Life in America: The Reagan Years, A Webography
Postmodern Fiction: A Very Short Introduction
The term "postmodern literature" is used to describe certain characteristics of post-World War II literature (relying heavily, for example, on fragmentation, paradox, questionable narrators, etc.) and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature.
Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature. However, unifying features often coincide with Jean-François Lyotard's concept of the "meta-narrative" and "little narrative," Jacques Derrida's concept of "play," and Jean Baudrillard's "simulacra." For example, instead of the modernist quest for meaning in a chaotic world, the postmodern author eschews, often playfully, the possibility of meaning, and the postmodern novel is often a parody of this quest.
This distrust of totalizing mechanisms extends even to the author and his own self-awareness; thus postmodern writers often celebrate chance over craft and employ metafiction to undermine the author's "univocation" (the existence of narrative primacy within a text, the presence of a single all-powerful storytelling authority). The distinction between high and low culture is also attacked with the employment of pastiche, the combination of multiple cultural elements including subjects and genres not previously deemed fit for literature. A list of postmodern authors often varies; the following are some names of authors often so classified, most of them belonging to the generation born in the interwar period: William Gaddis; William Burroughs; Alexander Trocchi; Kurt Vonnegut; John Barth; Donald Barthelme; E. L. Doctorow; Robert Coover; Jerzy Kosinski; Don DeLillo; Thomas Pynchon; Ishmael Reed; Kathy Acker; Paul Auster; Orhan Pamuk; and Haruki Murakami.
Source: "Postmodern Literature." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 20 Dec. 2010.
Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature. However, unifying features often coincide with Jean-François Lyotard's concept of the "meta-narrative" and "little narrative," Jacques Derrida's concept of "play," and Jean Baudrillard's "simulacra." For example, instead of the modernist quest for meaning in a chaotic world, the postmodern author eschews, often playfully, the possibility of meaning, and the postmodern novel is often a parody of this quest.
This distrust of totalizing mechanisms extends even to the author and his own self-awareness; thus postmodern writers often celebrate chance over craft and employ metafiction to undermine the author's "univocation" (the existence of narrative primacy within a text, the presence of a single all-powerful storytelling authority). The distinction between high and low culture is also attacked with the employment of pastiche, the combination of multiple cultural elements including subjects and genres not previously deemed fit for literature. A list of postmodern authors often varies; the following are some names of authors often so classified, most of them belonging to the generation born in the interwar period: William Gaddis; William Burroughs; Alexander Trocchi; Kurt Vonnegut; John Barth; Donald Barthelme; E. L. Doctorow; Robert Coover; Jerzy Kosinski; Don DeLillo; Thomas Pynchon; Ishmael Reed; Kathy Acker; Paul Auster; Orhan Pamuk; and Haruki Murakami.
Source: "Postmodern Literature." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 20 Dec. 2010.
Web Resources about Postmodern Fiction
National Association of Scholars
Score: 18
Summary: The National Association of Scholars (NAS) is “an independent membership association of academics working to foster intellectual freedom and to sustain the tradition of reasoned scholarship and civil debate in America’s colleges and universities.” The NAS serves as a type of “watchdog” for intellectual integrity in higher education and focuses on a number of issues facing colleges and universities, among which is “the post-modernist evisceration of the humanities.” In addition to providing information about joining the NAS, events, updates, and recommended common readings for higher education, the NAS website provides access to a large number of searchable, scholarly articles dealing with a wide variety topics, among which are postmodern ideas and their effects on and relationships with higher education systems. These articles offer insight into the significance of postmodern ideology that help one understand the forces at work within and behind postmodern fiction as a genre.
Evaluation: The executive board members of the NAS are presented with their credentials as well as contact information for the NAS. The authors of the individual articles are also identified by name and their credentials are provided. The very nature of the NAS as an organization that maintains intellectual integrity requires its website to be reputable. There are citations and bibliographies where necessary and the references and information is easy to navigate. The site has articles from when the NAS was first founded in 1987 through today, and it has been updated as recently as this year. The individual articles offer original, academic thoughts rooted in strong research, and it is easy to search the archives for a particular topic or date, making this a very helpful, creditable source.
