\tThis week\u2019s reading confirms that the list of attributes of Postmodern work seems varied and, in some cases, contradictory. In reading the works for this week\u2019s class, it seems that the definition of Postmodernism has always been unclear, but Ihab Hassan\u2019s essay \u201cPOSTmodernISM\u201d, an attempt at defining Postmodernism, seems to have been somewhat prophetic. Additionally, it seems that along with the \u201cfragmented\u201d definition of Postmodernism, fragmentation is a key characteristic of Postmodern work.
\n\tHassan states his belief that our world is headed for a \u201cutopia indistinguishable from nightmare\u201d (22), and he worries about the disasters of \u201cPollution, Population, [and] Power\u201d (issues also raised in John Cage\u2019s work). I can\u2019t help but wonder\u2014are we currently in that \u201cutopia indistinguishable from nightmare\u201d that Hassan predicted? Despite all our modern conveniences and advanced technology that seem to make our lives easier, we also live in a world fraught with problems, including those of pollution, population, and power. If Hassan felt that he was in an age of \u201crunaway technology\u201d in 1971 (24), I can only imagine what his thoughts would be now!
\nWhile Hassan says that \u201cwe dwell happily in the Unimaginable\u201d (22), he also suggests that we need to \u201copen up alternatives to the Unimaginable\u201d (30). Not only do these assertions appear to be contradictory, but Hassan\u2019s concept of the Unimaginable, a place that seems to be defined as a healthy balance between \u201cComplacence\u201d and \u201cHysteria\u201d, is unclear to me. Is the Unimaginable bad in Postmodernist terms because it is a balance? Is the desire and goal of Post-Modernism to break balance? It would seem that our society is out of balance. It does not seem, however, that Post-Modernist works are attempting to fix this problem, but, rather, are reflecting this lack of balance through content and style, including fragmentation.
\n\tIn addition to some of the motifs that seem to be present in Postmodern works, John Cage\u2019s piece really highlights this fragmentation characteristic. I was intrigued, but also frustrated, with the style of John Cage\u2019s work. I felt that the piece was like a puzzle and I tried to find a pattern, attempting to match up the various fonts and pieces of stories. The piece seems like it could be classified as stream-of-consciousness, but I\u2019m not sure that the term is appropriate for Postmodern works. The story of the Duchess seemed to be the most consistent, and, not only did it add humor to the piece, it also pulled me into the piece and kept me reading until the end. I\u2019m curious about Cage\u2019s inclusion of the Duchess story. Is the story simply added to provide humor in the midst of the fragmented, but running, commentary on how the world is changing and declining? The story does also seem to show that, as the title states, by attempting to fix a problem you will only make matters worse.
\n\tAlong the lines of fragmentation, the writing style of the pieces seems to be rather \u201cchoppy\u201d, lacking variety of sentence structure and even including some awkward syntax. John Cage\u2019s \u201cDear Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse)\u201d and Kelly Link\u2019s \u201cSome Zombie Contingency Plans\u201d all posses some degree of this \u201cchoppy\u201d quality.
\n\tMy hunch is that the fragmentation of the pieces, in content, style, and structure, mirrors the fragmentation of the world in which we live. However, not all authors demonstrate this fragmentation in their pieces. (For instance, I feel that Lethem\u2019s \u201cSuper Goat Man\u201d has a wonderful flow, much in contrast to the Cage and Link\u2019s work.) I\u2019m curious about these choices and how all of these pieces fit into the puzzle of Postmodernism. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week\u2019s reading confirms that the list of attributes of Postmodern work seems varied and, in some cases, contradictory. In reading the works for this week\u2019s class, it seems that the definition of Postmodernism has always been unclear, but Ihab Hassan\u2019s essay \u201cPOSTmodernISM\u201d, an attempt at defining Postmodernism, seems to have been somewhat prophetic. Additionally, … Continue reading Thoughts on Hassan’s “prophecy” and fragmentation characteristic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[22,19,13],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-2-short-stories","tag-humor","tag-lethem","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}