Post modernism in English literature

[4GS]

What are your views?

[China Doll]

That's kind of a general question love, did you have a particular genre of book or date span in mind or did you want comments on representations of modern life in literature in general?

[4GS]

Yeah, the last bit of what you said China
comments on representations of modern life in literature in general

It's for a friend who is doing a presentation at her Uni after Christmas and she's looking for ideas. The silly girl asked me, thinking I was clever, but my specialty area is history, or at a pinch Politics

[China Doll]

Ok.. well it depends where she wants to go with this... technically you could use Austen's portayal or urban and country life as well as middle classes (sort of just emerging around that time) and upper classes. You could compare Ben Jonsons representations of society with that of Shakespeares, both of whome were writing at the same time.. off the top of my head, Bartholmew (sp) Fair might be good.

In a similar vein Dracula has some great stuff in there about the western worlds fear of the influence of the eastern world at the time. Frankenstein was way ahead of its time with the idea of transplants but also the idea of who is and is not the monster in that book. Addresses some ideas of civilisation.

However if you want to get a bit more modern then what about looking at the influence of more I guess gritty would be a word literature... White Teeth? Zadie Smith.

Toni Morrisons Beloved explores some fantastic ideas of life after slavery and some possible psychological implications.

These are just vague ideas off the top of my head, any of that the sort of stuff you were thinking off? Basically modernisation in literature is by no means a new thing and some of the most outstanding authors explore modernisation in their day and age hence why I included some older stuff.

And as with anything the subjective experiences of the authors should be taken in to account... Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for example. Exploration of drug culture... And how they deal with their subjects will often depend on their own backgrounds and upbringing... it's kind of a study of history but with emotions attached, or at least that's the way I always looked at it.

[ruby27]

Are we talking modern or post modern

I know something and have views about postmodernist pyschotherapy and feminism, but know very little about where it sits with Eng Lit. Isn't post modernism the mid to latter part of the 20C. Its a philosphical theory.

[4GS]

China, you're a super-duper star!!

[China Doll]

Oh good... Glad my ramblings may have helped!

[4GS]

ruby27,
I've a DipHE in Psychotherapy + Hypnotherapy, but I don't know anything about postmodernist Psychotherapy, what's that then?

[Quinlad]

I always thought "post modernism" meant using email rather than the Royal Mail.

Are you saying I'm wrong, China??

[China Doll]

Absolutely Quin... It's actually Electronic Mail.

Any fool knows that.... ;0P

[China Doll]

Re-reads Quin's answer and takes herself off to a corner with the hat with the D on it

Doh!!

[dot.hawkes]

I studied post modernist literature at uni but we mainly looked at Maragaret Atwood (Canadian) and Kurt Vondergot (USA) thoiugh The French Lieutenants woman is very much of that genrem with the switch of time and place and character, who wrote that one were they English. Salman Rushdie is def,. post modern.

[brionon]

Modernise the Post Office by all means-but don't close 'em all .