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Jamie Koch
Professor Robert McLaughlin
English 236
15 October 2012
Characteristically Postmodern: Examining the Postmodern Label
What is it to label something as postmodern? Of course, we have been reading texts
that are classified as such, but it is necessary to take a moment to really examine just what sets
these works apart from other works of literature. Postmodernism calls into question both reality
itself and the validity of multiple realities. It seeks to deconstruct boundaries, and it looks at how
realities are often perceived. Many of the basic tenets of postmodernism are present in the texts
we have read this semester, but for brevitys sake, we will only examine three. Thomas
Pynchons Vineland Carol de Chellis Hills Henry James Midnight Song, and Borgess Tln,
Uqbar, Orbis Tertius each exhibits an uncertain reality, which helps to distinguish and classify
them as characteristically postmodern.
Critical re-examination of the past is a simple example of one of these basic postmodern
tenets. It operates under the assumption that once an event takes place, we can only re-examine it
through the eyes of another. In a sense, it is as if every bit of history is being viewed through a
screen. No matter how clear one tries to be when recounting or explaining the past, it can and
will only ever be his or her version of events. Since there are often many different perspectives
and accounts of the same event, many different truths exist for any one situation.
This postmodern characteristic can be seen throughout Pynchons Vineland. A good
portion of the novel consists of flashbacks, memories, and documentation describing the past.
Whenever Prairie is learning about some aspect of the past, the version of history that she

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receives is only one of many. Much of the content of the stories that DL tells to Prairie are only
her side of events and the way she perceived things. Had Frenesi been present or been the one
telling Prairie what happened, the story certainly would have been different. This disconnect is
demonstrated in the scene where DL and Frenesi are at the waterfront place sharing a couple of
burgers (Pynchon 117). From DLs point of view, Frenesi seemed like a little kid alone at a
dangerous time of day, not yet aware of her moms absence (117). DL felt like an adult
compared to Frenesi and her wild, revolutionary ideas. Since Frenesi does not, in fact, get a
chance to explain her side of the story, we can only speculate her point of view. Her version of
events probably would not include how childish she once was. Perhaps in Frenesis version of
things, DL would come off condescending or full of herself. Suffice it to say that the stories
would likely be very different indeed.
This disconnect is not limited to other characters orally recounting past events, but is also
apparent when Prairie goes through her mothers file, watching film reels from Frenesis younger
years. While Prairie watches the reels from 24fps, she realizes that since her mother is behind the
camera, she is able to in a sense share her eyes and experience the past in the same way her
mother had (Pynchon 199). Even though this view of history is no doubt accurate in its retelling,
it is only one perspective of the 1960s. Prairie is watching the events unfold through a literal
screen, highlighting the idea that the retelling of history is shrouded in some way. She is forced
to watch the events unfold through the lens of the camera, and therefore can only gain a skewed
view of the events. She tries to discern a broader reality of the 1960s from the events she is
shown on screen. She even takes to fabricating dialogue between Frenesi and DL (Right on,
sister! Psychedelic! (115)), to help herself better understand her distant mother.

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Pynchon highlights the instability of the story that history tells by arranging the text in a
non-linear fashion. The plot develops out of chronological order and often times this style forces
the reader to do a double take and figure out just when we are in the grand scheme of the story.
This is just another way that Pynchon gets us to stop and think about the truth and what is
really happening in the story.
Hills Henry James Midnight Song has a different approach to reality. Hill uses the
postmodern tactic of self-referentiality to drive her text. Rather than simply pointing to the world
as art is supposed to, postmodern texts such as Henry James Midnight Song point to
themselves, pointing to the world. Directly after the first chapter, we are introduced to the editor
of the mysterious manuscript. After a couple sentences in, it is clear that this is a book that
knows its a book. The editor explains that the mysterious manuscript was delivered on a dark
and stormy night to [his] old house hidden in the woods (Hill 19). The origins of the manuscript
are just as much a mystery to the editor as they are to the reader. The editor himself is unsure of
whether the manuscript is fiction, nonfiction, or perhaps a hoax(21), which starts the novel off
with an uncertainty of what is real
The self-referentiality continues throughout the text most obviously in the form of the
editors footnotes where the editor repeatedly recognizes that he is commenting on a book. This
editor is presumably real within the confines of the text as a whole, and his comments flow as
such. He is very concerned with the validity and chronology of events in the manuscript, calling
the chronology select, and confused as well as arbitrary (Hill 22). This concern is reflected
in many of his comments. One rather entertaining example occurs in a footnote just after
Timothy is described watching Bertha Pappenheim. The editor expresses his irritation with the
reference to Bertha in the manuscript, stating, It is simply not possible of course according to

