What Is Postmodernist Literature? An Introduction

I want her to miss once again and today I'm going to talk about something that interests me quite a lot if you watch some other of my videos you probably understand the kind of literature I'm into this is possibly the first sort of very short series of videos where I talk about both modernist fiction in this video I'm going to discuss a few theories of what postmodern inspection is and it's not because this is a term you see used so many times to refer to so many different writers and if you are a bit of a Nancy general like me that makes you cringe a tiny bit and I'm going to discuss and suggest two or three key readings if you're interested in a topic if you are either a casual reader or a literary like student or whatever that you should let me check out if you're interested in post modernist literature and talking about academic nonfiction texts I maybe I will maybe film a video about essential fiction post modernist texts now the first thing that needs to be said about post-modernism is that differently from modernism high modernism like wolf and joyce no one really knows what post modernist fiction is if people claim they have a clue that's the first like the way to know they are posers and they don't know anything about the topic everybody and their uncle has a theory on what post modernist fiction is and there are some shared elements that all Furies share but yeah the whole genre is a bit of a mess now if you ask people even casual readers to define post-modernism in fiction unless they really don't know anything about it they'll probably tell you that it's a kind of fiction that is kinda silly at times that it's very borderline crazy and tricky where like sometimes a story either doesn't exist the book is bloodless or the characters are like representations of emotions but not real people where perhaps do poor addresses the reader himself or herself where the fourth wall is broken every three pages and those are all things that kind of happenin put water inspection but that's not the main point now as far as post modernist literature is concerned to me the only bible on the topic the book that really changed the way I look and the whole genre is this fin post modernist fiction by Brian Mac Hale this is a seminal text on the topic and every fan of the genre even if they study engineering and they don't know anything about literary theory this is not about literary theory in the bad sense these are books should read this book should read post modernist fiction now the claim Brian McHale makes is that the point of most modernist fiction is its dominant both modernism as a ontological document what does it mean it sounds bad but it's not it means that postmodern inspection is mostly concerned with questions about worlds how do I change from one world to another outweigh experience the shift between different worlds I'll do which one of my self experience this shift how do I explain this imagine you're a man or woman whatever you want living in the America of the 1950's which is where polarise was pretty much born and you get up in the morning you turn on your TV while you're having breakfast and you see news and you hear a story about a celebrity and you fantasize about this celebrity who knows how her life really is what she's doing then you drive to work and you listen to the radio on your car and you listen to a hit by of the Beatles maybe it's 1960s let's say and it makes you think about last summer and adventure you got last summer and so you fantasize about that when you're at work you daydream about other stuff then you get back home and you and your girl and discuss something but after dinner you watch a James Bond movie and you're living in the world of James Bond for a while what's the point in all this in today's world we are constantly soaked in what Don DeLillo in one of the best postmodern ovals of all times poignant Lee called white noise in today's world we keep shifting from one world to the other from one situation to the next constantly every time you look at the cover a book you listen to an album you watch TV that's the main main big enemy here and your friend whatever you want to call it whether you listen to the radio you constantly shift between all these different worlds it's not like that didn't happen in the past but it didn't happen so well big beautifully so all the time postmodernist fiction looks like it has nothing to do with realism looks like literature ed always held the mirror to reality now it stopped postmodernist fiction is not realist it has nothing to do with actual representation of the lives of people but in that it's especially realist and it all the mirror to our contemporary reality postmodern is no go for instance you may have characters reading a story and the story featuring characters that eventually come out of the story and populate the main world of the story and then Leo first steps in and eventually you offer addresses you itself so the world comes from the world of the book to the actual world we are all inhabited and this is a way of well it's a strategy strategy to make people aware of the way we shift from different worlds different ontological levels every time in today's reality when we watch TV when you listen to the radio whatever give you an example this is the difference between post-modernism and modernism because modernism at an epistemological dominant it means that modernism was mostly concerned with issues of knowledge how do we know the world to what extent can we know the world if you think of stream of consciousness that was a way of representing the way we think so it was a way of we're eight into the way we think into the way we know the world that we experience it you see the difference between the two genres both modernist novels exercise this strategy to forefront the switch between different oncologists in many many different ways some do it being overtly metafictional some do it by mixing different styles and genres in the book by making you constantly aware that you are reading the book both mutter novels can be used blockers at time some postmodern Nobles feature weird magical realist elements and mixed with otherwise straight narratives that keep reminding you that what you're reading is not actually happening in the real world this sense post-modernism can be a very political Jean right away it reminds you of the value of knowing that you're switching between different ontologies all the time and that's a well it's something that sometimes go undervalued because post-modernism is generally considered some kind of deconstructed genre of literature which tears down every possible institution but doesn't come it doesn't offer that well too many solutions to the problems of the world this is McNeil's take on the topic I like it a lot because it