POST-MODERNISM

Post-modernism         NOVEL

Post-modernism developed during 60s and its main trends are:

• It doesn't believe in the concept of truth
• It puts the question of authority into doubt
• It does no longer believe in the concept of center as it generally happened in previous generations

If  Modernism (which covers the first three decades of the 20^th century) is still looking for a center, for a point of reference and it puts the research of art at the center, Post-modernism questions all that and there is no absolute truth, also implies that there is not MEANING. There is no longer only one center but more and more centers and therefore MEANING is always differed. For this reason there is a continuos slipping of meaning because the same MEANING is NEVER STABLE.

The concept is connected to the relationship between:

• 1) Signifier
• 2) Signified ( to signify )

[The position of the reader is the previous one because it's the reader who makes sens to the story: as a matter of fact the reader gives one of the possible meaning and interpretation after reading the story.]

- Some examples of Post modernism books

A perfect example of a Post-modernism book is: Jeanette Winterson's "Oranges are not the Only Fruit"which realized a restructuring of the Bible's structure in a new context and there is a lot of intertextuality.

Another examples is: David Lodge's "Nice Work" ("Ottimo Lavoro") which tells about two protagonist:

- a woman, whose name is Robyn Penrose (a male name which recalls the famous "Robin Hood")

-a man, Vic Wilcox (the nickname of "Vic" seems to be Victoria's diminutive)