Course of English Postmodernism Contextualizing post-modernity 1.

Main ideological-philosophical currents:

New Criticism New Historicism The angry young men Structuralism (Tel Quel group in Paris); Roland arthes (The !eath o" the #uthor) Post$structuralism (%ac&ues !errida's deconstruction) Semiotics (%ulia (riste)a* +m,erto -co) %ac&ues .acan/s psychoanalytic theories0 the conceptual dissolution o" uni"ied and sta,le identity %ean audrillard0 the theory o" simulacra* Hyperreality* 1ital 2llusion 3ulticulturalism 4lo,ali5ation Post$colonialism Post$industrial society (McLuhan's global village) #narchism New$li,eralism 6eminism and genderi5ation 3inimalism New %ournalism0 massi"ication o" culture* in"ormation )ersus culture* entertainment The wea7 structures0 %868.yotard and the dissolution o" the 4rand
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Narrati)es* 48 1atimo and The 9ea7 3an (.'+omo !e,ole) The se:ual re)olution0 twisted se:uality* political correctness

2.

Narratological transformations: 3i7hail a7htin0 the carni)ales&ue and the dialogic8 Roland arthes0 ; The !eath o" the #uthor) .inda Hutcheon0 meta"iction and parody pastiche* cultural recom,ination 7itsch plagiarism* the relish "or copies and repetitions mi:ture o" le)els* "orms* styles ,ricolage "ashion interte:tuality demythi5ation the su,<ect is "ragmented a crosshatch o" discourses the magical realism the new canon0 Harold loom e:amines the 9estern canon in three epochs0 the #ristocratic #ge* the !emocratic #ge and the Chaotic #ge* with some limited re"erence to the Theocratic #ge* which precedes the #ristocratic8

digital literature

=8

Paradigms0

rian 3cHale (Constructing Postmodernism* >?@@)

