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American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

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Page 1: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

American Literature and Culture Since 1945

A Short Overview

Page 2: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

From Hassan Ihab’s “Toward a Concept of Postmodernism” The Postmodern Turn (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1987, cited in Nealon and

Girouz’s The Theory Toolbox, 2003).

Modernism Postmodernism

Form (closed) Anti-form (open)

Purpose Play

Design Chance

Hierarchy Anarchy

Finished Art ObjectProcess/Performance

Distance Participation

Totalization Deconstruction

Centering Dispersal

Metaphor Metonymy

Signified Signifier

Depth Surface

Determinancy Indeterminancy

Page 3: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

“The War is Over!” – Americans Come Home Positioned to Emerge as a Dominant Power Globally

Page 4: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

As the post-war political scene settles, the U.S. and the former Soviet Union (then the U.S.S.R.) begin what will be a political, economic, and ideological standoff—better known as the “Cold War”—which will last until the end of the

1980s.

The U.S. promotes a policy of "Assured Destruction" In response, Americans begin to prepare

advocated by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert for the possible consequences of such

McNamara (often referred to as MAD – Mutually an event (made very real by the Cuban

Assured Destruction) Missle Crises in 1962)

p.s. With the end of the U.S. shuttle program, some might say the Soviets won the space race. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/08/it-s-goodbye-shuttle-hello-soyuz-after-atlantis-last-flight.html

Page 5: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

As American consumer power grows in the 1950s and 1960s, so does the dream of home ownership—a.k.a. the “American Dream”--and thus

the rise of the Suburbs.Note: FDR’s Second Bill of American Rights helps white Americans accieve this dream.

Page 6: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

At times celebratory and at times critical, American art begins to reflect a rising consumer culture.

Andy Warhol's “Campbell Soup Can” and “Elvis” (both c. 1971)

Page 7: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

At the same time, American authors belonging to counter-cultural movements (such as the Beat Poets) begin to question the effects of

this prosperity—and to search out other value systems.

Allen Ginsburg reading “Howl” in Washington Square in 1966

Page 8: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

Simultaneously, the pursuit by minority Americans for inclusion in—and access to—the privileges of Mainstream America takes center stage in

American media.

Martin Luther King Jr. Leads the Bus Boycott in Malcolm X gives a speech at a Black

Montgomery, AL – 1956 Muslim Convention - 1963

Page 9: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

By the end of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s, more and more Americans begin to question the political and military role that should

be played by the now dominant American Empire.Note: Eisenhower warns of this with his now famous 1961 “Military-Industrial Complex” Speech

October 21, 1967 – Demonstrators Gather at May 4, 1970 – Students protest the war at

the Lincoln Memorial and the Pentagon to protest Kent State and members of the Ohio

the Vietnam War Nation Guard respond with violence.

Page 10: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

By the 1980s, Americans seemingly become more comfortable with their prosperity and power and begin to celebrate the excesses of

consumer culture. (This is the era of “shop ‘till you drop” and getting rich on Wall Street).

Modonna’s “Material Girl” (1985) ranked Risky Buisiness premiered in 1983 and

In the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 Wall Street followed in 1987.

Page 11: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

By the late 1980s and throughout the end of the 20th century, more minority authors gain national—and global—acclaim.

The era of “multiculturalism” and diversity opens doors for more African-American, Asian-American, Native-American, and Latino/a

Authors

Page 12: American Literature and Culture Since 1945 A Short Overview

1980-Present: The Changing Aesthetics of Excellence Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction

2011 – A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

2010 – Tinkers by Paul Harding

2009 – Olive Kitteridge byElizabeth Strout

2008 – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

2007 – The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2006 – March by Geraldine Brooks 

2005 – Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 

2004 – The Known World byEdward P. Jones

2003 – Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

2002 – Empire Falls by Richard Russo 

2001 – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon 

2000 – Interpreter of Maladies byJhumpa Lahiri

1999 – The Hours by Michael Cunningham

1998 – American Pastoral byPhilip Roth

1997 – Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer bySteven Millhauser

1996 – Independence Day byRichard Ford

1995 – The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields 

1994 – The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

1993 – A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler 

1992 – A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

1991 – Rabbit At Rest by John Updike 

1990 - The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos

1989 – Breathing Lessons byAnne Tyler

1988 – Beloved by Toni Morrison

1987 – A Summons to Memphis byPeter Taylor

1986 – Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

1985 –Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie

1984 – Ironweed by William Kennedy

1983 – The Color Purple by Alice Walker 

1982 – Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike 

1981 – A Confederacy of Duncesby the late John Kennedy Toole

1980 - The Executioner's Song byNorman Mailer