Postmodern literature emerged after World War II as a reaction to the new global state and a rejection of realism and modernism. It is characterized by a view of reality as chaotic and meaningless, as well as experimentation with form including fragmented and nonlinear narratives, intertextuality, and deconstruction. Postmodern works often explore themes of memory, loss, death, paranoia, and the meaninglessness of human existence through alienated characters lacking communication in an anxious world of illusions.

1. POSTMODERNISM

2. CONTEXT & BACKGROUND
• After the WW II (after 1945)
• Reaction towards the new state of the
world
• Reaction against realism & modernism
“High art”, “High culture” & everyday life
Language as a reflection of reality

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF
POSTMODERN LITERARTURE
• Reality is chaotic. Human condition:
meaningless.
• The artist “plays” within chaos.
• Themes:
Memory
Loss & death
The sense of paranoia
Meaninglessness of human existence

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN
LITERATURE
Alienation of individuals
Lack of communication
Feelings of anxiety
Attachment to illusions of security to
conceal the void of our lives
Fragmentation & discontinuity
Uncertitude

5. CHARACTERSITICS OF POSTMODERN
LITERATURE
• Defiance of conventional traditions
through experimentation:
Point of view: more limited
Fragmentation: no linear narration
Intertextuality
Decentering & deconstruction

6. CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN
LITERATURE
The absurd
Magical realism
Pastiche
Political protest literature (postcolonial)
Irony, black humor & sarcasm
The antinovel
Re-writes
Metalepsis

7. POSTMODERN ISSUES
• Experimentation
• Reaction against modernist’s conception
of “high art”
• Reaction against a totally new world
• Chaotic reality
• Intertextuality

8. Metalepsis in Drama
DRAMA
_________________________________
Real > Implicit >Mimesis > Implicit > Real
Playwright Diegesis Audience
=
Ontological frames
• Mimesis: showing, enacting.
• Diegesis: telling, recounting.