Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson [...] importance of trees in the novel. While this novel chronicles the life of Isobel Fairfax, trees form the very roots of the novel, just as they form the root of all existence. Trees endure long after people have l Continue Reading...
Postmodern Book: Proposal Colson Whitehead's John Henry Days explores the relationship between fact and fiction with a postmodern narrative structure. One of the characteristics of postmodernism is the way in which it destabilizes what constitutes ' Continue Reading...
In terms of sexuality, the film explores the different avenues by which teenagers are exposed to sexual content, which includes musical lyrics as demonstrated through the recitation of lyrics to "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna, a pop culture music ic Continue Reading...
Postmodern Literature Final In terms of the use of experimental techniques in the assigned readings this semester, I think I would judge Vonnegut to be the best and Ishmael Reed to be the worst. The simple criterion here is accessibility. There is n Continue Reading...
Scifi Emiko and the New People present some of the most poignant imagery in Paolo Bacigalupi's novel The Windup Girl. The titular character also emerges as a clear but ironic hero, providing a striking science fiction framework with which to view so Continue Reading...
Science Fiction Films On September 11, 2001, many people reacted to the news reports as if these were advertisements for another Hollywood blockbuster like Independence Day. All of it seemed like a movie, including a scene with the WASP president ad Continue Reading...
The second half, entitled "Airborne Toxic Event, however, serves the role of criticizing the reality of American society and the result of its obsession with consumerism. In the second half, a chemical spill releases a mysterious airborne toxic even Continue Reading...
It would be an exaggeration to say that ours is a hostile relationship; I live, let myself go on living, so that Borges may contrive his literature, and this literature justifies me. It is no effort for me to confess that he has achieved some valid Continue Reading...
One can try to react against social norms by, for example, refusing to conform to sexual norms of morality, but this reaction is in and of itself an acknowledgement of the pervasiveness of the social ideal that Heidegger called inauthentic. Perhaps Continue Reading...
SCIENCE FICTION & FEMINISM Sci-Fi & Feminism Origins & Evolution of Science Fiction As with most things including literature, science fiction has progressed and changed a lot over the years. Many works of science fiction were simply ro Continue Reading...
Gothic Fiction Dracula is a far more traditional Gothic novel in the classic sense than the four books of the Twilight series, in which Bella Swan and her vampire lover Edward Cullen never even fully consummate their relationship until they are marr Continue Reading...
Gothic Literature Art, as defined by Plato in his paradigmatic work The Republic, serves both as a definition qua definition - a way of telling us what art should be in and of itself - and as an exemplar of other aspects of society. Plato was fundam Continue Reading...
Grendel And After that it's Elephants All the Way Done Wagner's Grendel is one of the most finely crafted pieces of postmodern fiction because it performs both of the functions with which postmodern literature is tasked. First, it is a work of lite Continue Reading...
Nightwood by Djuna Barnes [...] justify the book as a postmodern novel. "Nightwood" is a postmodern novel in every respect, from the stream-of-consciousness style of writing to the underlying sexual and homosexual themes that could only exist in pos Continue Reading...
It is a hotly contested idea that just one war-themed book can adequately discuss the topic of Vietnam, and this idea is properly portrayed in this book. Fellow authors like Renny Christopher have condemned Tim O'Brien's story for paying more Continue Reading...
The author lays more stress on depicting the emotional journey of Farquhar, which results in a subjective treatment of time. From here on there is a slow down of time and the narration at times begins to be fictitious. As Stuart C. Woodruff a litera Continue Reading...
This earns him the grudging respect of his peers, who were unpleasantly impressed by what Mrs. Fretag, his teacher, referred to not as deceitful, but "very creative." The narrator discovers one of the novel's main truths: "So, that's what they wante Continue Reading...
Postmodernism, either with or without the hyphen, has become a one of the most talked about concepts in the last decades. Postmodern is one of the most utilized terms these days, so defining it could prove useful: In a literal sense it means that whi Continue Reading...
Malone dies just as he finally does away with the alternate identities of his storytelling, such that he can be seen as 'becoming Malone' at the same moment of Malone's death, so that his death forces the reader to recall the beginning of the story Continue Reading...
