Movement focus: postmodernist literature

First came modernist literature – but in the 1950s and 60s, postmodernist writing emerged as the next logical step on. Characterised by intertextuality and fragmentation, postmodernist writing often rejects meaning in favour of playfulness.

In opposition to the modernist search for meaning and purpose, anything that doesn’t take itself too seriously is likely to feature postmodernist themes. In a departure from the previous conventions, postmodernism emerged as a critique of the modernist technique it followed.

History of postmodernist writing

Following the atrocities of World War II, many authors struggled to contextualise meaning in the upturned and scarred society they found themselves in. With no other option, meaningless and fragmentation were celebrated – and the literary tradition was turned on its head.

Lauded as a type of writing which is more human than human, postmodern writing tends to ‘borrow’ from previously published literature so will include familiar themes, turns of phrase and other collected materials, as well as more human themes like vulgarity.

What is postmodernist writing?

Thought to be based on Marxist ideologies, postmodernism’s focus on meaningless and stark opposition to modernist techniques makes the reader focus and work hard to decipher any hidden deeper messages from the text: but often, this is the reader transposing their own meaning onto the text.

However, there are also texts which include so many meanings that renders the text threads utterly indecipherable. Described as self-reflexive, postmodernist novels center on the nature of fiction itself rather than any plot, setting or other aspect of it.

Key features of postmodernist writing

Postmodernist literature wholeheartedly champions randomness and disorder – and often, they rely on unreliable narrators or disjointed narratives to mix things up. Additionally, a sense of humour is often found in postmodernist writing: dark humour, irony, wordplay and sarcasm are methods to convolute a storyline.

Though modernist texts featured a degree of fragmentation, postmodernist texts really amp it up with experimental formats and significant fast-paced changes in character and setting. Again, metafiction and different points of view are also used to muddy the waters.

Examples of postmodernist writing

Postmodernist writing is a very fruitful movement and was a popular type of writing, especially at the time of its explosion onto the scene. Here are some more prominent examples: 

• Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett, the 1953 stageplay
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the 1969 novel
• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, the 1996 behemoth of a book
• The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot, the 1922 poem
• Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges, the 1941 short story

Postmodernist Caligula

This blog post was an experimental look into postmodernism, a fun and unexpected literary movement featuring randomness, unpredictability and the unexpected. It toys with ideas of meaninglessness through disordered text and untrustworthy narration.