modernism (le"t$hand column) $ postmodernism (right$hand column)0

Hierarchy Presence 4enital Narrati)e 3etaphysics !eterminacy

#narchy #,sence Polymorphous #nti$narrati)e 2rony 2ndeterminacy8

2ha, Hassan (The Postmodern Turn) Modernism Postmodernism

Romanticism Sym,olism Pataphysics !adaism 6orm(con<uncti)e* closed) #nti"orm (dis<uncti)e* open) Purpose Play !esign Chance Hierarchy #narchy 3astery .ogos -:haustion Silence #rt A,<ect 6inished 9or7 Process Per"ormance Happening !istance Participation Creation Totali5ation !ecreation !econstruction Synthesis #ntithesis Presence #,sence Centering !ispersal 4enre oundary Te:t 2nterte:t Semantics Rhetoric Paradigm Syntagm Hypota:is Parata:is 3etaphor 3etonymy Selection Com,ination Root !epth Rhi5ome Sur"ace 2nterpretation Reading #gainst 2nterpretationB3isreading Signi"ied Signi"ier .isi,le (Readerly) Scripti,le (9riterly) Narrati)eB4rande Histoire #nti$Narrati)eBPetite Histoire Symptom !esire Type 3utant 4enitalBPhallic PolymorphousB#ndrogynous Paranoia Schi5ophrenia AriginBCause !i""erence$!i""eranceBTrace 4od the 6ather The Holy 4host 3etaphysics 2rony !eterminacy 2ndeterminacy Transcendence 2mmanence The Oxford llustrated !istor" of #nglish $iterature * -ditor Pat Rogers* A:"ord +ni)ersity Press* >??C (Dth edition)* +8(8
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The thirties "ascination with politics was an aspect o" its youth (C=@) Chapter ?8 Mid-T%entieth-Centur" $iterature 1&'(-1&)(* ,y 3artin !odsworth8 2ha, Hassan* The Postmodern Turn. #ssa"s in Postmodern Theor" * >?EF* Ahio State +ni)ersity Press* +S#8 The $iterature of *ilence #ntiliterature %ac7son Polloc7 ; action painting .udwig 9ittgenstein ; language is a set o" games* a7in to the arithmetic o" primiti)e tri,es (The +lue and +ro%n +oo,s* A:"ord* >?DE* E l") .anguage is reduced to pure ratio (F) the conceptions o" literature as game and as action merge in another "orm o" metaphoric silence0 literary o,scenity a literature o" re)olt Sade* considered ,y many today to ,e the "irst a)anguardist* pro<ects a curious stillness; his o,scene and repetitious )iolence mu""les language (F) Concrete poetry ma7es pictures with the alpha,et The no)el0 the old principles o" causality* psychological analysis* and sym,olic relations* principles on which the ,ourgeois no)el once com"orta,ly rested* ,egin to crum,le (Sartre* ec7ett* #lain Ro,,e$4rillet) (E) the no)elist can ,e only a literalist* naming the names or entertaining pure images (?)8 Silence in the new literature is also attained through radical irony* which re&uires not a collage o" "ound o,<ects* ,ut an empty can)as (?) ((a"7a* 3ann)8 3aurice lanchot in Le Livre venir identi"ied Rousseau as the "irst culprit in the tradition o" silence* acharnG H Gcrire contre l'Gcriture* and saw literature approaching I l'Jre sans parole* which* li7e some wor7s o" ec7ett and 3iller*
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can ,e understood only as incessant sound (Paris* >?D=* DD* @KD) (>@)8 .iterature mo)es towards its essence* which is disappearance8 Roland arthes0 .a modernitG commence a)ec la recherchG d'une littGrature impossi,le (Le Degr zro de l riture* Paris* >?D=* DE* >@) (>@) ; the Arphic dream0 un Gcri)ain sans .ittGrature8 Claude 3auriac0 #"ter the silence o" Rim,aud* the ,lan7 page o" 3allarmG* the inarticulate cry o" #rtaud* literature "inally dissol)es in alliteration with %oyce8886or ec7ett888words all say the same thing ( The Ne% $iterature* New Lor7* >?D?* >@)8 Arphaeus torn ,y the 3aenads at the ,ehest o" !ionysus0 he was an #pollonian8 must not the head o" the poet ,e se)ered in order that he may continue to singM (>=) .iterature mo)es toward #ntiliterature and in so doing rein)ents "orms that ,ecome progressi)ely cra5y and disrupti)e0 neopicares&ue* ,lac7 ,urles&ue* grotes&ue* gothic* nightmarish* science "iction8 2n the end* the anti"orms o" outrage and apocalypse ,lend in silence (>F)8 The mo)ement o" "orm toward anti"orm (>C) Philip Tew* The Contemporar" +ritish No-el0 the ,lurring o" genres* which ha)e all ,led into one another (=)8 Thatcher and her manic regime o" wor7 cele,rated in the media and o" which she ,oasts (>?)

