Postmodern Literature Essays (Examples)

217+ documents containing “postmodern literature”.
Sort By:
By Keywords
Reset Filters

Example Essays

Essay
Postmodern Literature Final in Terms of the
Pages: 3 Words: 1121

Postmodern Literature Final
In terms of the use of experimental techniques in the assigned readings this semester, I think I would judge Vonnegut to be the best and Ishmael Reed to be the worst. The simple criterion here is accessibility. There is no reason why experimental writing should be difficult or a chore to read. The constant emphasis on a surface level of linguistic novelty in Ishmael Reed makes the actual reading experience difficult. For example, we might consider a sentence like "A place without gurus monarchs leaders cops tax collectors jails matriarchs patriarchs and all the other galoots who in cahoots have made the earth a pile of human bones under the feet of wolves." This is the narrator's description of the town of Yellow Back Radio (itself already a frustratingly unrealistic name for a town) and the experimental quality of the sentence here gets in the way of apprehending…...

mla

Works Cited

Gilb, Dagoberto. "please thank you."

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown."

Lorde, Audre. Zami.

Reed, Ishmael. Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down.

Essay
Mode Postmodern Literature Two Examples
Pages: 6 Words: 1734

The second half, entitled "Airborne Toxic Event, however, serves the role of criticizing the reality of American society and the result of its obsession with consumerism. In the second half, a chemical spill releases a mysterious airborne toxic event over Jack's home area, requiring everyone to evacuate. This event forces Jack to confront his own mortality and society's general fear of death and how it attempts to prevent death through chemical cures which in fact may ultimately cause death. In the book, Jack actually buys Dylar, a drug that promises to cure the fear of death.
Even the title White Noise is symbolic of the distortion of the truth and the end of the American Dream. It summarizes the novel's message that such obsessions as consumerism, media saturation, faux intellectualism, conspiracies have all led to the disintegration of American society by making it impossible for an individual to discover their…...

mla

Bibliography

Bartes, Roland. The Death of the Author. 1977.

DeLillo, Don. White Noise. New York: Penguin Group, 1986.

Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas, New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 1998.

Essay
Romantic Modern and Postmodern Literature
Pages: 4 Words: 1607

" (Hendricks) Truth and culture are therefore seen to be created and destroyed by others for their own ends.
In conclusion, the three literary works discussed above are in many respects very different but also indicate certain continuities of intention and discourse between romanticism, modernism and postmodernism. What links them all is the search for reality and truth that exists beneath the facade of everyday life and reality. As we progress from the romantics to modernism we find that the literature becomes more open to the interrogation and questioning of certain suppositions. The acceptance of human nature as innately good is put into doubt by the modernist view of the contemporary wasteland which we find in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. This doubt and questioning is extended in postmodernism, and in Things Fall Apart, where all assumptions about the underlying order and certainty of existence are disturbed and "…the center cannot hold."

ibliography

Abrams,…...

mla

Bibliography

Abrams, et al., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th edition. Vol 2. New

York: Norton, 2000

Chapter 5 - Modernism and the Subject. April 19, 2009.

Essay
Postmodern Book Proposal Colson Whitehead's John Henry
Pages: 2 Words: 664

Postmodern Book: Proposal
Colson hitehead's John Henry Days explores the relationship between fact and fiction with a postmodern narrative structure. One of the characteristics of postmodernism is the way in which it destabilizes what constitutes 'the known.' John Henry, according to American legend, was an African-American man who challenged a steel engine in a contest of who could work the hardest. Henry won, but died in the attempt. The saga of Henry is paralleled with that of a contemporary, young African-American journalist named J. Sutter, who seems to be everything the Henry of legend was not. Sutter is a dilettante journalist who puts little effort into anything, other than finagling free food at press events. However, like Henry, he is struggling with the changes in his profession in the new technological revolution.

The novel fluidly draws associations between the mythic past and present. Just as Henry's era struggled in terms of its…...

mla

Work Cited

Whitehead, Colson. John Henry Days. New York: Anchor, 2009.

