Postmodernism

Modernism?
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Slide 1: Mind map
EngelsMiddelbare schoolvwoLeerjaar 5

This lesson contains 30 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 7 videos.

time-iconLesson duration is: 50 min

Items in this lesson

Modernism?

Slide 1 - Mind map

What is the connection between stream of consciousness and individualism?

Slide 2 - Open question

Postmodernism

Slide 3 - Slide

Lesson Goals
My goal: Mess with your mind

Your goal: At the end of these lessons you will be able to discuss the finer points of the literary movement of Postmodernism

Slide 4 - Slide

Lesson Content
- Developments in Politics, Society and Philosophy
- Developments in Culture
- Literature
- Absurdism
- The Beat Generation

Slide 5 - Slide

Definition

The term "Post-Modernism as a reactionary movement against the blandness and hostility of the Modernist movement, and also against the pretensions of high Modernism, with its pursuit of an ideal perfection, harmony of form and function, and dismissal of frivolous ornamentation. Chaos is generally embraced.


Slide 6 - Slide

Which global event caused the world to go through its most dramatic change since World War I?

Slide 7 - Open question

Society & Culture
- World War II

- Post-war economy: Globalism , Consumer Culture & GATT

- Mass media: TV & Computer Culture

Slide 8 - Slide

Define "Death of the Author"
A
Judge a book by its cover.
B
Judge a book by its content
C
Judge a book by its author
D
Judge a book by its art.

Slide 9 - Quiz

Philosophy
- Pluralism/Post-structuralism (Foucault, Jameson): There are many truths.

- Grand Narrative is obsolete ( Lyotard): Stop trying to create a set of rules, everything is subjective.

- Death of the Author

Slide 10 - Slide

Slide 11 - Video

Literary elements

- Metafiction:

- Temporal Distortion:

- Disorientation

- Intertextuality (not just postmodernist)

- Pastiche:



- Art commenting on itself --> Book about an author writing a book.
- messy chronology --> Avengers: Endgame
- Surprise the audience --> No, I am your father! (Star Wars)
- Using (the style of) other texts in your own text --> Frankenstein reading Paradise Lost
- A detective story in the style of Sherlock Holmes.


Slide 12 - Slide

Absurdism
- Life is without purpose --> Albert Camus
- Cynical
- Paradoxes
- Cliches, repetition, puns
- Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard

Slide 13 - Slide

3

Slide 14 - Video

00:31
Which absurdist element did you just see?

Slide 15 - Open question

01:52
Which element of absurdism did you just see?

Slide 16 - Open question

02:36
Which element of absurdism did you just see?

Slide 17 - Open question

Slide 18 - Video

0

Slide 19 - Video

Beat generation?

Slide 20 - Mind map

The Beat Generation
- American movement 1950s-1960s
- Counterculture
- Escapism through drugs, alcohol, sex
- Road Trips --> Escape from authority

- New literature, shock value

Slide 21 - Slide

Slide 22 - Video

Slide 23 - Video

Slide 24 - Video

Naked Lunch
“He is a boy sleeping against the mosque wall, ejaculates wet dreaming into a thousand cunts pink and smooth as sea shells...”

“You were not there for the beginning. You will not be there for the end. Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative” 

Slide 25 - Slide

Which two textual elements did you see in the quote you just saw?
A
Escapism & Absurdism
B
Shock Value & Road Trips
C
Shock Value and Temporal Distortion
D
Escapism & Metafiction

Slide 26 - Quiz

Modernism
Postmodernism
James Joyce
Celebrity Culture
Alienation
Will to Power
Pastiche
Reinvention of jazz
GATT
Temporal Distortion

Slide 27 - Drag question

Postmodernism?

Slide 28 - Mind map

What else do you need to make future assignments a success?

Slide 29 - Mind map

Further Reading
- Britannica, T. E. (2017, January 23). Theatre of the Absurd. Opgehaald van 
Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/art/Theatre-of-the-Absurd
- Burroughs, W. S. (1959). Naked Lunch. New York, NY: Grove Press.
- Camus, A. (1965). The Myth of Sisyphus, and other essays. London: H. Hamilton.
- Foucault, M., Sheridan, A., & Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge. New York: Pantheon Books.
- General Introduction to Postmodernism. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/postmodernism/modules/introduction.html
- Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, The cultural logic of late capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Kerouac, J., (1957). On the Road. New York, NY: Viking Press.
- Lyotard, J. (1984). The Postmodern Condition. Minneapolis, USA: University of Minnesota Press.
- Wolin, R. I. C. H. A. R. D. (n.d.). Jean-François Lyotard. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Francois-Lyotard#ref892313

Slide 30 - Slide