Main characteristics of postmodern literature concepts explained simply

 

 

The two world wars had ravaged all humanity. The colonies were gaining independence. A power shift was underway. Under such conditions, postmodern literature came into being. To keep things organized, we will discuss only the main characteristics of postmodern literature in this blog. 

According to postmodern literature, there is disintegration in the world. There is no need to get rid of it. We can enjoy the disorder in the world. 

 A work of art never reveals its true meaning. The postmodern literary theory says that we can never decipher a unique meaning of the text. The text has contradictory meanings. 

The postmodern literary movement does not dismantle a text. It proposes that the text was already dismantled. 

Simulacrum in postmodernism

Simulacrum does not imitate reality. It assumes an unreal thing to be real. 

The postmodern world is a simulacrum

To the post-modernists, the real world is a simulacrum. We assume those things to exist which do not exist in reality.

It was the time when television became popular. Whatever people saw on television they assumed to be true. The boundary between the real and the imaginary got blurred.  

Gulf war as an example of simulacrum in postmodernism

A popular example to illustrate postmodernism is the Gulf war. People saw war scenes on the television and in newspapers. So, they did not see the Gulf war as it took place. They saw the war as the media displayed it. 

Hence, the Gulf war was not what it appeared, say the postmodernists. Postmodernism goes as far as proposing that the Gulf war never took place. 

Criticisms of postmodernism

Here comes maximum criticism for postmodernism. If the Gulf war never occurred then how did those deaths happen? This is what the critics of postmodernism say. 

We have lost touch with the things we consume

Postmodernism says that we have lost touch with real life. We have also lost touch with the things we consume. 

We have seen the growth of consumerism and globalization. So, we focus more on marketing and selling than producing. 

Constructivism in postmodernism

Constructivism says that there is no objective reality. Only ideologies exist. We live in a society that keeps changing our self-identity. 

Postmodernism says that the basis of humanity, the human culture, does not exist. We can have multiple cultures, multiple moral codes, and multiple truths. 

By negation of culture, postmodernism supports capitalism.

Europe lost its imperial powers and the colonies started to be free and powerful. In the future, the colonies would be more powerful but even their powers would fall with time. 

Postmodernism negates metanarrative

History, polity, and culture are all about what the powerful have to say. Metanarratives are the cultural underpinnings in any literary work. 

Grand narratives try to represent universal truths. They are not great works of literature in postmodernism. They are part truths spread by the powerful. 

Pastiche in postmodernism

Postmodernism uses pastiche. Pastiche means the imitation of an artform. But, the imitation is respectful though jocular. 

The main difference between modernism and postmodernism

 

Binary oppositions

Binary oppositions create a concept of the high and the low. Examples of binary oppositions are 

• Black-white: Black represents crime and disease, white represents truth and cleanliness. 

• European-Asian: Europeans represented in those days a superior civilization. Asians (like me) represented a primitive civilization. 

• Light-dark: Light represents truth and progress. Dark represents fallacy and backwardness. 

In those days, Europeans would think in binary oppositions. Postmodernism challenges this concept. Later deconstruction also dismantles binary opposition. 

How does modernism deal with binary opposition?

Modernism says that disorder arises because of elements like non-male, non-heterosexual, non-whites, etc. in society. But, a rational mindset can bring about harmony in society again. 

Modernism does not support the disorder. But, postmodernism supports it. 

Language in modernism vs postmodernism

Modernism says that language is a product of the rational mind. 

Postmodernism says that the signified is not real. So, language is superficial. 

Conclusion

You must have noticed that this blog looks different from other English lit blogs. My aim is to simplify the learning of literature. Hence, I have communicated the concepts without the bells and whistles. 

Hope you enjoyed reading about the main characteristics of postmodern literature. Stay in touch as I keep publishing more about literary criticism.