WW1— “the war to end all wars.” President Woodrow Wilson

Except, as we know, it wasn’t

“Postmodernism rose like a Phoenix from the ashes of Hiroshima.” Larry Wall While the modern-era authors attempted to discover meaning in a chaotic

world (a belief that transcendent truth--truth with a capital “T” is still out there--the postmodern author rejects, often playfully, the possibility of meaning, and postmodern fiction is often a parody* of this quest.

Modern science Mad science Brave military commander War monger Romantic western hero Anti-hero

Kurt Vonnegut 1922-2007 •American author whose life and art reflects postmodernism (though he shied away from the term himself) •He was a POW in Dresden during WWII when the allied forces dropped 16,000 lbs. of high explosives on the city full of civilians while the nearby military garrison was never targeted. •He used the experience as the backdrop for his most famous novel, Slaughterhouse Five. •The bleakly ironic refrain of the novel--“so it goes”-- is a classic example of postmodern, ironic understatement. I will use quotes from Vonnegut to illustrate the main literary devices of postmodern/contemporary fiction.

Pastiche Pastiche means “pasted together” or “hodge-podge.” Postmodernist expression is often a lot of different pieces, multiple-genres, cultural references, etc. EXAMPLES:

•Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill is a pastiche of Kung Fu movies, spaghetti westerns and blaxsplotation films for the 70’s. •“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen is a pastiche of ballad, heavy metal, opera and Gilbert and Sullivan musicals. •Community will often create pastiche of various genre. Memorable on was “Fist Full of Paintballs.” •Pastiche reflects the oversaturation of input in the information age.

“Like so many Americans, she was trying to paste together a life that made sense from things she bought in gift shops. “ Vonnegut

Irony, playfulness and dark humor Postmodernism can be characterized by the ironic quote marks people make with their fingers. Postmodern ideas can be tongue-in-cheek and deadly serious at the same time. EXAMPLES:

•Pulp Fiction’s famous “Royale with Cheese” conversation that takes place while two dress-suited hit men are on their way to execute a bagman for their gangster boss. On the way up the stairs to commit murder they discuss whether giving a man’s wife a foot massage constitutes adulterous behavior. •Juno when a comically geeky abortion protester changes Juno’s mind with a random thought. “Your baby has fingernails.” A very serious moment nestled in a bed of irony.

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” Vonnegut

Magical Realism Magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in otherwise realistic

settings with no explanation, fusing external human existence with the running internal monologue, blending objective reality with psychological reality. Events are given meaning by the thoughts, dreams, imagination, and mythologies of individuals or cultures. EXAMPLES:

•Scrubs’ fantasy scenarios reflect the inner reality of the characters •In Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, magic, myth and terrible reality are seamlessly blended in the experience of a young girl who is “called” to save her baby brother from a horrible destiny. •Inception’s dream within a dream within a dream, creating competing echoes of each character’s reality

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” Vonnegut

Temporal distortion or leaps in time Fragmentation and non-linear narratives are central features in both

modern and postmodern literature. Temporal distortion in postmodern fiction is used in a variety of ways, often for the sake of irony or to unhinge the predictable cause and effect relationship. Vonnegut uses the “unstuck in time” device often. EXAMPLES:

•Memento •In 500 Days of Summer •Lost

“All time is all the time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is.” Vonnegut

Medium is the message/technology and hyper-reality Postmodernist lit emerged from the information age. In post-modernity people are inundated with information and jaded by technology, though it has become a central focus in many lives, and our understanding of the real is mediated by distortions of the real—video games, CGI, virtual reality, reality television. EXAMPLES:

•Social networking (“Social networking is to real socializing what reality television is to reality.” Aaron Sorkin) •WII sports •Real Housewives of Everywhere, The Bachelor •Mockumentaries and scripted reality

“One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us. ” Vonnegut

“Contemporary novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex.” Vonnegut

“Reality used to validate media. Now media validates reality. If you don't believe me, just think how many times you've described some actual event as being 'just like a movie.‘” Vonnegut

Artificiality of fiction/Meta-fiction Meta-fiction is making the artificiality of art or the fictionality of fiction apparent to the reader. The author generally ignores the need for a “willful suspension of disbelief,” once taught as a staple of fiction writing. It is often employed to cast doubt on the authority of the author, to reveal unexpected narrative shifts, to advance a story in a unique way, to create emotional distance, or to comment on the limitations of storytelling. EXAMPLES:

•How I Met Your Mother (Unreliable narrator) •Stranger Than Fiction (Will Farrell) A “real” man discovers he is a fictional creation and goes in search of his author to change his destiny. •The Narrator and Tyler Durden (a split personality without psycho-pathology) in The Fight Club.

“Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae. ” Vonnegut

Paranoia/Despair/Irrational Hope Postmodernism rejects the idea that anyone can make sense of the chaos. Some characters offer completely illogical and sometimes insane explanations for their problems. Fear, uncertainty, despair are the negative aspects of PM. Acceptance of ambiguity, living for the moment, irrational hope in old truths (love, kindness, self sacrifice, courage) are the positive aspects. EXAMPLES:

•Jack Black’s slacker persona (positive acceptance of the chaos) •Hannibal Lecter (SOTL) and Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) respond to the chaos with insanity and become a heroes to some and psychotic killer to other) •Holy Fools—embrace contradiction and absurdity, live by simple hope and love despite circumstances (Forrest Gump, The Big Lebowski, Paul Rudd in Our Idiot Brother

“The purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” Vonnegut

“All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental.” Vonnegut

"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.’” Vonnegut

Digression and Elaboration of Detail In postmodern writing digression, reference, and elaboration of detail occupy a greater amount of space in the text and can often overwhelm the narrative of the story. The postmodern storyteller, however, would ask “who can judge whether the actuality of one’s experience is more pertinent to a story than a digression.” Many of the most meaningful elements in one’s life may appear as digression to others. EXAMPLES:

•Woody Allen movies •Citizen Kane “Rosebud.” •Anything by Quentin Tarantino

“Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.” Vonnegut