Frankenstein The action takes place in a world covered with radioactive dust, after a nuclear war that has killed almost all animals, so that people have power animals. The protagonist is Rick Deckard, a former police officer and expert Blade Runner Continue Reading...
Greasy Lake Gregory Clayton "Greasy Lake" is one of the most notable, readable and critically acclaimed contemporary short stories written by T. Coraghessan Boyle. The fact that he took the a line and an idea from the iconic, venerable rock star Br Continue Reading...
Salman Rushdie is one of the most famous authors of the modern era. In the tradition of Gabriel Marquez, Rushdie sweeps the reader up in his novel, Midnights Children, like the book by Marquez that obviously had a great deal of influence on Rushdie, Continue Reading...
Science fiction and horror both offer narrative closure and "the restoration of the social order," as does Repo Men, only in this case the social order being preserved is completely amoral and evil (Grant 21). It does not end with the monster or ali Continue Reading...
Human emotions and values are detached and unreal in this work, as well. Pynchon paints vivid pictures of the characters, but they are all flawed, somehow. Oedipa is married to a disc jockey junkie, Dr. Hilarius is a psycho afraid of Nazi retributi Continue Reading...
Specific events in the story reflect this posthuman and postmodernist change in form and thought of the individual, characterized by Samsa. The first incident of posthuman change and acceptance was when Samsa's family had just discovered his metamo Continue Reading...
Beauty Beast Judgment and Superficiality in "Beauty and the Beast": Parsing a Fairytale from a Postmodern Perspective It is the conceit of nearly every epoch to assume that certain ideas, perspectives, and frameworks are new or unique to the curren Continue Reading...
Dominican Fantasies, Written and Unwritten: The use of science fiction in the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Juan Diaz's novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao details the life of an overweight Dominican boy who has aspirations of being a rom Continue Reading...
" Gane 107) This potentially creates a stifling and an inability of women, the holders of virtue (especially given our imagery the virgin princess) to laugh at a torn dress and an exposed areola the way some European cultures do. Fashion has become Continue Reading...
The lines between good and bad are blurred, and the ability to identify who is "right" is lost in a vaguely politically correct equal opportunity defiance of gravity. Additionally, a modern adaptation made by Hogan is one that is a true mistake when Continue Reading...
Every aspect of sociology is somehow affected by sexual politics and this can be seen in every postmodern representation of sexuality. Media is particularly dependant on sexual politics as a thematic representation and as a guiding force for human e Continue Reading...
Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge One hallmark of postmodern literature is a willingness to mingle high and low registers, and to subvert popular and recognizable genres of literature with material that might seem foreign or that frustrates customary ex Continue Reading...
What they had regarded as the most certain of all theories turned out to be in need of serious revision. In reaction, they resolved never again to bestow their faith in scientific truth unconditionally. Skepticism, not certainty, became their watch Continue Reading...
Another political and public sidewalk mural done by Beever is his Politicians Meeting Their End, drawn on the night of the 1997 General Elections outside the Bank of England. In this work, Beever creates the illusion of a deep well in the middle of Continue Reading...
" (LewAllen). The purpose was to get the viewer to see the Holocaust as a point of reference in evaluating our current society. The actual work is a collaboration between her and her husband, a world renowned photographer. It is composed of a collect Continue Reading...
From that, he says, "This cynical attitude is strong these days on campus, where postmodern theory erodes basic truthfulness by holding that facts and truth don't really exist." He then tries to support that argument by quoting Two University of Pen Continue Reading...
How Lois has coped with the event is important and this has defined the relationships that she has with her surroundings (the Oxford books 90). If the short story by Margaret is decoded, it can be added here that the story is more about growing up Continue Reading...
Yarbrough quotes Ihab Hassan, who describes postmodernism as the "literature of silence" in that it "communicates only with itself," a reference that initially astounds the rational mind. Then, reading further in Yarbrough, Hassan is quoted as sayin Continue Reading...
Disillusionment in Postmodern American Literature The latter half of the twentieth century saw a raft of dramatic changes to American culture and society, bringing with them new forms living and thinking about the world. Beginning in the 1960s and c Continue Reading...
Raymond Carver When one is seeking a bright, cheerily optimistic view of the world one does not automatically turn to the works of Raymond Carver. The short story writer - whom many critics cite as being the greatest master of that form since Ernest Continue Reading...
