PREP ON YOUR PHONES, LOOK UP THE PICASSO PAINTING GUERNICA. WHY IS THIS MOMENT IMPORTANT, HISTORICALLY?

GUERNICA
WHETHER YOU LABEL GUERNICA MODERN, OR POST-MODERN, THE INSPIRATION IS THE SAME: THE FRACTURED, DISSEMBLED, DESTROYED SUBJECTS OF THE PAINTING ARE A STATEMENT ABOUT A NEW SORT OF DESTRUCTION UNLEASHED INTO THE WORLD. BY ATTACKING CIVILIANS, THE GERMAN AND SPANISH FORCES BROKE AN OLD MILITARY CODE. PICASSO REFLECTED THAT CRIME BY PAINTING A SCENE THAT IS FRACTURED AND BROKEN APART, A WORLD MUTATED BY VIOLENCE.

GUERNICA IS A NEW STYLE TO REPRESENT A NEW WORLD.

POST-MODERNISM: PART 1

GOALS FOR TODAY

UNDERSTAND THE BASIC TENETS OF POST-MODERN PHILOSOPHY
WHERE IT CAME FROM WHY ITS DIFFICULT TO DEFINE

THE RULES AND ETHOS OF THE ART FORM

BEGIN TO ENGAGE WITH THE THEORY IN WRITING AND DISCUSSION

WE ARE GOING TO EXAMINE MULTIPLE WORKS OF ART TODAY; ALSO, WE ARE GOING TO LEARN A LITTLE HISTORY ABOUT THE PIECES, AND DISCUSS THE POWER THEY DERIVE FROM POMO (POST-MODERNISM).

POST-MODERNISM
POSTMODERNISM IS AN ARTISTIC THEORY THAT EXAMINES THE COLLAGE-LIKE, DIVERSE SOCIETY WE LIVE IN THROUGH IRONY, CHANGES TO TRADITIONAL STRUCTURES (GUERNICA), AND AN EMBRACING OF POP CULTURE AND THE COMMON LIFE (ANDY WARHOL, DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, TO NAME A FEW).
ITS HARD TO GIVE IT A DATE OF ORIGIN, BUT MOST ACCOUNTS PLACE IT, TECHNICALLY, IN THE FIRST YEARS AFTER WWII, SO ABOUT 1946-47.

POST-MODERNISM
IS A RESPONSE TO THE HORROR AND MORAL ANARCHY OF WORLD WAR II.
IT DATES TO THE PERIOD FOLLOWING WW II, BUT CAME INTO PROMINENCE DURING THE LATE 1960S AND EARLY 1970S.

IT IS ALSO, THEREFORE, A RESPONSE TO THE CIVIL RIGHT MOVEMENT, VIETNAM WAR, POLITICAL UPHEAVAL OF THE 1960S, WATERGATE SCANDAL, AND CHANGING MEDIA OUTLETS (TELEVISION, FILM, COMPUTERS). IT IS, MOST OF ALL, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WORLD IN WHICH WE PRESENTLY LIVE. MEANING, IN POMO, IS RELATIVE AND HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE.

WHAT POST-MODERNISM DOES<

COUPLES WITH POST-COLONIALISM (WELL LEARN ABOUT THAT ON B-DAY) TO CREATE A REREADING OF HISTORY AND WESTERN SOCIETYS DOMINANCE. IS INTERESTED IN NON-WESTERN VOICES THAT OFFER DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE WEST'S IMAGE OF ITSELF AND ITS PAST.

ALLOWS THE READER TO LOOK WITH NEW EYES AT FAMILIAR PLACES.

HIGHLIGHTS THE MULTIPLE VOICES, QUESTIONS, AND CONFLICTS THAT HAVE SHATTERED WHAT ONCE SEEMED TO BE A SINGLE, GREAT TRADITION.

RESEARCH
USING YOUR PHONE, GO TO WIKIPEDIA AND LOOK UP MODERNISM AND POST-MODERNISM.

READ THE INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH FOR MODERNISM, AND THE HISTORICAL SECTION FOR POST-MODERNISM
WRITE DOWN THREE THINGS YOU FIND IMPORTANT ABOUT EACH THEORY.

POST-MODERNISM SIMPLIFIED
IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO DEFINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODERNISM AND POST-MODERNISM. THE SIMPLEST EXPLANATION I CAN GIVE IS THIS:
MODERNIST LITERATURE SEES FRAGMENTATION AND EXTREME SUBJECTIVITY AS A PROBLEM THAT MUST BE SOLVED, AND THE ARTIST IS OFTEN CITED AS THE ONE TO SOLVE IT. POSTMODERNISTS, HOWEVER, OFTEN DEMONSTRATE THAT THIS CHAOS IS INSURMOUNTABLE; THE ARTIST IS IMPOTENT, AND THE ONLY RECOURSE AGAINST RUIN IS TO PLAY WITHIN THE CHAOS.

