Parody of postmodernism in foreign literature. Postmodernism in Russian literature

Why is the literature of Russian postmodernism so popular? Works that relate to this phenomenon, everyone can have a different attitude: some may like them, others may not, but they still read such literature, so it is important to understand why it attracts readers so much? Perhaps young people, as the main audience for such works, are “overfed” after finishing school classical literature, (which is undoubtedly beautiful) want to breathe in fresh “postmodernism”, albeit rough in some places, even awkward in others, but so new and very emotional.

Russian postmodernism in literature dates back to the second half of the 20th century, when it shocked and bewildered people brought up on realistic literature. After all, deliberate disobedience to the laws of literary and speech etiquette and the use of obscene language were not inherent in traditional movements.

The theoretical foundations of postmodernism were laid in the 1960s by French scientists and philosophers. Its Russian manifestation differs from the European one, but it would not be such without its “ancestor”. It is believed that the postmodern beginning in Russia was made when in 1970. Venedikt Erofeev creates the poem “Moscow-Petushki”. This work, which we have carefully analyzed in this article, has a strong influence on the development of Russian postmodernism.

Brief description of the phenomenon

Postmodernism in literature is a large-scale cultural phenomenon that captured all spheres of art towards the end of the 20th century, replacing the no less well-known phenomenon of “modernism”. There are several basic principles of postmodernism:

• The world as a text;
• Death of the Author;
• The Birth of the Reader;
• Scriptor;
• Absence of canons: there is no good and bad;
• Pastiche;
• Intertext and intertextuality.

Since the main idea in postmodernism is that the author can no longer write anything fundamentally new, the idea of ​​“the death of the Author” is created. This essentially means that the writer is not the author of his books, since everything has already been written before him, and what follows is just a citation of previous creators. That is why the author in postmodernism does not play a significant role by reproducing his thoughts on paper, he is just someone who presents what was written previously in a different way, coupled with his personal writing style, his original presentation and characters.

“The death of the author” as one of the principles of postmodernism gives rise to another idea that the text initially does not have any meaning invested by the author. Since a writer is only a physical reproduction of something that has already been written earlier, he cannot put his subtext where there can be nothing fundamentally new. It is from here that another principle is born - “the birth of a reader,” which means that it is the reader, and not the author, who puts his own meaning into what he reads. The composition, the vocabulary chosen specifically for this style, the character of the main and minor characters, the city or place where the action takes place, arouses in him his personal feelings from what he read, prompts him to search for the meaning, which he initially lays down on his own from the first lines read.

And it is precisely this principle of “the birth of a reader” that carries one of the main messages of postmodernism - any interpretation of the text, any worldview, any sympathy or antipathy for someone or something has the right to exist, there is no division into “good” and “bad” ", as happens in traditional literary movements.

In fact, all of the above-mentioned postmodern principles carry a single meaning - a text can be understood in different ways, can be accepted in different ways, some may sympathize with it, but others may not, there is no division into “good” and “good”. evil,” anyone who reads this or that work understands it in his own way and, based on his inner sensations and feelings, knows himself, and not what is happening in the text. When reading, a person analyzes himself and his attitude towards what he read, and not the author and his attitude towards it. He will not look for the meaning or subtext laid down by the writer, because it does not exist and cannot exist; he, that is, the reader, will rather try to find what he himself puts into the text. We have said the most important things, you can read the rest, including the main features of postmodernism.

Representatives

There are quite a lot of representatives of postmodernism, but I would like to talk about two of them: Alexei Ivanov and Pavel Sanaev.

1. Alexey Ivanov is an original and talented writer who appeared in Russian literature 21st century. He was nominated three times for the National Best Seller Award. Laureate literary prizes“Eureka!”, “Start”, as well as the D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak and named after P.P. Bazhova.
2. Pavel Sanaev is no less bright and outstanding writer 20-21 centuries. Winner of the October and Triumph magazine awards for the novel Bury Me Behind the Baseboard.

Examples

The geographer drank the globe

Alexey Ivanov is the author of such famous works, like “The Geographer Drank His Globe Away”, “Dorm-on-Blood”, “Heart of Parma”, “Gold of Rebellion” and many others. The first novel is widely known mainly for the film starring Konstantin Khabensky in leading role, but the novel on paper is no less interesting and exciting than on the screen.

