Postmodernism is a term which is often used interchangeably with poststructuralism is a movement destroying all paradigms up to twentieth century. The soul of this movement is deconstruction, which is a term created by Jacques Derrida, defining the basic premise of this movement. Unlikely from the other movements, Postmodernism criticizes previous movements but donot come up with a new idea. Postmodernism evaluates past with the current condition. So, there was no modernity, there were superficiality and imitation in the works of postmodernism.
As to Postmodernism literary techniques, to understand postmodern novels, it is required that readers know some techniques and approaches. What should readers give attention while reading Postmodern novel? There are several literary techniques that authors used at that time. Some common techniques are respectively: Intertextuality, metafiction, parody and pastiche, collage, simulacra, self-reflexivity, irony.
Intertextuality is a technique to shape the text by the elements of the other intertextual texts. Julia Kristeva developed this theory and according to her, there are horizontal axis and vertical axis in the intertextuality. If there is a relationship between the reader and author, it is horizontal axis; if there is a relationship between the text and other texts, it is vertical axis. Both horizontal and vertical axis emphasize that no text exists in a buble. Intertextuality was used in Post-Modern literature in some popular types such as Fairy Tale and science fiction by Donald Barthelme and Margaret Atwood. The well-known novel, Lolita, written by Vladimir Nabokov, is the prime example for this technique and references some prominent authors such as T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron.
Another technique used in Postmodernism is Metafiction, one of the most important, instruction techniques of the novel, is a kind of fiction that is attributed to fiction written before Postmodernism. To question between reality and fiction, it is done consciously and systematically by the authors in their works in the twentieth century. When it is hard to understand whether the plot is real or fiction, or real and fiction mixing each other in the novel, it can be said that this novel was written in the postmodern era. There is sometimes seen a fiction in the fiction in the novel by using this literary technique. In Slaughterhouse- Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut; On a Winter Night’s Traveler, written by Italo Calvinos are shown as examples for this literary technique.
The Pastiche, the other used technique, is that author gives his/her novel by emulating the works of other novelists. The original text is not used but imitated in this technique. While doing Pastiche, the author might emulate style, language or thought or genre even can benefit from bunch of genres in the text s/he writes. Despite the fact that Fredric Jamenson founds Pastiche pointless, postmodern writers such as David Mitchells, in his work Cloudy Atlas (2004); and William S. Burroughs used this super-popular technique in his mixed westerns, detective and science fiction works. When it comes to the Parodi technique, which is used with Pastiche, this method aims to mock the styles that are still alive and influential. To understand parodies in the novel, there is no requirement that the readers know the work imitated because to get the reader or moviegoer to laugh is the first aim of the parodies while there is no need any ridiculous elements in Pastiche if the writer’s aim is not get the readers to laugh. A Theory of Parody (Meuthen, 1985) can be given an example for parodi technique.
The Collage Technique, definer is Luis Aragon, is applied by inserting elements other than literary texts such as newspaper cuts, headlines, banners, prospectuses, or signboards among the sentences that are beyond the traditional narrative style. It is used as an intertextual image. Louis Aragon inspired other theorists such as Florian Odari, Jacqueline Bernard with his compilation titled Collages.
The Simulacra is another literary technique coming from Plato, means copying or imitating other’s works without any hesitation or reservation. Some critics say that the simulacrum is a perfect copy that has no original. There can be seen simulacrum characters in the science fiction movies such as Star Trek or Blade Runner.
As a literary technique, irony is a contrast between what is intended to say and what is said in literature. There are three sorts of Irony: verbal, dramatic and situational. Verbal irony is something like saying; “What a pleasant day,” while it is raining heavily. As to dramatic irony, it occurs when the readers or audience has more information about characters in the novel or movie. For instance, the audience knows that the protagonist is going to be murdered or commit a suicide; however, one or others may not be aware of these facts. Situational irony occurs when audience expect the protagonist will die at the end of the novel or movie, in other words, last outcome is opposite what the audience is expecting. For instance, Harry Potter series is one of the most popular one having used situational irony. In the post-colonial literature, novelists or shor story writers used irony to have fun, and The School, the story of Donald Barthelme can be given as an example to irony device in literature.
The last literary technique, self-reflexivity is dispensable characteristic in Postmodernism, particularly in postmodernist fiction. Self-reflexivity is both an expression and a basic requirement of modern rationality and self-consciousness. An ontology, epistemology or anthropology are the approaches of this technique. Self-questioning and criticizing of the character are the main styles of this method. Self-reflexivity refers to the notion of accountability in relation to one’s subjective positioning in the field and thus constitutes a key tool with which to critically engage with power relations implied in ethnography. In John Fowles’s works, Sorcerer and Orhan Pamuk ‘s works there can be seen self-reflexivity technique.
Melike Çelik
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