From Modern to Postmodern: How Literature Embraced Uncertainty

 From Modern to Postmodern: How Literature Embraced Uncertainty

In our last blogs, we have explored Structuralism and  Post-Structuralism. Now, we will look into Modernism and Post-modernism. Postmodernism is a way of thinking that came as a reaction to Modernism. While modernism focuses on order, progress, and finding universal truths, postmodernism challenges these ideas. As with structuralism and post-structuralism, much discussion exists about how modernism and postmodernism differ. Initially, we will explore the question: What is postmodernism? What was modernism, and how do they differ? We will discuss their distinctions, and key figures, investigate the theory through examples, and, finally, examine what postmodernist critics do.

In the early 20th century, art and culture flourished, leading to the emergence of the Modernism movement. It influenced music, painting, literature, and architecture, introducing a new perspective that caused people to move away from pre-20th-century traditions. In art, movements such as Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism began to take shape. Modernism is not only significant in the realms of art, literature, and architecture but also in the broader context of history. Therefore, without an understanding of Modernism, it is impossible to comprehend 20th-century culture.

Briefly, we explain what kind of things emerged in this term:

1.     Music:

o    Melody and harmony were put aside, shifting away from traditional musical compositions.

2.     Painting:

o    Perspective and direct pictorial representation were abandoned in favour of abstraction. This reflects movements like Cubism (Pablo Piccaso, Georges Braque), which broke objects into geometric shapes, and Surrealism (Salvador Dali), which explored dreamlike, non-representational imagery.

3.     Architecture:

o    Traditional forms and materials (wood, stone, bricks) were replaced with geometric designs and modern materials like plate glass and concrete. This approach gave rise to the functional and minimalist styles seen in Modernist architecture, such as Bauhaus.

4.     Literature:

o    There was a rejection of traditional realism, which relied on chronological plots, omniscient narrators, and closed endings. Writers adopted experimental forms, such as stream-of-consciousness techniques and fragmented narratives, as seen in works by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.

This was a time when writers experimented a lot with how they told stories and wrote poems. Famous writers from this period included T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, Wallace Stevens, and Gertrude Stein.

1.     Focus on Personal Experience and Perception:

o    Modernist writers cared more about how things are seen or felt rather than just describing what happens.

o    They often used a style called stream-of-consciousness, which captures the flow of thoughts and feelings in a character’s mind.

2.     Moving Away from Traditional Storytelling:

o    Instead of having an all-knowing narrator who explains everything, Modernist novels used different perspectives and avoided clear moral lessons.

o    This gave stories a more open-ended and realistic feel.

3.     Mixing Different Forms of Writing:

o    Modernists blurred the lines between genres.

o    For example, novels became more poetic, while poems included storytelling elements.

4.     Fragmented and Unpredictable Structure:

o    Stories and poems didn’t follow a smooth, continuous flow.

o    They were often broken into pieces, like a collage, reflecting the confusion and complexity of the modern world.

5.     Self-Awareness in Writing:

o    Modernist works often questioned what it means to write or create art.

o    For example, a novel might explore the purpose of storytelling or a poem might talk about its own role as a poem.

Instead of seeing them as two successive stages in the history of art, they can be viewed as two opposing moods or attitudes. This means that postmodernism does not necessarily follow after modernism as a logical next step, but rather, the two represent distinct mind-sets or approaches to art and culture.

1.     Eclectic Approach:

o    The term "eclectic" is used to describe postmodernism, meaning it mixes and borrows ideas and styles from various sources.

2.     Aleatory Writing:

o    Aleatory writing refers to writing that incorporates chance or randomness, such as the Dadaist movement's use of random words from newspapers to create poems.

o    This randomness is a feature of both modernism and postmodernism, though the modernists, especially in the early stages.

3.     Parody and Pastiche:

o    The use of parody and pastiche (imitation with a twist) is associated with postmodernism, challenging the traditional role of the author.

o    This idea of parody connects to modernism’s rejection of omniscient narration and the authoritative voice in favour of fragmented narratives, but postmodernism takes this further by openly mocking or playfully imitating earlier works.

1.     Fragmentation:

o    Modernism and postmodernism both heavily feature fragmentation in their works, but they do so with different attitudes.

o    Modernist fragmentation is seen as a sign of loss and regret, often related to the collapse of traditional values and structures.

§  For example, Ezra Pound refers to his work The Cantos as a "rag-bag," suggesting a collection of disjointed pieces that reflect a fragmented world, but with a sense of nostalgia for a time when things were whole and faith was strong.

§  In T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, the persona expresses a despairing tone with the line "These fragments I have shored against my ruins," reflecting a lament for a broken world.

§  Visual art, such as the collages of Kurt Schwitters, also illustrates this pessimistic view of fragmentation, mixing random clippings with painted areas to represent a world that has fallen apart.

