This document defines and discusses post-modernism in literature. It begins by explaining that post-modernism emerged in the 1970s as a rejection of modernism, featuring fragmentation, paradox, unreliable narrators, and unrealistic plots. It then lists some influential post-modern novels like Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five that display characteristics like irony, playfulness, and questioning of traditional narratives. Finally, it outlines some key themes and techniques of post-modern fiction, including intertextuality, pastiche, metafiction, and an exploration of subjectivity over external reality.

1. Topic:
Post Modernism
presented by:
Ayesha Qurat-ul-ain ,
Hadeeqa Batool
Roll no:
E5,E1
Minhaj college for women

3. • “Post” means “after” and “modernism” means ( Literary
modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and
North America, and is characterized by a very self-
conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both
poetry and prose fiction).
• Postmodernism means a number of trends or movements
in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in
reaction to or rejection of the dogma principles or
practices of established modernism, especially a
movement in architecture and influence of the
international style and encouraging the use of elements
from historical informal styles.

4. Postmodernism In Literature
 Definition:
Post modern literature is a form of
literature which is marked ,both syntactically and
ideologically ,by a reliance on such literary conventions
as fragmentations, paradox, unreliable narrators , often
unrealistic and downright impossible plots, games,
parody, paranoia, dark humour and authorial self
reliance. It is also called post world war II, as the events
of world war II are dicussed in writings of this era.

5. INFLUENTIAL WORKS
• Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
• Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
• Lost in the Funhouse – John Barth
• The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
• White Noise – Don DeLillo
• Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
• The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
• Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett

6. Influential works
 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

7.  Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut

8.  Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
 The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon

9.  The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien

10.  Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett

11.  Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
Waiting for Godot displays a number of the
defining features of a Postmodern conception
of the world. One of these is an alienation
from tradition and a questioning of the grand
narratives that were previously seen to have
some kind of authority. This includes grand
narratives of historical progress—that history
is the story of human life continually getting
better—as well as religious narratives like the
Bible.

12. Characteristics of postmodernism in fiction
• Postmodernism rejects western values and beliefs as only a small
part of the human experience.
• Playfulness with language
• Experimentation in the form of the novel
• Less reliance on traditional narrative form
• Less reliance on the traditional character development
• Experimentation with the point of view
• Experimentation with the way time is conveyed in the novel
• Mixture of “high art” and popular culture
• Interest in metafiction, that is , fiction about the nature

13. Themes and Techniques
1. Irony, playfulness and black humour
2. Intertextuality
3. Pastiche
4. Metafiction
5. Post world war II
6. Paranoia

14. Irony , playfulness and black humour
Postmodern authors were certainly not the first to use irony and
humor in their writing, but for many postmodern authors, these
became the hallmarks of their style. Postmodern authors will
often treat very serious subjects—World War II, the Cold War,
conspiracy theories—from a position of distance and disconnect,
and will choose to depict their histories ironically and humorously.
There was playful use of “useless” decoration.
For example:
The school story is best example of irony , black
humour .it is about the ironic death of plants , animals and people
connected to the children in one class.

15. Paranoia
• A tendency on the part of an individual or group toward excessive or
irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others.
• Baseless or excessive suspicion of the motives of others.
• A serious mental illness that causes you to falsely believe that other
people are trying to harm you.
• Narrator is terrorized not only by a fictional character he believes is
following him, but also by his students, by other authors he was
friends with, and by drugs—Lunar Park
• Characters are gripped by paranoia about death, chemical spills, new
drugs, neighbors, the weird guy in the hunting jacket, their health—
White Noise

19. Postmodernism

21. Conclusion
Postmodern describes certain characteristics of post-World War II literature. It
heavily relies on fragmentation, paradox, questionable narrators, etc. Irony, black
humor, and the general concept of “play” are the most recognizable
characteristics of postmodern literature. Numerous novelists labeled postmodern
were first collectively labeled black humorists. Postmodern literature represents a
break from 19th century realism, in which a story was told from an objective or
omniscient point of view. In character development postmodern literature
explores subjectivism, turning from external reality to examine inner states of
consciousness.
The focus in the study of postmodern literature is on intertextuality: the
relationship between one text and another. Attributes in postmodern literature
are author is a character, blurs reality and fiction, comments on its own
bookishness, plays with language, and disrupts/plays with form.