Postmodern Literary Criticism Postmodernism attempts to call into question or challenge the notion of a single absolute unified master narrative without simply replacing it with another. It is a paradoxical, recursive, and problematic method of critique. It encourages transcendence through or in spite of limitation, while simultaneously decentering the concept of absolute transcendence. To this end, it encourages the development of a heightened sense of self in relation to itself and
piece of postmodern literature. This report will analyze and describe why “Videotape” belongs to postmodern literature through the in-depth analysis of the selected passage and a brief breakdown of the story as a whole. Postmodernism is a vague term that can describe a variety of disciplines that include, architecture, art, music, film, fashion, literature…etc. (Klages). In the case of “Videotape”, postmodern literature would be the main focus or area of study. This type of literature emerged in
Postmodern novel as a genre is mainly intertextual because it often goes beyond the paradigm of literature and borrows its material from different fields of study like science, geography, history, astronomy and so on to make a collage of different theories and citations for shaping a literary text in a new dimension. Thomas Pynchon was a student of Engineering Physics at Cornell University. It is therefore not surprising that he uses science as a background for the interpretation of literature. His
probably the most feared word in the English language. Its undesired uncertainty threatens society’s desire to believe that life never ends. Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise tells the bizarre story of how Jack Gladney and his family illustrate the postmodern ideas of religion, death, and popular culture. The theme of death’s influence over the character mentality, consumer lifestyle, and media manipulation is used often throughout DeLillo’s story. Perhaps, the character most responsive to death is
The influence of the navy on literature is not necessarily a traditional topic in Western canon. The issue of maritime concerns can be traced as far back as Homer's Odyssey with a military leader taking the role of the protagonist. It is not just through content that naval concerns have influenced Western literature, but through the experiences of authors in serving their nations. Soldiers and veterans have long turned to literature during and following service, for a variety of reasons. It is
live and act, which we call “the real world”. What fiction does (for that matter any art) is to try and (re) present this world using narrative techniques (or artistic techniques)” (Thaninayagam 12). Historiographic metafiction is an offshoot of postmodern art form. The term historiographic metafiction was coined by Linda Hutcheon in her book A Poetics of Postmodernism : History, Theory, Fiction. According to Linda, historiographic metafictions are “those well-known and popular novels which are both
sometimes difficult for a reader to completely understand how and why the characters do what they do, the Crying of Lot 49, exemplifies the ideas of a postmodern piece of literature, and critiques the traditional values and ideas of life. Using the model outlined by Deleuze and Guattari, The Crying of Lot 49 is a paradigmatic example of postmodern literature because throughout the novel, the themes of dismantling hierarchy, magnifying principles of difference, and the process of transforming and becoming
When humankind turns directionless and destination less, when confusion confounds the society, when people act and react as if they are in world created out of hallucinations, when muddle-headed thinking becomes the accepted reasoning of lifestyles, take it for granted that they are the best candidates for and the ardent supporters of zombie consumerism. Phillip Mahoney in article Mass Psychology and the Analysis of the Zombie: From Suggestion to Contagion in the book Generation Zombie: Essays
There are two levels of participation within The Crying of Lot 49: that of the characters, such as Oedipa Maas, whose world is limited to the text, and that of the reader, who looks at the world from outside it but who is also affected the world created by the text.3 Both the reader and the characters have the same problems observing the chaos around them. The protagonist in The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa Mass, like the reader, is forced to either involve herself in the deciphering of clues or not
The Aesthetic, the Postmodern and the Ugly: The Rustle of Language in William S. Burroughs’ The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded Ugliness is everywhere. It is on the sidewalks—the black tar phlegm of old flattened bubblegum—squashed beneath the scraped soles of suited foot soldiers on salary. It is in the straddled stares of stubborn strangers. It is in the cancer-coated clouds that gloss the sweet-tooth sky of the Los Angeles Basin with bathtub scum sunsets rosier than any Homer