Score: 18
Summary: The National Association of Scholars (NAS) is “an independent membership association of academics working to foster intellectual freedom and to sustain the tradition of reasoned scholarship and civil debate in America’s colleges and universities.” The NAS serves as a type of “watchdog” for intellectual integrity in higher education and focuses on a number of issues facing colleges and universities, among which is “the post-modernist evisceration of the humanities.” In addition to providing information about joining the NAS, events, updates, and recommended common readings for higher education, the NAS website provides access to a large number of searchable, scholarly articles dealing with a wide variety topics, among which are postmodern ideas and their effects on and relationships with higher education systems. These articles offer insight into the significance of postmodern ideology that help one understand the forces at work within and behind postmodern fiction as a genre.
Evaluation: The executive board members of the NAS are presented with their credentials as well as contact information for the NAS. The authors of the individual articles are also identified by name and their credentials are provided. The very nature of the NAS as an organization that maintains intellectual integrity requires its website to be reputable. There are citations and bibliographies where necessary and the references and information is easy to navigate. The site has articles from when the NAS was first founded in 1987 through today, and it has been updated as recently as this year. The individual articles offer original, academic thoughts rooted in strong research, and it is easy to search the archives for a particular topic or date, making this a very helpful, creditable source.
Project Muse
Score: 18
Summary: Project MUSE is a collaboration of publishers and libraries working to provide academic content to all scholars by “providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals.” The website offers a highly organized, searchable database of scholarly journal articles and reviews on a widespread variety of topics that are peer-reviewed for credibility and available in both PDF and HTML form. This site provides access to over six thousand articles referencing postmodern fiction, allowing the reader seeking information on everything from postmodern literature in the United States to the history of postmodern literature to find satisfying and reputable articles, reviews, and images.
Evaluation: Project MUSE full contact information for the website, as well as credentials of authors of individual articles. The publishers and journals it provides access to are also provided. It is sponsored by John Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Milton S. Eisenhower Library and is designed to support scholarly research. The site is maintained by university and library faculty. It was created in 1993 and has been updated as recently as last year. All articles are cited and organized with Library of Congress headings and links by subject, and each article includes a works cited section.
Score: 18
Summary: Project MUSE is a collaboration of publishers and libraries working to provide academic content to all scholars by “providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals.” The website offers a highly organized, searchable database of scholarly journal articles and reviews on a widespread variety of topics that are peer-reviewed for credibility and available in both PDF and HTML form. This site provides access to over six thousand articles referencing postmodern fiction, allowing the reader seeking information on everything from postmodern literature in the United States to the history of postmodern literature to find satisfying and reputable articles, reviews, and images.
Evaluation: Project MUSE full contact information for the website, as well as credentials of authors of individual articles. The publishers and journals it provides access to are also provided. It is sponsored by John Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Milton S. Eisenhower Library and is designed to support scholarly research. The site is maintained by university and library faculty. It was created in 1993 and has been updated as recently as last year. All articles are cited and organized with Library of Congress headings and links by subject, and each article includes a works cited section.
Postmodernism Facts, Information, Pictures: Encyclopedia.com
Score: 15
Summary: This site provides four different encyclopedia articles on postmodernism: the New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, the Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, and the Dictionary of American History. Each entry provides insight into the concept of postmodernism as a whole as well as focusing in on literature, art, policies, and characteristics of the postmodern movement. The site also provides links to further readings related to postmodernism in newspapers and magazines, images related to postmodernism, and videos about postmodernism from YouTube, creating an easy to use, unified site for all mediums of information.
Evaluation: While the authors are given for the articles, the contact information for them may not be complete in all cases. This is not a major concern due to the fact that they are encyclopedia articles, written to present factual information, and include detailed bibliographies. High Beam Research, the association that sponsors the site, is an online library for research assistance. Even though some of the articles on the site are more than three years old, the site itself has been updated as recently as 2011. The site offers links to a variety of scholarly research as well as an abundance of factual information. While there are a lot of ads on the webpage, it still provides access to reputable sources of information.