Compilation Tel Nuel ; poststructuralism and postmodernism ; a departure "rom the structuralism claims o" immanent analysis o" the te:ts ( explication de texte) capa,le to delineate all codes and e:hausti)ely capture a te:t's meaning* towards
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wor7 on di""erence and dissemination (!errida) and the reco)ery o" the Russian 6ormalists's criti&ue o" uni)ocal meaning and monologic discourse (%ulia (riste)a)8 Te:ts were suddenly re)ealed as o)er"lowing their margins* changed to an intersection o" te:tual sur"aces or interte:ts8 !econstruction in the States* Lale +ni)ersity0 Paul de 3an* 4eo""rey Hartman* Harold loom8 %8 68 .yotard ; the postmodern condition coincides with the end o" authoritati)e metanarrati)es8 Nuantum physics* theories o" chaos and o" the "ractal8 %ames 4leic7's theory o" chaople:ity (disorder and unpredicta,ilityBthe ,utter"ly e""ectO"luttering its wings in the west and causing a monsoon in the east)8 Cell phones* "a: machines* porta,le physiotherapy units* gra"ts* personal stereos generate a posthuman ,ody which is hal" machine and hal" a media$ pro<ected concoction (!8 Ca)allaro. C"/erpun, and C"/erculture* The #thlone Press @PPP)8 The reader's choices o" narrati)e tra<ectories and endings in )irtual space generate the participant no)el or the interacti)e "iction (#ndrew 4i,son* To%ards a Postmodern Theor" of Narrati-e* -din,urgh +ni)ersity Press* >?KK)8 !errida ; Structure* Sign and Play in the !iscourse o" the Human Sciences* >?KK* Of 0rammatolog"* >?KF8 3eaning no longer depends on its relationship to some signi"ier ,ut on the signi"ier's slippage under other signi"iers along the syntagmatic a:is8 !econstruction dis<oins the signi"ier "rom the signi"ied8 Roland arthes ; The 1eath of the 2uthor0 the te:t is a tissue o" &uotations "rom the world's innumera,le centres o" culture8 !egraded to ,ricoleur (!errida* .G)i$Strauss) or scriptor ( arthes)* the "ormerly agenti)e and autonomous author is now ,orn with the te:t8 The ,oundary ,etween chronodiegesis (the le)el o" the plot* supposed to re"er to the world) and metanarrati)es (sel"$re"erential language acts) is ,lurred
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into distinct layers o" "ictionality (.inda Hutcheon* Narcissistic Narrati-e. The Metafictional Paradox* 3ethuen* >?EC)8 Roland arthes* 3nt"ing the Text: 2 Poststructuralist 4eader* Routledge* >?E>* "ocuses on the processes o" meaning which e:plodes and disperses* on the te:t as a production in progress* plugged in other te:ts* other codes and there,y articulated with society and history in ways which are not determinist ,ut citational8 !econstructionists argue that there is no language$"ree standpoint* and language e:presses more than the spea7er's writer's intentional meaning8 9riters are no longer in control o" their medium8 Postmodernists complete the deconstruction o" history (a,olition o" su,<ect* agenti)e action* causal lin7s* e)olution* the possi,ility o" new action* monumental acts* documented reconstruction)* which Carlyle had originated in his essay On !istor"* where the su,<ect is de"ined as alpha,etic letters in need o" interpretation8 Niet5sche's 3ntimel" Meditations had re)ised history as a succession o" chance e)ents* lac7ing order* meaning and purpose8 3oral )alues ( The 0enealog" of Morals) are not "actual* humanity is surrounded ,y a system o" signs to which a contingent signi"icance is ascri,ed8 3orality* )alues* in general* depend on interpretation8 The postmodernist man li)es posthistorically8 The truth discourse o" history is replaced ,y historicist negotiations o" personal and communal* present and past narrati)es that in)ent rather than disco)er the past as it really was8 History;writing as a "orm o" narrati)e* communicating 7nowledge o" the past through rhetorical emplotment (Hayden 9hite* Metahistor")8 3agic realism ;Salman Rushdie* %im Crace8 Perspecti)ism 2dentity is played down to a set o" positions ( en)eniste* !errida) in language8 2n the post$colonial spaces o" migration and cultural transiti)ity* identity too ,ecomes hy,rid* nomadic (see Rosi raidotti's Nomadic *u/5ects)8
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4erard !elanty0 postmodernity has mar7ed a shi"t in the priority o" the Sel" o)er the Ather* assumed ,y modernism8 The sel" is now de"ined in relation to the other* The Ather is internali5ed* present within the sel"8 Tele)ision* ad)ertising create a class$less deconte:tuali5ed culture o" what !onald arthelme calls a "orest o" images* massproduced and endlessly* alluringly empty8 The discourse o" Po3o is characteri5ed ,y0 pastiche* cultural recom,ination* a premium on copies* ,lan7ness* a sense o" e:haustion* relish "or copies and repetitions* re<ection o" history* mi:ture o" le)els* "orms* styles; ,ricolage "ashion; the implied su,<ect is "ragmented* unsta,le* a crosshatch o" discourses8 rian 3cHale ; Constructing Postmodernism* Routledge* >??@0 Modernism Hierarchy Presence 4enital Narrati)e 3etaphysics !eterminacy Postmodernism #narchy #,sence Polymorphous #nti$narrati)e 2rony 2ndeterminacy

