Post-modernism

During the Sixties at Berkeley University in California and at Sorbonne in Paris, intellectuals discussed about the principle of authority, criticysing it and trying to find its roots. They established that authority was not determined by someone's higher position, but rather by people's  recognition.

In those years people identified authority with power and because of this they doubted it, refusing to rely on powerful figures.
This trend of thought was called "Post-Modernism" and refers to our contemporary society,too.  The changes influenced also literature: one of the most important Post-Modernist writers is Michael Cunningham. Post-Modernist writers focus their attention on intertextual approach with very famous novels. An example of this link with past famous writers is what Mr Cunningham does exploiting Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway in his novel "The Hours".