Score: 15
Summary: This site provides four different encyclopedia articles on postmodernism: the New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, the Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, and the Dictionary of American History. Each entry provides insight into the concept of postmodernism as a whole as well as focusing in on literature, art, policies, and characteristics of the postmodern movement. The site also provides links to further readings related to postmodernism in newspapers and magazines, images related to postmodernism, and videos about postmodernism from YouTube, creating an easy to use, unified site for all mediums of information.
Evaluation: While the authors are given for the articles, the contact information for them may not be complete in all cases. This is not a major concern due to the fact that they are encyclopedia articles, written to present factual information, and include detailed bibliographies. High Beam Research, the association that sponsors the site, is an online library for research assistance. Even though some of the articles on the site are more than three years old, the site itself has been updated as recently as 2011. The site offers links to a variety of scholarly research as well as an abundance of factual information. While there are a lot of ads on the webpage, it still provides access to reputable sources of information.
Postmodernism
Score: 14
Summary: Dr. Mary Klages’s explanation of postmodernism focuses on how the postmodern approach is different from the modernist approach to literature and art by first defining modernism. She then describes the ways in which the postmodern approach is similar to modernism (ie. both views focus on the fragmentation of the world) before explaining that the major difference is the light in which these focuses are viewed (ie. Postmodernism views the fragmentation of the world reflected in art and literature as positive, not negative). Next, she turns to “modernity” to explain the historical connotation of postmodern as a movement toward fragmentation, provisionality, performance, and instability before finally discussing the implications of postmodernism.
Evaluation: Dr. Mary Klages is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Because the page is supported by the University of Colorado at Boulder, it should offer dependable information. The domain of the URL is .edu and the sources are cited at the end of the article, making the information fairly credible. Although the article was last revised in 2003, it still provides original academic thought that gives one an increasingly clearer perception of postmodernism as it relates to literature and art. Since the site deals primarily with defining the terms, new discoveries do not replace its meaning but rather add to it, and it can be taken as still being relatively accurate in today’s world.
Score: 14
Summary: Dr. Mary Klages’s explanation of postmodernism focuses on how the postmodern approach is different from the modernist approach to literature and art by first defining modernism. She then describes the ways in which the postmodern approach is similar to modernism (ie. both views focus on the fragmentation of the world) before explaining that the major difference is the light in which these focuses are viewed (ie. Postmodernism views the fragmentation of the world reflected in art and literature as positive, not negative). Next, she turns to “modernity” to explain the historical connotation of postmodern as a movement toward fragmentation, provisionality, performance, and instability before finally discussing the implications of postmodernism.
Evaluation: Dr. Mary Klages is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Because the page is supported by the University of Colorado at Boulder, it should offer dependable information. The domain of the URL is .edu and the sources are cited at the end of the article, making the information fairly credible. Although the article was last revised in 2003, it still provides original academic thought that gives one an increasingly clearer perception of postmodernism as it relates to literature and art. Since the site deals primarily with defining the terms, new discoveries do not replace its meaning but rather add to it, and it can be taken as still being relatively accurate in today’s world.
The Postmodern Programme at Sixth Avenue
Score: 14
Summary: Richter uses a multitude of links on his site to show the connections between his studies of postmodernism. His links provide a map of his thought process and essentially reflect the fragmentation of postmodern thought itself as he ties in a bibliography of books and articles about postmodernism complete with notes and quotations, websites that reference postmodernism, and his own writing dialogues and essays on postmodern topics. The site provides an overwhelming amount of information on postmodernism as applies to everything from fiction to philosophy and displays the information through a variety of clever formats such as “The Ten Commandments of the Postmodern.”