Essay
Postmodern the Term 'Post Modernism' Has Emerged
Pages: 7 Words: 3000

Postmodern
The term 'Post modernism' has emerged as a real area of academic study only from the middle of the 1980's onwards. It is a complicated and a complex term, quite difficult to define exactly, and the reason for this is the fact that the term post modernism appears not only in art but also in various other forms of functioning like for example, in architecture, sociology, in literature, in the sciences, and in fashions, and in technology as well. It can even be stated that it is not very clear when exactly post modernism begins. Some researchers opine that the best way to start thinking about post modernism is by starting with modernism, and this is the movement from which the subsequent post modernism movement has stemmed. Modernism has two important facets, both of which must be understood clearly before beginning the attempt to understand post modernism. (Postmodernism)

Therefore, one must…...

mla

References

Art History, postmodernism. Retrieved From

  Accessed 25 October, 2005http://wwar.com/masters/movements/postmodernism.html 

Art: 21-Laylah Ali. Retrieved From

  Accessed 26 October, 2005http://www.pbs.org/art21/slideshow/?artist=79 

Essay
Postmodern Philosophy Philosophers Over the
Pages: 7 Words: 1980


Jean-Francois Lyotard (the Postmodern condition: A Knowledge eport 1979) describes postmodernism in the context of nature of social bond. He argues that due to the advent of the technology and with the invention of computer, information has been more restricted in the form of procedures and program. According to him some one must have access to all the information to check whether the decisions are madder correctly. He discuss in this paper about the language games which are gaining importance day by day as the communication is becoming so prominent and efficient. We can see the connecting point between Lyotard and Kuhn as well as Popper which also agree that truth is language dependent and textual interpretation vary from person to person so whole truth of knowledge is not absolutely conveyed.

PESONAL EACTION and CITIQUE:

Postmodernism seems to be overwhelmingly push everything into vagueness. The only thing according to postmodernism which is…...

mla

REFERENCE:

1-Dr. Dave Teague: Introduction to postmodern philosophy: Postmodern preaching

 http://www.postmodernpreaching.net/philosophy.htm 

2-Geoff Haselhurst (May, 2005): Philosophy Karl Popper: Discussion Popper's Problem of Induction.  http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Karl-Popper.htm 

3- Gary Aylesworth First published Fri 30 Sep, 2005: Postmodernism:Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/#8

Essay
Gravity's Rainbow and Other Cold War Literature and Film
Pages: 8 Words: 2703

Cold War dominated American culture, consciousness, politics and policy for most of the 20th century. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which symbolized the fall of the Iron Curtain and therefore finale of the Cold War, Cold War rhetoric and politics continued especially in the War on Terror. Depictions of the Cold War in American literature and film parallel the changes that took place in American ways of thinking about its own domestic policies as well as American perceptions of the alien enemy or "Other." Tracing the evolution of American film and literature from the end of World War Two until the 1980s reveals trends in thought. Early depictions of the Cold War were modernist in their approach, with clear distinctions between good and evil and no moral ambiguity whatsoever. Clear delineations between right/wrong and good/evil prevailed, a form of political propaganda and even brainwashing that prepped…...

mla

References

Booker, K.M. (2001). Monsters, Mushroom Clouds, and the Cold War. Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Comyn, J. (2014). "V2 to Bomarc: Reading Gravity's Rainbow in Context." Orbit 2(2). Retrieved online: https://www.pynchon.net/owap/article/view/62/174

Hamill, J. (1999). Confronting the Monolith: Authority and the Cold War in Gravity's Rainbow. Journal of American Studies 33(3): 417-436.

Jarvis, C. (n.d.). The Vietnamization of World War II in Slaughterhouse Five and Gravity's Rainbow. Retrieved online:  http://www.wlajournal.com/15_1-2/jarvis%2095-117.pdf

Essay
Postmodern and Family System Theory Approach
Pages: 7 Words: 2262

Counselling Theories
Postmodern and Family System Theory Approach

There have been significant interest in research on the problems of addiction; hence, the many scientific studies on the issue. Many of the studies in this area end up with the same conclusions; the concept of addiction is complicated. The complexity partly arises from the effect it has on the drug abuser from different perspectives such as psychological, social, biological, and the impacts of addiction on social law, economics and politics. On the other hand, psychologists perceive drug addiction as a disease. From a religious worldview, addiction is a sin. Therefore, it is possible to view addiction from a medical, behavioral, and spiritual angle. As stated, the concept of addiction is complex, and there are many definitions of addiction reflecting the complexity of the phenomenon (Sremac, 2010).

