull the trigger, the world freezes for a full year so he can finish his play. At a first glance, “The Secret Miracle” appears to be merely a fictioness story. However, Borges included so much of his own life in the character of Jaromir Hladik that the story no longer seems to be so made up. “Borges writing was impelled and shaped by experience” (Williamson 296). Borges grew up loving books from the very start of his life. His father was always a reader, so he had a room set up like a library that housed hundreds of books. Borges also grew up in a family with colorful war history, which allowed him to be introduced to interesting stories early on. At the age of 56, he was completely blind, causing him to see literature in a different way. He no longer thought literature was a reality. For instance, he believed that although an apple is called an “apple”, it may not actually have that name. Yet he continues to write in this unreality for he feels that it is a writer’s duty to speak out against Juan Peron through literature. In spite of Borges’ belief that literature is not reality, there is evidence of Borges’ life embedded in it which clearly shape the issues and concerns of his work.
Conclusively, throughout Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes explores the transformation of reality. By doing this, he critiques and reflects conventional societal literary norms. In three distinct scenes, Don Quixote or his partner, Sancho, transform reality. Often they are met with other’s discontent. It is through the innkeeper scene, the windmill scene, the Benedictine friar scene, and Quixote’s deathbed scene that Cervantes contemplates revolutionary philosophies and literary techniques. The theme of reality transformation does not even stop there. Sometimes the transformations of reality scenes act as a mimetic devices. Ultimately, Miguel Cervantes use of transformative scenes acts as a creative backdrop for deeper observations and critiques on seventeenth-century Spanish society.
Don Quixote is a classic novel although now a days many may not be entirely familiar with it. The story of Don Quixote is filled with legendary actions that have survived our native tough. The phrase and labels that tell the title come from someone deeply impractical. Don Quixote at the age of fifty has not quite had what one would call a wild life, so far. He has never been married and still lives at home. He has however found his calling in life, the profession of knighthood: "he was spurred on by the conviction that the world needed his immediate presence..." (Book 1, Part 2). So the tales begin.
Don Quixote is one of the oldest forms of the modern novel. Written in the early 17th century it follows the adventures of Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza. In Don Quixote, Cervantes satirizes the idea of a hero. Don Quixote sees himself as a noble knight among the ignorant common folk, but everyone else sees him as a bumbling idiot who has gone mad. Therefore, the novel’s longevity in the western canon is due to the humorous power struggle and the quest of a hero Don Quixote faces throughout the story.
In his novel, Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes proves that a strong imagination is necessary to lead a fulfilling life. The main character, Alonso Quejana, is a man close to the age of fifty who has spent most of his life reading books about the medieval knights. In doing so, he has altered his sense of reality and came to believing he himself was a knight errant. He gave himself the name Don Quixote and decided to follow the chivalric code and bring justice to the world. Before Quejana became Quixote, he had no desire to help out humanity or bring an end to injustice, but with the help of his imagination his whole outlook on life changed. He saw life how it should be through his ideals rather than the reality of it.
The influence of Jorge Borges’ stories comes from his philosophical mind more than it comes from his previous experiences. He based his stories on his philosophical beliefs that he believed applied most to life’s circumstances. Identity and labyrinths are unfailing topics that can be found in most of Borges’ short stories. Used to represent the unknown, identity and labyrinths are ideal symbolism in mysterious works. Borges skillfully uses fact and fiction to make his story interesting and fantastical while still maintaining authenticity. The unyielding inquiring Borges’ characters endure keeps “Death and the Compass”, detective fiction
Wiehe, Roger E. "Jorge Luis Borges." Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Vol 3. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press, 1981: 977-982.
The concept of postmodernism has been much misunderstood. Resistance may come from the unfamiliarity of the wide range of work the term covers: the art of Andy Warhol; the music of John Cage and Terry Riley; ...
Postmodernism is a style of art that first became popular in the late 20th century. When seeing the word postmodernism, it might have to do with any one medium of art-- literature, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. Lyotard, a founder of postmodernism in philosophy, is quoted as saying, “Simplifying to the extreme, I define the postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.” By saying this, Lyotard simply meant that, as a postmodernist, he was against the ways of thinking of modernists and wanted to see something new philosophically and artistically. Postmodernity demonstrates a departure from the art style modernism.
Miguel de Cervantes' greatest literary work, Don Quixote, maintains an enduring, if somewhat stereotypical image in the popular culture: the tale of the obsessed knight and his clownish squire who embark on a faith-driven, adventure-seeking quest. However, although this simple premise has survived since the novel's inception, and spawned such universally known concepts or images as quixotic idealism and charging headlong at a group of "giants" which are actually windmills, Cervantes' motivation for writing Don Quixote remains an untold story. Looking at late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Spain from the viewpoint of a Renaissance man, Cervantes came to dislike many aspects of the age in which he lived, and decided to satirize what he saw as its failings; however, throughout the writing of what would become his most famous work, Cervantes was torn by a philosophical conflict which pervaded the Renaissance and its intellectuals--the clash of faith and reason.
Reading comes alive as the reader falls into the author’s voice and connects to the protagonist. When individuals read they involuntarily relate themselves to the protagonist. Therefore, a slightly different meanings of the story is created based on the individual’s personal experiences and beliefs. For instance, a novel could be considered a humorous parody of chivalric romance, but another individual could view the work as containing a serious philosophical message. This is a common scenario for Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote in which individuals can conclude many different meaning, and character analysis. Miguel de Cervantes constructed a complex character, who over time has been regarded as a madman, dreamer, or a man in the midst of