relationships: these constrain and dictate their actions, rather than
allowing them to act entirely as free individuals.POSTMODERN FICTIONS
Postmodern novelists have tended to critique the conventions of the
traditional realist novel and the assumptions behind it. As broad general-
isations from which to work outwards, we could say that postmodern
fictions tend to subvert conventional narrative in the following ways:
- They call into question the concept of plot. Postmodern fictions do not
necessarily have a plot, or they have plots which do not resolve, or they
consist of several plots whose superimposition undermines their
resolvability. It is often through the subversion of plot that postmodern
fictions play with, and question, the notion of objective truth. - They subvert the notion of three-dimensional, unified and realistic
characters: e.g. characters may be ‘types’, or may only demonstrate
extreme or unlikely behaviours. - They are not necessarily realist. Rather they use allegory, fantasy and
the construction of new worlds, to escape from—or enlarge on—realist
writing and the straightjacket of representation. This is a way of
opening new psychological and social dimensions. - They are intertextual, and often involve rewriting, quotation or pastiche
(e.g. rewriting of classic texts, myths or fairytales). The author’s person-
ality and interests are not omniscient, and texts are partly made of other
texts, hence the idea of ‘ the death of the author’ (see Chapter 4). - They play with space and time. Sometimes they compress events in dif-
ferent times and places so they occur simultaneously. Sometimes they
jump disjunctively between different times and places. - They subvert or expand genre—sometimes through parody. They often
employ formal hybridity and variety. - They suggest there is no one historical truth. We learn of history
through narratives which are themselves constructions: these often
favour those in power and marginalise others. Postmodern fictions play
with the relationship of fact and fiction, and question the objectivity
and validity of conventional history.
For more about postmodern fiction, read: Postmodernist Fiction (McHale
1989) and A Poetics of Postmodernism (Hutcheon 1988).
We will now look at some of the ways in which engaging with post-
modernist fictions can impact on how we write.
Postmodern f(r)ictions 135