“The Geographer Drank His Globe Away” is a novel about the Perm school, about teachers, about obnoxious children, and about an equally obnoxious geographer, who by profession is not a geographer at all. The book contains a lot of irony, sadness, kindness and humor. This creates a feeling of complete presence at the events taking place. Of course, as it corresponds to the genre, there is a lot of veiled obscene and very original vocabulary, and the main feature is the presence of jargon of the lowest social environment.

The whole narrative seems to keep the reader in suspense, and now, when it seems that something should work out for the hero, this elusive ray of sun is about to peek out from behind the gray gathering clouds, and again the reader is furious, because the luck and well-being of the heroes are limited only by the reader's hope for their existence somewhere at the end of the book.

This is precisely what characterizes Alexey Ivanov’s narrative. His books make you think, get nervous, empathize with the characters, or sometimes get angry at them, be perplexed, or laugh at their witticisms.

Bury Me Behind the Baseboard

As for Pavel Sanaev and his emotional work “Bury me behind the plinth”, it is biographical story, written by the author in 1994 based on his childhood, when he lived for nine years in his grandfather's family. The main character is a boy, Sasha, a second grader, whose mother, not really caring about her son, gives him to the care of his grandmother. And, as we all know, children are contraindicated from staying with their grandparents for more than a certain period of time, otherwise either a colossal conflict occurs due to misunderstanding, or, as in the case of the main character, of this novel, everything goes much further, even to mental problems and a spoiled childhood.

This novel produces more strong impression than, for example, “The Geographer Drank His Globe Away” or anything else from this genre, since the main character is a child, a completely immature boy. He cannot change his life on his own, or somehow help himself, as the characters in the above-mentioned work or “Hostel on Blood” could do. Therefore, there is much more sympathy for him than for the others, and there is nothing to be angry with him for, he is a child, a real victim of real circumstances.

In the process of reading, one again encounters jargon of a lower social level, obscene language, and numerous and very catchy insults towards the boy. The reader is constantly indignant at what is happening; he wants to quickly read the next paragraph, the next line or page to make sure that this horror is over and the hero has escaped from this captivity of passions and nightmares. But no, the genre does not allow anyone to be happy, so this very tension drags on for all 200 book pages. Ambiguous actions grandmothers and mothers, independent “digestion” of everything that happens on behalf of little boy and the presentation of the text itself is worth reading this novel.

Dorm-on-blood

“Dorm-on-the-Blood” is a book by Alexei Ivanov, already known to us, the story of one student dormitory, within whose walls, by the way, most of the story takes place. The novel is saturated with emotions, because we are talking about students whose blood boils in their veins and youthful maximalism seethes. However, despite this certain recklessness and recklessness, they are great lovers of having philosophical conversations, talking about the universe and God, judging and blaming each other, repenting of their actions and making excuses for them. And at the same time, they have absolutely no desire to improve and make their existence even a little easier.

The work is literally replete with an abundance of obscene language, which at first may put someone off from reading the novel, but even despite this, it is worth reading.

Unlike previous works, where hope for something good faded already in the middle of reading, here it regularly lights up and goes out throughout the book, which is why the ending hits the emotions so hard and excites the reader so much.

How does postmodernism manifest itself in these examples?

That the hostel, that the city of Perm, that the house of Sasha Savelyev’s grandmother are citadels of everything bad that lives in people, everything that we are afraid of and what we always try to avoid: poverty, humiliation, grief, insensitivity, self-interest, vulgarity and other things. Heroes are helpless, regardless of their age and social status, they are victims of circumstances, laziness, alcohol. Postmodernism in these books is manifested in literally everything: in the ambiguity of the characters, and in the reader’s uncertainty in his attitude towards them, and in the vocabulary of the dialogues, and in the hopelessness of the characters’ existence, in their pity and despair.

These works are very difficult for sensitive and over-emotional people, but you will not regret reading them, because each of these books contains nutritious and useful food for thought.

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It is believed that postmodernism in literature first appeared in the United States, and then gradually spread to many other countries. European countries. People became more interested

• literary studies
• post-Freudian,
• intellectual concepts.