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any chronological order (179). Referencing the text, he calls out to mistakes made by the
unknown author. He is discontented with the notion that such a thing could occur outside of his
own idea of reality.
Within the story, we meet historically real characters such as Henry James, Edith
Wharton, Sigmund Freud, and several others. Although these people truly existed, the reader
must ponder what aspects of these characters are historically accurate and which are simply
fictionalized. Henry James is perhaps the most intriguing of these characters because of his
horror at imagining the thought of someone writing him as a character. Just thinking about being
written by another person, being described by someone elses sentences provoked a chill in his
bone (Hill 88). Here, once again Hill uses self-referentiality, this time to show Henrys extreme
discontent at the thought of being written as a character, while that is exactly what is happening.
Not unlike the editor, Henry is uneasy with the idea of things happening contrary to his sense of
reality. It is a little ironic that the title character exhibits such unease and even offense at the
notion that someone, anyone might dare to describe the inner workings of his mind. Or the outer
garments he wore. Or anything at all (88).
On another level of characters, we have Cecilys sister and her family, who are all
presumably fictional characters since they do not appear to be historically real. Contrary to
Henry James, Cecily wishes nothing more than to become a character in a book, for it is the
only way to be alive (Hill 87). Again, self-referentiality highlights the contingency of these
characters existence. Cecily is indeed a fictional character who only exists because she
[became] a character in a book and was written into the world (87). Even the characters in the
book contribute to its self-referentiality, somewhat blurring the lines between what and who is
real.

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In Borgess Tln, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, we encounter a different characteristic of
postmodernism. While modernism embraces totalizing systems to define our world,
postmodernism recognizes that sometimes our systems are shaken and things cannot really be
explained within them. In Tln, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, Borges pokes fun at the modernist idea
of totalizing systems. Tln concerns itself with the systems of knowledge we use to create our
reality. Since we typically derive our notions of what is true from texts such as encyclopedias,
The Anglo-American Cyclopaedia challenges the way that our system of knowledge
distinguishes truth from fiction.
An importance is placed on the way that Tln, an imaginary place, is brought into reality
only by its creators. The notion of Tln being a mere chaos, an irresponsible license of the
imagination (Borges 8) simply could not be tolerated. The systematizing of the imaginary world
of Tln is the work of a secret societyeach writers contributioninfinitesimal (8). The
Eleventh Volume of the Cyclopaedia includes the intimate laws which govern [Tln] (8).
The Cyclopaedia covers everything from grammar rules and language to how philosophies differ
by hemisphere (10). With each page of the Cyclopaedia, Tln seems more real. Its mere
existence destabilizes the authority of the worlds existing systems as it begins to seep into
reality: The contact and the habit of Tln have disintegrated this world (18). In trying to
stabilize an imaginary, fictitious place using the existing systems of knowledge, the systems are
shaken and soon, The world will be Tln (18). The idea of a fantasy world invading and
unraveling the world of reality is a more complex idea presented by postmodernism, but this idea
really enhances what postmodernism means.
It is no surprise that so many basic characteristics of postmodernism appear in these three
texts alone. Though they have only been briefly described here, their ideas run deep.

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Postmodernism and its authors seek to demonstrate and even celebrate the lack of one Truth by
many means, such as ambiguous realities, self-referentiality. By bringing these ideas into their
narratives, Pynchon, Hill, and Borges help highlight and explain what it means to be
postmodern: a concept that is somewhat difficult to nail down with a strict definition.






















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Works Cited
Borges, Jorge Luis " Tln, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." 1962. Trans. James E. Irby. Labyrinths,
Selected Stories & Other Writings. Ed. Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby. New York:
New Directions, 2007. 3-18. Print.
Hill, Carol DeChellis. Henry James' Midnight Song. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. Print.
Pynchon, Thomas. Vineland. New York: Penguin, 1997. Print.