Evaluation: Richard Richter is the president of Ursinus College, and his complete contact information is provided, contributing to the website’s credibility. While it is more than ten years old, it still provides a good perspective on postmodern thought from a variety of angles. The information is clearly cited and linked to the original sources wherever possible, and while it is not representative of Ursinus College’s views, it is a part of the Ursinus College website (therefore the domain of the URL is .edu). The site offers some factual information, but its primary purpose is to draw connections between various sources and synthesize a multitude of ideas about postmodernism, making it a legitimate academic source.
Score: 14
Summary: Richter uses a multitude of links on his site to show the connections between his studies of postmodernism. His links provide a map of his thought process and essentially reflect the fragmentation of postmodern thought itself as he ties in a bibliography of books and articles about postmodernism complete with notes and quotations, websites that reference postmodernism, and his own writing dialogues and essays on postmodern topics. The site provides an overwhelming amount of information on postmodernism as applies to everything from fiction to philosophy and displays the information through a variety of clever formats such as “The Ten Commandments of the Postmodern.”
Evaluation: Richard Richter is the president of Ursinus College, and his complete contact information is provided, contributing to the website’s credibility. While it is more than ten years old, it still provides a good perspective on postmodern thought from a variety of angles. The information is clearly cited and linked to the original sources wherever possible, and while it is not representative of Ursinus College’s views, it is a part of the Ursinus College website (therefore the domain of the URL is .edu). The site offers some factual information, but its primary purpose is to draw connections between various sources and synthesize a multitude of ideas about postmodernism, making it a legitimate academic source.
Allegories of Immersion: Virtual Narration in Postmodern Fiction
Score: 13
Summary: Ryan’s article “Allegories of Immersion: Virtual Narration in Postmodern Fiction” considers how “virtual” narration can play a role in the overall development of postmodern fiction. She uses the term “virtual” very loosely to refer to that which exists beyond physical reality and that which there is potential for. The article argues that virtual narration is not only a legitimate method of narrating literature, but that is an effective method, which should be taken advantage of, especially concerning the postmodern. As she explains the various aspects and functions of this virtual narration, it is clear that it allows the form of the narration to reflect the postmodern ideology of a text by exposing the artificiality of it. This matching of form to function allows the reader to gain an understanding of how postmodern fiction can have concrete reflections.
Evaluation: While Ryan is identified by name only without complete credentials, the article is from Style, which is a scholarly journal “published quarterly by Northern Illinois University that examines the aesthetics, poetics, stylistics, and interpretation of film and literature.” The sources are cited in a bibliography and extensive notes following the article. While the article was written in 1995, literary style endures in its uses even if interpretations change, and the article’s value is in its original perspective on virtual narration in relation to postmodern fiction at that particular time. While there are a lot of ads on the site, the access to the article is through the CBS interactive business network and the full original article is provided.
Score: 13
Summary: Ryan’s article “Allegories of Immersion: Virtual Narration in Postmodern Fiction” considers how “virtual” narration can play a role in the overall development of postmodern fiction. She uses the term “virtual” very loosely to refer to that which exists beyond physical reality and that which there is potential for. The article argues that virtual narration is not only a legitimate method of narrating literature, but that is an effective method, which should be taken advantage of, especially concerning the postmodern. As she explains the various aspects and functions of this virtual narration, it is clear that it allows the form of the narration to reflect the postmodern ideology of a text by exposing the artificiality of it. This matching of form to function allows the reader to gain an understanding of how postmodern fiction can have concrete reflections.
Evaluation: While Ryan is identified by name only without complete credentials, the article is from Style, which is a scholarly journal “published quarterly by Northern Illinois University that examines the aesthetics, poetics, stylistics, and interpretation of film and literature.” The sources are cited in a bibliography and extensive notes following the article. While the article was written in 1995, literary style endures in its uses even if interpretations change, and the article’s value is in its original perspective on virtual narration in relation to postmodern fiction at that particular time. While there are a lot of ads on the site, the access to the article is through the CBS interactive business network and the full original article is provided.