Moreover, for many reasons, it was the American “soil” that turned out to be the most favorable for the perception of such new trends. The fact is that in the 50s many unknown and completely new trends in literature and art appeared. All these growing trends needed to be comprehended. As a result, it turned out that in the 70s a change in the cultural paradigm gradually began to occur, where postmodernism in literature took the place of modernism.

The first examples of postmodernism in literature

Already in 1969, an article entitled “Cross Borders, Fill Ditches” was published, which in this regard turned out to be significant. The author of this sensational article was Leslie Fiedler, a famous literary critic. In this article one could clearly see the whole pathos of combining the language of mass literature with the language of modernism. Both completely different poles were combined and brought closer to each other in order to make it possible to erase the boundaries between fiction, which was despised by aesthetes, and elitist and modernist literature.

The ideas of poststructuralists from France, who migrated to the United States at that time, not only made it possible to much better understand all the processes emerging in American art, but also added new impetus to discussions regarding postmodernism.

Development of postmodernism

The new concept of postmodernism (which originated in the USA) over time influenced not only art and literature, but also many sciences:

• political,
• business,
• right,
• psychoanalysis,
• management,
• sociology,
• psychology,
• criminology.

Moreover, when rethinking American culture, art and literature, postmodernism served as a methodological basis as theoretical basis poststructuralism. All of this contributed to changing racial and ethnic attitudes among Americans. Postmodernism in literature has also become fertile ground for the emergence of a feminist approach.

And in the 90s, postmodernism gradually penetrated the spiritual culture of society.

Main features of postmodernism in literature

Most researchers believe that with postmodernism, an artificial destruction of traditional views and ideas about the completeness, harmony, and integrity of all aesthetic systems arose. The first attempts to identify the main features of postmodernism also appeared:

1. predilection for quotation compound incompatible;
2. blurring of binary and too rigid oppositions;
3. hybridization of different genres, which gives rise to mutant new forms;
4. ironic revaluation of many values, decanonization of most conventions and canons;
5. erasure of identity;
6. playing with texts, metalinguistic games, theatricalization of texts;
7. rethinking the history of human culture and intertextuality;
8. mastering Chaos in a playful manner;
9. pluralism of styles, models and cultural languages;
10. organization of texts in a two- or multi-level version, adapted simultaneously for mass and elite readers;
11. the phenomenon of “death of the author” and the author’s mask;
12. multiplicity of points of view and meanings;
13. incompleteness, openness to designs, fundamental unsystematicity;
14. "double coding" technique.

Texts from capital letters became the most basic object of postmodernism. In addition, cultural mediation, ridicule and general confusion began to appear in this direction.

All over the world it is generally accepted that postmodernism in literature is a special intellectual style, the texts of which are written as if out of time, and where a certain hero (not the author) tests his own conclusions by playing non-binding games, getting into various life situations. Critics view postmodernism as a reaction of the elite to the widespread commercialization of culture, as an opposition general culture cheap tinsel and glitter. In general, this is a rather interesting direction, and today we present to your attention the most famous literary works in the mentioned style.

10. Samuel Beckett "Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable"

Samuel Beckett is a recognized master of abstract minimalism, whose pen technique allows him to objectively survey our subjective world, taking into account the psychology of the individual character. The author's unforgettable work, "Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable", is recognized as one of the best - by the way, the translation can be found on lib.ru

9. Mark Danielewski "House of Leaves"

This book is a real work literary art, since Danielewski plays not only with words, but also with the color of words, combining textual and emotional information. Associations caused by the color combination of various words help to penetrate the atmosphere of this book, which contains both elements of mythology and metaphysics. The idea of ​​coloring the words of the author was inspired by the famous color test Rorschach.

8. Kurt Vonnegut "Breakfast of Champions"

This is what the author himself says about his book: “This book is my gift to myself for my fiftieth birthday. At fifty years old I am so programmed that I behave childishly; I speak disrespectfully about the American anthem, draw a Nazi flag with a felt-tip pen, and butts, and everything else.

I think this is an attempt to throw everything out of my head so that it becomes completely empty, like that day fifty years ago when I appeared on this badly damaged planet.

