Contemporary, Popular, and Emergent Literature

Vocabulary flashcards covering modern, contemporary, postmodern, emergent genres, techniques, works, and notable authors from the review transcript.

Contemporary Literature

Literature written after World War II through the current day that reflects society's social and/or political viewpoints.

Modern Literature

Literature roughly from the late 19th century to the 1960s, characterized by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing.

Non-linear Narrative

A narrative technique utilizing fragmented timelines or circular narratives instead of a chronological sequence of events, as seen in Ulysses by James Joyce.

Multiple Perspectives

A technique using multiple narrators or shifting viewpoints that challenges readers to piece together meaning from varied angles, as in The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.

Free Verse Poetry

Poetry defined by the rejection of formal meter and rhyme schemes, exemplified by The Waste Land by TS Eliot.

Stream of Consciousness

A technique depicting the continuous flow of a character's thoughts and feelings for a more intimate exploration of the human psyche, as in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

Individualism / Alienation

A literary focus on individual experience exploring the struggles of isolated characters disconnected from society in a rapidly changing world, as seen in Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Subjective Reality

A concept where reality is interpreted through the relative lens of individual experiences, presenting multiple realities rather than a singular objective truth.

Ambiguity and Complexity

A literary approach where traditional narratives are challenged and interpretations are left open-ended through open-endedness, subtext, and rich symbolism.

Postmodern Literature

Literature from roughly post-World War II to the present day that developed as a reaction to modernist literature's quest for meaning following World War II human rights violations.

Fragmentation

The use of fragmented narratives, disjointed timelines, and non-linear storytelling to reflect contemporary life complexities, as in Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Intertextuality

Referencing, quoting, or incorporating elements from another text to create meaning, such as the connections between The Lion King and Hamlet.

Metafiction

Self-referential writing that draws attention to its artificiality by breaking the fourth wall or commenting on the process of storytelling, as in The Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

Magical Realism

A genre that introduces magical or fantastical elements into a realistic setting, treating the extraordinary as mundane, as seen in One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Pastiche

The mixing of styles, genres, and voices from different cultural texts to create new meanings, such as Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

Maximalism

Excess in content, form, and style incorporating digressions, large casts of characters, and highly-detailed descriptions, as in White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Minimalism

A pared-down, economic style focusing on surface details and allowing readers to infer deeper meanings, as in The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Temporal Distortion

The manipulation of time where events are presented non-linearly or through shifts in chronology, such as in Loki (2021-Present).

Faction

A blend of fact and fiction where real historical events or people are integrated into a fictional narrative, such as the film Titanic (1997).

Paradox

Contradictory situations that reveal a deeper truth when examined, as illustrated in George Orwell's Animal Farm and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

Playfulness

The use of light-hearted and playful language to challenge readers' expectations via humor, irony, or satire, as seen in Mamma Mia! (2008).

Unreliable Narrators

Narrators who intentionally or unintentionally mislead or deceive the reader, as seen in Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Parody

Imitating the style of a particular writer, genre, or work while exaggerating it for comic effect or criticism, such as Fifty Shades of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin.

Dark Humor

Also known as 'gallows humor,' a type of comedy that finds humor in bleak, morbid situations to highlight absurdities, as seen in Joseph Heller's Catch-22.

Toni Morrison

Author known for fluid and musical narratives that integrate fragmented stories, who wrote Beloved.

Beloved

A novel by Toni Morrison centering on Sethe, an escaped slave living in Ohio after the Civil War, which examines the enduring impact of slavery.

Kazuo Ishiguro

Author who employs limited or unreliable first-person narrators to create ambiguous, unsettling narratives touching on memory, loss, and time.

Never Let Me Go

A novel by Kazuo Ishiguro following Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, three friends who grow up at Hailsham and discover a dark truth about their purpose in life.

Digital Fiction

Web-based or app-based fiction read from a computer where the reader helps construct the narrative by controlling character journeys and clicking hyperlinked buttons.

Doodle Fiction

A literary format where the author incorporates doodle drawings and hand-written graphics in place of traditional fonts, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.

Flash Fiction

A very short story with no set word count that can be as short as just a few words, such as 'For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn'.

Chick Lit

Heroine-centered narratives focusing on the trials and tribulations of the protagonist, such as Something Borrowed and The Devil Wears Prada.

Manga

Japanese comic books or graphic novels featuring dynamic panel layouts, such as One Piece by Eiichiro Oda and Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.

Blog

A website containing online personal reflections and articles written in a conversational style accompanied by pictures or videos.

Science Fiction

A literary genre imagining futuristic or scientific possibilities, exploring technology, space, time, or alternate realities, as seen in Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.