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David Lodge - MCorte
by - (2011-11-16)
Up to 5C - Postmodernism
MCorte - Postmodernism - David Lodge
This text is an extract from the second chapter of David Lodge's novel "Nice work". It can be read as ideal example of Postmodern literature.
After giving the presentation of the main character, the narrator begins to describe a woman named Robyn Penrose. The name of this person may identify her as an idealistic person(reference to the hero Robin Hood) This narrator is omniscient(he knows everything about his characters) and also intrusive(during the description he also says his point of view). Due to this his narration saying things about Robin according to his point of view, so the reader cannot have any other idea by own about her.
The only concrete element the reader know about her is that she is Temporary Lecture in English literature. This is not a casual information because this reveals she belongs to the world of lecture but she also is a precarious giving idea of instability and not definitive. In this presentation narrator choose to describe this character not giving physical information or facts but saying her philosophy strictly connected to the Postmodern ideas, especially in the conception of the novel and his features.
Firstly she doesn't "believe in the concept of character" and this shows the postmodern destructuration of the concept character, explained by Robin as an illusion created by capitalism. From this affirmation she points to the connection between novel and capitalism: Robin explains that novel and capitalism were both expression of a Protestant ethic aimed to an autonomous individual responsible for his own destiny. This can be further demonstrated by the connection between the crisis of the capitalism and the crisis of the novel, that is origin of the modern and postmodern literature. In fact crisis of the novel causes the crisis of the traditional structure and elements and also the end of an autonomous individual self(main base of capitalism and novel). According to her "there is no origin, there is only production and we produce ourselves in language".
The traditional structure used to describe definite characters in definite time and place, and also to follow the evolution of the character. In the Postmodern novel, like this extract, there are less and less facts but more and more streams of consciousness that doesn't allow to find any logical links. In fact in postmodernism there is not any centre but instead narrator can make a lot of identities by oneself. This can reveal weakness of the people that instead they always need to have a common identity(joining a group, a mode). In fact one important feature of the Postmodern novel is about hybridity of the identities but also of the ideas. For this postmodern uses to link various texts(intertextuality) and this makes postmodern texts without any origins but only production(as said by Robin).
Considering these affermations, this text can be read as example of the Postmodern novel because it is possible to find in important features: lacking of an unique centre there is destructuration of the common character and of an unique identity. This causes a need to create truth by oneself and the research in another texts. For this there is no more origin and our identity is explained only using language.
After giving the presentation of the main character, the narrator begins to describe a woman named Robyn Penrose. The name of this person may identify her as an idealistic person(reference to the hero Robin Hood) This narrator is omniscient(he knows everything about his characters) and also intrusive(during the description he also says his point of view). Due to this his narration saying things about Robin according to his point of view, so the reader cannot have any other idea by own about her.
The only concrete element the reader know about her is that she is Temporary Lecture in English literature. This is not a casual information because this reveals she belongs to the world of lecture but she also is a precarious giving idea of instability and not definitive. In this presentation narrator choose to describe this character not giving physical information or facts but saying her philosophy strictly connected to the Postmodern ideas, especially in the conception of the novel and his features.
Firstly she doesn't "believe in the concept of character" and this shows the postmodern destructuration of the concept character, explained by Robin as an illusion created by capitalism. From this affirmation she points to the connection between novel and capitalism: Robin explains that novel and capitalism were both expression of a Protestant ethic aimed to an autonomous individual responsible for his own destiny. This can be further demonstrated by the connection between the crisis of the capitalism and the crisis of the novel, that is origin of the modern and postmodern literature. In fact crisis of the novel causes the crisis of the traditional structure and elements and also the end of an autonomous individual self(main base of capitalism and novel). According to her "there is no origin, there is only production and we produce ourselves in language".
The traditional structure used to describe definite characters in definite time and place, and also to follow the evolution of the character. In the Postmodern novel, like this extract, there are less and less facts but more and more streams of consciousness that doesn't allow to find any logical links. In fact in postmodernism there is not any centre but instead narrator can make a lot of identities by oneself. This can reveal weakness of the people that instead they always need to have a common identity(joining a group, a mode). In fact one important feature of the Postmodern novel is about hybridity of the identities but also of the ideas. For this postmodern uses to link various texts(intertextuality) and this makes postmodern texts without any origins but only production(as said by Robin).
Considering these affermations, this text can be read as example of the Postmodern novel because it is possible to find in important features: lacking of an unique centre there is destructuration of the common character and of an unique identity. This causes a need to create truth by oneself and the research in another texts. For this there is no more origin and our identity is explained only using language.