UPPSALA UNIVERSITY
Department of English
David Watson
Fall 2014
Postmodernism: Narrative Turns since 1960
15 credits
Aims of the course
The course introduces narrative fiction written in English since 1960. Ranging across
postmodernism and other significant literary movements, it focuses on key issues in this period: the
narration of history and the body, the impact of popular culture and national identity on literary
narratives, postmodern games with world-making, the status of emotions within often selfconscious and ironical literary texts, and the rise and possible demise of the postmodern aesthetic.
Course schedule and material
Sept. 1
Introduction
1) Postmodern Beginnings:
Sept. 8
Sept. 15
Sept. 24
Nabokov, Vladimir. Pale Fire.
Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse 5 & Ron Suckenick “Death of The Novel”
(handout)
Assignment 1 (Due: September 26): Summarize in no more than 800 words what you take to
be the central claims of two of the following three book chapters:
Fokkema, Douw. “The Semiotics of Literary Postmodernism.” International Postmodernism.
Ed. Hans Bertens. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1997. 15-43. Ebrary.
McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction. London, GBR: Routledge, 1987. 3-42. Ebrary.
Steiner, Wendy. “Fables of the Fetish.” The Cambridge History of American Literature. 1st ed.
Vol. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 451-478. Cambridge Histories Online.
Sept. 29
Oral Presentation: Postmodern Short Stories
Offer a 10 minutes presentation of one of the following short stories (handouts) in which
you offer an account of its postmodern characteristics:
John Barth, “Lost in the Funhouse”
Donald Bartheleme, “The Indian Uprising”
Robert Coover, “The Babysitter” or “Quenby and Ola, Swede and Carl”
William Gass, “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country”
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2) Postmodernism, History and Metafiction
Oct. 6
Oct. 13
Fowles, John. The French Lieutenant's Woman.
Winterson, Jeanette. The Passion.
Assignment 2 (due: October 15): Write a commentary of about 800 words on the usefulness of
Linda Hutcheon’s notions of historiographic metafiction and the ex-centric for your understanding
of Fowles’s and Winterson’s novels.
Hutcheon, Linda. Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory and Fiction. London: Routledge,
1988. 3-36, 57-74, 87-123. Ebrary.
3) Postmodernism and Gender
Oct. 20
Oct. 27
Carter, Angela. The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman.
Acker, Kathy. Great Expectations.
Assignment 3 (due: October 29): Write a brief account (800 words) of the tense relationship
between feminisms and postmodernism. Consult the following texts:
Creed, Barbara. “From Here to Modernity: Feminism and Postmodernism.” Screen 28.2
(1987): 47-68.
Felski, Rita. “Feminism, Postmodernism, and the Critique of Modernity.” Cultural Critique
(1989): 33-56.
Pitchford, Nicola. Tactical Readings: Feminist Postmodernism in the novels of Kathy Acker
and Angela Carter. Bucknell University Press, 2002. 20-58 (handout).
4) The Postmodern Condition
Nov. 3
Nov. 10
Ballard, J.G. Crash.
DeLillo. Don. White Noise.
Assignment 4 (due: Nov. 12): List at least three features of the postmodern condition. Consult
the following:
Baudrillard, Jean, and Arthur B. Evans. “Ballard's" Crash” Science Fiction Studies (1991): 313320.
Jameson, Fredric. “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.” (handout).
5) Postmodernism and Genre Fiction
Nov. 17
Gibson, William. Neuromancer.
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Nov. 24
Auster, Paul. The New York Trilogy.
Assignment 5 (due: Nov. 26) Discuss how postmodernism impacts on the conventions of either
science fiction or the detective novel (800 words). You may wish to consult the following:
McHale, Brian. “Elements of a Poetics of Cyberpunk.” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction
33.3 (1992): 149-175.
Nealon, Jeffrey Thomas. “Work of the Detective, Work of the Writer: Paul Auster's City of
Glass.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies 42.1 (1995): 91-110.
6) Postmodernism and Postcolonial Literature
Dec. 1
Dec. 8
Coetzee, J.M. Foe.
Rushdie, Salman. Shame.
Assignment 6 (due: Dec. 10) Briefly discuss (800 words) potential overlaps and tensions
between postmodernism and postcolonialism. You may wish to consult the following, among
others:
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. "Is the post-in postmodernism the post-in postcolonial?." Critical
Inquiry (1991): 336-357.
Hutcheon, Linda. "Circling the downspout of empire: Post-colonialism and postmodernism." Ariel
20.4 (1989): 149-75.
Tiffin, Helen. “Post-Colonialism, Post-Modernism and the Rehabilitation of Post-Colonial
History.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 23.1 (1988): 169-181.
7) Postmodernism and Identity Politics
Dec. 15
Morrison, Toni. Beloved.
Assignment 7 (due: Dec. 17) Write a response (800 words) to Mohanty in which you indicate
whether you agree of disagree with the following account of postmodernism and Beloved.
Mohanty, Satya P. “The Epistemic Status of Cultural Identity: on Beloved and the
Postcolonial Condition." Cultural Critique (1993): 41-80.
Readings and dates are subject to change. Please check your online schedules regularly.
Course Requirements:
1. Mandatory attendance of seminars; any absence will have to be made up for by a written
assignment specified by the teacher. If you miss more than two seminars, you run the risk
of not being allowed to complete the course. All assignments have to be submitted for you
to complete the course.
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2. Active participation in class discussions.
3. Assignments (4 of 7)
You are expected to submit 4 assignments responding to your assigned critical reading.
Each assignment should be in the neighbourhood of 800 words, and follow MLA
conventions.
4. Oral presentations: You are asked to hold on oral presentation (10 minutes) on a
postmodern short story.
5. A research paper (4 000-4 500 words; MLA format). Write a research paper in which you
identify three important features of, or movements within postmodernism, and relate these
to at least three texts you have encountered in your seminars. Refer to the critical material
you have encountered throughout. You are welcome to make use of the material you have
discussed in your assignments. Submission date: 10th of January.
Assessment
Your final grade will be based on the following
• active participation in seminar discussions and quality of discussion (total 10)
• assignments (0-10; highest total 40)
• oral presentation (10)
• research paper 40)
Max points: 100
Strong VG
(A)
Normal VG (B)
Strong G
(C)
Normal G
(D)
Weak G
(E)
Fail, but close to G (FX)
F/U
100-90
89-80
79-70
69-60
59-50
49-40
39 or less
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