Mo/Po-mo stuff

Jonathan Laidlow · 29 Oct 1999, 09:25 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: "Jonathan Laidlow" <LAIDLOJM at hhs.bham.ac.uk>
Subject: (urth) Mo/Po-mo stuff
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 09:25:35 GMT
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Have to agree with Alex's epistemological/ontological theory. =20
Indeed its the one that McHale puts forward in _Postmodernist=20
Fiction_. The usual way I try to explain it to students (on a simple=20
level) is that modernism was concerned with finding new ways to=20
represent reality, because old models did not seem adequate (ie=20
C19 realism). Postmodernism takes this a step further and=20
suggests that reality cannot be successfully represented, so the=20
alternative is to turn away from that and play with the form of fiction=20
and the way reality can only ever be 'represented', not described.

I'm not sure I liked McHale's first book - like the work of Linda=20
Hutcheon it seemed very good as a undergrad student but now=20
seems to suck some of the excitement out of po-mo fiction. I=20
believe McHale's 'Constructing Postmodernism' is better, but that=20
could just be because he actually spends a lot of time on sf in that=20
one.

The American early postmodernists like Gaddis, Barth, and=20
Barthelme haven't really stayed in print over here (UK), and I must=20
say that the most exciting postmodern fictions I've read recently=20
have been Delillo's 'White Noise', Rushdie's 'Midnights Children'=20
and 'Satanic Verses', and (an oldie) Pynchon's 'Crying of Lot 49'. I=20
personally thought that the short version of Pynchon is not only the=20
most accessible, but also the most focussed of his works. Still=20
haven't got past the Baseball game in Delillo's 'Underworld' yet.=20
Since I began the book early this year I've finally had the chance to=20
attend a Baseball game and so must try again, just in case it=20
makes more sense.

All this concentration on 20th century Modernism/Post-modernism=20
ignores the fact that there have been modernisms throughout=20
history. I've been attempting for a while now to put together a=20
coherent argument that my man Sterne has to be considered as=20
part of an 18th century modernism (as in an attempt to undermine=20
and reformulate established models of representation and find a=20
new way to express the 'real') rather than as a man out of time who=20
prefigures our 20th century concerns.

And I haven't mentioned Wolfe once! Sorry....

So - to briefly add to the introducing Wolfe to others - I have=20
successfully passed 'Shadow of the Torturer' to two of the Profs=20
(and in the UK a Professor is the top job - you only get the title when=20
you're a real bigwig) who both thoroughly enjoyed it. Indeed one of=20
them has migrated to  5th Head and I've now just put him onto Long=20
Sun.

And I haven't even begun to wade thru the Whorl stuff of recent=20
months, so can I just say that OBW is a masterpiece which left me=20
unable to read anything but comics and magazines for about three=20
days, as nothing else I might consider reading would even come=20
close....

Jonathan
Visit Ultan's Library - A Gene Wolfe web resource
http://members.tripod.co.uk/laidlow/index.htm
Jonathan Laidlow
University of Birmingham, UK

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