Postmodern Literature WiSe 2021/22

This is a seminar for book lovers. For our sixteen weeks we have quite a lot of texts to read, but some are short and dense (Pynchon), some are fast reads (Brautigan) – we start with the shorter reads--, some are suspenseful and grim (Butler), some interesting and annoying (Roth), some exciting and surprising (Yamashita) and some creative, imaginative and riveting (Whitehead). We will attempt to re-assess postmodernism in literature. We will get to know various approaches to postmodernism, definitions, explanations. And we will read the novels/novellas against these suggestions, look at the styles, strategies, topics, concerns. We will see if there is a development within postmodernism, if postmodernism is passé, or if we can relate to the material (and if Afrofuturism is its heir). We will also discuss what a (literary) period could be and from which vantage point we judge literary eras.