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Wymer 1
Jacob Wymer
Professor Reid
ENGLISH
May 1, 2017
Postmodern Positivity
Over the course of this semester we have been tasked with reading and analyzing
novels that fall into the postmodern category of literature. Each one of these stories were
different in their own way, yet united by the fact that these authors of the new era decided
to break the frame of literary knowledge that we have come to know all too well. At least
some people realized how jaded and casual writing had become. Thank god these authors
did what they did, because literature will never be the same thanks to the books we read
this semester and many others like them. Fight Club was the last book that we read this
semester, and for good reason. Even so, many dubbed the movie that came out starring
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as even better than the book. Everything about the novel is
rebellious, and has paved a way towards a new way of thinking. Even if those in the real
world would never dream about participating in the sorts of things that happen during the
story, people sure like to imagine that they would. Fight Club displays all of the ideals of
postmodernism two times over, including heavy skepticism of modern culture, art,
history, and economics. It also focuses on the journey of rejecting a grand narrative,
social progress, and objective truth while throwing everything that you think you know
out the window. In this sense, Fight Club represents postmodernism and postmodernism
represents fight club. Although Palahniuk uses violence, stubbornness, and non-
compliance as the means to an end, the novel yields positive connotations to a certain
Wymer 2
degree. It uses plenty of literary terms such as irony, pastiche, and intertextuality in order
to preach living in the moment along with the usefulness of self-reliance and reference.
This is not a bad thing. In fact, introducing a new way of thinking remains the main goal
of postmodern literature.
Besides Fight Club, every book that we have read this semester has contributed to
the postmodern category of literature in some way. Although we could spend all day
analyzing the themes and key moments upon every page of every postmodern novel, it is
important to realize that each of these novels are genuine and unique in their own way.
Just because a book possesses postmodern qualities does not mean it should be defined
by that category. Remember not to lose the originality of the story to the over-analyzing