POST-MODERN ART FORM

SAMPLING IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THE TECHNIQUE OF PASTICHE, OR COLLAGE.
A SINGLE RAP SONG MAY DRAW FROM SOURCES AS DIVERSE AS A MELODY FROM A MILES DAVIS JAZZ NUMBER, A DRUM BEAT FROM AFRICAN TRIBAL MUSIC, AND A HOOK OR CHORUS FROM A DIFFERENT SONG, ALL COMBINED INTO ONE SINGLE CREATION.

READ THE QUOTE BELOW AND IDENTIFY WHICH IDEAS CONNECT TO THE THEORY OF POST-MODERNISM. RESEARCH STRANGE WORDS. Ive always thought of myself as a realist. I can remember fighting with my professors about it in grad school. The world that I live in consists of 250 advertisements a day and any number of unbelievably entertaining options, most of which are subsidized by corporations that want to sell me things. The whole way that the world acts on my nerve endings is bound up with stuff that the guys with leather patches on their elbows would consider pop or trivial or ephemeral. I use a fair amount of pop stuff in my fiction, but what I mean by it is nothing different than what other people mean in writing about trees and parks and having to walk to the river to get water a 100 years ago. Its just the texture of the world I live in.

POMO IN THE VISUAL ARTS

USE WIKIPEDIA TO LOOK UP THE DEFINITION OF DIPTYCH.
IN YOUR NOTES, WRITE DOWN
WHEN DIPTYCHS WERE COMMONLY USED THREE REASONS WHY THEY WERE USED (DONT WORRY ABOUT THE SUNDIAL PART).

ART FORM: DIPTYCH

A diptych has been used since, at least, Roman times
It is like a book, with two panels connected by a hinge. Used for religious purposes Religious images In mass: the left side would have the names of the living written on it; the right side would have the names of the dead

MARILYN DIPTYCH BY ANDY WARHOL

WRITE DOWN THREE IMPRESSIONS ABOUT THIS DIPTYCH. THEY CAN BE SIMPLE, OR PROFOUND, BUT WRITE SOMETHING. CONNECT THE IMPRESSIONS TO WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE ART FORM.

POST-MODERNISM AND WHY ITS POWERFUL

When a modern artist uses an art form that is ancient, out of place, or out of context, the artist takes that old meaning and adds to it by combining new images, ideas, or styles.
For instance: Warhol uses a traditional religious art form and puts a photo of a modern, recently dead icon on it. While the photo on the left is colorful, the photo on the right is in negative. As the photo moves from left to right, in the same way as we read, Monroe disappears, just like a photo that is exposed to too much light.

S C R E A M I N G P O P E

THE PAINTING ON THE LEFT IS A CLASSICAL PORTRAIT OF POPE INNOCENT X BY THE ARTIST DIEGO VELAZQUEZ (1650). THE PAINTING ON THE RIGHT IS A RE-CREATION OF THAT WORK CREATED BY FRANCIS BACON (1909-1992).

NOTICE HOW BACON INTERPOSES OVER A BENEVOLENT FIGURE A SEEMING PRISON OF YELLOW, GRAYISH AND BLACK BARS. THE POPE, ONCE THE ULTIMATE SYMBOL OF POWER, IS NOW HELPLESS IN THE FACE OF SUCH HORRORS AS THE HOLOCAUST, AND THE NEW FORCES OF DESTRUCTION (NUCLEAR WAR).

IMMEDIATE BUSINESS
WERE GOING TO DO TWO THINGS IN THE NEXT FEW MINUTES.
1) TURN IN THE FINAL RESUME DRAFTS WITH RUBRIC STAPLED ON THE TOP 2) GET A COPY OF THE THINGS THEY CARRIED FROM THE BACK CABINETS.

REVIEW OF PART 1
Answer the prompts below from memory if you can. If you cannot, use your notes. Phones will remain hidden, lest they become my property for the day.
WHAT IS POST-MODERNISM A REACTION AGAINST? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POST-MODERNISM AND MODERNISM? WHO WERE THE ARTISTS WE STUDIED TODAY, AND WHO OR WHAT ARE THE SUBJECTS OF THEIR ART?

PART 2: ELEMENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS

OBJECTIVE
GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENRES WITHIN POSTMODERNISM.
RESEARCH AND DEFINE THESE GENRES

GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE AUTHORS THAT WORK WITHIN THESE GENRES BY RESEARCHING THE BOOKS THEY WROTE.

PHILOSOPHIES OF TRUTH
Middle ages (476-1450): truth comes from the church, since power, money, and literacy was centralized there. Renaissance (1450-1600s): truth comes not just from the church, but from humans own experiences and beliefs: increased literacy, expanding into colonies, scientific research. The Enlightenment (1600s-1700s): truth comes from science and reason: Newton, Declaration of Independence. All answers come from reason. Romanticism (1800s-early 1900s): truth comes from nature. People are basically good. Nature reveals the truths of existence because there is an answer to find. Modernism (early to mid 1900s): the center does not hold. What we thought provides stability and meaning to life will ultimately disappoint. The answer does not hold. We cant trust what we have given meaning to: Joyce Ulysses; Eliots The Waste Land. Postmodernism (mid 1900s-today): there is no center. There is no answer to look for. Everything is relative. There was never any absolute truth.