The Disdainful Use of Names in Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 While reading Pynchon’s, The Crying of Lot 49, I found myself fascinated with the names of the characters. I tried to analyze them and make them mean something, but it seems that Pynchon did not mean for the names to have a specific meaning. This deduction made me think about the satirical nature of the naming of the characters. Which led me to muse on the chaotic nature of the naming. The apparent disdain for the characters by their
Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, has characters such as Oedipa Maas, whose world is limited to the authors text. The reader is drawn into the story and also affected by the world created by the author. Both the reader and the characters have the same problems observing the chaos around them. The whole story is a fairy tale. Even while reading the story, you wonder why it is written in such a fashion. When you realize it was written in the l960's, you can basically see where the author is coming
A Comparison of Crying of Lot 49 and White Noise Pynchon's novel The Crying of Lot 49 has much in common with Don DeLillo's book White Noise. Both novels uncannily share certain types of characters, parts of plot structure and themes. The similarities of these two works clearly indicates a cultural conception shared by two influential and respected contemporary authors. Character similarities in the two novels are found in both the main characters and in some that are tangential to the plots
Alter Your Native Land. - Stiff Little Fingers, “Alternative Ulster,” 1979 By definition, a counterculture possesses values and mores that are in opposition to those of an established society. When one hears the word “counterculture,” it may prompt images of hippies, punks, demonstrators, or underground political movements – in other words, a group of people (usually young) with a purpose, who are trying to make a change or say something meaningful about the larger culture in which they live
In a literary piece, the reenactment of a certain type of reality is directly assimilated by the mimetic criticism of readers, concerning their experiences in the real world, the present world and the literary world. Various postmodernist writers employ this technique in their writings for the purpose of engaging and interacting their readers with the realist ideas they present throughout their work. Reality is presented in different ways so that it essentially influences the reader’s perspective
Thomas Pynchon in TV Land: The Televisual Culture in Vineland Mark Robberds’ 1995 Article "The New Historicist Creepers of Vineland" is an insightful look into how Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel fits the new historicist criteria of Michel Foucault, Stephen Greenblatt, and other new historicists. He convincingly argues for the "vinelike" characteristics of the novel, and shows how it is "genealogical in structure and archeological in content" (Robberds 238). What Robberds means is that Vineland
The Negative Effects of Knowledge in Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five The whole of our existence seems to often be that of scientific advancement. Technology and the cold, hard facts are often placed above human values. A country's, or an individual's, power is marked by its technology, its "smarts." So everyone constantly strives to outsmart one another. Of course, with technology comes great power. The power to build and create and the power to destroy. Oftentimes
Over the course of Kurt Vonnegut’s career, an unorthodox handling of time became one of many signature features in his fictional works (Allen 37). Despite The Sirens of Titan (1959) being only his second novel, this trademark is still prevalent. When delving into science fiction, it is often helpful to incorporate ideas from other works within the genre. This concept is exemplified by the “megatext,” an aspect of science fiction that involves the application of a reader’s own knowledge of the
The Simulation of a Capitalist Society: The Crying of Lot 49 In Jean Baudrillard’s, Simulacra and Simulations he discusses how symbols and signs constitute our reality and argues that our society has lost all connections to anything meaningful and real through the proliferation of signs and how that consequently leads our existence towards a simulation of reality. Sixteen years before the publication of Simulacra and Simulation, Thomas Pynchon’s 1966 novel, The Crying of Lot 49 parodies this idea
therefore, everyone believes Howard to be a Nazi. At times, it seems as though Howard himself is not entirely sure whether or not he is a Naz... ... middle of paper ... ...: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2000. Magill On Literature. 29 Nov. 2002. Hume, Kathryn. “Vonnegut’s Melancholy.” Philological Quarterly. 77.2 (1998): 221- 238. Klinkowitz, Jerome. Kurt Vonnegut. London and New York: Metheun, 1982. Reed, Peter J. “Kurt Vonnegut Jr.” Dictionary of Literary Biography