Postmodernism Flashcards

Flashcards based on lecture notes about Postmodernism.

What art movement gained significant influence during the turbulent 1960s and counterculture movement?

Postmodernism

How did Frederic Jameson describe history's accessibility?

History is only accessible to us in narrative form, meaning it's a representation and mediation through a point of view.

What is a key theme related to 'Meaning' in Postmodernism?

The belief that no true meaning exists in this chaotic world (absurdity).

What is Jean-Francois Lyotard's concept related to the construction of a false grand narrative of meaning called?

Metanarrative

What is the attitude of Postmodernist writers toward the absurd or meaningless confusion of contemporary existence?

A certain numbed or flippant indifference

Define Fabulation in the context of Postmodern literature.

Openly delights in its self- conscious verbal artifice while departing from the conventions of realism

Define Aleatory disconnection.

Involves an element of randomness either in the composition process or in the reader’s selection and ordering of written fragments

What is pastiche?

To “paste together” multiple elements; pays homage to or parodies past styles/genres which combines multiple genres to comment on postmodern society.

How do Postmodernist writers use irony and black humor?

Postmodernist writers treat serious subjects in a playful/humorous way.

What is metafiction?

Writing about writing and commenting on the act of storytelling to announce the artificiality of writing (fiction) to the reader.

What is temporal distortion?

Extends Modernist technique of fragmentation and non-linearity to absurd measures.

What is Jean Baudrillard’s “hyperreality”?

Simulations have replaced the real