EXISTENTIALISM
This theory evolves out of WWII. It is characterized by a bleak description of humanity: a significant concept of existentialism is the absurdity of existence, which arises when the human need to understand meets the unreasonableness of a cruel and amoral world; when the appetite for the absolute and for unity" meets "the impossibility of reducing this world to a rational and reasonable principle.

Existentialism dictates that there is no inherent meaning to life. It is up to the individual to decide what is meaningful. And we can only know meaning through struggle.

MAGICAL REALISM
Fantastical events occur, and are presented within the confines of traditionally established norms.
Characters reactions to these events suggest that nothing is out of the ordinary.
100 Years of Solitude The Tin Drum The House of Spirits

POSTCOLONIALISM THE EUROPEAN NARRATIVE

The regeneration of the inferior or degenerate races, by the superior races is part of the providential order of things for humanity<nature has made a race of workers, the Chinese race, who have wonderful manual dexterity, and almost no sense of honour; govern them with justice, levying from them, in return for the blessing of such a government, an ample allowance for the conquering race, and they will be satisfied; a race of tillers of the soil, the negro; treat him with kindness and humanity, and all will be as it should; a race of masters and soldiers. . . . Let each do what he is made for, and all will be well. LA RFORME INTELLECTUEL ET MORALE (1871), BY JOSEPH-ERNEST RENAN

POST-COLONIALISM
Writers from the native, colonized nations, write to counter the prevailing power structure. In these writings, they challenge the morality and power of the conqueror, and defend the native population against the colonial assumptions that the colonized are savage, unsophisticated, and unable to take care of themselves civilly. These works also criticize the morality, cruelty, and destructiveness of the colonists.
Notable works:
Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe The Wretched of the Earth, by Frantz Fanon

The Myth of the Lazy Native, Said Hussein Alatas

METAFICTION
Metafiction is fictional work in which the author writes about the process of writing.
Story about writing a story A work that contains another work of fiction A work where the characters are aware they are in a story Notable work: At Swim-Two-Birds is a novel, by Flann OBrien, about a college student writing a story about a shabby guy in a boarding house who is writing a story about the mythological Irish hero, Finn MacCool.

Notable Works:
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, by Milan Kundera The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

MAXIMALISM
Where digression, reference, and elaboration of detail occupy a great portion of the text. The text is intensely focused upon details from our everyday lives. Its not necessarily bigger is better, for these works, even though they are usually very long. The length is the point. The author is trying to capture and exhaust as many living moments as they can before the story is finished. Maximalism celebrates richness and excess Infinite Jest, Gravitys Rainbow, Harry Potter/Game of Thrones series

RESEARCH AND PRESENTATION TIME!

YOU WILL BE BROKEN INTO 5 GROUPS. THE NOTES TO YOUR PRESENTATION WILL BE TURNED IN. I WILL BE TESTING YOU ON THIS INFORMATION (YES, I ALREADY KNOW IT), SO THE BETTER THE NOTES, THE BETTER YOUR TEST SCORES, HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING.
EACH GROUP WILL BE RESPONSIBLE TO EMAIL ME THE ANSWERS TO THE PROMPTS BELOW 1) PROVIDE A DEFINITION OF THE CATEGORY (E.G. EXISTENTIALISM) 2) GIVE A RELEVANT, AND CONCISE, BIO OF EACH AUTHOR; BASICALLY, FIND SOME INTERESTING INFO ABOUT THE AUTHOR 3) LIST ONE WORK BY EACH AUTHOR THAT MATCHES THE CATEGORY 4) EXPLAIN THE STORY OF THE BOOK YOU CHOSE. HOW DOES THE STORY REFLECT THE POSTMODERN CATEGORY YOU WERE ASSIGNED?

TOPIC AND AUTHORS

GROUP 1 EXISTENTIALISM JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, ALBERT CAMUS, SAMUEL BECKETT GROUP 2 POST-COLONIALISM CHINUA ACHEBE, WOLE SOYINKA, SALMAN RUSHDIE

GROUP 3 MAGICAL REALISM

GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ, ISABEL ALLENDE GROUP 4 MAXIMALISM DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, THOMAS PYNCHON, DAVE EGGERS GROUP 5 META-FICTION KURT VONNEGUT, TIM O BRIEN, MILAN KUNDERA

SOURCES
HTTP://SOE.UCDAVIS.EDU/MS0405/WEBB/BISHOP/READALD.HTML HTTP://INSTRUCTORS.CWRL.UTEXAS.EDU/FREEMAN/FILES/POSTMODERNISM1.JPEG HTTP://COMMUNIQUEJOURNAL.ORG/GRAPHICS/T1_POSTMODERNISM.GIF HTTP://WWW.POPARTUK.COM/G/L/LGFP1118.JPG HTTP://WWW.ARTLEX.COM/ARTLEX/P/IMAGES/PASTICHE_COMICS.LG.GIF