Notably, all the definitions of addiction portray a negative judgment on addiction, but owing to the complexity of…...

mla

References

Caldwell, K., & Claxton, C. (2010). Teaching Family Systems Theory: A Developmental-

Constructivist Perspective. Contemporary Family Therapy, 32(1), 3-21.

Gruber, K.J., & Taylor, M.F. (2006). A Family Perspective for Substance Abuse: Implications

from the Literature. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 6(1), 1 -- 29.

Essay
Postmodern Fiction
Pages: 3 Words: 1075

Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson [...] importance of trees in the novel. While this novel chronicles the life of Isobel Fairfax, trees form the very roots of the novel, just as they form the root of all existence. Trees endure long after people have lived and died, as this novel clearly shows. Trees have also played a vital role in life since the very beginnings of time, as this novel illustrates. Trees are as much a part of life as breathing, and in this novel, they form the setting for some magical circumstances and fairy-tale qualities.
Throughout this quirky novel, the author refers to trees, and the importance they play in our lives. In fact, she even equates the heroine, Isobel, to a tree. She writes, "My body a trunk, my feet taproots, my toes probing like pale little moles through the dark soil. My head a crown of leaves…...

mla

References

Atkinson, Kate. Human Croquet. New York: Picador USA, 1997.

Essay
Pervasive Philosophies Behind Many Postmodern Forms of
Pages: 5 Words: 1603

pervasive philosophies behind many postmodern forms of art and literature is the idea that human identities are defined more by their social circumstances than by any universal truths. The human is not a self-sufficient entity, but is built through social conventions. This notion reveals itself in the transitional postmodern works by Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov -- specifically, in Lolita and aiting for Godot. Humbert is continually attempting to reconcile his life as a suave intellectual with his hidden life as a pedophilic rapist. One way in which he does this is to call himself a "therapist"; which is an acceptable label for one of his faces, but also identifies him more subtly as "the rapist." This duel nature reflects the social limitations imposed upon his freedom, and the consequences they have for both his identity and his actions. Vladimir and Estragon encounter a different aspect of this philosophy:…...

mla

Works Cited:

1. Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. New York: Grove Press, 1982.

2. Lock, John. "Of Identity and Diversity." An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. New York: Penguin Classics, 1994.

3. Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Vintage Books, 1955.

Essay
Combination of Modern and Postmodern Bereavement Theory Explain and Contrast
Pages: 15 Words: 5009

Postmodern Bereavement Theory
Bereavement is a universal observable fact as every human being experiences the loss of a loved one at some point in his/her life. However, every individual experiences it in a unique way. It is, without a doubt, an undeniable truth that to be human is to grieve. The passing away of a loved one can be difficult, irresistible and dreadful for any normal individual. When people are faced with such overwhelming situations, a majority of them especially the older adults get into the habit of enduring their loss with time. On the other hand, to forget and live without a loved one is not as easy for some individuals. It becomes difficult for these people to cope up with the grief-stricken situations as they experience a grief of greater concentration or time (Hansson & Stroebe, 2007). There are a number of theorists who have put forwarded their…...

mla

References

Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L.M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test o f a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(2), 226-244. Retrieved from http://www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/bartholomew/attachmentpub_files/bh1991.pdf

Bonanno, G.A., Keltner, D., Holen, A., & Horowitz, M.J. (1995). When avoiding unpleasant emotions might not be such a bad thing: Verbal-autonomic response dissociation and midlife conjugal bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,

69(5), 975-989.

