Definition of Postmodern Literature

Definition of Postmodern literature

Postmodern literature is a form of literature which is marked, both stylistically and ideologically, by a reliance on such literary conventions as fragmentation, paradox, unreliable narrators, often unrealistic and downright impossible plots, games, parody, paranoia, dark humor and authorial self-reference. Postmodern authors tend to reject outright meaning in their novels, stories and poems, and instead highlight and celebrate the possibility of multiple meanings, or a complete lack of meaning, within a single literary work. Postmodern literature also often rejects the boundaries between 'high' and 'low' forms of art and literature, as well as the distinctions between different genres and forms of writing and storytelling.

Here are some examples of stylistic techniques that are often used in Postmodern literature:

.    Pastiche: The taking of various ideas from previous writings and literary styles and pasting them together to make new styles.

.    Intertextuality : The acknowledgment of previous literary works within another literary work.

.    Metafiction: The act of writing about writing or making readers aware of the fictionality of the very fiction their reading.

.    Temporal Distortion: The use of non-linear timelines and narrative techniques in a story.

.    Minimalism: The use of characters and events which are decidedly common and non-exceptional characters.

.    Maximalism: Disorganized, lengthy, highly detailed and writing.

.    Magical Realism: The introduction of impossible or unrealistic events into a narrative that is otherwise realistic.

.    Faction: The mixing of actual historical events with fictional events without clearly defining what is factual and what is fictional.

.    Reader Involvement: Often through direct address to the reader and the open acknowledgment of the fictional nature of the events being described.

.    Many critics and scholars find it best to define Postmodern literature against the popular literary style that came before it: Modernism. In many ways, Postmodern literary styles and ideas serve to dispute, reverse, mock and reject the principles of Modernist literature. For example, instead of following the standard Modernist literary quest for meaning in a chaotic world, Postmodern literature tends to eschew, often playfully, the very possibility of meaning. The Postmodern novel, story or poem is often presented as a parody of the Modernist literary quest for meaning.

Source: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/postmodernism-in-literature-definition-lesson-quiz.html#lesson