In my opinion, all Americans should do this - both whites and non-whites who imitate whites. In any case, other people have filled my head with all sorts of things - there is a lot of useless and ugly stuff, and one does not fit with the other and does not correspond at all to that real life, which goes outside of me, outside of my head.”

7. Jorge Luis Borges "Labyrinths"

This book cannot be described without resorting to in-depth analysis. In general, this characteristic applies to most of the author’s works, many of which are still awaiting an objective interpretation.

6. Hunter Thompson "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

The book tells the story of the adventures of lovers of psychotropic drugs in Las Vegas. Through seemingly simple situations, the author creates a complex political satire of his era.

5. Bret Easton Ellis "American Psycho"

No other work can capture the life of the average Wall Street yuppie. Patrick Bateman main character works, lives ordinary life, on which the author imposes interesting trick, in order to show the naked reality of such a way of existence.

4. Joseph Geller "Catch-22"

This is probably the most paradoxical novella that has ever been written. Geller's work is widely recognizable, and most importantly, recognized by the majority literary critics our time. It is safe to say that Geller is one of the greatest writers of our time.

3. Thomas Pynchon "Gravity's Rainbow"

All attempts to describe the plot of this novel will certainly fail: it is a symbiosis of paranoia, pop culture, sex and politics. All these elements merge in a special way, creating an unsurpassed literary work new era.

2. William Burroughs "Naked Lunch"

Too much has been written about the influence of this work on the minds of our time to write about it again. This work occupies a worthy place in the literary heritage of contemporaries of the era - here you can find elements science fiction, erotica and detective. This whole wild mixture in some mysterious way captivates the reader, forcing him to read everything from the first to the last page - however, it is not a fact that the reader will understand all this the first time.

1. David Foster Wallace "Infinite Jest"

This work is a classic of the genre, of course, if one can say so about the literature of postmodernism. Again, here you can find sadness and fun, intelligence and stupidity, intrigue and vulgarity. Contrasting the two large organizations- the main plot line, which leads to an understanding of some factors in our lives.

In general, these works are very difficult, and this is what makes them extremely popular. I would like to hear objective reviews from our readers who have read some of these works - perhaps this will allow others to pay attention to books of a similar genre.

Do you like terminological disputes? Many will agree that it is difficult to find a more boring activity. Therefore, this article will more examples than abstruse theoretical research. But the concept of “postmodernism in architecture” is still worth giving a definition. Let's start with the fact that postmodernism in most cases refers to similar cultural and social phenomena of the second half of the 20th century. In architecture, he expressed himself in amazing inventions, theatrical and playful principles and complex figurative associations. The language of architectural forms has become richer, and volumes and compositions have become more expressive. Simply put, supporters of postmodernism returned art to the architecture of that time. Now let's move on to examples.

"Dancing House"

The building in question is located in Prague. It was built during 1994-1996. designed by Vlad Milunovich and Postmodernism architecture was more than fully reflected in this building. The building was named dancing because the architects tried to depict a couple of famous dancers - F. Astaire and

The “Dancing House” consists of two towers - a curved one and a regular one. The glass part of the structure that faces the street is a woman in a flowing dress, while the part of the house facing the river is a man in a top hat. The atmosphere is enhanced by the jumping and dancing windows. The last architectural technique is directly related to the works of Mondrian, with his painting “Boogie-Woogie on Broadway.” Postmodernism in the architecture of the described building is noticeable in dynamic lines and asymmetrical transformations.

House piano with violin

In 2007, a house in the shape of a piano and violin was built in the Chinese city of Huainan. Many architects note that postmodernism is clearly expressed in this building. The architecture of the piano house is a modern outrageous thing. It was designed by students from Hefei University of Technology and the architectural studio Huainan Fangkai Decoration Project Co.

The architectural composition of the building includes 2 musical instrument, which are made on a scale of 1:50 and are copies of a piano and violin. The forms chosen by the architects made it possible to combine symbolism with utilitarian functions. In particular, the shape of the piano made it possible to qualitatively distribute the space for the exhibition complex, while the shape of the violin made it possible to place a staircase to the halls in it. The combination of aesthetics with practical requirements is postmodernism in architecture.

