Reflecting on Ihab Hassan\u2019s \u201cPOSTmodernISM,\u201d I am struck by one (seemly) vital difference between modernist and postmodern literature. In modernist literature, language (in the sense of word choice and syntax), integral to the core of the work, directs the form (e.g. Joyce\u2019s Ulysses). However, postmodern works employ different architectural processes for \u201cattaining such an aesthetic\u201d (Hassan 16). Is this, as \u201csome profound philosophic minds of our century\u201d (15) suggest, \u201cthe disease of verbal systems\u201d (15), a reflective condition of deterioration achieved by creating texts in a new way and using old rules to analyze them? Clearly, Hassan\u2019s \u201crhetoric of dismissal\u201d (9) is easy to achieve, but what does it mean? <\/p>\n
A. The Fad. In the case of Jonathan Safran Foer\u2019s \u201cA Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease,\u201d the success of the story is contingent on punctuation and symbols. Printed in standard typography, the story would, in effect, disabled. Instead, the punctuation and symbols take on the function of language. Is it likely that we are to see more stories of this kind, that it will be a new movement in literature? Or will this too \u201cquietly go away\u201d (9)? <\/p>\n
B. The Old Story. Don DeLillo\u2019s \u201cThe Uniforms\u201d uses another effect to stand in for language: shock value (a combination of \u201cdehumanization\u201d (19) and \u201cantinomianism\u201d (21)). DeLillo employs (to borrow from Professor Sample) \u201ccartoonish violence\u201d as both a structural support and to facilitate movement in the text. Censored even in the most basic way, there would be little to nothing left of the plot, characterization, etc. in the same fashion as a Quentin Tarantino film \u201cedited for tv.\u201d <\/p>\n
C. The Safe Version. Jonathan Lethem\u2019s \u201cSuper Goat Man,\u201d like the two previous pieces, adopts another type of structural support: the insertion of the strange and unusual, treated as ordinary. This technique is not new, but the emphasis put upon it to carry the story is. Franz Kafka\u2019s \u201cThe Metamorphosis\u201d offers as an excellent modernist (though this label could be debated) point of reference. Though Kafka employs a similar device, he adjusts the syntax of his sentences, often reversing the places of the direct object and the verb to further defamiliarize the reader. Lethem seems to make no effort to tinker with the language, instead relies wholly on the \u201coddity\u201d of a superhero to do most of the work for the story. <\/p>\n
D. The Newspeak of Art. Kelly Link\u2019s \u201cSome Zombie Contingency Plans\u201d marries the \u201cstrange and unusual\u201d with an eccentric main character. She returns to old method of storytelling. She relies on language, demonstrating the contingencies of identity by adjusting the main character\u2019s name. At times, the story seems both \u201cconventional\u201d (9) and \u201cinnovative\u201d (10). Whether this serves as refreshment or irritation is contingent on the reader.<\/p>\n
Though it may seem unfair to apply the rules of the old system (aka \u201crhetoric of dismissal\u201d) to new works, this phenomena is neither new nor game-changing. For as literature changes, there will always be older (and yes, at times, antiquated or cultured) points of comparison (as was it for the Victorian writers, the realist and naturalist, and the modernist to name a recent few). And as time goes on, new works continue to be baptized and welcomed into the canon. This \u201ccruel\u201d vetting process seems, as Hassan observes, to be more endemic to the change itself than the quality or the \u201clasting power\u201d of a particular literary movement, technique, or device. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reflecting on Ihab Hassan\u2019s \u201cPOSTmodernISM,\u201d I am struck by one (seemly) vital difference between modernist and postmodern literature. In modernist literature, language (in the sense of word choice and syntax), integral to the core of the work, directs the form (e.g. Joyce\u2019s Ulysses). However, postmodern works employ different architectural processes for \u201cattaining such an aesthetic\u201d … Continue reading Hassan\u2019s \u201crhetoric of dismissal\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,10,19],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-2-short-stories","tag-delillo","tag-film","tag-lethem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43"}],"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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}