Paul Auster's Postmodernist Fiction: Deconstructing Aristotle's "Poetics"
Score: 13
Summary: Nikolic examines Paul Auster’s postmodern fiction by evaluating it in terms of story, character, and meaning. She focuses on how Aristotelian logic cannot be applied to his postmodern fiction because it is so disjointed, without a linear plot. She supplies widespread information about both Aristotle’s theories and Auster’s actual works of fiction before synthesizing how the postmodern fiction cannot be explained by the theories of logic, emphasizing postmodern fiction’s departure from definable reality. She concludes that Auster’s works, keeping with postmodern literature, reflect the fragmentation of language and do not end with closure or the eventual delivery of a message.
Evaluation: Dragana Nikolic wrote this thesis on Paul Auster as her Master’s dissertation at for her masters at the Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. It serves the clear purpose of using scholarly research to support her original thoughts on the postmodern fiction of Paul Auster. The resources are cited through footnotes ate the end of the text. The resource is from a website dedicated to exploring Paul Auster’s life and work in association with Amazon.com. While Nikolic’s dissertation is from 1998, the analysis of Auster’s fiction expressed within it is still a valid source of understanding of postmodern fiction through examples, especially in combination with the detailed explanation of Aristotle’s poetic theory.
Score: 13
Summary: Nikolic examines Paul Auster’s postmodern fiction by evaluating it in terms of story, character, and meaning. She focuses on how Aristotelian logic cannot be applied to his postmodern fiction because it is so disjointed, without a linear plot. She supplies widespread information about both Aristotle’s theories and Auster’s actual works of fiction before synthesizing how the postmodern fiction cannot be explained by the theories of logic, emphasizing postmodern fiction’s departure from definable reality. She concludes that Auster’s works, keeping with postmodern literature, reflect the fragmentation of language and do not end with closure or the eventual delivery of a message.
Evaluation: Dragana Nikolic wrote this thesis on Paul Auster as her Master’s dissertation at for her masters at the Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. It serves the clear purpose of using scholarly research to support her original thoughts on the postmodern fiction of Paul Auster. The resources are cited through footnotes ate the end of the text. The resource is from a website dedicated to exploring Paul Auster’s life and work in association with Amazon.com. While Nikolic’s dissertation is from 1998, the analysis of Auster’s fiction expressed within it is still a valid source of understanding of postmodern fiction through examples, especially in combination with the detailed explanation of Aristotle’s poetic theory.
All About Worldview
Score: 13
Summary: This site offers information about a variety of different “worldviews,” or “presuppositions that influence our outlook on life,” comparable to a lens one perceives the world though. One of these worldviews is the postmodern worldview. The article on postmodernism as a general worldview focuses on the implications of holding a postmodern worldview, while the sub articles under “Postmodern Worldview” focus more specifically on a single area of postmodern thought, allowing the reader to apply the concepts of postmodernism to a variety of fields and gain a deeper understanding of its breadth.
Evaluation: While the contact information and credentials are not complete for all of the contributing authors, the sources used are cited in a bibliography following each individual article. The site has also been updated as recently as within the last year. Although All About Worldview is somewhat unknown and seems to be a Christian organization, the articles are primarily factual representations of the different ways to view the world (some of which stem from religion) with minimum bias. The site also links referenced articles together for easy comparison of ideology.
Score: 13
Summary: This site offers information about a variety of different “worldviews,” or “presuppositions that influence our outlook on life,” comparable to a lens one perceives the world though. One of these worldviews is the postmodern worldview. The article on postmodernism as a general worldview focuses on the implications of holding a postmodern worldview, while the sub articles under “Postmodern Worldview” focus more specifically on a single area of postmodern thought, allowing the reader to apply the concepts of postmodernism to a variety of fields and gain a deeper understanding of its breadth.
Evaluation: While the contact information and credentials are not complete for all of the contributing authors, the sources used are cited in a bibliography following each individual article. The site has also been updated as recently as within the last year. Although All About Worldview is somewhat unknown and seems to be a Christian organization, the articles are primarily factual representations of the different ways to view the world (some of which stem from religion) with minimum bias. The site also links referenced articles together for easy comparison of ideology.