offers your way to distinguish and you put a barrier around the genre which is something useful when you're discussing literature otherwise everything can be really postmodern otherwise people will tell you that the Don Quixote's put modern because actually it is in many ways it uses that strategy but not to that and not necessarily not in that way I like Mikhail's book it's a masterpiece really another take on the topic is that a very famous and seminal one is a Linda a chance in Arabic a poetics of post-modernism which I can show to you because some other took it from the library of my University a poetics of post-modernism focuses on another issue in postmodern fiction which is its questioning of official history and of grand narratives both modernist fiction focuses on how all history since you know history through history geography through accounts like lists of facts of true data or history is in a way a narrative and so fiction when we tell the story of a word that happened in the past we inhabit ibly have to refer to some sources and these sources were collected by living something out by selecting some data instead of other by for instance underlying something that was crucial to do for in distance it's not like there's nothing there is no true folder but historical truth always includes an element of fiction the point of post modernist literature according to Linda Hutcheon is to give voice to the minorities that are not represented in official in official history official historiography that's why Linda Hutcheon calls post modernist fiction historia graphic metafiction because it refers specifically to the dark areas of the history and it's also metafictional in its representation because it wants to underline and to make clear that all fiction every story you tell features on an element of selection features a mechanical process behind it Linda Hutcheon in our study which is another one of those studies you need to read if you're interested in the topic focuses for instance on eccentric characters which are crucial according to Eric post modernist fiction because they give a different perspective on historical events because usually they don't come from the main like ethnic or cultural group in a society and so they can represent a minority or comment on a specific situation in a country or in the world tell me personally and these are really only my two cents I'm not in much convinced by the show's point as much as Mikhail's because to me Posner is fiction as a fun and reader has always been a bit more about television and pop culture and weird movies than about well I don't know minorities post-colonial culture and I don't know rewriting history even though all those things are there of course so yeah in the Linda Jones point is an interesting starting point if you want to discuss post-modernism related with post-colonial studies and post-colonial fury sale it's another book you have to read if you're interested in the topic that's book I'm going to name and everyone knowing post-modernism even marginal you know this guy is by a guy called Frederick Jane stone and I'm referring to post-modernism or the late cultural global cultural logic of late capitalism frenum Jensen is not exactly the biggest fan of both modernism out there he is a Marxist critic and he believes post-modernism is one of the like the products of capitalist society today and he is not a huge fan as I said why I'm going to give you an example gemstone defines pastiche as a quintessential element of post-modernism both modernist tendency to mix different genres and styles and registers high high art and lowered to mix all these different things in order to achieve an ironic purpose but it says both modernism doesn't do this in order to like set your eyes about stuff in order to commend to commit politically it does this without really a purpose just for the sake of it it's like satire but without any political aid and this is apparently bad because being political is very important in the world if you want to change it and to make it better I am not even joking that's like James Stone point I'm not like mocking him at all like that's a well sensed point I think she's like me you mainly read because you like the stories all this talk of politics is gonna leave you a bit dazed but it's a sensitive discussion another crucial book on the topic which is way more rooted in literature is the political unconscious by Frederick James on which again talks about the way or for deals with the political intermix even if they don't really know they are doing it they're doing it all the same and it's another seminal text for post-modernism is well I already told you the political conscience whatever the point is that that book refers to a selection of text like lower geometric Conrad a few others check them out don't range the poetical unconscious if you haven't read those texts because it's gonna be uncompromising it's not gonna be that clear even if you have read done if you haven't like done to it that's it's that was meant to be just a general introduction to the genre mainly because I'm not that much more an expert myself I have only read this and a few other key texts on the topic I really am no expert especially when it comes to post-modernism has a philosophy or a theory when it gets away from the actual stories then it gets uncomfortable or Bordeaux and incomprehensible to me I will film maybe some other videos maybe about some key post modernist text other stuff like that if you like this one please commenting in the second section below let me know if you read these texts what you think of them these books the sad thing is that they are all rather expensive the best thing you can do I think you can find them cheap on Amazon if you look for that secondhand otherwise the best thing you can do is look for a library around you you live close to a university they will probably have them in their library even if you're another student I think you can somehow take them out of the library if you sign your paper whatever anyway let me know what you think of this video of these idea you know if you're a fan of postmodernist fiction if you think it's stupid what's your relationship with it I'm really curious thank you so much for watching once again guys I will see you next one bye guys you

Channel: TheBookchemist

Views: 78,108

Keywords: the bookchemist, bookchemist, postmodernist fiction, mchale postmodernist fiction, postmodernism, postmodernist literature, postmodern literature, postmodern fiction, postmodernity, postmodern books, postmodernist books, postmodern authors, jameson postmodernism, fredric jameson postmodernism, hutcheon a poetics of postmodernism, a poetics of postmodernism, postmodern writers

Id: zT4L4LxNBvI

Length: 14min 37sec (877 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 21 2015