2014: The Death of the Postmodern Novel and the Rise of Autofiction - Flavorwire

[David Morris]

Meta might be clever. Incisive, even. Does its commentary aspect make it
unoriginal? No. Every observation is commentary. Originality is what
some Postmodernism challenged, sometimes too much. Warhol and his ilk,
which I both respect and dislike. Pynchon is better than that.

David Morris

On Sunday, January 4, 2015, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Meta is inherently secondary. Commentary. A side show.
>
> On Sunday, January 4, 2015, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','mark.kohut at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>
>> Postmodernism, a very slippery word, of course. I dislike it, still
>> don't have a coherent meaning and see it negatively under all the
>> words you use for it but I think this guy
>> mostly sees it as Meta somehow, right? Commenting on itself, narrative
>> trickery, etc.
>>
>> It is very thin, with tendentious examples yet, when I keep reflecting
>> on the surge of memoirs, life stories, the way what used to be
>> labelled fiction is now autobiography and in other ways he
>> notes---great remark on Knausgaard imho---
>>
>> I do think he may see a change in the culture.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 5:24 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > I think the real issue isn't style, labels. It is about depth and
>> sincerity.
>> > Postmodernism's common sins are pastiche, one-line jabs, easy rip-off
>> > references, cartoonism.  Pynchon does all those things, but most often
>> with
>> > deep and complex roots.  GR is his masterpiece. It does rival Ulysses.
>> >
>> > David Morris
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sunday, January 4, 2015, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Despite this guy's characterization, I still think Pynchon is a late
>> >> Modernist.
>> >> But others even on this list call him a postmodernist.
>> >>
>> >> The term has been flashbacked definitionally to include another great
>> >> Englsih novel, Tristram Shandy.
>> >> A novel that is all in the digressions. (the great Samuel Johnson,
>> >> wrong this time (as Wood will be with
>> >> Pynchon) ) said it wouldn't last.."nothing odd will last".
>> >>
>> >> Man,  is M &D all in the digressions or isn't it?
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 10:24 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >> > Postmodern architecture has been considered a collective
>> embarrassment
>> >> > for
>> >> > at least 20 years. Neo-modernism reigns now.  It is not the
>> evangelical
>> >> > modernism of the past. It is all about form, style, magazines.  Green
>> >> > architecture is the closest thing we have to early modernism. Third
>> >> > world
>> >> > outreach architecture too.  I don't know how long Modernism really
>> >> > believed
>> >> > its story.  In architecture PM has long ago lost its welcome.
>> >> >
>> >> > David Morris
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On Saturday, January 3, 2015, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> "Like"...yet someone said This articulated below IS also
>> postmodernism
>> >> >> (
>> >> >> who cares, just a label) but
>> >> >> The return of realism, the self, different though, is what matters,
>> if
>> >> >> he's right on.
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> http://flavorwire.com/496570/2014-the-death-of-the-postmodern-novel-and-the-rise-of-autofiction
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Sent from my iPad-
>> >> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>
>
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