Postmodern Fiction
Score: 11
Summary: This PDF from the Johnson County Library (Overland Park, Kasas) defines postmodern fiction as “contemporary fiction that uses irony, playfulness, and literary borrowing to explore themes of city life, pop culture, technology, and, often, the writing of fiction itself.” It then provides a list of twenty-nine works considered to be “postmodern fiction” with brief one to two sentence synopses. The synopses merely set the scene of the books without giving away the plot, both to make one want to read the actual book and because by the very nature of postmodern literature, the plot is often nonlinear and difficult to explain. The site also includes a link back to the library’s homepage to search for the call number of book or another genre of literature.
Evaluation: While there is no named specific author if the website, it was created by the Johnson County Library, a well-known authority in regards to literature. The information is not clearly sited, but a lot of it can be considered common knowledge of anyone who has read the work in question. The main function of the site is to assist the reader in choosing a work of postmodern fiction, but this allows one to gather concrete examples of postmodern fiction that work with the definition. The definition itself offers a more concise and definite way of classifying postmodern fiction than most sources are able to provide. Finally, the site was published relatively recently in 2008.
Score: 11
Summary: This PDF from the Johnson County Library (Overland Park, Kasas) defines postmodern fiction as “contemporary fiction that uses irony, playfulness, and literary borrowing to explore themes of city life, pop culture, technology, and, often, the writing of fiction itself.” It then provides a list of twenty-nine works considered to be “postmodern fiction” with brief one to two sentence synopses. The synopses merely set the scene of the books without giving away the plot, both to make one want to read the actual book and because by the very nature of postmodern literature, the plot is often nonlinear and difficult to explain. The site also includes a link back to the library’s homepage to search for the call number of book or another genre of literature.
Evaluation: While there is no named specific author if the website, it was created by the Johnson County Library, a well-known authority in regards to literature. The information is not clearly sited, but a lot of it can be considered common knowledge of anyone who has read the work in question. The main function of the site is to assist the reader in choosing a work of postmodern fiction, but this allows one to gather concrete examples of postmodern fiction that work with the definition. The definition itself offers a more concise and definite way of classifying postmodern fiction than most sources are able to provide. Finally, the site was published relatively recently in 2008.
Glossary Definition: Postmodernism
Score: 11
Summary: This site offers a brief explanation of postmodernism as applied to “literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism.” It defines postmodernism as “a reaction” to assumed certainties about realities and explains its skeptical approach to universal theories, emphasizing its dependence on interpretation of the world to find reality. It also explains postmodernism as valuing concrete experience. The definition continues on to explain the composition of the word and finally brings up the impossibility of giving the term a single concrete meaning based on the concept of postmodernism itself.
Evaluation: While there is no author provided, PBS is a reputable organization that aims to provide educational programming to the masses as “America’s largest classroom.” There is no date provided for the glossary definition, but while the connotations of words may change over time, the actual denotations remain fairly constant. The information links back to the glossary home page and the information is a factual definition of postmodernism free from personal bias. This definition is valuable to the reader because it allows him or her to gain and understanding of what postmodern means before trying to apply it to fiction and its implications.
Score: 11
Summary: This site offers a brief explanation of postmodernism as applied to “literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism.” It defines postmodernism as “a reaction” to assumed certainties about realities and explains its skeptical approach to universal theories, emphasizing its dependence on interpretation of the world to find reality. It also explains postmodernism as valuing concrete experience. The definition continues on to explain the composition of the word and finally brings up the impossibility of giving the term a single concrete meaning based on the concept of postmodernism itself.
Evaluation: While there is no author provided, PBS is a reputable organization that aims to provide educational programming to the masses as “America’s largest classroom.” There is no date provided for the glossary definition, but while the connotations of words may change over time, the actual denotations remain fairly constant. The information links back to the glossary home page and the information is a factual definition of postmodernism free from personal bias. This definition is valuable to the reader because it allows him or her to gain and understanding of what postmodern means before trying to apply it to fiction and its implications.
Content created by Angela Goodhart.
