| The Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post-World War II literature. It is both a continuation of the experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period (relying heavily, for example, on fragmentation, paradox, questionable narrators, etc.) and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature. Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is difficult to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature. Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, Thomas Pynchon. One of the most significant writers in this period was George Orwell. An essayist and novelist, Orwell’s works are considered among the most important social and political commentaries of the 20th century. Dealing with issues such as poverty in The Road to Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London, totalitarianism in Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, and colonialism in Burmese Days. Orwell’s works were often semi-autobiographical and in the case of Homage to Catalonia, wholly. Malcolm Lowry is best known for Under the Volcano. Agatha Christie was a crime writer of novels, short stories and plays, best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Christie’s works, particularly featuring the detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, have given her the title the ‘Queen of Crime’ and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre. Christie’s novels include, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and And Then There Were None. Another popular writer during the Golden Age of detective fiction was Dorothy L. Sayers. The novelist Georgette Heyer created the historical romance genre. In thriller writing, Ian Fleming created the character James Bond 007 in January 1952, while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. Fleming chronicled Bond’s adventures in twelve novels, including Casino Royale (1953), Live and Let Die (1954), Dr. No (1958), Goldfinger (1959), Thunderball (1961), and nine short story works. In Anthony Burgess’s dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), the main character Alex’s exercise of free will is curtailed by the use of a classical conditioning technique. Burgess creates a new speech in his novel that is the teenage slang of the not-too-distant future. Roald Dahl rose to prominence with his children’s fantasy novels, often inspired by experiences from his childhood, which are notable for their often unexpected endings, and unsentimental, dark humour. Science fiction novelist Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, is based on his various short stories, particularly The Sentinel. Some notable writers in the latter half of the 20th century include Margaret Atwood, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, J. G. Ballard, Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, William Golding and Salman Rushdie. Ian McEwan’s Atonement (2001), refers to the process of forgiving or pardoning a transgression, and alludes to the main character’s search for atonement in wartime England. His 2005 novel Saturday, follows an especially eventful day in the life of a successful neurosurgeon. This publication, titled “Masterpiece of English Literature” lists select aforementioned works. The publication is user-friendly. |