The postmodernist su,<ect is sel"$destructi)e* demonic* nihilist* the eel5e,u,* coyote "igure* the tric7ster o" the !isney cartoons* endlessly 7illed and coming ,ac7 ali)e* since that which has no real e:istence cannot ,e destroyed8 6loyd 3errell ; the ,ricoleur's <o, is the <un7 yard* where he sorts and classi"ies8 Q888R The engineer mathemati5es the world* the ,ricoleur ta:onomi5es it8 He <ust pic7s a pro)isional centre* 7nowing that it is not "ull presence* the origin* nor a,solute and deconstructs the system in order to demonstrate that there is no centre8

Moral Psy hology !ris Murdo h 2ris 3urdoch's no)els are la,elled "ictionalised philosophy* su,stituting symposiasts at a disputation "or characters8 History is not a record o" actual e)ents* ,ut a palimpsest o" discourses a,out them* each ma7ing up its own )ersion* according to its own o,sessions8 The term magical realism was used in connection with 2ris 3urdoch (,orn >?>?) ,y Peter %8 Conradi in his >?EK study8 Hers is not the South #merican para,olic "antasy ,ut a sort o" surrealist mi:ture o" "antasy and meticulous naturalistic rendering o" detail (Conradi K)8 She has also ,een seen as progressing "rom e:istentialism to religion* "rom the artist to the saint8 She said Les to Sartre* ,ecause e:istentialism engages with issues o" )alue and morality not as a,stractions* ,ut as the personal responsi,ility o" a solipsistic* e:alted indi)idual8 2t means a return to su,<ecti)ity* which at the time o""ered a remedy against dryness (the title o" one o" her essays)* an alternati)e to the star7 positi)ism and ,eha)iourism o" the age8 The language o" phenomenology* see the title o" her "ictional de,ut* 3nder the Net (>?DC) that re"ers us to a passage (K8=C>) in the Tractatus $ogico-Philosophicus ,y .udwig 9ittgenstein8 9hat she disli7ed a,out e:istentialism was the annihilation o" the cultural past* the ta,ula rasa8 Simone 9eil* 1egrees of 6reedom0 the "reedom 3urdoch a""ords is the dialectic o" ,inary structuring* o" dyadic pairs whose inner struggles pro)ide the "orm o" her "iction8 3urdoch's characters are not static* going through the well$7nown e:istentialist change o" roles8 The e:istentialist pro:imity o" su""ering and death8

"el #uel

Postmodernists treat the world's li,rary as a "ree "or all* engaging in te:tual operations where,y the model is appropriated* trac7ed down to its less transparent
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intentions* dis"igured* parodied* re)ersed in its ,asic )iews or* on the contrary* rein"orced* recon"irmed8 The mo)e towards poststructuralism and postmodernism occurred within Tel Nuel group in Paris* ,y way o" departure "rom the original claims o" immanent analysis o" te:ts (explication de texte)* capa,le to delineate all codes and e:hausti)ely capture a te:t's meaning* towards wor7 on di""erence and dissemination and the reco)ery o" the Russian 6ormalists' criti&ue o" uni)ocal meaning and monologic discourse (%ulia (riste)a)8 Semiotics was re)ised as pragmatism (the way language produces meaning in a conte:t o" usage)8 !econstruction spread rapidly to the States* ma7ing Lale +ni)ersity "amous through 4eo""rey Hartman* Paul de 3an* Harold loom8 The notion o" postmodernism was spotted ,y 9ol"gang 9elsch ( 3nsere Postmoderne Moderne. 9einheim* >?EF)8 Charles %enc7s pu,lished the article The rise o" Post$3odern architecture in >?FD* which was later e:tended into a ,oo70 The $anguage of Post-Modern 2rchitecture8 %8 68 .yotard ; the postmodern condition as the end o" authoritati)e metanarrati)es8 Nuantum physics* theories o" chaos* o" the "ractal ha)e radically displaced the world)iew ,ased on sta,ility and continuity8 %ames 4leic7's theory o" chaople:ity pointed to disorder and unpredicta,ility0 the ,utter"ly e""ect ("luttering its wings in the west and causing a monsoon in the east)8