"Brokeback House"

One of the most bright examples postmodernism continues to be the “Brokeback House”, located in the Polish city of Sopot. is a part shopping center and was built according to the design of Jacek Karnowski. Sketches for the future building were created by Pierre Dahlberg and Jan Chancer. The purpose of the building is quite banal - to attract new customers. At one time, the “Humpbacked House” received the title of the best architectural idea in Poland. main feature of the specified structure is the complete absence of straight lines and correct angles. Even its balconies are shaped. Seeing this fairytale house, you will immediately understand what postmodernism in architecture is.

Postmodernism - (eng. postmodernism) - a general name relating to the latest trends in contemporary art. It was introduced into widespread use in 1969 by the American literary critic L. Friedler. In the specialized literature there is no consensus on the meaning of the term “postmodernism”. As a rule, postmodernism is attributed to post-war European and American culture, but there are also attempts to extend this concept to more early period or, conversely, attribute it to the art of the future, after or outside of modernity. Despite the vagueness of the term, there are certain realities of modern art behind it.

The concept of “postmodernism” can be interpreted in a broad and narrow sense. In a broad sense, postmodernism is a state of culture as a whole, a set of ideas, concepts, special look to the world. In a narrow sense, Postmodernism is a phenomenon of aesthetics, literary direction, in which the ideas of postmodernism in a broad sense are embodied.

Postmodernism emerged in the second half of the 20th century. Special role R. Barthes, J. Kristeva, J. Baudrillard, J. Derrida, M. Foucault, U. Eco played a role in the formation of the ideas of postmodernism. In practice, these ideas were implemented by A. Murdoch, J. Fowles, J. Barnes, M. Pavic, I. Calvino and many others. etc.

The main elements of postmodern consciousness:

Total relativism– relativity of everything and everyone, absence absolute truths and precise landmarks. There are many points of view, and each of them is true in its own way, so the concept of truth becomes meaningless. The world of postmodernism is extremely relative, everything in it is unsteady and there is nothing absolute. All traditional guidelines have been revised and refuted. Concepts of good, evil, love, justice and many others. others have lost their meaning.

A consequence of total relativism is the concept end of history, which means the denial of the objective linear nature historical process. There is no single history of humanity; there are metanarratives fixed in the mind, i.e. large-scale explanatory systems that those in power create for their own purposes. Metanarratives are, for example, Christianity, Marxism. Postmodernism is characterized by a distrust of metanarratives.

Epistemological uncertainty- a feature of the worldview in which the world is perceived as absurd, chaotic, inexplicable. Episteme is a set of ideas that in a given era defines the boundaries of the true (close to the concept of a scientific paradigm). Epistemological uncertainty arises during the period of episteme change, when the old episteme no longer meets the needs of society, and the new one has not yet been formed.

Simulacrum is an object that arises as a result of the simulation process, not associated with reality, but perceived as real, the so-called. "connotation without denotation." Central concept postmodernism, this concept existed before, but it was in the context of postmodern aesthetics that it was developed by J. Borillard. “A simulacrum is a pseudo-thing that replaces the “agonizing reality” with a post-reality through a simulation that passes off absence as presence, erasing the differences between the real and the imaginary. It occupies in non-classical and postmodern aesthetics the place that belonged to the artistic image in traditional aesthetic systems.”

Simulation– the generation of the hyperreal using models of the real that do not have their own sources in reality. The process of generating simulacra.

The main elements of postmodern aesthetics:

Synthesis- This is one of the fundamental principles of postmodern aesthetics. Anything can connect to anything: different types arts, language styles, genres, seemingly incompatible ethical and aesthetic principles, high and low, mass and elite, beautiful and ugly, etc. R. Barth, in his works of the 50-60s, proposed to abolish literature as such, and instead formulate a universal form creative activity, which could combine theoretical developments and aesthetic practices. Many classics of postmodernism are both theoretical researchers and practical writers (W. Eco, A. Murdoch, J. Kristeva).

Intertextuality– special dialogical relations of texts, built as a mosaic of quotations, which are the result of absorption and modification of other texts, orientation to the context. The concept was introduced by Y. Kristeva. “Every text is located at the intersection of many texts, rereading, emphasizing, condensing, moving and deepening of which it is” (F. Sollers). Intertextuality is not a synthesis, the life-giving essence of which is the “merging of artistic energies,” the connection of thesis with antithesis, tradition with innovation. Intertextuality contrasts “merger” with “competitiveness of a specializing group,” called modernism, then postmodernism.