Dent, A. (2005). Supporting the Bereaved: Theory and Practice. Counselling at Work, 22-23. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from http://www.bacpworkplace.org.uk/journal_pdf/acw_autumn05_ann.pdf

Essay
romantic era poems and literature
Pages: 4 Words: 1347

1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge relies on rich multisensory imagery to achieve poetic goals in “Kubla Khan.” The sensory imagery Coleridge uses anchors the poem within the genre of Romanticism, as the poet evokes an idealized past based on the descriptions of the mythic Xanadu. Phrases like “stately pleasure-dome” (Stanza 1, line 2) also add evocative sexual imagery that coincides well with the imagery of the splendor of the natural world, with lines like “deep romantic chasm,” (Stanza 2, line 1). In “Kubla Khan,” Coleridge uses multisensory imagery to juxtapose light and darkness, femininity and masculinity, civilization and savagery, to induce a dreamlike effect.
In keeping with the Romantic era tropes, Coleridge relies heavily on nature imagery. Each stanza is filled with references to nature, such as the “incense-bearing tree,” and the “sunless sea,” in Stanza 1. Stanza 2 continues to evolve the imagery of the natural world, only now Coleridge takes…...

Essay
Feminist Therapy and Postmodern Approaches
Pages: 4 Words: 1662

A teen might be asked to tell their own story from the point-of-view of other people they know, looking at themselves from other viewpoints. These clients are freed to invent stories and play parts in that serve the purpose of providing a framework of meaning and direction for themselves. The stories are never singled out as "true" or "false," but a recognition that truth is complex and no one story can encompass all of the truth aids the client in seeing him or herself as a complex and meaningful role-player. And in that context, since one story may not be claimed to be the whole truth, no one story may not dominate a person's life. Life, to the client and narrator of these "stories" becomes an adventure in which trials are meant to be overcome and designed to prepare one for the future, rather than to defeat. The religious…...

mla

References

Brown, Laura S. Feminist Therapy, Part of the Systems of Psychotherapy, APA Psychotherapy Video Series (2006)

Brown, L.S. (1994). Subversive dialogues: Theory in feminist therapy. New York: Basic Books.

Bruner, J. (1986) Actual Minds, Possible Worlds, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Dutton-Douglas, M.A., & Walker, L.E.A. (Eds.). (1988). Feminist psychotherapies: Integration of therapeutic and feminist systems. Norwood NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Essay
Music Art and Literature
Pages: 4 Words: 1227

Music, Art, Literature Trends
From impressionism to pop art, jazz to hip hop, science fiction to beat poetry, artistic, musical, and literary expressions have varied considerably between 1870 and 2005. The period between the end of the nineteenth century to the current day can be generally described as the modern and postmodern eras. The beginning of the modern era, during the final decades of the nineteenth century, coincided with the Industrial evolution. Along with fascination with modern technology and optimism for the future came simultaneous disillusionment. However, modern technological advancements have made such widespread creativity possible. Social and political trends have also influenced creative endeavors, and vice-versa. Art, music, and literature are more accessible and more possible to create than they ever were in the past. The modern era has been characterized by an overall flourishing of the expressive arts, but some trends have a more lasting significance than others. For…...

mla

Rock music became more than just a musical trend; it also characterized the rise of the teenage culture, symbolized rebellion, and influenced political and social attitudes. Furthermore, rock and roll remains a viable creative endeavor today, and is also internationally popular, which is why the trend is so important. Beyond rock and roll, electronic music and hip hop are recent significant musical trends. Electronic music has been around for decades, and reached a peak with the advent of the rave. Electronic music remains a vital force in the industry, and has also impacted the development of hip hop. Hip-hop is yet another musical trend that coincides with social and race-related realities in the United States. The genre is so important because it represents American urban culture.

Among the literary trends between 1870 and the present day, the most significant ones include post-colonialism, science fiction, beat poetry, and horror. Post-colonial literature such as the works of Joseph Conrad brought awareness to the problems associated with the colonialist mentality. Post-colonial fiction put a human face on the very real political, social, and economic issues of the modern world. Realism was a major literary method used by post-colonial authors, who depicted their worlds with stunning detail. With the modern fascination with technological advancements, science fiction became a highly significant literary trend to emerge during the twentieth century. Science fiction originated in the early twentieth century when Orson Welles' reading of H.G. Wells' novel the War of the Worlds shocked the nation into believing that aliens had indeed attacked the United States. Science fiction literature strongly influenced television and film, too, and is responsible for the popularity of both Star Trek and Star Wars. Related to but different from science fiction, fantasy writing also emerged during this time and gave rise to the writings of J.R.R. Tolkein, whose works recently spawned motion pictures.

