There are distinctive features which will help you identify postmodernism in a novel.
Postmodernism is a broad philosophy which focuses on the idea of truth and reality as social constructs, rather than fixed absolutes. In literature it is, as the name suggests, a genre following on -- and moving away -- from modernism. Modernism was a literary movement of the early 20th century which attempted to break the bonds of realist writing by experimenting with form and style. There are many postmodernist authors, some of the most renowned include Thomas Pynchon and Italo Calvino. Although the genre is wide-ranging, it has some common features which will help you to identify it.
Instructions
1. Identify any of the features from Steps 2 to 6 in your novel. A postmodern novel may contain all of these features, but it does not have to. Any novel that uses at least one of the following devices could be classified as postmodern literature.
2. Look out for experimentation with the form of the novel. This could be less character development, non-traditional narratives, playing with perspectives and point of view or strange layout or typographical choices.
3. Identify any inference to metafiction, when literature self-consciously exposes itself as a work of fiction. There are several literary devices for achieving this, including narrative footnotes that comment on the story, such as those in "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski, or a book which contains another fictional work inside it, such as Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49."
4. Check for a sense of discontinuity, which may be shown via an unconventional conveyance of time throughout the story. A prime example of this is in Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five," where the narrative -- and the main character -- shift back and forth through time.
5. Observe any instances of intertextuality, that is when an author interweaves or makes reference to another text entirely. For example "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco references the works of Aristotle and Borges.
6. Watch for black humor and irony in a novel, as it is often found in postmodern literature. The term "catch-22" comes from Joseph Heller's novel of the same name, the central theme of which is the irony of being in such a situation.
