unlocking the novel
a guide to modernism and postmodernism

The key to postmodernism

Understanding the postmodern novel is not necessarily the easiest task I have set out to accomplish; however, I have grasped postmodernism and I am running with it. The greatest clue I have found in my postmodern experience is understanding the ideas behind postmodernism. The method behind the madness has enlightened me throughout my travels in the postmodern novel. I have adjusted my expectations of the novel and the author.  Understanding the author's motivations and intentions help to create a clear path of the story and the meaning within it. Before I read any postmodern material, I investigated.  Here are some great web sites to introduce the reader to postmdernism:

http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html http://www.hku.hk/english/courses2000/7006/figitne4.htm

http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0242.html

As I began to explore the postmodern novel, I realized the most important thing to remember is postmodernist writers bring much more to the story than the story. Prior to postmodernism, authors worked to hide their part in the story. Postmodern writers are the story and become part of the story. The attitude toward the story has changed. The reader needs to find the author's voice within the story. The author is no longer the man behind the curtain and has stepped inside  the novel to guide the reader towards their intended meaning and interpretations. These authors are no longer trying to separate themselves from their story. Postmodernist stories represent the author's experiences and heritage as well as the writer's interpretations. The author's voice is heard throughout his or her story loud and clear. Postmodernism intertwines the writer and his or her story. These writers are no longer  quiet interpreters, but have become a voice within the novel that wants to be heard. So in your exploration of the postmodern novel remember to listen for the author=s voice and the story along with its meaning will follow.

But this is true: stories can save us. -Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

Sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story. - Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried                                                                                               

Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strength to establish realities. - Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior

It was not a story to pass on. So they forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep. ... They can touch it if they like, but don't, because they know things will never be the same if they do. This is not a story to pass on. - Toni Morrison, Beloved

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