enoit 3andel,rot ; a theoretician o" the "ractal declares that there are "orces in nature go)erning apparently chaotic and comple: systems8 Cell phones* "a: machines* porta,le physiotherapy units* gra"ts* personal stereos generate a posthuman ,ody* which is hal" machine and hal" a media$
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pro<ected concoction (!8 Ca)allaro* C"/erpun, and C"/erculture* The #thlone Press* @PPP)8 The computer$generated mo)ies* the reader's choices o" narrati)e tra<ectories and endings in )irtual space ha)e radically modi"ied the status o" writing and reading8 There is no longer a preconstituted space* li7e that pro<ected ,y dimensional mechanics* characterised ,y entity* unity and symmetry8 The participant no)el or interacti)e "iction8 4eometric dimensions dissol)e to "ractionary dimensions (#ndrew 4i,son* To%ards a Postmodern Theor" of Narrati-e* -din,urgh +ni)ersity Press* >?KK)8 %ac&ues !errida* Structure* Sign and Play in the !iscourse o" Human Sciences* >?KK; Of 0rammatolog"* >?KF)8 3eaning no longer depends on its relationship to some signi"ier ,ut on the signi"ier's slippage under other signi"iers along the syntagmatic a:is8 !econstruction dis<oins the signi"ier "rom the signi"ied8 9e are le"t with a "ree play o" signi"iers* generated ,y di""erence "rom other signi"iers while te:ts connect literally with other te:ts (Roland arthes0 the te:t is a tissue o" &uotations "rom the world's innumera,le centres o" culture ; The 1eath of the 2uthor78 !egraded to ,ricoleur (!errida* .G)i$Strauss) or scriptor ( arthes)* the "ormerly agenti)e and autonomous author is now ,orn with the te:t (no longer a sel"$contained wor7)8 The ,oundary ,etween chronodiegesis (the le)el o" the plot* supposed to re"er to the world) and metanarrati)es (sel"$re"erential language acts) is ,lurred into distinct layers o" "ictionality (.inda Hutcheon* Narcissistic Narrati-e. The Metafictional Paradox* 3ethuen* >?EC)8 The te:t's "igurati)e play signals its status as illusion* "iction* as the allegory o" its unreada,ility due to the impossi,ility o" choosing ,etween competiti)e meaning structures (Paul de 3an* +lindness and nsight: #ssa"s in the 4hetoric of Contemporar" Criticism* 3innesota* >?E=)8 9hereas in his earlier 2ntroduction to the structural analysis o" narrati)es ( mage-Music-Text. 6ontana* >?FF) Roland arthes is underta7ing a systematic description or a structural analysis o" the le)els o" meaning within a te:t* in the later Te:tual analysis0 Poe's 1aldemar* included in 3nt"ing the Text: 2 Poststructuralist 4eader (Routledge* >?E>) he "ocuses on the processes o" meaning* which e:plodes and disperses* on the te:t not as a closed product* ,ut as a production in progress* plugged into other te:ts* other codes (this is the
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interte:tual le)el o" meaning) and there,y articulated with society and history in ways which are not determinist ,ut citational8 Postmodernist te:ts canni,ali5e other te:ts* parody* &uote them* and rewrite them in order to inscri,e a di""erent ideology (%ean Rhys* 8ide *argasso *ea; 9illiam 4olding* $ord of the 6lies* The nheritors; Peter #c7royd* Chatterton* !a)id !a,ydeen* The ntended* %eanette 9interson* +oating for +eginners; #ngela Carter* 2merican 0hosts and Old 8orld 8onders; -mma Tenant* T%o 8omen of $ondon9 The *trange Case of Ms. :e,"ll ad Mrs. !"des9 Sue Roe. #stella. !er #xpectations9 rian #ldis. 6ran,enstein 3n/ound. !econstructionists argue that there is no language$"ree standpoint* and language e:presses more than the spea7er'sBwriter's intentional meaning8 Postmodernists complete the deconstruction o" history (a,olition o" su,<ect* agenti)e action* causal lin7s* e)olution* the possi,ility o" new action* monumental acts* documented reconstruction)* which Carlyle had originated in his essay An history* where the su,<ect is de"ined as alpha,etic letters in need o" interpretation8 Niet5sche's 3ntimel" Meditations had re)ised history as a succession o" chance e)ents* lac7ing order* meaning and purpose8 3oral )alues (The 0enealog" of Morals) are not "actual* humanity is surrendered ,y a system o" signs to which a contingent signi"icance is ascri,ed8 3orality* )alues* in general* depend on interpretation8