Nonlinear reading. Connected with the theory of J. Deleuze and F. Guattari about two types of culture: “wood” culture and “rhizome culture”. The first type is associated with the principle of imitation of nature, the transformation of world chaos into an aesthetic cosmos through creative effort; here the book is a “tracing paper”, a “photograph” of the world. The embodiment of the second type of culture is postmodern art. “If the world is chaos, then the book will become not a cosmos, but a chaosmos, not a tree, but a rhizome. The rhizome book implements fundamentally new type aesthetic connections. All its points will be connected to each other, but these connections are structureless, multiple, confused, they are suddenly broken off every now and then.” Here the book is no longer a “tracing paper”, but a “map” of the world. “What is coming is not the death of the book, but the birth of a new type of reading: the main thing for the reader will not be to understand the content of the book, but to use it as a mechanism, to experiment with it. “Rhizome Culture” will become a kind of “buffet” for the reader: everyone will take whatever they want from the book-plate.”

Double coding- the principle of text organization, according to which the work is addressed simultaneously to differently prepared readers who can read different layers of the work. An adventurous plot and a deep story can coexist in one text. philosophical issues. An example of a work with double coding is W. Eco’s novel “The Name of the Rose,” which can be read both as an exciting detective story and as a “semiological” novel.

The world as a text. The theory of postmodernism was created based on the concept of one of the most influential modern philosophers(as well as culturologist, literary critic, semiotician, linguist) Jacques Derrida. According to Derrida, “the world is a text,” “the text is the only possible model of reality.” The second most important theorist of poststructuralism is considered to be the philosopher and cultural scientist Michel Foucault. His position is often seen as a continuation of the Nietzschean line of thought. Thus, history for Foucault is the largest manifestation of human madness, the total chaos of the unconscious.

Other followers of Derrida (they are also like-minded people, opponents, and independent theorists): in France - Gilles Deleuze, Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes. In the USA - Yale School (Yale University).

According to the theorists of postmodernism, language functions according to its own laws. In short, the world is comprehended by man only in the form of one or another story, a story about it. Or, in other words, in the form of “literary” discourse (from the Latin discurs - “logical construction”).

Doubt about authenticity scientific knowledge led postmodernists to the conviction that the most adequate comprehension of reality is accessible only to intuitive – “poetic thinking”. The specific vision of the world as chaos, appearing to consciousness only in the form of disordered fragments, was defined as “postmodern sensitivity.”

Since the second half of the 20th century, philosophy began to invite humanity to come to terms with the fact that there are no absolute principles in our existence, but this was perceived not as the powerlessness of the human mind, but as a certain wealth of our nature, since the absence of a primary ideal stimulates the diversity of visions of life. There is no single correct approach - they are all correct and adequate. This is how the situation of postmodernism is formed.

From the point of view of postmodernism, modernism is characterized by the desire to know the beginning of beginnings. And postmodernism comes to the idea of ​​abandoning these aspirations, because... our world is a world of diversity, movements of meanings, and none of them is the most true. Humanity must accept this diversity and not pretend to comprehend the truth. The burden of tragedy and chaos is lifted from a person, but he realizes that his choice is one of many possible.

Postmodernism absolutely consciously revises everything literary heritage. It becomes today the existing cultural context - a huge cultural unwritten encyclopedia, where all texts relate to each other as parts of the intertext.

Any text turns out to be a quote from another text. We know something, therefore we can express it in words. How do we know them? We heard, we read, we learned. Everything that we do not know is also described in words.

Our culture is made up of cultural context. Literature is part of the cultural context in which we live. We can use these works; they are part of that reality, the picture of which we create for ourselves.

All our knowledge is information that we have learned. It comes to us in the form of words that someone frames. But this someone is not the bearer of absolute knowledge - this information is simply an interpretation. Everyone must understand that they are not absolute carriers of knowledge, but at the same time, our interpretations can be more or less complete, depending on the amount of information processed, and they cannot be correct or incorrect.

The distinctive feature of postmodernism is conceptuality.

The work consolidates the writer’s vision of the world, and does not simply describe the world. We get the picture as it appears in the author’s mind.