Used copies have skyrocketed in the past two years. Luckily, a brand new re-print is hitting shelves. Link:

William Gaddis B&N

Given that it's such a versatile genre, what are the characteristics of a post-modern work that allow for it to function well in that zeitgeist?

To help those less familiar with Post Modern works, I was thinking about putting together 20-30 must reads. I don't want to be too strict about genre conventions, so just as long as a work has heavy post-modern influences/elements, it's good. I'll put a few in the comments, so go ahead and expand.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/thomas-pynchon-bleeding-edge,102848/

http://www.avclub.com/articles/harold-bloom-on-blood-meridian,29214/

The books are:

Calvino - If On a Winter's Night a Traveler

Don DeLillo - Libra

Don DeLillo- White noise

Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse 5

I've watched this youtube channel that talks about post-modern literature. He says these are some of the books that he recommends to get into post-modern literature. Has anyone read these books? If so , how are elements of postmodernism manifested in these texts?

Do you think these books are good introductions to post-modern literature?

Here is his youtube channel and the particular video I got this book list from Where to Start With Postmodern Literature - YouTube

Has anybody read this? David Foster Wallace lauded it as "pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country." It's a truly heartbreaking first-person account of either madness or supreme isolation, or both. Well worth your time at a thin ~250 pages, and one of my personal favorites. Check it out if you haven't!

I’d really love to see this sub become more active, as I think it has potential.

One idea that I’d love to spearhead would be weekly book clubs, where we all read X amount a week and then discuss it in a thread. Just got Jennifer Egan’s “Visit from the Goon Squad” and would LOVE to lead that read-through if anyone is interested.

I’d also love to see more recommendations (and asking for recs). What else do you think is missing from this sub?

It seems that there is such an overwhelming amount of male authors/writers in this genre. What are your thoughts on this? Do we have women who can compete with such sprawling and domineering works as those that Pynchon, Wallace, and DeLillo and the like produce? Do we have something like "Infinite Jest" from a modern day female author? Give me your ideas. I know there are some amazing female authors in this genre (O'Connor and Oates to name a couple), but I still feel they is such a lack of representation overall.

What are your favorite postmodern works?

Then why are we only discussing PoMo fiction (in the form of short stories and novels)? There's PoMo poetry and non-fiction, even!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkxUY0kxH80

This LONG article seems to belong here. Enjoy!

http://americanaejournal.hu/vol9no1/gruic-grmusa

Hey, friends. Can we make a list of some good books to read? Here's what I'm thinking: List one short work and one long work that you love.

EDIT: better question

Just wondering whether anyone could give me some recs for postmodern novels or novels around the length of "Lot 49"? I don't have a lot of time for pleasure reading these days (doing my PhD in a different field) but would like to be able to get a bit of fiction back into my diet. Thanks!

So, now I have your attention.

We all in this group have a firm or basic understanding of the literary genre that is postmodernism.

Now, as familiar as we are with postmodern authors such as Wallace, Joyce, Pynchon and O'Brien, what other authors (even if they aren't strictly post-modern but have sprinklings of postmodernism such as American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis) are people here into?

I am fully aware this is a dead sub however I am putting this post here to see what other people personally believe can be considered postmodern as opposed to what actually IS postmodern and what they would put forward as unconventional works of postmodernism.

An example of unconventional postmodernism is Martin Amis - London Fields.

Answers on a postcard

I feel like I've read two of the big ones (Gravity's Rainbow, Catch-22), also I have Crying of Lot 49 and White noise on my shelf and plan to knock those out in the coming weeks.

Generally just interested in the idea of Paranoia within writing and I'm wondering if others have a similar interest and some suggestions.

Hello,

I wanted to start collecting a specific kind of postmodern literature. Namely: Stories that are about the book you are holding in your hand and reading right now.

I can name two examples:

1. The city of dreaming books by Walter Moers. Later in his life the protagonist will write the book you are reading.

2. Neverending Story. The book you are reading is obviously the same that Bastian is reading inside the story and into which he gets drawn into.

I have two other examples that I would like to mention. The first one is Name of the Rose. Reading this wonderful novel I always had the feeling that the mystical book they are trying to find is the very same we are holding while reading. This interpretation is debatable and obviously not true when you read til finish, the feeling was still there while reading.

The last example is Pot-seed factor. Before the end I always thought he will write the book I was reading. In the end it is the poem that inspired the novel. But it still works in a way for me.

My question is, do you know other novels where it is obvious that the book you are reading is the book the story revolves around? Or if it is not obvious, where you have the feeling that it is the book you are reading until you get to the end of the novel?

It would be great! I haven't found anything with google. Maybe there is a name for this kind of trope that I don't know yet.

Help would be appreciated!

EDIT:

I forgot to mention JJ Abrams' novel named 'S'

If you’re interested in reading and discussing 2666 over a period of seven weeks (19 pages per day) then head over to r/2666group and introduce yourself. All levels of engagement are welcome.

Post is after and pre is before. What is going on I just learned about post modern literature. I might be missing something because I’m dyslexic but I don’t know and I can’t find any good “oh this is why…….” On the internet sorry for bothering y’all.