The post-modernism literary period takes on a unique appearance from previous literary periods. Compared to previous literary periods, post-modernism contains Fear, Technology, Assimilation, and multiple unique generations (Boswell) that influence the writing style of this period. Post-modernism is also unique from previous periods in that it was not a complete turn around from the literary period that came before it. Post-modernism is indeed a different period from modernism, but the two still have commonalities. (Boswell). Post-Modernism contained many unique and new characteristics as compared to the literary periods that come before it.
During the post-modernism period, many new influences come into the picture. The American history of this time period is rich with emotion and influence. Fear becomes a big idea that is shown through the writing style of post-modernism. There is fear of death, atomic bombings, zombie's, and fear of change. America during this time takes on a very unique appearance. People begin to move to the big cities, factories and big companies take the place of small companies, immigrants begin to flood in, and war never seems to stop (Cornell). A lot of things were shifting around within the social norm at this time, and it scares a lot of people. These events in American history shines through the writing style in post-modernism literature at this time.
Assimilation begins to take place during this time. A synonym of assimilation is 'conform' (Galloe). Anyone who lived in America, is expected to live like they lived in America. The rush of immigrants who settled in America at this time are also expected to forget their own culture and way of life and assimilate to that of America. This takes place for a while, and only years later do we begin to see the cultural diversity of our population as a good thing. This conformity sets post-modernism apart because of its lack of acceptance. At this point in America, there is one way of doing things, end of story. The Literature reflects this within it's writing style (Boswell).
Baby-Boomers begin to come into the Literary scene. Baby-boomers get it done. (Cornell). Baby-boomers lack individualism and this is shown in the literature. Much was expected of the Baby-boomer generation, and few strayed from that plan. Following the Baby-boomers we see Generation X. Generation X is pretty tired of conforming, going to college, and over all having to have a plan (Cornell). The literature makes a dive off the deep end away from assimilation. The writing style veers away from conformation, and people begin to accept uniqueness. The path that post-modernism takes is set apart from other literary periods because of post-modernism uniqueness in itself. We start of with people terrified of change and individualism, but end up with people who decide that they don't need a plan; they're going to go with the flow and see where it takes them.
Post-modernism contained influences in it's writing such as fear, assimilation, and cultural diversity unlike many other periods (Boswell). The writing style easily reflected the history in America at the time, which makes it easy to set it apart from previous periods. We see that people begin to loath change, people are afraid of new things, individualism begins to be something expected. All these things influence what becomes of the writing style and sets post-modernism apart from other literary periods as something new and unique.
Works Cited
Boswell, Marshall. "Post-Modernism." Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, 1999. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. <http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp>.
Cornell, Saul. "Early American History in a Postmodern Age." JSTOR. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Cutlure, Apr. 1993. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2947078?uid=3739656>.
Galloe, Claire. "Assimilation and American Indian Literature." Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, 2007. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. <http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp>.
No comments:
Post a Comment