Prof. Derek P. Royal
ENG 522 – Major Figures in American Literature
Postmodernism
It would be a mistake to call postmodernism a definite literary movement (just as it would be a
mistake to call ―modernism‖ a distinct movement) because it encompasses so many different
ideas, issues, tendencies, and experiments. The 1960s is usually considered a safe starting point
for a shift toward this literary (and general artistic) sensibility. What is more, the works of many
late 20th-century theorists have had a large influence, if not in the production of this literature,
then in the criticism surrounding it. This would include theorists such as Jacque Derrida, Michel
Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Jacque Lacan, Gilles Deluze and Felix Guattari, Julia Kristeva, JeanFrançois Lyotard, Hélène Cixous, Judith Butler, Edward Said, and Homi Bhabha (who were
themselves influenced by earlier thinkers such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Fredrick
Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin, Georg Lukács, Louis Althusser, Martin Heidegger, and Roland
Barthes).
The authors usually referenced as ―postmodern‖ are a disparate bunch, many sharing little in the
way of thematic or aesthetic commonality. What is more, many authors usually not associated
with postmodernism—John Updike, for instance—seem to incorporate postmodern ideas or
strategies into their supposedly ―non-postmodern‖ works. So trying to pin down any clear-cut
definition of postmodernism, and even define an inclusive postmodern ―canon,‖ is problematic.
(Note: One ―tendency‖ of postmodern rhetoric is to qualify or problematize certain words, terms,
or ideas that may have traditional or historical meanings. As such, many times quotation marks
are used to draw attention to the potential ―problem‖ of commonly held meanings and
assumptions.) Nonetheless, there are a number of American authors who are usually read as
examples of postmodern writing: Thomas Pynchon, Donald Barthelme, John Barth, Ishmael
Reed, Walter Abish, Robert Coover, John Hawkes, William Gaddis, Ronald Sukenick, William
Gass, Gilbert Sorrentino, E. L. Doctorow, Joseph Heller, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, Leslie
Marmon Silko, Kathy Acker, Stanley Elkin, Gloria Anzaldúa, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, Maxine
Hong Kingston, Melena María Viramontes, David Foster Wallace, Douglas Coupland, and
William T. Vollman in fiction; Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, Frank O’Hara, Allen Ginsberg,
Susan Howe, John Ashbery, Gary Snider, Clayton Eschelman, Amiri Baraka, Lyn Hejinian, Ron
Silliman, Barrett Watten, Bruce Andrews, Charles Bernstein, Jackson MacLow, Michael Palmer,
Fanny Howe, Gwendolyn Brooks, and David Shapiro in poetry; Edward Albee, Sam Shepard,
John Guare, August Wilson, David Mamet, David Henry Hwang, Maria Irene Fornes, and Paul
Vogel in drama.
Although postmodernism is a disputed term—When did the postmodern period begin? Is it still
with us? Might there be postmodern tendencies in modernist literature? Is there even such a thing
as a ―post-‖ to the modernist project? Might what we call ―postmodern‖ be nothing more than the
logical extension of modernism? Is it more of a time period than an aesthetic ―movement‖?—
there are nonetheless certain striking tendencies in contemporary literature and art, for our
purposes at least, that should warrant our attention:
 Postmodernism emphasizes, whether indifferently or in celebration, the indeterminacy of
meaning and the decenteredness of existence.
 This emphasis on indeterminacy results in writers playing with the conventions of the
novel, where, for instance, authors talk with their characters, plots don’t unfold in any
tradition manner—or refuse to unfold at all—texts constantly turn back on themselves in
a metafictional manner, and in a general sense, narrative expectations are shattered.
 As with texts, identity becomes fragmented and decentered. Individual selves are seen
not as coherent entities, but elaborate constructs whose ―parts‖ are determined by
language, place, and societal forces (which are themselves constructs).
 Like identity, experience becomes fragmented, perhaps best typified by the
commercialism and media which bombard us. Experience becomes a constant
negotiation of images and symbols which seem fleeting and unanchored to any ―deeper
meaning.‖
 The distinction between ―high‖ and ―low‖ culture is subverted, resulting in a pastiche of
techniques, genres, and even media.
 Issues of authority (in the sense of power structure, in the sense of individual identity, as
well as in the sense of a ―self-contained‖ writer) are called into question.
 Concepts such as totality, unity, or determinate meaning are jettisoned in the postmodern
schema.
 Along with this, universalism becomes a suspect word, displaced with more of an
emphasis on particularization.
 Ideas of the ―natural‖—a natural order, a natural cultural practice, etc.—are seen to be
nothing more than our own linguistic constructions. Something isn’t necessarily
―natural‖… we merely come to call it that.
 Language, therefore, becomes a major issue in postmodern studies. Postmodern writers
and critics emphasize the ways in which we use rhetorical force to assert claims of truth.
Tropes, figures, and other techniques of persuasive discourse become central.
 Contingency displaces metaphysical determinacy. Human experience, thought, and
behavior are seen not as part of some ―grand design,‖ but instead the result of contingent
forces of history, place, ethnicity, gender, economics, as well as random forces.
 A belief in the pristine, uncontaminated, and original ideal becomes suspect. This is
especially the case when it comes to issues of text/language. Extraneous meanings—
stains, if you will—are revealed to be part of the structure. Language, then, is seen not as
stable, but as fluid and indeterminate. There is slippage.