Postmodernism in Literature

Overview

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Students of English Literature

INDUSTRIES APPLICABLE TO: Only academics

COURSE OUTLINE : This is an eight-week course pitched at the Postgraduate level to provide an overview of a theoretical understanding of the fundamentals of postmodernism in Literature. Through a discussion of seminal texts, key ideas and critical events in the 20th century, the course maps the dominant socio-cultural and literary practices usually labelled as Postmodernism. Ranging from popular culture to particular theories, from literary events to ideological debates, this course attempts to cover a wide variety of topics and frameworks, to enable a critical understanding of Postmodernism in Literature. The course includes the discussion of selected literary texts and engages with various literary critical approaches from different paradigms including Feminism and Postcolonialism.

Syllabus

Introduction Part-1.
Introduction Part-2.
Introduction Part-3.
The Genealogy of Postmodernism.
The Genealogy of Postmodernism : Locating the starting points.
The Death of the author and it's Postmodern implications.
The Death of the author and it's Postmodern implications ( Continued 1).
The Death of the author and it's Postmodern implications ( Continued 2).
What is an Author ?.
What is an Author ? ( Continued ).
Postmodern Theories and Frameworks : An Outline.
Lyotard's Postmodern condition : Challenging Metanarratives.
Lyotard's Postmodern condition : Challenging Metanarratives ( Continued ).
Baudrillard,Hyperreality and Postmodern representations.
Baudrillard,Hyperreality and Postmodern representations ( Continued ).
Derrida,Deconstruction and Postmodern texts.
Derrida,Deconstruction and Postmodern texts ( Continued 1).
Derrida,Deconstruction and Postmodern texts ( Continued 2).
Intertextuality,Kristeva and the study of Postmodern Texts.
Postmodern Feminism : Gender and Performativity.
Formulation of the Postmodern : Deleuze and Guattari.
Minor Literature' and Postmodern Narratives.
Critiques of Postmodernism : A Marxist Perspective.
Critiques of Postmodernism.
Feminism and Postmodernism.
Situating the Postcolonial in the Postmodern.
Homi K.Bhabha : The Postmodern and the Postcolonial.
"Is the Post-in Postmodernism the Post-in Postcolonial?" : Understanding Appiah.
"Can the Subaltern Speak?" : Deconstructing the Postcolonial.
Reading Postmodern-Postcolonial Fiction.
Hyperreality in Delillo's Postmodernist Fiction : A Discussion of White Noise.
The Garden of Forking Paths : Postmodernist short fiction.
The Garden of Forking Paths : Postmodernist short fiction ( Continued ).
Postmodern Fiction by women : Reading Atwood's The Edible Woman.
Postmodern Fiction by women : Reading Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
Reading Postmdern Fiction : Slaughterhouse-Five b Kurt Vonnegut.
Reading Postmdern Fiction : The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles.
Postmodern Writings : Features,trends and some departures.
Postmodern Writings : Situating Pynchon and the Beat Generation.
Postmodern literature today : Some concluding thoughts.