What is postmodernism? Or perhaps we should ask, what was postmodernism?

Many critics use “postmodernity” to describe a historical period that emerged sometime after 1945 (starting dates vary). In this account, postmodernity is an era marked by transformations in political economy (transnational capitalism, a growing service sector, neoliberalism), in cultural forms (aesthetic pastiche, metafiction, intertextuality), and in critical theory (post-structuralism, deconstruction, anti-essentialism). But this period also saw the rise of major anti-colonial resistance, civil rights and race radical struggles, and feminist and gay/lesbian/queer social movements, conditions that are not always addressed in the concept of “postmodernity.” In more recent years, struggles over globalization, migration, and mass incarceration have revealed the connections between broader political economic change and struggles for race, gender, and sexual liberation. And yet these recent years are not always considered “postmodern.” Instead, since the 1990s critics have not always been clear if we are still in living in the condition of postmodernity or if we have entered some other, brave new era.

This class will ask explore the historical conditions of postmodernity through the lens of literary fiction. Despite the description above, which sounds like we will focus primarily on historical summaries of the broader period, we will spend the majority of our class time reading 6-7 very difficult novels very closely and carefully. This class is a chance to hone your analysis of literary language in a context that is historically and politically rich. The stakes of these novels are high – they participate in efforts to shape the meaning of history and politics, but they do so in ways that are aesthetically challenging and formally … well, complicated. Interesting. So while we will read some short historical pieces and some short theoretical pieces to help situate us in the broader period, we will focus primarily on reading “postmodern” and “post-postmodern” novels and figuring out whether these critical terms illuminate or mystify the major struggles and possibilities of the period.

Required Texts:

Thomas Pynchon, Crying of Lot 49 (1966)
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1977)
Don Delillo, White Noise (1985)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters (1990)
Rabih Alemaddine, Koolaids: The Art of War (1998)
Junot Diaz, Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)