2.     Postmodernism's View of Fragmentation:

o    In contrast, postmodernism sees fragmentation as liberating and exciting, reflecting a break from restrictive systems of belief and authority.

o    Postmodernists celebrate fragmentation, viewing it as a way to escape from the constraints of previous systems, whether in culture, art, or society. This is a more positive and freedom-oriented perspective compared to modernism’s despair.

Modernism values restraint, simplicity, and a clear distinction between high art and other forms of expression, viewing excess as vulgar or offensive. Postmodernism, on the other hand, rejects these constraints, celebrating inclusivity, exuberance, and the mixing of high and popular culture.

1.     Modernist Asceticism:

o    Modernism was characterized by a strict asceticism, rejecting the ornate and elaborate styles of the 19th century, which it viewed as excessive and distasteful.

o    This approach favored simplicity and minimalism, visible in:

§  Poetry: Narrow columns, two-word lines, and sparse observations.

§  Drama: Works like Samuel Beckett’s plays, where minimalism is pushed to the extreme, such as a 13-minute play with a single speaker, no set, and highly pared-down language.

o    This ascetic tone reflects modernism's elitist tendencies, valuing refined and rigorously sparse artistic expression.

2.     Postmodernist Excess and Inclusivity:

o    In contrast, postmodernism celebrates excess and rejects modernism's strict divide between 'high' art and popular art.

o    Postmodernism embraces:

§  Gaudiness: Vibrant, extravagant, and often overwhelming art forms.

§  'Bad Taste' Mixtures: Combining elements from different styles, genres, or cultural levels without concern for traditional hierarchies.

o    It sees modernist asceticism as elitist and counters it with an inclusive, playful approach that blends contrasting elements freely and cheerfully.

Modernism is characterized by the radical break from the traditional forms of prose and verse whereas postmodernism is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions.

Jürgen Habermas: 'Modernity - an Incomplete Project' (1980)

Jürgen Habermas’s essay “Modernity - an Incomplete Project” explores the distinctions between modernity and postmodernity. According to Habermas, modernity begins with the Enlightenment, a period from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century characterized by a strong belief in the power of reason and logic to improve society. Philosophers such as Kant, Voltaire, Diderot, Locke, and Hume embody the core ideas of this period. The Enlightenment aimed to break away from tradition, blind adherence to customs, and religious dogma, promoting reason and rationality as tools to solve societal problems. This vision is referred to as the "Enlightenment project," and the French Revolution is often seen as one of its first practical tests.

Habermas argues that modernism aligns with this Enlightenment project by lamenting the loss of purpose, coherence, and values that modernity initially sought to uphold. In contrast, post-structuralist thinkers like Derrida and Foucault in the 1970s rejected these Enlightenment ideals, such as reason, clarity, truth, and progress. Habermas critiques these thinkers for detaching themselves from the pursuit of justiace and labels them "young conservatives" for their rejection of modernity's foundational principles. Briefly, Habermas views modernity as an unfinished project that remains relevant for achieving societal progress. He critiques postmodernists for abandoning the ideals of the Enlightenment, which he sees as vital for addressing contemporary challenges.

Jean-Francois Lyotard: The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979).

Jean-François Lyotard's works, particularly The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979) and his essay “Answering the Question: What is Postmodernism?” (1982), played a central role in shaping the modern understanding of postmodernism. In these texts, Lyotard engages in a debate with thinkers like Jürgen Habermas about the Enlightenment and its legacy.

Lyotard's essay critiques what he sees as a call to abandon experimentation in culture and philosophy, framing the debate as an effort to label one's opponents as the true conservatives. He implicitly targets Habermas, who defends modernity and the Enlightenment project, accusing postmodernists of rejecting its ideals. Lyotard, however, flips this argument by suggesting that those clinging to modernity are the ones resisting change and experimentation, positioning postmodernism as a continuation of questioning rather than a rejection of progress. Lyotard challenges the idea that postmodernism abandons the Enlightenment. Instead, he portrays it as a new way of thinking that resists rigid adherence to outdated ideals, emphasizing the value of experimentation and diversity in thought and culture.

Lyotard critiques Habermas and others who call for an end to artistic experimentation and a return to ideals such as order, unity, identity, and security, accusing them of wanting to "liquidate the heritage of the avant-gardes." For Lyotard, the Enlightenment project that Habermas seeks to preserve represents just another "metanarrative"—a grand, overarching explanation, similar to Christianity, Marxism, or the myth of scientific progress. These metanarratives claim authority and attempt to impose a totalizing view of the world, suppressing diversity, difference, and opposition.