Another significant literary trend to emerge during the middle of the twentieth century was beat poetry and beat literature. Beat poetry was completely free verse and free form, in sharp contrast to earlier, more structured forms. Moreover, beat poetry was far more abstract than previous works. Just as modern art was becoming more abstract and expressionist, so too was literature. Another key literary trend to emerge during the past century was horror fiction. While horror derives from earlier Gothic literature as well as from science fiction, the horror genre has had a huge impact on modern literary expression. Authors like Stephen King have become immensely famous by making people afraid, and his works as well as the works of countless other horror writers have impacted the plots and themes of films and television shows.

Essay
Consumers in Virtual Worlds Literature Review
Pages: 2 Words: 599

Consumers in Virtual orlds
Literature Review / Theoretical Framework: The article in the journal Marketing Intelligence & Planning points to how marketing research is becoming more pivotal to companies due to increased global competition (globalization). The authors point out that because some firms struggle to re-invent the way they conduct marketing research in the new millennium, they are considered "learning organizations" (Malhotra, et al., 2001, p. 216).

The article presents important practical information about how firms should conduct research. For example, qualitative research should be conducted with a "postmodern" approach, which uses "artistic interpretation" methods and rejects the old way of doing things like sending out surveys to determine what consumers prefer. Updated qualitative research uses computer-assisted data and embraces creative methods. On the quantitative research side, the authors advocate automated "data mining"; new databases should contain unlimited information about foreign product markets (Malhotra, 221).

Key Findings: Conducting surveys is tricky in foreign…...

mla

Works Cited

Catterall, Miriam, and Maclaran, Pauline. (2001). Research consumers in virtual worlds: A

cyberspace odyssey. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 1(3), 228-237.

Malhotra, Naresh K., and Peterson, Mark. (2001). Marketing research in the new millennium:

Emerging issues and trends. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 19(4), 216-235.

Q/A
I\'ve seen the common essay topics on english. Any lesser-known but interesting ones you can recommend?
Words: 242

- The portrayal of madness in literature
- The role of animals in literature
- Subverting traditional gender roles in literature
- The impact of colonialism and post-colonialism on literature
- The use of unreliable narrators in literature
- The portrayal of disabilities in literature
- The connection between music and literature
- The influence of mythology on contemporary literature
- The representation of environmental issues in literature
- The use of dreams and surrealism in literature.
Some other lesser-known but intriguing essay topics on literature that you may consider exploring could be:
- The depiction of time and temporality in literature
- The concept of liminality and its significance....

Q/A
I\'m up for a challenge! Do you have any complex or thought-provoking essay topics on literature?
Words: 650

1. The role of unreliable narrators in literature: How do unreliable narrators impact the reader's experience and interpretation of a story?

2. The use of intertextuality in postmodern literature: How do authors incorporate references to other texts and cultural symbols to enhance their own narratives?

3. The portrayal of time in literature: How do authors manipulate time and temporality in their works to create suspense, nostalgia, or other effects?

4. The theme of identity in literature: How do authors explore questions of personal and cultural identity through their characters and narratives?

5. The impact of cultural context on interpretation: How does the historical and....

Q/A
How does genre affect the relevance of Barthes\' authorial intent in thesis writing?
Words: 711

1. The genre of a thesis significantly impacts the relevance of Barthes authorial intent, as different genres prioritize different aspects of writing, such as research, argumentation, or creative expression.

2. In a scientific thesis, Barthes authorial intent may be less relevant, as the focus is primarily on presenting empirical data and logical analysis rather than the subjective interpretation of the author.

3. On the other hand, in a literature thesis, Barthes authorial intent may hold greater significance, as the analysis of the authors intentions and the texts meaning are central to the study of literature.

4. In....

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now