Canon and its hanges

!a)id .odge* Cons iousness and the $ovel (@PP@)0 2magining what it is to ,e li7e someone other than yoursel" is at the core o" our humanity8 2t is the essence o" compassion and the ,eginning o" morality the single human )oice* telling its own story* can seem the only authentic way o" rendering consciousness8 6rancis 6u7uyama* %ur Posthuman &uture' Conse(uen es of the )iote hnology *evolution* @PP@0
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48 Arwell's +,-. and #8 Hu:ley's )rave $e/ 0orld (>?=@) ; the hatching o" people not in wom,s ,ut in )itro; the drug soma which ga)e people instant happiness; the 6eelies in which sensation was simulated ,y implanted electrodes; and the modi"ication o" ,eha)iour through constant su,liminal repetition and* when that didn't wor7* through the administration o" )arious arti"icial hormones $e/ tenden ies in the English ontemporary fi tion1 >8 History and his$stories0 space )s8 time8 Re$writing History (the new historical no)el) the change o" )oice0 $ #pocryphal history (Pastiche)0 %8 6owles* 2 MaggotB>?ED; $ Historiographic meta"iction0 4raham Swi"t* 8aterlandB>?E=; $ !ocudrama0 Rose Tremain* 4estorationB>?E? @8 6ragmentation and alternati)e narrati)es (space$time compression)0 38 #mis* Time;s 2rro%B>??>; 48 Swi"t* $ast OrdersB>??K8 =8 The Return o" the #uthor0 (#uto),iography and the No)el (%ulian arnes* 6lau/ert;s ParrotB>?EC; !8 .odge* 2uthor. 2uthorB@PPC)8 Consciousness and the no)el (2an 3c-wan* 2tonementB@PP>; !8 .odge* Thin,sB@PP>)8 <e"-%ords0 meta"iction* Historiographic meta"iction* heterotopia* docudrama* "ictional ,iography* alternati)e narrati)e* psycho,iography* space$time compression8 +i/liograph"0 rian 3cHale(>?EF) Postmodernist 6iction* .inda Hutcheon (>?EE) The Politics of Postmodernism* S8 erce (@PP@) Modernit" in #nglish Contemporar" 6iction. Could the canon ,e challenged or con"irmed ,y certain generic or political or historical circumstancesM 6ran7 (ermode* !nstitutional Control of !nterpretation* >?F?0 Canons are essentially strategic constructs ,y which societies maintain their own interests
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since the canon allows control o)er the te:ts a culture ta7es seriously and the methods o" interpretation that esta,lish the meaning o" serious 8 Protecting )alues Charles #ltieri* 2n !dea and !deal for a Literary Canon * Chicago* >?EC0 Canons ha)e always ser)ed specifia/le social interests (the )aluing dimension o" criticism is ideological and canons are ideological ,anners "or social groups)

"he diale ti s of postmodernity in literature and so iety

The o)erlapping o" discourses (culture$politics$religion) 3igns of postmodernity $acceleration o" History (the sense o" the P#ST); $The emergence o" postindustrial society; $1irtual reality0 T1 reality and computer language; $Reconsidering the male$"emale relationship; $3ulticulturalism$glo,alism0 ethnicity* race* glo,ali5ation; $ constitutionalism0 democracy and religious )alues8

"/o ma4or anti- anoni tenden ies1 >8 3u5versive de onstru tion (the reading o" the te:t is meant to demythologi5e and dismantle units* meanings* canonic elements such as character* theme* space* time) @8 2nti-euro entrism0 race and Christian tradition are displaced (-dward Said* %rientalism)

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