Lyotard famously defines postmodernism as "incredulity towards metanarratives," rejecting the validity of such universal stories of progress and human perfectibility. In their place, he advocates for "mini-narratives"—localized, provisional, and context-dependent stories that acknowledge their contingency and relativity. Thus, Lyotard argues that postmodernity dismantles the Enlightenment's central ambition: the belief in a unified, ultimate purpose for history and humanity. Postmodernism  embraces plurality and deconstructs the idea of a singular, overarching truth.

Jean Baudrillard: Simulations (1981)

Jean Baudrillard, a prominent theorist of postmodernism, explores the idea of "the loss of the real" in his book Simulations. He argues that contemporary life, saturated with images from media, advertising, and entertainment, blurs the line between reality and illusion, creating a state of hyperreality. In this state, traditional distinctions between what is real and what is represented erode entirely.

Baudrillard explains this concept through the evolution of signs in four stages:

1.     The Sign Represents a Basic Reality

At this stage, the sign functions as a straightforward representation of reality. For example, L.S. Lowry's paintings of industrial cities, with their muted colors and monotonous depictions of life, represent the harsh reality of mid-20th-century working-class existence.

2.     The Sign Distorts Reality

The sign misrepresents or romanticizes reality. Victorian artist Atkinson Grimshaw's paintings of cities like Liverpool, with their reflective pavements and picturesque nightscapes, portray an idealized and glamorized version of urban life, concealing the grim reality of the time.

3.     The Sign Masks the Absence of Reality

At this stage, the sign creates the illusion that it represents reality, but there is no real substance beneath it. René Magritte's surrealist works exemplify this, as in his painting where an easel shows the exterior scene beyond a window. What appears to be "reality" outside the window is actually just another representation, not a tangible truth.

4.     The Sign Becomes Detached from Reality Entirely

In this final stage, the sign loses all connection to reality and exists purely as an independent entity. This is comparable to abstract art, like Mark Rothko’s canvases, where there is no attempt to represent or signify anything from the real world.

In the third stage of Baudrillard's concept of signs, the distinction between reality and representation becomes increasingly blurred. His example of Disneyland is a powerful illustration of this stage, where the sign (Disneyland itself) no longer represents an underlying reality but instead hides the fact that the "real" world is itself a simulation. Disneyland, according to Baudrillard, is not just a mythologized misrepresentation of America; it is a "third-order simulation." It is designed to make us believe in the authenticity of the outside world by presenting an idealized, imaginary version of American life, which in turn conceals the fact that the "real" world itself is also a constructed illusion. Disneyland, then, is presented as a fantasy to reinforce the illusion that what we consider the "real" world is, in fact, genuine. The effect of this is to "conceal the fact that the real is no longer real," thus maintaining the idea of a stable, coherent reality, even though that reality is increasingly constructed and superficial.

This brings us to the broader impact of postmodernism, where the concepts of history, reality, and truth are undermined. In postmodern thought, distinctions between reality and simulation collapse, and everything becomes a model or an image—what Baudrillard calls hyperreality. In this hyperreal world, there is no depth, no authentic experience, only surface-level representations. Reality is no longer something that can be grasped or understood directly; it is always mediated through signs and simulations, leading to a crisis of meaning and authenticity in postmodern culture.

Modernism	Postmodernism
Adheres to Western hegemonic values	Contests Western hegemonic values
Focuses on the writer	Focuses on the reader
Focuses on interiority	Focuses on exteriority
Explores themes of alienation	Emphasizes collective voices
Uses unreliable narrators	Uses an ironic narrator
Rejects realism	Exhibits ambivalence towards realism
Views literature as self-contained	Views literature as open and intertextual
Emphasizes high-brow genres	Mixes high- and low-brow genres
Rejects traditional literary conventions	Parodies literary conventions
Features metanarrative elements	Features metanarrative elements
Employs idiosyncratic language	Employs simple language

 

What do postmodernist critics focus on?

 A.   Discover and Explore Postmodernist Themes: They identify postmodern themes, tendencies, and attitudes within 20th-century literary works, examining their implications for how we understand culture, identity, and reality.

B.    Examine the Disappearance of the Real: They analyse works that reflect the "disappearance of the real," exploring how shifting postmodern identities appear through the mixing of literary genres like thrillers, detective stories, myth sagas, and psychological realism.

C.    Focus on Intertextual Elements: They highlight the use of parody, pastiche, and allusion, where one text refers to another rather than an external reality. This emphasizes how literature connects with and comments on other texts.

D.   Foreground Irony: They emphasize the use of irony, as described by Umberto Eco, where postmodernists revisit the past not to destroy it (as modernists did) but to engage with it critically and with a sense of irony.

E.    Highlight Narcissism in Narrative Technique: They focus on works that engage in self-reflection, where novels reflect on their own ends and processes, often "de-naturalizing" their content to challenge how narratives are constructed.

F.     Challenge High and Low Culture Distinctions: They question the divide between high and low culture, focusing on texts that blend the two, demonstrating how postmodernism embraces a mix of cultural forms.